Adam Goodes doco leaves Eddie McGuire heartbroken – about his negative role

The Final Quarter, a documentary about the last three years of Indigenous leader Adam Goodes’s football career, was screened by networks Ten and Win on Thursday night to great acclaim.

Viewers could not help but be moved by archival footage of the dual Brownlow medallist and dual AFL premiership winner being subjected to racially motivated abuse from crowds between 2013 and 2015 after he publicly called out racism.

In one clip from the documentary, directed by award-winning film-maker Ian Darling, Goodes is addressing the media the day after being called an “ape” by a 13-year-old girl in the stands. He calls for compassion for her because “it’s not her fault”.

Broadcaster Eddie McGuire, who features negatively in the film, has urged people to watch it. In 2013, the Collingwood football club president was condemned for suggesting on air that Goodes be used to promote the King Kong musical.

Related: The Final Quarter review – exhilarating Adam Goodes documentary pulses with urgency

“Get Adam Goodes down for it, do you reckon?” he said at the time. “You can see them doing that can’t you? Goodsey. You know with the ape thing, the whole thing, I’m just saying pumping him up and mucking around, all that sort of stuff.”

McGuire later apologised unreservedly, but would not step down as president, saying “people don’t resign for a slip of the tongue”.

On Friday morning, he described his portrayal in the film as confronting.

“It’s very confronting and it’s heartbreaking to be involved in it in a negative way,” he said on Triple M.

“I encourage people to watch this documentary.

“What you have to do in these situations is you have to front up to things. It’s an eye opener. And if that’s the bottom line, it’s been a worthwhile exercise.”

The film, which predictably had the strongest impact in Melbourne, attracted almost half a million viewers in the five capital cities, and was just beaten in the time slot by ABC’s 7:30. A special edition of The Project hosted by Waleed Aly, which was shown after the documentary and discussed it, had 300,000 viewers.

Morrison’s Tele-genic moment

It’s fairly clear that the Liberal party is in lockstep with the Murdoch press most of the time but sometimes they make it crystal clear.

The Daily Telegraph held a so-called bush summit in Dubbo on Thursday at which the prime minister announced more funding for rural programs while surrounded by Daily Telegraph branding and in the presence of editor Ben English.

“So the fact that the Daily Telegraph, which is Sydney’s leading newspaper, is bringing this summit here together in Dubbo I think speaks volumes,” Morrison said.

“It says they understand that the future of regional and rural Australia is also about the future of all Australians regardless of whether you read the Daily Telegraph or indeed in Dubbo, The Daily Liberal. What a great name for a publication. You should change the name Ben!”

Now we don’t want to nitpick but the Tele is not Sydney’s leading paper when it comes to readership. That honour goes to the Sydney Morning Herald, now part of Nine Entertainment’s group of newspapers.

New ABC faces on the way

The ABC’s big generational change is coming soon. Veteran broadcasters Jon Faine, Tony Jones and Barrie Cassidy will be replaced by new blood for the 2020 broadcast season.

Faine’s morning spot – which he has occupied for 23 years – will be taken up by Virginia Trioli a little earlier than expected, he told his listeners on ABC Melbourne on Friday morning.

The final show, on Friday 11 October, will be a charity fundraiser and will be broadcast before a live audience at Melbourne Town Hall.

Related: Virginia Trioli to take over from Jon Faine as presenter of ABC Melbourne's morning radio show

“I’ve asked the ABC to make this show a charity fundraiser, so listeners who want to celebrate can express their pleasure by making a sizeable donation to reflect their delight that I’ve finally gone!” Faine said.

Trioli, whose breakfast TV role will be taken over by Lisa Millar, will host mornings from Monday 14 October.

Cassidy will be replaced by Sky’s David Speers next year, but there remains a big question mark over Q&A. Not only is a replacement host not obvious but the future of the show may also be in doubt, sources say.

Sheridan’s Polish adventure

We’re happy that Greg Sheridan had such a great time in Poland. The Australian’s foreign editor had so much to say about the country that he penned not one but two columns praising the European state.

“Among an EU elite that detests Donald Trump, Poland is pro-Trump and fervently pro-American,” Sheridan said. “As Donald Rumsfeld once remarked, there is no country on earth more pro-American than Poland, including America.

“Poland has bad episodes in its past, like any country, but if you are not moved by Polish history and Polish gallantry, you are not really a human being. Surely the whole world can wish success to the bold venture of modern Polish nationhood.”

The Polish government, which funded Sheridan’s trip according to a disclaimer on one but not both columns, certainly got their money’s worth. Sheridan said it was “the most successful economy in Europe” and “one of the safest and friendliest places on the continent”.

But Sheridan’s prose is at its lyrical best when giving us an insight into the Polish character.

“Poles are warm, spontaneous and very open to new people, much like the Italians. Yet they are more orderly than most southern Europeans, more like the Dutch.”

The bench revelation

It’s just as well entertainment writer Jonathan Moran, the reporter on the Geoffrey Rush and John Jarratt defamation suits, was holidaying on the central coast of New South Wales last weekend or we might have missed out on his scoop for the Daily Telegraph.

The story Moran brought back from his holidays was this. The name of Shannon Noll, a former Australian Idol contestant, is spray painted on a park bench at Picnic Point Reserve near The Entrance skate park, Moran reported for Sydney Confidential.

That’s it. That is the entire story. There was an accompanying photo of said bench and Moran used his extensive contact book to call Noll and ask him to comment on the bench.

Blockade’s ad blocked

Anti-Adani campaigners in Queensland say their print ad to publicise the Galilee Blockade was rejected by a local News Corp paper.

The advertising department for the Mackay Mercury originally emailed the activists to say the $650 display ad was being “checked by legal”, before calling to say it had been rejected by the paper on factual grounds because it asserted that most Queenslanders did not want the mine to proceed.