‘Unthinkable’: Garry Lyon destroys Gold Coast over Hugh Greenwood mess

Garry Lyon has erupted at the Gold Coast Suns for making an unfathomable decision that allowed a key player to waltz right out the door.

The Suns have stuffed it up big time. Photo: Jason Edwards and Getty Images.

Garry Lyon has unloaded on the Suns after they let Hugh Greenwood get snatched up by a rival because they were trying to be too fancy with their list management.

AFL fans and pundits were stunned to learn on Monday Greenwood had signed with North Melbourne after Gold Coast’s decision to de-list the former Adelaide star blew up in the club’s face.

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The Suns de-listed Greenwood, along with Rory Thompson and Jez McLennan, at the end of the 2021 season to allow for greater flexibility at the national draft table later this month, but had been planning on picking the trio back up in the rookie draft.

Greenwood confirmed on Twitter last week he was staying put on the glitter strip but apologised when that statement turned out to be false after the Kangaroos offered him a deal too good to pass up.

It was a raid the Suns never saw coming.

Gold Coast has never played finals footy and Melbourne champion Lyon blasted the Queensland club for opening the door and allowing Greenwood to walk out, even though the Suns wanted him to stay.

“How do you arrive on the fact that Hugh Greenwood, of all the players on your list, is the one that might get passed on?” Lyon said on SEN Breakfast. “I know he’s had a knee injury, but Hugh Greenwood is everything the Gold Coast Suns aspire to be and never have been in their short period of existence.

“He is hard working, he is consistent, he is uncompromising, his standards don’t alter from week to week, he’s tough, he wins contested ball, he tackles, he plays his guts out every single time he takes the field and he’s the one player they think no one else is going to want to bid on?

“It is just unthinkable on every level. It’s an embarrassment on this footy club.”

The Suns have nobody to blame but themselves. Pic: Michael Klein

Lyon didn’t stop there, continuing to tear strips off the Suns and calling out the “bulls***” belief other clubs would leave Greenwood alone because even though he was de-listed, they knew Gold Coast was planning to pick him up again at the rookie draft.

“He is everything they aspire to be and they let him walk out the door. Not only did they let him walk out the door, they facilitated him walking out the door,” Lyon said on SEN.

“Clearly they were trying to be too smart … you don’t open the door to having the fabric of your club ripped in half. He’s a fabric player.

“They think we’re all going to play by the rules of a gentleman’s agreement? Bulls**t … ‘He’s going to make our club better so we’re going to get him’.

“They’re not getting better. They (the Suns) are kicking own goals in their own backyard when they can’t afford to.

“You wonder why you’re vulnerable? You’re vulnerable because you make decisions like this and the good clubs and ruthless clubs will just rip you apart.”

Meanwhile, Kangaroos coach David Noble revealed on Monday night his wife Sarah tipped him off to Greenwood’s availability.

“I read the news on Wednesday after my wife actually rang me,” Noble said on 3AW radio.

“I was just about to board the plane when she sent me a text saying, ‘You should jump on to afl.com’. So I can’t take all the credit. She was very sleuth in her observations.”

Noble said 48 hours later he had made contact with Greenwood and the situation unfolded dramatically from there.

After the host of the radio show Gerard Healy joked that Sarah had been a “super sleuth”, Noble responded: “She might be my secret weapon.”

Originally published as ‘Unthinkable’: Garry Lyon destroys Gold Coast over Hugh Greenwood mess