Collingwood president Eddie McGuire has defended journalists after calls for certain reporters to issue apologies to Essendon star Conor McKenna amid the COVID-19 saga.
The media's treatment of McKenna has come into question after questionable reporting following his positive test for COVID-19 last weekend.
However, McGuire argued that all the reporting and the comments made surrounding McKenna's plight were made "in good faith".
"I look at all of that and I say every one of those comments was said in good faith at the time with the available evidence on the table," he told Footy Classified.
"Don't forget, the CEO GIllon McLachlan got up and said the game has been postponed, he's got coronavirus and then I think Essendon released that he had some issues as far as where he was and what he was doing.
"I think everyone has to take a deep breath and we'll get through."
McGuire's comments came after AFL Players' Association CEO Paul Marsh and AFLPA president Patrick Dangerfield called out the media's treatment of McKenna.
"I think it's been pretty disappointing in a lot of respects in terms of how Conor has been treated in the last few days," Dangerfield told SEN's Whateley.
"He's been treated like a criminal at times. If he had caught it, he's caught one of the most contagious viruses there is and yet we treated him the way that we did.
"Hopefully we can re-align ourselves in terms of how we deal with the player that is going to contract it.
"I think it's been good to see some in the media come out and put their hands up saying they went too hard, too early. I hope that we all learn from it."
Dangerfield was not the only player to back up McKenna, with Hawthorn defender James Sicily taking to social media to air out his grievances.
https://twitter.com/J_Sicily/status/1275365151923826688Kangaroos premiership star David King, who was one of the more vocal critics of McKenna, tweeted that he would seek out the Essendon defender for an apology.
https://twitter.com/davidking34/status/1275407817239752709King's apology came after the commentary surrounding McKenna's positive test received widespread criticism.
https://twitter.com/CathMurphySport/status/1274618696229515264https://twitter.com/BrendoCasey/status/1274315629852385282https://twitter.com/JohnFogartyIrl/status/1275344462789705728https://twitter.com/CathMurphySport/status/1275598451963654144* This article was originally published here
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