Gold Coast coach Damien Hardwick has taken umbrage at St Kilda counterpart Ross Lyon’s ‘AFL nepo baby’ jibe after steering his side to a gritty 19-point win in enemy territory.
The Suns withstood a stern Saints challenge after half-time at Marvel Stadium on Sunday, extending their club-record start to the season with an important 12.8 (80) to 8.13 (61) victory.
It meant Gold Coast moved to 8-2 for the first time in their 15-year history and maintained third spot on the ladder in pursuit of a maiden finals berth.
Hardwick was pleased with his side’s ability to win ‘ugly’ but was less impressed with Lyon’s pre-game comments.
Asked before the bounce about the looming tactical battle with Hardwick, Lyon told Fox Footy: ‘I’m a little bit concerned. They’re choc-full of talent, aren’t they, the AFL nepo baby?’
Lyon’s comment was delivered with a laugh, but Hardwick certainly didn’t see the funny side.
St Kilda coach Ross Lyon (pictured) described the Gold Coast Suns as the AFL’s ‘nepo baby’ before the two teams clashed on Sunday
The insult drew a stinging reply from Suns boss Damien Hardwick (pictured)
‘It’s a little bit disrespectful,’ Hardwick said.
‘Trust me, I’ve been at Richmond and then I’ve come to the Gold Coast; we don’t get a lot.
‘What St Kilda should do is make sure they focus on their own backyard instead of trying to bring everyone else down.’
Hardwick also fired a shot at St Kilda, pointing out the low attendance figure of 13,486.
It was the Saints’ smallest crowd at Marvel Stadium and lowest attendance at a home game in Melbourne since 2002.
‘They had 13,000 people here today,’ Hardwick said.
‘We’ll just focus on Gold Coast and they should focus on themselves.’
Lyon wasn’t overly concerned about the low attendance figure, putting it down to several factors.
The outburst from Lyon (pictured) also infuriated Suns CEO Mark Evans, who said it implied that the AFL is corrupt
‘I don’t think it’s my brief, but timeslot, interstate (opponent), low membership/following, expansion club, our performance against West Coast the week before – I think it all goes into the melting pot,’ Lyon said.
Suns CEO Mark Evans didn’t hold back over Lyon’s insult.
‘I thought the comments were offensive and out of order,’ Evans said.
‘Offensive in that the word implies corruption and favouritism, so that really stabs at the club’s hard work over a lot of years.
‘We haven’t always had the best history at stuff. We lost a lot of players, we had to rebuild. We knew we were going to reset through the draft.’
Evans then paid tribute to Lyon’s past work with St Kilda, referencing their 2010 tied grand final with Collingwood.
‘It [Lyon’s comments] would be like me getting up and saying, “Oh, the only reason they’ve made the grand final is because they were gifted Nick Riewoldt, Luke Ball and Justin Koschitzke.’
Hardwick entered the Saints contest with a horror 1-9-1 record as a coach at Marvel Stadium since his infamous declaration – when in charge of Richmond four years ago – that he hated playing there.
But Suns captain Noah Anderson (36 disposals, 11 clearances) and former skipper Touk Miller (30 touches, one goal) helped ensure the latest visit had a happy ending.
Ben Long kicked three majors against his former team, while Sam Collins marshalled the Gold Coast defence.
The only sour note for the Suns was a right ankle injury to Mac Andrew, who limped off with five minutes left in his 50th game.
The Suns had the last laugh on the field, running out 19-point winners at Marvel Stadium
Hardwick said the key defender would be ‘touch and go’ for next Saturday’s home clash with Fremantle.
Gold Coast’s connection and conversion in the front half were the difference as they kicked 29 points clear by half-time.
St Kilda fought back into the contest in the third quarter and dominated possession for a period, but often let themselves down with poor execution.
They drew within 13 points early in the final term when Cooper Sharman (three goals) hit the scoreboard.
But Suns spearhead Ben King, who was otherwise well held by Callum Wilkie, kicked two crucial last-quarter goals to help steady his side.
Nasaiah Wanganeen-Milera had a career-high 35 disposals and one goal, with Jack Steele (33 touches, one goal) and Jack Sinclair (29, one) also busy for St Kilda.
