Outgoing Fremantle president Steve Harris has moved to defend the reputation of Ross Lyon, describing suggestions that the coach was difficult to work with as a "complete bogus beat-up", according to theage.com.au
Standing by the decision to recontract Lyon until the end of 2020 and defending the timing of his own resignation, Harris told Fairfax Media: "I don't know many players or coaches who want to be mediocre.
"I sit in pretty much every post-game debrief that he does with the players. I see what he does and the talent he brings out of them. I call 'complete bogus beat-up' that Ross is difficult to work with or too demanding."
Harris announced his resignation on Sunday with three home-and-away rounds of the Fremantle Dockers' season remaining, and amid speculation about the futures of Hayden Ballantyne and reigning Brownlow medallist Nat Fyfe and following the departure of senior development coach Peter Sumich.
"If I'm an assistant coach and I'm not going to be there next year then I probably want the chance to have more time to seek opportunities,” Harris told Fairfax Media.
“We lost Simon Lloyd and Brett Kirk (at the end of the 2015 season) for family reasons.
Harris throws his support behind Lyon
"They both wanted to head home but no one said it wasn't fun winning the minor premiership last year."
Harris scoffed at suggestions his resignation was linked to the board's decision to commit to Lyon through to the end of the 2020 season.
"When you look at the decision on the coach you look at two things," Harris said.
"You look at the coach you've got and you look at who else is in the market. Ross is a very intelligent man. He's a great strategic thinker and we wanted to lock him in for the long haul.
"What sort of coach would he have been this year if Nat Fyfe hadn't broken his leg? If [Aaron] Sandilands hadn't punctured his lung? If Michael Barlow hadn't broken his collarbone and if we hadn't lost Michael Johnson?
"The fundamentals around the club are solid. We were surprised to fall off that quickly but let's judge us from next year and the year after and how we come back from this."
Steve Harris announcement speech
Harris, who is departing the club at the end of October, said he was handing over the reins to construction magnate Dale Alcock as part of a long-planned succession.
"Would I have liked to have announced the changeover not on the same day as a 10-goal loss to Adelaide? Of course. But I'm not going to work our announcements around the timing of other media stories and speculation," Harris said.
"I'm leaving with the coaches, the administration and the board we require to step up.
"We'd spoken to the AFL and the West Australian Football Commission and we had to get the story out. It's time for fresh leadership. I've been on the board for eight years and president for seven and my business is expanding and I'm spending significant time overseas.
"It's not a bad thing to have change. Were it for a couple of straight kicks in 2013 and a couple of injuries that didn't go our way in '14 and '15 I might be stepping down on a different note, but I can't step on a time machine."
