St Kilda coach Ross Lyon has publicly confirmed that he offered to consider his position after offending a group of Indigenous players during a training session, endorsing everything that Caroline Wilson reported on The Agenda Setters.
Wilson broke the story on Monday night, revealing that Lyon became emotional when confronted by three Indigenous players who took exception to a comment made before the club’s bye at the start of April.
During a training drill, three Indigenous players linked up and Lyon said, “I love the Brotherboy connection but we all have to remember we are part of a bigger team here.” The comment did not go down well with St Kilda’s players, including club leader Bradley Hill and superstar Nasiah Wanganeen-Milera.
Lyon and the players met in the days after the incident, where the coach became emotional and offered to consider his position. Arriving at the club on Tuesday morning, Lyon confirmed everything in Wilson’s report was true.
“Well, I’m really happy to (say) it was an accurate story,” he told Sunrise. “Culture’s really important and behaviour’s really important, and I made an error, unintentionally. (I) resolved it with my players and I’m thankful for their support.”
Asked if he offered to consider his position as St Kilda’s senior coach, Lyon said: “Caro was great, she’s a really good journalist. We spoke and she had the story and I didn’t shy away from it and everything’s accurate. As I said, it’s been resolved, dealt with, and I’m thankful for my players’ support. As a leader of the club, it’s important that you get it right every time.”
Since the story emerged on Monday night, both Hill and Wanganeen-Milera have declared their public support for Lyon on Instagram. Hill shared a photo of the three of them with the caption: “Sorry Caro but we love Ross.” Wanganeen-Milera re-shared the same photo and added: “Ross the goat.”
On Tuesday, Lyon continued to reiterate his gratitude for the players’ support. “Well you’d have to talk to the players, but I’m really thankful for their support, and in particular post the story, their really powerful social media posts. Have you checked them?” he said. “What I learned is we’re all only as good as our next moment and it’s good to be held to account and, for everyone in the AFL industry, we need to stay vigilant. It’s not a bad thing.”
In his statement issued to The Agenda Setters on Monday night, the coach took full responsibility for everything he did. “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? I learned a lot out of what happened. It didn’t land where it should have landed and I have to wear that and I take full responsiblity for what I said. I was very emotional at the meeting, and I offered to consider my position.”
Wilson reported that the players were satisfied and “absolutely accepted” that Lyon said the wrong thing, but “in no way meant to be racist”. “Now, I can tell you that everyone got a bit emotional at this meeting. The players and Ross all hugged,” she continued. “I asked Ross whether he felt that the issue had been resolved. He didn’t want to speak for his players. He’s spoken to Bradley Hill tonight as a result of knowing what we’re going to report on the show. 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. 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’.”
