Channel Seven is trying to poach one of Nine’s biggest names after an astonishing secret meeting with Eddie McGuire

EXCLUSIVE

Nine TV executives feared the worst when Seven News Supremo Anthony De Ceglie was spotted leaving a secret meeting with one of their biggest stars, Eddie McGuire.

The Seven boss was spotted at the Toorak headquarters of McGuire’s production company JAM TV last Tuesday during De Ceglie’s flying visit to address the Melbourne Press Club.

When news of the meeting filtered back to Sydney, it led to speculation within Nine that De Ceglie was trying to convince the former Millionaire Hot Seat presenter to switch channels.

It comes as Seven has been aggressively snapping up their rival’s biggest Aussie Rules personalities all year.

The network has already decimated Nine’s Footy Classified show by poaching star presenters Kane Cornes, Caroline Wilson and Craig Hutchison, while also poaching St Kilda legend and former Fox Sports presenter Nick Riewoldt out of retirement and back to TV fetched.

So it made sense that McGuire would be the next big name on their shopping list.

However, Daily Mail Australia can reveal that while Seven are certainly looking to lure a McGuire to Nine, it’s not Eddie they’re targeting.

At least not this time.

Instead, network sources said Seven was actually looking for the signature of Eddie’s sports reporting son, Xander McGuire.

Proud parents Eddie and Carla McGuire have seen high demand for their sons in recent months, with sportsman Joe (left) catching the eye of American football scouts, while rising sportscaster Xander (right) is said to be receiving offers from both Nine and Seven.

The McGuire men grew up in the spotlight alongside their famous father, Eddie

The 21-year-old has proven to be a rising star since joining Nine’s Melbourne newsroom as a sports reporter in June 2022 after interning at the network.

The award-winning youngster revealed he took a six-month sabbatical in May so he could complete the political component of his Melbourne University art studies at the world-famous University of St Andrews in Scotland.

Although he indicated he hoped to rejoin Nine when he returns to Australia at the end of this month, it appears De Ceglie would rather see him on his channel than on his rivals.

It is understood that Seven has since offered the young man a dual role on the network, both in news and sports, in a bid to convince him to jump ship.

With Eddie McGuire firmly entrenched at Nine for the past three decades, insiders said Xander was excited about the prospect of building his own career at another network outside his famous father’s shadow.

De Ceglie has been busy overhauling Seven’s talent list since taking the top job in April, but did not want to be involved in his future recruitment plans when contacted by Daily Mail Australia on Wednesday.

Seven news boss Anthony De Ceglie spoke to Eddie McGuire at his Melbourne office last Tuesday during a flying visit to the southern capital for a speech at the city’s press club.

Xander McGuire has impressed network bosses since following dad Eddie into journalism and it’s understood Seven are now keen to sign him for a dual role in both news and sport

The latest poaching comes as Nine continues to cut its staff budget.

The media giant cut nearly 200 jobs earlier this year as part of a $30 million budget cut, and the company’s acting CEO Matt Stanton has pledged to cut a further $50 million from underlying costs this financial year.

It would be quite a coup for Seven to nab the second-generation Nine star, with Nine’s chief sports presenter Tony Jones describing Xander as ‘the best young reporter I’ve seen in almost 40 years’.

The talented reporter has certainly had plenty of time to get comfortable in front of the camera after landing his first television gig on Ten’s soap Neighbors in 2015, when he was just 12.

He became a series regular as troubled teenager Charlie Hoyland, the son of Carla Bonner’s long-running character, Steph Scully.

Xander has been a regular on Australian television since he was almost ten years old as Charlie Hoyland on the soap opera Neighbours, when he was just 12 years old.

Eddie McGuire’s son, Joe, also scores as a gambler at Ohio State University in America

His father, Eddie, also started his television career at Ten as a young sports reporter in the 1980s before joining Nine in 1993.

Although Eddie admits to driving his son to the Neighbors screen test, he said he had no role in his casting and that Xander “did all of this on his own merit and merit.”

Meanwhile, McGuire’s son, Joe, has also scored goals.

The talented athlete played gridiron for one of America’s leading college football teams, Ohio State University.

The top-ranked team known as the Buckeyes has won national championships eight times and regularly competes in front of more than 100,000 fans in their home stadium.

The McGuire boys, Joe and

Xander and Joe have both grown up in front of the cameras their entire lives

Joe McGuire, who weighs a whopping 96kg and is 188cm tall, was brought on board in July as a back-up to fellow Australian punter Jesse Mirco after speaking

The news of his selection was celebrated by Prokick Australia, which helps Aussies break into the NFL and college football with a highly successful program running since 2007.

Both Xander and Joe grew up in the spotlight and were often photographed at red carpet events with their famous mother and father, Carla, and attending football matches in Collingwood, where their father was club president for more than twenty years.