An emotional Ross Lyon offered to consider his position as St Kilda coach after making an inappropriate comment about Indigenous players at a training session earlier this month.
Channel 7’s Caroline Wilson broke the story on The Agenda Setters, revealing the incident happened 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.”
Wilson reported the comment did not go down well with St Kilda’s players, including Indigenous leader Bradley Hill and superstar Nasiah Wanganeen-Milera.
The incident happened on the Friday and on Saturday, Hill rang Lyon to “communicate his displeasure”.
Lyon and the players then met on Monday when the coach became emotional and offered to consider his position.
“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 in a statement to The Agenda Setters.
“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 responsibility 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”.
She added that, “he (Lyon) doesn’t think he’s racist and he certainly was horrified at how much he had hurt those players.”
More to come ...
