Following the allegations that stirred fresh headlines months after his coaching exit, John Longmire has admitted he never handed back the SD card from the microphone he wore during Sydney’s heavy grand final defeat to Brisbane.
Speaking for the first time since Seven’s Mitch Cleary reported the missing audio earlier this week, Longmire explained, he assumed the content was his intellectual property and, frankly, didn’t want to relive the pain.
“I thought I’d given up coaching and would be safe from all that speculation. I suddenly realise someone has thrown up something I thought was no big deal, but apparently a bit of an issue this week,” Longmire said via Fox Sports AU.
‘I just didn’t want to re-live it again’
The 2012 premiership coach, who stepped down after a fourth grand final loss, said he never played back the audio — partly due to the tech, but mostly due to the trauma.
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“I did two things. One, I didn’t have a card reader, I had no idea with the technology. But two, after (the game), I just didn’t want to re-live it again,” Longmire said.
“I’d done it before, I’d listened and tried to learn something out of those games before. I just didn’t want to do it again. Simple as that... my assumption was it was my IP. I don’t think I got paid for it.”
Meanwhile, Eagles coach Adam Simpson, who was mic’d up in both his grand final appearances, confirmed the process was non-negotiable.
“It wasn’t a negotiation, in 2015 and 2018, it was: ‘Here’s the microphone, put it on’,” Simpson said, adding that only Longmire had taken a stand on ownership and remuneration.
“Other than ‘Horse’s one he’s decided not to hand in, there’s hours of audio probably kept somewhere,” Simpson added. “That’s the danger, I suppose — or the positive — that in 15 or 20 years something comes from a game that’s been kept in the vault.”