Former Carlton list manager Nick Austin is considering his legal options after he was “brutally blindsided” in what became an exit meeting on Tuesday.
As news broke that Michael Voss would no longer coach the club, Carlton revealed in a statement later that night that Austin had met with management on Tuesday afternoon and then resigned.
“Austin held discussions with the club late this afternoon, during which time he made the decision to move on from his position in order to allow the club to continue through its current period of transition,” the statement said.
“Austin leaves Ikon Park after more than five years in the role, having arrived on the eve of the 2020 AFL season.”
But now it has come to light that Austin was in utter shock during the meeting.
“What we can tell you tonight was this was a brutal blindside,” 7SPORT expert Tom Morris said on Channel 7’s The Agenda Setters on Wednesday night.
“So Nick Austin walked into work yesterday morning, not knowing that Michael Voss would also be leaving his job, but also not knowing that he would lose his job.
“He had a meeting for five or ten minutes with the hierarchy at Carlton, and he was brutally told that he no longer worked at the Blues.
“And my understanding is he’s considering his legal options tonight and whether he can take it further.”
7NEWS chief AFL reporter Mitch Cleary said: “So after five years of service at that footy club, five minutes is all it took?”
Morris: “Five minutes is all it took.
“So you could argue whether that’s right or wrong, but that is a brutal call to make for someone that had no visibility or saw that coming.”
Carlton said football boss Chris Davies would oversee list management duties “for the foreseeable future”.
AFL great Nick Riewoldt wondered on what grounds Austin would have to seek legal options.
“You could have a look at their list and, you know, is it unfair dismissal if the list is not great?” Riewoldt asked.
“I mean, that’s what they’re judging it on, isn’t it?”
Cleary said the list build had not just been solely on Austin, however.
“They’ve had a footy-based CEO, Graham Wright, since the end of last year, and Chris Davies, who’s a very powerful figure and well-regarded in the industry,” Cleary said.
“So they have got strong figures who would have been heavily consulted on the list in the last 12 months.”
