Saints CEO says Ross Lyon is ‘running a pretty safe environment’; Pies opt to rest Pendlebury

St Kilda chief executive officer Carl Dilena says no further action is needed over the incident between Ross Lyon and the club’s Indigenous players, saying the “innocent oversight” that prompted the veteran coach to offer to reconsider his position at the club has been resolved internally.

In fact, Dilena said he only became aware of the incident on Monday night, shortly before it was made public by Age columnist Caroline Wilson on Channel Seven’s Agenda Setters.

Wilson revealed Lyon offered to reconsider his position as St Kilda coach after a learning a comment he made at training had upset Indigenous players at the club.

Wilson reported on the program that 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.”

In a radio interview with Gerard Whateley on SEN, Dilena said he became aware of the incident on Monday night, before Wilson’s segment went to air.

“It was a pretty innocent oversight by Ross, not meaning any harm, and it shows that he’s running a pretty safe environment with our First Nations boys where they were comfortable to raise it with him, discuss it and sort it out harmoniously,” he said.

“They sorted it out between themselves like any mishap.

“It was a positive outcome. Even though Ross says he was very emotional about it – because the last thing he wants to do is upset our First Nations players who he is very close with – it’s a matter in the workplace that got resolved and didn’t need to be elevated beyond that.”

Lyon told Wilson his comments “didn’t land where it should have landed” and could have been construed as “casual racism”.

When asked if Lyon’s comments constituted casual racism, Dilena said “you had to look at it through the lens of the person receiving the comment”.

“There’d be people out there going, ‘Really, was that very serious?’, and Ross didn’t think anything of it at the time,” he said.

“Yet it is very challenging and as we’ve seen in various instances it’s how it’s received more so than how it’s delivered. That’s always the challenge with casual racism or unconscious bias.

“People don’t think of it, but probably need to be more aware of it.”

After Wilson’s segment aired, St Kilda Indigenous player Bradley Hill posted a picture of himself and Wanganeen-Milera arm-in-arm with Lyon on social media on Monday night, with the caption “Sorry Caro, we love Ross”.

Dilena said the club would learn from the experience and said they would be considerate and conscious of the impact of words.

Rest before record for evergreen Pendlebury

Jon Pierik

Collingwood great Scott Pendlebury will be rested from Thursday night’s blockbuster against Hawthorn, as the Magpies continue to weigh up selection and commercial realities ahead of his record-breaking game.

Pendlebury, 38, has played 431 games and will equal North Melbourne champion Brent Harvey’s record of 432 when he next lines up.

The Magpies face Geelong at the MCG in a fortnight, when it’s now expected Pendlebury will equal Harvey’s record, but they then must determine whether he breaks the record outright against premiership contender Sydney at the SCG, or is again rested and waits until the home clash against the West Coast at the MCG in round 11 when more than 90,000 could be expected to attend.

Pendlebury had a career-high 43 disposals and a whopping 19 score involvements against Essendon on Anzac Day, where he was best afield, but has told McRae he wants to be rested this week.

McRae said there had not been any consideration to limiting his minutes against the Bombers, particularly late in the game when the Magpies had all but secured the four points, so he could play this week. He played 92 per cent of game time in the final quarter.

“I don’t want to forecast the future, but it might [have been] his last ever Anzac Day [game]. So, to enjoy that whole experience, and then athletes – in the zone, they are in flow – there’s all that. But, ultimately, we listen to our athletes and what they want to do,” McRae said.

“He won’t play this game, but he’ll play Geelong, and we’ll see where that goes. Again, we’ll have a conversation when that game is done. [Consider] how his body is, and then we all weight up performance, too. It’s a delicate balance this one.”

However, McRae said he had had “some conversations with the executive team” about the commercial aspect and preparation that went into planning Pendlebury’s milestone game.

“Truthfully, I said: ‘Can you just keep that on the other side of the building because we are here to perform. We just get that right’,” McRae said.

“Then, obviously, there has to be plans for the future because there are all sorts of things going on behind the scenes to celebrate Pendles because we don’t want to miss that. So we’ll let people do that, and we’ll just live in our space and get our job done there.”

McRae said the Magpies wanted Pendlebury fit and healthy come the business end of the season.

While Pendlebury will be rested, McRae confirmed skipper Darcy Moore has cleared all fitness hurdles and would return from a hamstring strain for just his second game of the season. Moore trained strongly on Tuesday, and completed sprint work.

Midfielder Ned Long, rested against the Bombers, appears the likely replacement for Pendlebury.

“Yeah, yeah, there’s some decisions made accordingly [at selection last week],” McRae said.

Small forward Bobby Hill was again active around goal, having made his return to football via the VFL last weekend when he played 40 per cent of the game. McRae said the 2023 Norm Smith medallist would play up to 80 per cent game time this weekend in the VFL, but refused to declare when he would be available for senior selection.

“I often say people have got to go through things to be better, and he is working through that,” McRae said.

The Magpies again come face-to-face with Jack Ginnivan, who was traded amid acrimony after the club’s 2023 premiership to the Hawks. Ginnivan had annoyed the Magpies by attending the Moonee Valley races on grand final eve, prompting McRae to say he had failed to “read the room”.

Ginnivan was a goal-kicking forward with the Magpies, but has since blossomed into a fine all-round player with the Hawks, pushing into the midfield and further afield in a team McRae rates as “the best team in the competition right now”.

“It’s really good to see Jack playing well. I’m watching him play different roles, wing and half-forward. He’s always been a clever player,” McRae said.

McRae said the Magpies were still in the hunt for Gold Coast forward Ben King, a restricted free agent who has been offered a two-year contract extension by the Suns.

“He’ll be a free agent we are interested in, but a ‘race’ is an interesting terminology. I will leave that up to ‘Leppa’ [list and talent boss Justin Leppitsch], and our list management committee. We meet monthly. His name is still up on the board, as far as I am aware,” McRae said.

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