Brisbane Lions captain Harris Andrews, football boss Danny Daly respond to US trip reports

Brisbane Lions captain Harris Andrews and footy boss Danny Daly have faced the media over the off-season US trip that has caused a stir in the football world, denying it has caused a rift in the playing group.

Brisbane Lions General Manager Football Danny Daly. Picture: NCA NewsWIRE / John Gass

Brisbane co-captain Harris Andrews has shot down reports the playing group became fractured in the wake of an off-season trip to the United States, declaring “the bond is strong” as the Lions look to salvage their season after a 0-3 start.

This masthead reported last week that pictures of players on the US tour were accessed by a partner back home in Australia.

Andrews on Monday claimed “there was never any tension at all” among teammates despite reports there were some difficult conversations between players, friends and family members following the October-November trip.

“I’m fully comfortable,” Andrews declared.

“I’m not walking around going ‘Oh, there’s players bickering’. I feel like I’m really in touch with the group and really confident that everyone is on the same page.

“We’re such a tight group up here. We have to do a fair bit of travelling in-season to go and play in Melbourne, Perth, Adelaide – so we spend a lot of time with each other and as a group there’s certainly no fracture in it at all.”

Brisbane Lions Co-Captain Harris Andrews at Brisbane Lions training. Picture: NCA NewsWIRE / John Gass

Lions football boss Danny Daly called co-captains Andrews and Lachie Neale on Saturday for a please explain after the story broke late last week.

Daly said there “was no meeting per-se” and each phone conversation lasted “for about one minute”, during which both Andrews and Neale “categorically” denied there was a rift within the playing group.

Andrews said he “didn’t really know much about” the US trip as he had been holidaying in Europe at the time.

“It’s been a bit of a storm but us as a group we can’t control what other people say and what goes on,” he said of media reports.

“Clearly we haven’t had the start we’ve wanted and people go outside the box to try and think of reasons why we might not have started the way we wanted.”

Speaking first from a pre-prepared statement, Daly said the club was “initially reluctant to speak on this because as a club we don’t really comment on publicity of our players’ personal lives and relationships.”

Brisbane Lions General Manager Football Danny Daly. Picture: NCA NewsWIRE / John Gass

“But now I feel the need to speak on behalf of the club and in support of our players when their partners and families were brought into this by some poor, insensitive and factually incorrect media reporting.

“I want to confirm that there was no crisis meeting over the weekend. I called our co-captains to confirm that there were no issues in the playing group and both of them assured me that there weren’t.

“I will again strongly say today that there is no divide in our playing group and our leaders have again confirmed this.

“The trip is also not the reason why we are 0-3 at the minute.

“I want to assure our members and fans most importantly that this group is fully united as a playing group and fully focused on turning our season around.”

Daly was asked if the club was happy with the transparency of its players throughout the process, given the football department and board members were unaware of any issues stemming from the US trip.

“There are some issues that we don’t need to be aware of,” he said.

“It’s an end of season trip of our players that are on leave and whatever happened on that trip wasn’t to the extent the football club needed to know about it.

“There weren’t any policies they went outside of that we need to address. The issues were of a personal nature and that’s where it will be left.”

Brisbane Lions players on their end-of-season trip to the USA in late 2023. Picture: Supplied

Daly was also asked if the club would change its approach to off-season player trips in the future.

“As a football club and (due to) PA (Players’ Association) arrangements we’re not allowed to determine what the players do in their off-season,” he said.

“They obviously have to do a whereabouts to the AFL of where they’re at but outside of that they’re off limits in terms of our contact with them or communication.”

The off-field drama broke less than 24 hours after the Lions stumbled to a 0-3 start following a 20-point loss to Collingwood on Easter Thursday.

It is the first time since 2018 the Lions have failed to win at least one of their first three matches.

Not since the 2019 finals series has Chris Fagan’s side dropped consecutive home games.

The Lions will fly to Adelaide on Wednesday ahead of a Friday afternoon clash with North Melbourne.

Andrews said the coming month would be a test of the playing group’s grit and his own leadership.

“It’s easy to be a leader when you’re playing in a prelim and going off to a grand final – it’s easy to do the showcase there,” he said.

“But as a leader and within our leadership group we have some challenges as the moment with our own performance and our ability to drag ourselves out of that will be a great challenge and I know I’m really excited for it.

“I still have plenty of confidence in this group.”

Neale rolled his ankle in the third quarter against Collingwood on Thursday night.

He did not train with teammates on Monday however Daly said the club was confident he would be fit to face the Kangaroos.