Sarah Game’s prize state election candidate quits
Reports are emerging that Game’s star former football recruit has quit the party just over a week before the state election.
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.
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.
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.
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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 party.
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