Ross Lyon ’excited’ to contend for Carlton coaching job

Just a day after Carlton sacked David Teague as coach, the club’s boss has given a massive hint as to who his replacement could be.

Ross Lyon has thrown his hat into the ring for the Carlton coaching job. (AAP Image/Gary Day)

Ross Lyon has emerged as the frontrunner to replace David Teague as Carlton coach after it was revealed he has already had a lengthy private discussion with the club’s boss.

Teague, who coached Carlton for two-and-a-half years, was officially sacked on Thursday after the club digested the findings of a review into the club’s football department.

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Many pundits expected the decision would be announced on Monday, but Carlton kept everyone guessing by delaying making a call on the coach until word finally filtered out Teague had been axed. He reportedly told the playing group of the news on Thursday morning.

Now the search for the Carlton next coach has ramped up significantly and it appears the Blues hierarchy has already set its sights on its number one candidate.

Carlton president Luke Sayers has revealed he had a lengthy discussion with veteran AFL mentor Ross Lyon, further fuelling speculation he is the leading contender to replace Teague.

“What I can tell you is I did have a conversation with Ross (Lyon) last night. A general conversation for about 45 minutes,” Sayers told SEN.

Ross Lyon is the leading contender to replace David Teague. (Photo by Paul Kane/Getty Images)

“Ross is excited to put his hat in the ring once we figure out whatever is the process to move forward at the Carlton footy club.

“Now we pivot and we’re looking for the best coach that we can possibly get to get a fantastic group winning games, into the finals next year and away we go.”

Sayers said Carlton’s board had respected Teague’s wish not to have discussions on his coaching future until the end of the season, but the time was right to accelerate the process of trying to find his replacement.

“We fulfilled David’s (Teague) desire to not have the conversations and the engagement pre-year end, wait until after the home and away season had finished,” he said.

“We’re going to try and accelerate through the process.

“We’ll probably get the board together today, it might slip into Saturday, but just don’t have the process agreed at board level – timing, who’s going to do it, all that sort of stuff.”

Lyon enjoyed successful coaching stints at St Kilda and Fremantle, leading both sides to grand finals. He was sacked by Fremantle at the end of 2019.

The 54-year-old, who has previously expressed interest in the Carlton job, would become the Blues’ ninth coach since 2000 if he is appointed.

Sayers said the Carlton board is now deciding the best way to undertake the interview process.

In the past week, Lyon’s candidacy has been muddied by what has been described as a smear campaign.

Lyon took both St Kilda and Fremantle to Grand Finals. (Photo by Paul Kane/Getty Images)

On Wednesday, he dismissed two points of friction reported to have impacted his claim for the now-vacant coaching role.

Lyon was accused of making “grubby” comments last week when he admitted publicly he was interested in the job, despite Teague fighting for his coaching life before the team’s Round 23 loss to GWS.

That was followed this week with a suggestion from Fox Footy senior reporter Tom Morris that some members of the Carlton board were clouded by a confidential settlement reached with a former staffer over an alleged incident with Lyon at a Fremantle Christmas function. The AFL integrity unit investigated the alleged incident and found there was no wrongdoing on Lyon’s part.

The 54-year-old responded on Wednesday night and said public discussion of the incident “needs to stop here”.

“I’m disappointed by the timing of it with my name being bandied about. I’m disappointed for a whole bunch of reasons,” he said on Footy Classified.

Footy great Gerard Healy said on Fox Footy’s On The Couch on Monday it was farcical that sections of Carlton would now be impacted by Lyon’s exit from Fremantle, having had two years to learn of the incident before making him a top candidate.

Originally published as Ross Lyon ’excited’ to contend for Carlton coaching job