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St Kilda coach Ross Lyon has addressed his player group after the club’s IT department committed an embarrassing bungle that gave rival clubs the chance to download sensitive audio.
The Saints released a statement on Wednesday confirming a file containing coaches-box audio had been uploaded to a league-wide shared folder last Saturday.
The file, which was meant to be a muted version of the behind-the-goals vision, was from St Kilda’s 35-point pre-season win over Essendon last week.
It was available to download for several hours before the Saints realised their error and took it down.
It’s unclear whether anyone accessed the audio before it was taken down.
If they did, they would have had access to the inner workings of Lyon and his coaching staff just weeks out from the start of the AFL season.
St Kilda chief executive Simon Lethlean said the club wouldn’t be conducting a witch hunt over the error.
“I don’t think the IT guys knew the audio was on and being attached (to the vision),” Lethlean told SEN.
“We haven’t heard anything to suggest anyone has downloaded it. But Ross dealt with it with the playing group to let them know.”
The Saints have since replaced the behind-the-goals vision with a muted version, which is standard protocol.
“This upload occurred through human error, which was corrected as soon as we were notified,” St Kilda’s acting football manager David Misson said in a statement.
“There is no certainty that this file has been accessed and downloaded by anybody, however, regardless of the low risk, we wanted to be on the front foot and proactive in our response.
“Our focus is on creating a program with high integrity, open communication and care for our people.
“As a matter of course, we addressed this issue directly with our playing group.”
Nine News reporter Tony Jones described the audio leak as ‘a great source of embarrassment for the St Kilda footy club… and Ross Lyon in particular’.
Ross Lyon addresses his St Kilda players. (Photo by Michael Willson/AFL Photos via Getty Images)
“Let’s just say the fear is the language was quite fruity, and the assessment of some of the players was quite frank,” Jones said.
“To preempt any shock and embarrassment that might come when this audio is leaked, Ross has actually spoken to the players one-on-one today – those who might be, let’s say, a bit put out by his views on them.”
St Kilda’s season starts on March 19 with an intriguing clash with Fremantle at Marvel Stadium.
Lyon was axed as Dockers coach at the tail-end of 2019 and rejoined St Kilda in October for a second stint at the helm.
(AAP)
Geelong, Brisbane and Richmond have been deemed the likeliest three clubs to see September action, according to the 18 AFL captains.
In the league’s annual survey released on the eve of the season, all 17 rival skippers backed the Lions to make the finals for a fifth year in a row, making them the only unanimous choice.
Both the Cats and Tigers received 16 votes each to finish close behind, with Sydney and Melbourne (15), Fremantle (12), Collingwood (11) and Carlton (9) rounding out the top eight. The Western Bulldogs (6) were the only unfavoured finalist from 2022.
The Cats were also far and away the favourite among the captains to make a second straight grand final, receiving eight votes, well ahead of the Demons and Lions (four apiece); the Swans and Tigers (one each) were the only other teams to get the nod.
There was a more diverse range of responses when the captains were asked to tip a 2023 Brownlow Medallist, with eight different players selected.
Demons star Clayton Oliver (5) was the most popular choice, ahead of Andrew Brayshaw and Lachie Neale (three apiece).
There were two clear standouts in the Coleman Medal race – Tiger Tom Lynch and Cat Jeremy Cameron received six votes apiece from the captains, the only players to be selected multiple times.
Interestingly, among the one-off votes were Fremantle veteran Nat Fyfe, ahead of a looming move to the forward line in 2023, as well as new Lion Jack Gunston, while only one captain tipped Carlton’s Charlie Curnow to go back-to-back.
While ten different young guns were tipped to win the 2023 Rising Star Award, Brisbane’s Will Ashcroft stood clear above the rest, with a whopping eight votes – six ahead of the next-best, Western Bulldog Sam Darcy.
The captains have a mixed record when it comes to forecasting the season ahead: last year, not a single skipper backed the Cats to make the grand final, while just two had Patrick Cripps winning the Brownlow.
However, five foresaw Collingwood gun Nick Daicos claiming the Rising Star Award.
The captains are set to meet at Marvel Stadium in Melbourne on Thursday afternoon for the official AFL season launch.
Clayton Oliver of the Demons and Jy Simpkin of the Kangaroos look on. (Photo by Graham Denholm/Getty Images)
Football journalist Caroline Wilson has hit out at North Melbourne coach Alastair Clarkson over his comments towards a female reporter in Febuary.
Clarkson issued an apology to Nine’s Elisabeth Moss after an altercation as she sought comment from the coach regarding allegations of harrassment and intimidation against Kangaroo Tarryn Thomas.
Clarkson told Moss ‘your time will come’, but later claimed the comment was a misunderstanding; however, the 54-year old also said he ‘can’t guarantee’ similar incidents won’t happen in future.
Speaking on the Don’t Shoot the Messenger podcast: Wilson urged Clarkson to ‘grow up’ in a scathing attack.
“He has behaved in such ridiculous fashion,” she said.
“He‘s back where he was in those early bad years of Hawthorn where he was threatening the media. ’Your time will come, you’ll get yours’ – I reckon he said the same thing to Craig Hutchison one night on Footy Classified, swearing once at Mark Robinson as he left a press conference.
“It doesn‘t matter who the journalist was, but it happened to be a young female journo. ‘Your time will come’: I mean, seriously, when she was apparently upsetting him by asking some very fair questions of Tarryn Thomas.
Alastair Clarkson. (Photo by Darrian Traynor/Getty Images)
“Tarryn Thomas is a North Melbourne footballer with some great troubles and a chequered history relating to women. Now, I‘m sorry, but the media has every right to question Tarryn Thomas’ return to the North Melbourne training group.”
Wilson also suggested the Kangaroos playing group must also have some issue with Clarkson’s comments, saying the veteran coach did ‘a Wayne Carey apology’ of equivocating rather than admitting fault.
“This sort of notion that players love coaches who back them to the hilt and back the team to the hilt and don‘t care if they abuse the media – surely players are not that gullible and stupid?” Wilson asked.
“For Alastair, with all the issues he‘s had, to do something like this and then for it to be so serious that the club has made it clear and he’s agreed to go into Channel 9 and issue an apology, and then not to apologise and continue to rant or name other bugbears or not properly apologise or do a Wayne Carey apology, is just beyond the pale.
“I’m really disappointed in him and I think other coaches are too.”
© AAP
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