St Kilda CEO Carl Dilena says Ross Lyon was not being disrespectful with ‘nepo baby’ comment

The Saints are set to ramp up their fight against the academy selection process, as a war of words breaks out after Ross Lyon’s “nepo baby” whack at the Suns.

Damien Hardwick v Ross Lyon.

St Kilda chief executive Carl Dilena says the Saints will step up their fight against the avalanche of northern academy selections as the Suns hit back at Ross Lyon’s “offensive” comments that attacked their club’s character.

As a war of words broke out over a national draft that is set to be the most compromised in history, Dilena made clear St Kilda feared for equalisation in the AFL in coming years.

He told the Herald Sun by the time Tasmania was handed its suite of draft picks in 2027, a first-round draft pick might land in the 40s given continuing northern states access to academies.

Dilena said Lyon had not meant to be disrespectful with his “nepo baby” comment about the Suns and St Kilda did not want to be seen as whinging about their plight.

He said the AFL’s changes to the draft bidding system had not gone far enough, adamant St Kilda would take its fight behind closed doors.

The Saints will put another submission to the AFL this year to ensure the league is aware of the gravity of continuing to allow northern states clubs a pipeline of talent.

It comes as the AFL reviews access to academies across the competition and Brownlow Medallist Gerard Healy urges the league to crack down on academy eligibility for Victorian players who have already come through traditional pathways.

“We didn’t mean to be offensive as such. Ross is a longstanding advocate for an uncompromised draft. If you look forward to the next five years, that is a real concern for us,” Dilena told this masthead.

“We will get a bit more constructive about it and engage with the right people and not air our grievances which can get twisted.

“We will keep talking about it and engage with AFL head office and the AFL Commission through the appropriate channels. Growing northern markets is for the greater good but can you do it in a way that doesn’t decimate the southern markets?”

“If clubs keep their northern academies with the system in place it will grow GWS and Gold Coast but other clubs who aren’t (expansion clubs) continue to benefit from that. They have already won a truckload of premierships and how long does that need to go on for?”

Brisbane will this year draft a third consecutive top-five midfielder in Daniel Annable after Will and Levi Ashcroft despite playing in three preliminary finals and two Grand Finals in the past three seasons.

Damien Hardwick. Picture: Michael Klein

Ross Lyon. Picture: Michael Klein

“Ross’s issue is that he isn’t sure the competition fully understands the continuing impact for clubs in the competition,” Dilena said.

“It’s not a St Kilda thing, it’s access to talent. If you had these current rules in place for the concessions Tasmania will receive in 2027, a first-round pick would come in at about pick 40.”

Evans said on Monday the comments were “offensive and out of order” and implied “corruption and favouritism”.

He told the Herald Sun: “This felt like a jab at the club and its character and overlooked all of the hard work it has taken to get ourselves into a position where we are not in the bottom reaches of the ladder,” he said.

“Collingwood has three All Australian father-sons and a good next generation academy player. The Dogs have had a good run with father-sons (Sam Darcy, Tom Liberatore, Mitch Wallis, Rhylee West) and an NGA forward (Jamarra Ugle-Hagan). St Kilda posted a photo of the sons of Riewoldt, Montagna and Hayes. Imagine if they played good footy and St Kilda argued against their ability to play for St Kilda?”

Evans said quibbling over the price paid by the Suns to match academy bids ignored the fact many clubs were in a position to secure free agents without handing over a pick.

“So long as the rest of the system is being evaluated that is fine. Do you really care about a ten per cent discount (on matching academy kids) at the same time as Brisbane gets access to the very best free agent and doesn’t even have to give up pick 18. Which one do you want to attack?”

Dilena said under the current system clubs playing off for Grand Finals had been able to pick up the best kids in the land as father-sons and NGA talents the next season.

“We like the romance of the father-son rule. We aren’t suggesting the AFL gets rid of it. But should a premiership team be able to pick up the number one draft pick in the country? “There had been discussion that if you were top four or top eight you had no access to those concessions to allow lower clubs to rebuild quicker but that didn’t get through.”