Fremantle senior coach Ross Lyon believes the club can use the Ryan Crowley situation as a catalyst to focus on the job at hand.
Crowley is awaiting a hearing date before the AFL Tribunal after a sample he provided on a match day after Fremantle’s round 17 game last year tested positive to a banned substance.
The banned substance was contained in a painkiller, which was not prescribed by a club doctor.
Lyon said he was limited as to what he could say regarding the issue.
"At the end of the day I can only control, what I can control," he said.
"It was well out of my realm, there’s strict protocols and the level of detail you can get.
"Even if we go back to last week’s press conference, it wasn’t an ideal situation for me, was it?
"I’m here to talk about our footy club..there’s noise about Ryan, I can’t answer.
"I can’t answer what I don’t know and it’s certainly controlled by the player’s lawyer and the player.
"In an ideal situation, the press release that occurred Monday would have occurred prior to me coming in (last week) because I was in an invidious situation, which I didn’t enjoy."
Lyon believes there’s an element of relief for Crowley, but now it’s all about focusing on what can be controlled ahead of Sunday’s NAB Challenge clash against West Coast.
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“He (Crowley) seems pretty bubbly, buying in to team meetings,” Lyon said.
“I just spoke to the playing group…‘look this is going on, but what’s important for us is it’s our workplace, if Ryan cares to engage you and take you offsite and have a talk, well he can do that’.
“Clearly it can be (a distraction)
“If you start thinking about those things and being distracted, use that as a stimulus to focus on what’s important, and what’s important for us concentrating in meetings, going out and actioning where we want to improve.
“And just using the whole thing as a stimulus to say ‘well OK, I’ll get back to what’s important which is action’.”
Bounce down against West Coast at Domain Stadium is 4.10pm WST.
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