World News St Kilda coach Ross Lyon says Lance Collard needs support not judgment after homophobic slurs Blog

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St Kilda coach Ross Lyon says it is important to challenge the “behaviour” of young talent Lance Collard, but he will receive plenty of support even after his six-match ban for using homophobic slurs.

Collard, 19, was back training with his teammates at Moorabbin on Thursday morning after the AFL imposed a massive stadium ban on him. The West Australian was found guilty of uttering “unprompted and highly offensive homophobic slurs” towards two Williamstown opponents in a VFL game.

His suspension came just two weeks after St Kilda’s annual Pride Game against Sydney, an initiative the club has been involved in since 2017.

Collard expressed his remorse and Lyon said he would rely on his “strong relationship” with the young man in his first year with the Saints and not judge him for his behavior,

“Always support (the player) and question his behaviour,” Lyon said before Thursday’s training session.

“I have a strong relationship with Lance. What happened happened, he acknowledged that.”

“The powers that be have done their thing… but we certainly take the feedback on board.

“We want to be an inclusive, welcoming environment and will simply continue to improve.

“I can only speak about a young Indigenous player from Perth, a folk player, I think you have to look for intent and malice.

“You know, how do you judge that?”

Collard’s suspension was the third for an AFL player this season for homophobic slurs, and AFL chief executive Andrew Dillon on Wednesday denied the league had a problem with homophobia.

“No, I don’t think so. But I think that language like this is not acceptable in any forum, let alone the football field,” he said.

Dillon said the next violation would be punished even more severely.

“I think we just need to continue to educate our players until we put an end to this,” he said.

“It hasn’t been an issue for us for a long time and we will continue to educate and make sure we can remove it from our game.”

But the AFLPA said the suspensions were “not working” and a different approach was needed.

“We have repeatedly called for greater transparency and consistency in the way the AFL punishes players and expressed our concern that this work has not progressed further,” said AFLPA acting chairman Regan Bunny.

“As there have been numerous cases of homophobia this season, the industry must address the root causes of this behaviour and prioritise educating players to raise awareness and understanding of homophobia and its impact.”

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