‘Look at him differently’: Great’s anger over Eagles skipper’s rival meeting as ‘ugly divorce’ looms

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Demons great and former club captain Garry Lyon says he “can’t have” West Coast co-skipper Oscar Allen meeting with a rival coach about potentially leaving at year’s end, while current GWS captain Toby Greene has also weighed in.

Reports emerged stating Allen, an impending free agent, had recently met with Hawthorn coach Sam Mitchell about the possibility of the 26-year-old joining the Hawks.

Lyon says if he was an Eagles player he’d look at Oscar Allen differently now, asserting he ‘couldn’t have’ a club captain considering rival overtures mid-season.

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“I can come to grips with the fact players are meeting with clubs, but captaincy is different,” Lyon told AFL 360 on Tuesday night.

“That’s where I sit on this ... they’re elected — you’re elected as a captain — so straight away, that puts you into a different category.

“That separates you from the rest of the playing group. You’re the leader ... on field and off, you represent them in front of sponsors and in front of members, in front of the whole of the football club.

“And so, your actions then are absolutely reflective of where this footy club sits.”

Lyon, who played 226 games for Melbourne and served as its captain between 1991 and 1997, couldn’t fathom a club captain demanding commitment from his peers and then secretly taking a meeting with a rival.

“I just can’t have it. I can’t have the elected leader of the football club — who represents the players, who needs to set an example, and before they run down the race eyeballs them and asks for a commitment and an effort and all that sort of stuff — then be meeting with an opposition coach,” continued Lyon.

“Now, if that puts me into the old-fashioned, old man category, then fair enough. I just think it’s hard now for those players to look at him, (who will ask) ‘are you with us or not?’

“Players are doing it (meeting with rival clubs) all the time, but not captains ... I see it as it’s almost letting down the captaincy brethren — that’s the way I look at it.”

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In a damning statement, Lyon said if he were an Eagles player, he now wouldn’t be able to look at Allen the same.

“If I’m a player, I would look at Oscar Allen differently today than I did yesterday,” he said.

“And I’m sure there’d be conversations had, and the coach Andrew McQualter has got to deal with it, and it wouldn’t totally surprise me if he stood down as captain.

“Now, that might be overdramatising it, they might all just shrug their shoulders, the modern-day player ... I don’t (accept that), as someone that coveted the captaincy and loved it and understood the responsibility that comes with it.

“That’s not to say that his manager can’t go and talk if that (contemplating his future) is the case. This is what gets me. The minute you take that meeting, you put yourself in this position. The minute you sit down with an opposition coach — as the captain of a club — then you anticipate what is unfolding today and tomorrow and for however long.”

Lyon suggested the Eagles were stalling on a new contract for Allen due to his knee issues of yesteryear, saying: “I think they are, I think they’re worried about his output and his capacity to do it.”

Co-host Gerard Whateley saying the Eagles had to resolve the issue fast.

“Are they worried about his long-term physical capabilities? ... that’s no way to treat a captain either, for what it’s worth,” he said.

“West Coast should bring this to a head in the coming 10 days. They should put the proper offer that Oscar Allen is worthy of as the captain of their football club, or this going to be an ugly divorce over four months, I feel.”

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Giants captain Toby Greene told AFL 360 he’d be feeling nervy walking into the club if he was Allen, saying he couldn’t bring himself to take a meeting with a rival coach.

“You’d be sheepish rocking (up) Monday if that came out in the news,” Greene jokingly said. “Big Oscar would’ve been walking on eggshells, I reckon, today.

“I’d feel pretty bad as captain. I don’t mind it, I think that’s the way the game’s going, but I reckon as captain it doesn’t look great, for sure.”

Greene, who said he’s “never” taken a meeting with a rival club, said we could be set to see more instances like Allen’s.

“I think we’re probably going to see more and more of it. You probably hope it doesn’t get out into the media is probably what you’re hoping as a player, I reckon,” Greene said.

“I think, as captain as well, you’ve sort of got to sit above that and you’re probably not entitled to have those conversations.

“Me, personally, that would feel wrong. Everyone’s different, but it is the way that footy’s going, so I reckon we’ll end up seeing a fair bit more of this.”

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