Damien Hardwick slams Ross Lyon for ‘AFL nepo baby’ comment

After Ross Lyon labelled Gold Coast ‘the AFL nepo baby’, Damien Hardwick decided to return serve — and the crowd at Marvel Stadium was good ammunition.

Shane Jones

5 min read

May 25, 2025 - 9:06PM

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Gold Coast coach Damien Hardwick says St Kilda coach Ross Lyon’s comments about the Suns, calling them the AFL nepo baby before the contest, were disrespectful to the club.

The Suns recorded their eighth win of the season with a 19-point win over the Saints at Marvel Stadium.

But there was drama before the contest with Lyon making strong comments about the Suns to Fox Footy’s Sarah Jones.

Jones asked how the Saints would handle the Suns talent to which Lyon responded ‘I’m a little bit concerned, they are chock full of talent aren’t they, the AFL nepo baby.’

Lyon’s comments suggested the AFL helped create the Suns recent success in the competition, rather than Gold Coast being there on merit.

Hardwick said post-game Lyon should focus on what he’s doing at St Kilda, rather than talking about his club like that.

"Chock full of talent, aren't they? The AFL nepo baby." ðŸ‘€

Ross Lyon speaks on the Saints facing the Suns! ðŸ‘Š

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“It’s a little bit disrespectful I think,” he said.

“Trust me I’ve been at Richmond and have 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.

“They had 13,000 here today.

“We’ll just focus on Gold Coast, they should focus on themselves.”

Damien Hardwick. Picture: Michael Klein

Ross Lyon. Picture: Michael Klein

The Lyon comments overshadowed a performance from a maturing Suns side.

The performance wasn’t pretty, at times being under pressure from the Saints, but it was enough for the club’s second win at Marvel Stadium under Hardwick.

The club, now 8-2, has its best start to the season in history and is on track to make finals for the first time.

Of the past 48 teams to start the season 8-2, 46 have gone on to make the finals.

“We were the dominant side for two to three quarters,” he said.

“We looked good and strong in the contest.

“We lost our way a bit in the third and got the ascendency in the fourth.”

While the Gold Coast coach was pleased with his leadership group and the players for getting the win in tough conditions, he wasn’t entirely happy about the game.

Hardwick said he would speak to the AFL during the week about umpires, in particular the attention his tall forwards got during the game.

The Suns are now 8-2. Picture: Getty Images

Gold Coast played with three tall forwards, Jed Walter, Ben King and Ethan Read.

“There’ll be a very strong conversation coming from my coaching panel to the umpire fraternity this week,” he said.

“We didn’t get a hell of a lot of reward for our one-on-one contests.

“You want an even battle, and we understand that, but I thought our guys were man handled all day.

“They are young and inexperienced and they’ll get better at handling it but they need to be given a fair chance.”

Gold Coast plays Fremantle this weekend at home, the club’s first home match at People First Stadium since round seven.

Malcolm Rosas just flipped him over ðŸ˜³#AFLDeadly | #AFLSaintsSuns pic.twitter.com/gJHLJnU2rx
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MATCH REPORT: SUNS MARCH ON

Gold Coast has made the best start to a season in its history, beating St Kilda by 19 points at Marvel Stadium on Sunday night.

The Suns secured their third straight win in a strong performance against a spirited Saints side who provided a stern challenge at times.

The win has moved Gold Coast to third on the ladder, with eight wins and two losses, and created history for the Suns who have never been in this position before.

Only in 2014, under coach Guy McKenna and led by superstar midfielder Gary Ablett Jr, has the Suns started as well, being 7-3 after 10 games.

Gold Coast fans enjoy the win. Picture: Getty Images

The game was won after a dominant first half for the Suns who kicked the opening two goals to set the tone before scoring the last three goals of the first half to open up a 29-point lead.

While St Kilda responded in the middle stages of each quarter, the Suns had an answer every time.

Ben Long, against his former club, kicked three first half goals with Suns captain Noah Anderson leading from the front in the middle with 14 disposals, seven of them contested.

St Kilda responded in the second half, tightening up in defence and using its running game to try to expose the Suns.

It worked but the home team couldn’t punish the opposition on the scoreboard.

The Saints kicked only one goal, through captain Jack Steele, and added six behinds in the third term to reduce the margin to 19 at the final change.

But it could have been better and were made to pay.

St Kilda reduced the margin to 13 in the first few minutes of the final term before Gold Coast settled with three straight goals to end any chance the Saints had of winning.

SUNS IN FINALS HAS TO HAPPEN

Only twice in the past 25 years, since 2000, has a team missed the finals from an 8-2 start to the season. Essendon in 2012 and Carlton in 2022 both missed from that position but history suggests 8-2 is a recipe for finals. Since the millennium a total of 48 teams have been 8-2 in an AFL season. Of them, 46 have made the finals with 21 going on to make the grand final. Gold Coast still hasn’t locked a spot in the finals but statistics suggest history is about to happen.

St Kilda have fallen to 4-7. Picture: Getty Images

WHERE TO FOR ST KILDA

After starting the season in fine form, at 3-1, the Saints season has stumbled in recent weeks, losing six of their past seven matches. But the Saints were far from poor in the contest and could have won if things went their way. St Kilda will rue its third term where it kicked 1.6 and was not able to close the margin to make a better charge in the final quarter. St Kilda faces the in-form Melbourne in the Northern Territory next week before the bye and will be looking for a confidence-boosting win heading into the break.

LONG SHINES AGAIN

It was fitting on Sir Doug Nicholls Round that Ben Long was one of the best for the Suns. His three first half goals were almost the difference and gave the Suns a handy buffer which they were able to hold on to. Long now has 22 goals for the season and the way he attacks the contest and is able to mark above his height has been valuable. Champion Data rates him as one of the top 10 players this season. When you see his impact this season for the Suns, it’s easy to see why.