Updated ,first published
In today’s AFL briefing:
- Ross Lyon is remorseful over a comment he made at training, including the use of the term ‘brotherboy’, upset Indigenous players.
- Essendon have been struck another injury blow as emerging forward Isaac Kako is ruled out with a stress injury in his back.
- Zak Butters, the man with the most sought-after signature in the AFL, remains steadfast about when he’ll decide his future.
Ross Lyon offered to reconsider his position as St Kilda coach after a comment he made at training upset Indigenous players at the club, according to a TV report on Monday night.
The veteran AFL coach, in his second stint at St Kilda, told Age columnist and Channel Seven’s Agenda Setters panellist Caroline Wilson that a comment he made earlier this month “didn’t land where it should have landed” and could have been construed as “casual racism”.
Wilson reported on the program that multiple grand final coach Lyon, after a training drill in which three Indigenous players linked up, said: “I love the Brotherboy connection, but we all have to remember we are part of a bigger team here.”
According to Wilson, the comment was not received well by some St Kilda players, including veteran Indigenous player Bradley Hill and the club’s superstar Nasiah Wanganeen-Milera.
“I’m not here to justify or try to rationalise what I said. We are all only as good as our next moment and it was a moment I understand I misjudged. Was I being flippant? Could it be described as casual racism? It didn’t land where it should have landed and I have to wear that and I take full responsibility for what I said.”
St Kilda coach Ross Lyon
In comments made to Wilson, Lyon, who has coached close to 400 AFL matches at St Kilda and Fremantle, said he “learned a lot out of what happened”.
“I’m not here to justify or try to rationalise what I said. We are all only as good as our next moment and it was a moment I understand I misjudged,” Lyon said.
“Was I being flippant? Could it be described as casual racism?
“It didn’t land where it should have landed and I have to wear that and I take full responsibility for what I said.
“I was very emotional at the meeting, and I offered to consider my position.”
The mis-aimed comment prompted a meeting between Lyon and some of the club’s Indigenous players only days later.
“This comment did not sit well, certainly not with Brad Hill, or Nasiah Wanganeen-Milera, or any of the other Indigenous players,” Wilson said.
“That was on Friday. On Saturday night Brad Hill – who is probably the leader of St Kilda’s Indigenous cohort (and it should be said that this is the second-biggest Indigenous cohort of any AFL club) called Ross and communicated his displeasure.”
Wilson reported that the players were satisfied and “absolutely accepted” that Lyon said the wrong thing, but “in no way meant to be racist”.
“[Ross], who had been feeling uncomfortable, knowing that something was not right since the previous day, wanted the players to have a day off because they were on the bye, gathered them all at the club on the Monday,” she said.
“He became very emotional. He offered to consider his position of senior coach.
“There is no doubt he has a very good track record with Indigenous footballers going back to his time at Fremantle.
“I’m not just saying that because Ross has chosen to come clean and speak to us.
“He’s almost relieved that we’re going to report it because he believes the truth in some weird way will set him free.
“He doesn’t think he’s racist and he certainly was horrified at how much he had hurt those players.
“He offered to address the entire playing group after the initial meeting. But the players at that meeting said that that wouldn’t be necessary. And they are absolutely insistent that they have moved on.”
Wilson said that Lyon told her that he “didn’t want to speak for his players”.
“My understanding is that Bradley Hill and all of his teammates, including Nasiah, who were not happy, were satisfied and absolutely accepted that Ross had said the wrong thing, but in no way meant to be racist,” she said.
“I think Brad Hill made the point to Ross on the Saturday night, ‘look, you wouldn’t have said that if it was three white players, so you shouldn’t have said it to us’.”
St Kilda have been contacted for comment.
Exciting Dons forward goes down with ‘medium term’ injury
Peter Ryan
Essendon have been struck another injury blow as emerging forward Isaac Kako is ruled out with a stress injury in his back.
The 20-year-old kicked a clever goal on Anzac Day but was starved of opportunity as he collected 10 touches.
He has kicked seven goals in six matches but has been showing signs of improvement as he played his 29th game for the Bombers in just his second season.
Essendon football manager Dan MacPherson said the issue was revealed when Kako had scans on Monday morning.
“It’s a really disappointing setback for Isaac, who’d been playing some exciting footy for us in the early stages of this season,” MacPherson said.
“He’ll need to enter a period of rest now to let the injury settle, before building back up towards a return to play later in the season.”
The club identified his period of absence as medium term, which could mean between six and eight weeks, but was not prepared to be definitive. Sullivan Robey, who played his third match on Saturday, had an interrupted pre-season with a hot spot in his back.
Kako, a next genereration academy graduate, was pick 13 in the 2024 national draft. He was part of an inexperienced forward line on Saturday alongside Robey, Nate Caddy, Archer Day-Wicks and Archer May.
Port’s sought-after star Butters opens up on future
Zak Butters, the man with the most sought-after signature in the AFL, remains steadfast in not deciding his future until season’s end.
As multi-million dollar offers mount from suitors in his native Victoria, the Port Adelaide dynamo remains solid.
“Nothing has really changed my mind,” Butters told reporters on Monday. “I feel like, yeah, the end of season will probably be when I make my decision.
“And I think I’ll be sticking to that all year.
“I’m really enjoying my footy right now, seeing these young kids come through. And I feel like we’ve got a few boys still to come back in with Connor (Rozee) and a few boys still missing, so I think the future is pretty bright.”
Butters is being chased by clubs including Western Bulldogs, Hawthorn, Collingwood, Geelong, Essendon and Richmond.
The triple club champion falls off-contract at Port at season’s end and becomes a restricted free agent, with the South Australian club pledging to match any offer.
Butters spent last week in an unwanted spotlight amid a controversial tribunal case after being found to have abused umpire Nick Foot.
But Butters was cleared when the appeals board ruled he was denied natural justice as tribunal member Jason Johnson was driving at stages of the hearing.
“I keep it pretty clear to myself … keep the off-field stuff to the off-field and worry about my performance foremost and how I control that,” Butters said.
“That’s what I’m paid to do.
“A lot of my time and energy goes into training, getting better as a player, making my teammates better, and being a good leader as well so I’d like to say I fill my cup up with most of that stuff.”
Asked how difficult the case was, Butters replied: “I wouldn’t say it was ideal.
“But difficult or not, I feel like there’s quite a lot of worse things going on in the world.”
AAP
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