Stephen Silvagni ongoing rift with Carlton impacting St Kilda trade period

There appears to be a new twist in the sad saga of the falling out between Blues great Stephen Silvagni and Carlton Football Club.

Silvagni, who played 321 games for a club his father and two sons also represented, had a bitter row with Carlton in 2019 when he was list manager.

Now in charge of St Kilda’s list, Silvagni’s involvement is the sticking point in a potential four-team swap including Carlton, according to Tom Morris.

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The deal has been mooted for some time and would see Nick Coffield and Paddy Dow swapped and draft picks also swapped.

The complex deal could go ahead on Tuesday, but Morris explained the scenario on SEN Mornings.

“The St Kilda people are very confident it will happen today, as are the Bulldogs,” Morris said.

“It will be Paddy Dow for the Saints, Nick Coffield for the Dogs.

“Pick 40 goes to the Saints for Coffield and I think the Dogs will end up getting a pick or two back.

“Carlton demands a future third round for the Dow, even if it means the Blues have to surrender a future fourth round. They are happy to do so as long as they get the future third.

“St Kilda says no. It is said that he is not worth more than a future fourth.

“Essendon are involved, they have worked closely with St Kilda for a while now, they will be involved by just changing the selections.

“They will improve their draft with this trade.”

The sticking point is Silvagni, who still has a problem with the Blues four years after his official departure.

Silvagni turned down an invitation to the Carlton rooms when his son Jack played his 100th game for the club earlier this year.

“If St Kilda had offered a future third for Dow, the deal would have been done in 30 seconds,” Morris said.

“They offered a future fourth and Carlton said, ‘okay, how about a future third and we’ll give you a future fourth’, and St Kilda said no.

“There is the Stephen Silvagni and Carlton subplot here and it is certainly real. Speaking to people in this situation, it’s real.

“He doesn’t want to feel like Carlton is beating him on a deal and they can deny it forever, but that’s what people are thinking about the situation.”

It appears this fickle standoff could be a real sticking point as the clubs try to complete this trade before Wednesday’s deadline.

Details of the bitterness at the center of the Silvagni-Carlton fiasco emerged in late April this year when the champion fullback prepared to face his former club while wearing St Kilda colors for their clash at Marvel Stadium.

The situation came to light last month when Silvagni refused this offer to celebrate his son Jack’s milestone in the first round.

The Silvagnis are synonymous with Carlton Football Club, and the family has had a strong presence at Princes Park since the early 1950s, with three generations of the family wearing the navy No.1 sweater.

That’s why Silvagni’s reported decision to stay in the car while his son was honored for his milestone match left many fans sad.

There was also an argument that the man commonly known as ‘SOS’ did not want to distract from his son’s big moment by entering the sheds and attracting stares.

There is no problem within the family. Stephen Silvagni’s dislike is only directed at his former football club, it has been widely reported.

In April, the Herald Sun revealed new details about how destructive the situation was before Silvagni was deported in 2019.

The report identifies several important factors as to why Stephen Silvagni is not involved with the club he played 321 games for, including:

— Silvagni is not close to many of his former teammates, with a source telling the newspaper that he was one of the reasons why a reunion of the 1995 premiership team would be a difficult thing to arrange.

— There are still divisions that have not been repaired within the football club since the time the 2002 salary cap scandal brought the club to its knees. This prompted Silvagni to join Ross Lyon’s coaching staff at St Kilda in 2007.

— Silvagni remained a largely autonomous power at Carlton before his power struggle with former chief executive Cain Liddle.

Silvagni was tempted to return to Carlton after taking up a role at GWS in 2014 as list manager of the Blues when close friend Mark LoGiudice took over as club president in 2014.

The boat started rocking when Jack was drafted in 2015 as a father-son selection.

Ben Silvagni also joined the club in 2018 as the No. 70 overall pick. He was delisted at the end of the 2020 season.

Friction arose between Stephen Silvagni and former manager Brendon Bolton in 2019 after Jack Silvagni was left out of the team at the start of the season.

A source told the Herald Sun the feud between Silvagni and the coach was a “car crash waiting to happen”.

In the middle of the 2019 season, the accident happened.

The situation between Silvagni and former general manager Liddle was reportedly “toxic”.

Silvagni’s close friendship with LoGiudice allowed him to go over the heads of other people at the club. Lidl has taken a stand.

“SOS doesn’t like to be challenged and doesn’t like to be held accountable,” one “observer” told the Herald Sun.

“When you’re a club champion and you’ve been treated like your shit doesn’t stink for so long, you think you can behave like that.

“Cain Liddle was the first to stand up to him.”

Despite their close friendship, LoGiudice ultimately sided with Liddle when the general manager told Silvagni he was not wanted.

The friendship between Silvagni and LoGiudice did not survive. They would no longer be on good terms.

Silvagni said that in 2020, it was an accusation from Liddle that stung him the most on his way out.

“What hurt me the most… probably when your president talks to you and he tells you that I fought for you, that the CEO felt like I was going to sabotage the trading period and recruiting,” Silvagni said.

“I hate to talk about myself, but when you’ve played for a club for 17 years and you’ve put your body on the line and supported the club your whole life, for one person to say you’re going to sabotage the exchange period and draft, and for me, an outsider who came into the club and doesn’t know much about the club or me, it was probably the most disappointing of all that happened.