In what must be one of the most low-key, yet heated rivalries in the AFL, Sam Newman has thrown another barb at Before the Game panelist Samantha Lane.
Channel Ten was successfully sued this week for $85,000 after Nicole Cornes accused Mick Molloy of damaging her character after he implied that she slept with an AFL player.
Sam Newman, obviously still holding a grudge after she wrote a critical piece slamming the Footy Show for their treatment of women, blasted Samantha Lane tonight for not writing a similarly condemnatory piece about her colleague Mick Molloy (she sits next to him on the Ten program).
Of course, this is not the first time Sam Newman, or in fact the Footy Show has accused Samantha of double standards. After she wrote her piece, The Footy Show highlighted how Samantha (who admittedly probably wasn't responsible for writing the joke) laughed as the Before the Game team mocked at-the-time AFL player Nick Stevens for his apparent weight issues.
Tonight, Sam Newman began by calling Samantha "Sally Lane" and bringing up Mick's trial verdict, and musing "I though she would probably come out with a piece (condemning Molloy)".
But then he jokingly mentioned that it "...takes a couple of weeks for her to get outraged".
He brought up again the fact that she "pasted" them over their actions, finally accusing her of "Selective outrage", or double standards, given "she works on the same show (as Molloy)".
He finished by saying "Maybe, Sally, you could actually write something about the show you're on".
Its hard to disagree that Samantha could be accused of only criticising opponents, and reserving public judgement on issues that may affect her employment, it's difficult to start throwing around phrases such as "conflict of interest".
Why? Because you'd be hard-pressed to find a media identity in the AFL these days who didn't have some conflict of interest of some sort.
Eddie McGuire, to name but one, is the most obvious example, due to his status as President of the Collingwood Football Club, as well as the host of a Monday to Friday breakfast radio show, where he puts forth opinions, as well as breaks news about other clubs.
However, a more pertinent example would be none other than James Brayshaw. He is the President of the North Melbourne Football Club, but also has a drive-time radio show, calls the football on weekends and also hosts TWO football TV shows.
And though Sam Newman criticized Samantha for "selective" outrage, he could just the same point the same finger at the bloke next to him.
Only a couple of months ago, Sam Newman himself was the subject of a warning from ACMA over some "racist" comments he made about a Malaysian man.
In case you needed reminding, Sam Newman blatantly called the man a "monkey" and said he was "not long out of the forest".
However, on the night, neither James Brayshaw or Garry Lyon made any attempt to castigate him (on air), let alone silence him- something, many may argue was in their best interests.
However, like Samantha Lane, Brayshaw is very willing to (rightfully) condemn others for similar displays of racism (he criticized a man who racially abused AFL player Majak Daw), only in Brayshaw's case, he used the forum of his radio show, rather than a regular newspaper column.
Brayshaw would hardly have been expected to criticise Sam Newman in a similar way, so why should Sam be expected? It's just really double standards on top of double standards- they're everywhere, and at the end of the day, both parties come off looking a little silly.
While I don't expect them to stop anytime soon, this fiery exchange could likely be brought to an abrupt end, with Samantha Lane's Before the Game in great doubt for next year- so maybe The Footy Show will get the unlikely last laugh.
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