Sarah Game’s prize state election candidate quits
Updated: Sarah Game’s star former football recruit has spoken out on why he quit her party just over a week before the state election. He said there were “many straws to break the camel’s back” in the duo’s relationship.
News has emerged that Sarah Game’s Fair Go Party has lost its star candidate in the upper house and he was expected to instead stand as an independent.
Game said she found out on Wednesday morning that Chris McDermott was leaving her Fair Go party, after “limited direct conversation” between the pair since he was announced as the party’s lead candidate on the Upper House ticket.
McDermott told InDaily that he confirmed he was leaving Game’s party on Wednesday morning, but had flagged with Game days earlier that “it was not going the way I hoped it would”.
Speaking to InDaily on his way to the Yorke Peninsula on Wednesday afternoon, McDermott said there were “many straws to break the camel’s back”, including a long phone call with Game’s mother, Jennifer Game, on Tuesday night.
Jennifer Game is running in the seat of Black for Fair Go and is a past One Nation candidate. Both she and her daughter Sarah Game quit One Nation last year.
McDermott said he and Game’s Fair Go party had “irreconcilable differences”. InDaily understands this included McDermott needing approval to post online and delays over producing How-To-Vote cards just days away from early voting opening this Saturday.
Sarah Game disputed the claim about McDermott’s social media, saying he “always” had complete control, but was asked not to endorse candidates who had left Fair Go.
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“As I said from the start, I’m not a politician and never professed to be and I’m not getting caught up in that world,” McDermott said.
“I went in with the best intentions and openly said the gratitude I had for Sarah about the work we did getting the Little Heroes grant for childhood dementia, but in the end our differences didn’t allow us to progress any further.”
As of Wednesday afternoon, McDermott’s Facebook page still referenced the party name, Fair Go for Australians.
Fair Go leader Sarah Game said she was “disappointed but relieved” by McDermott’s departure because she had concerns the pair’s friendship had been deteriorating “for weeks”.
“I don’t think we’ve seen a good campaign. I don’t think people know what Chris stands for,” Game said.
Game said she tried her “absolute best” and spent time and campaign money – including $12,000 worth of corflutes with McDermott’s face on them – on his involvement in the campaign so far “as a sign of goodwill”.
“I understood he was a serious public figure,” she said.
She said only yesterday, McDermott attended a parliamentary event with her Fair Go party and key stakeholders.
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McDermott’s decision followed former Fair Go candidate Jake Hall-Evans also leaving the party to run in the coastal seat of Colton as an independent. He had lost the top spot on the party’s upper house ticket to McDermott.
Game said she had received calls from her remaining candidates who were upset about McDermott leaving the party, but had been assured by her remaining Legislative Council candidate, Shannon Foote, that he remained loyal to her Fair Go party.
The Electoral Commission of South Australia confirmed that McDermott will still appear on the ballot papers as the first candidate for Sarah Game Fair Go for Australians, and this cannot change.
“Voting has already commenced for thousands of South Australians and ballot papers have been dispatched to hundreds of polling locations and tens of thousands of postal voters,” a spokesperson said.
“The legislation offers no method for candidates to withdraw or change their affiliation after the close of nominations.”
If elected, McDermott would be able to become an independent in parliament after the election.
At the time of the announcement of McDermott’s candidacy in February, Game said she had an overwhelming response to having him join the Fair Go party.
Game started Fair Go in August 2025 after leaving the One Nation party in May 2025 and despite a rise in polling support for One Nation, Game said she did not regret leaving the party.
It is understood that Sarah Game’s main media advisor Paul Mitchell had also recently left her office on “amicable” terms to work with One Nation.
McDermott, the Little Heroes Foundation co-founder and Crows football legend, has been actively campaigning over the past few weeks for the Fair Go party.
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