Collingwood coach Nathan Buckley remains baffled why young Magpies star Jaidyn Stephenson laid bets on three AFL games, which have resulted in his 10-match ban.
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The 20-year-old will be sidelined until the AFL finals after being outed for 22 games, with 12 suspended, and fined $20,000 for betting a total of $36 on Magpies games in a breach of the game's strict wagering rules.
Buckley said Stephenson's actions didn't "make sense".
"Yeah, it makes very little sense," Buckley told SEN radio on Thursday morning.
"Unless you're in Jaidyn's body at that point of time I don't think you can even contemplate how that would happen."
Stephenson self-reported to the club after feeling remorse, and reportedly on the advice of teammate Jeremy Howe, who the youngster confided in.
Buckley said he had tried to support his star forward through the investigation rather than chastise him.
"I'm not angry with him," Buckley said.
The coach revealed details of how Stephenson came to place the multi-leg bets using a friend's online betting account.
"He's sitting on the couch with a mate, he's flicking a bet on this, this and this.
"And then it's like 'Yeah, put me in for half of that' or 'I'll have a bit of that' and that sounds like what happened with the first couple (of bets)."
Buckley said his high opinion of Stephenson hadn't changed and felt he would learn and grow from the experience.
"He's a good young man," Buckley said.
"My opinion of him and esteem of him has only risen in the last month the way he has handled this situation.
"It will set him in good stead, it will teach him and any others a pretty strong lesson."
Meanwhile, Collingwood president Eddie McGuire said on Triple M he thought that Stephenson's punishment was "heavy" given he self-reported.
He said the penalty figure was negotiated between the club and AFL.
"It started way beyond that number and came backwards and we landed at 10," McGuire said on his morning radio show.
"As a legitimate punishment, 10 weeks is fair enough.
"He's probably had the most innocuous of bets, other than the fact it had Collingwood in it.
"I have no doubt that if Jaidyn Stephenson or any player actually had something in his multi - let's say the opposition team winning was in there, he would have got life."
Australian Associated Press
