Ross Lyon has revealed he turned down an approach from Collingwood regarding its senior coaching position due to the current “instability” surrounding the club.
The former St Kilda and Fremantle coach has been the hot tip to take over at one of Collingwood or arch-rivals Carlton, who are expected to part ways with current coach David Teague in coming weeks.
After initially suggesting that he wasn’t interested in returning to AFL coaching circles, Lyon has changed his tune in the last week, and he revealed an advance from Magpies football boss Graham Wright.
“I don’t think Graham Wright would mind, he reached out to a friend to get my number and I was aware and just said respectfully I wouldn’t entertain that for a variety of reasons,” Lyon told Nine’s Footy Classified.
“It’s hard to articulate. Sometimes it’s just sometimes just chemistry.”
Collingwood has been shrouded by off-field controversy all season, with an ugly battle for the presidency taking place behind the scenes between the incumbent Mark Korda and challenger Jeff Browne. Lyon admitted the boardroom antics played a part in his decision.
“If you get a headhunter ring you and you go and meet them and you go for the job, if you haven’t got that chemistry, that happens pretty quick, well it doesn’t happen or it shouldn’t happen,” he said. “If Ed [McGuire] was president of Collingwood it’d be a different story.”
“I think it’s instability. I think Nathan’s a bit unlucky. I don’t know Nathan, Nathan’s not a friend, but just from the outside … I think if you see misalignment it’s a red flag.”
Despite links to the Carlton job, and pushes from individuals assoicated with the club for him to be the next coach, Lyon said he would be a second choice behind Alastair Clarkson.
“If an opportunity arose, and I say that with the greatest respect to Carlton, and they rang me, I would entertain it, but I also understand that I haven’t got tickets on myself, it’s a red-hot field, Alastair Clarkson is available,” he said.
“Yes, [I’ll] certainly take the call and consider it. I am aware, there’s enough Carlton people, famous Carlton people, premiership players, coaches, ex-champions that are advocating in a sense because they’ve worked with me or know me personally and understand their club and there’s those sort of connections, so I do know that’s occurring as well.”
Lyon added that he believed Clarkson would become Carlton’s next coach after his Hawthorn exit was finalised earlier in the year, echoing what leading AFL columnist Caroline Wilson has reported all year.
“What I will say to you Caroline is you were spot on with Alastair at Hawthorn the whole way and it was spot on,” he said.
“As part of that you were saying, I’ll paraphrase, but that Alastair Clarkson would coach the Carlton Football Club.
“Me, with all the intelligence that I have within the marketplace, I think that they’ll speak to Alastair at the right time, which is next week and I think you haven’t been wrong yet and I still don’t think you’re wrong.”
Carlton’s current coach David Teague is currently contracted through the 2022 season.