Tense exchange over Blues coaching ‘hypothetical’; Longmire reveals mental health push in 2012 — Best of 360

Garry Lyon and Adam Simpson had a tense exchange regarding the “uncomfortable” Carlton coaching situation.

Plus John Longmire has revealed his mental health push to the AFL back in 2012 in the wake of the Elijah Hollands saga.

Read on for the best of Fox Footy’s AFL 360 on Tuesday night.

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LYON, SIMPSON’S TENSE EXCHANGE OVER BLUES COACHING ‘HYPOTHETICAL’

Fair to say it got a bit tense at the desk at one point.

At the start of Adam Simpson and John Longmire’s segment, Garry Lyon confronted Simpson about comments he made earlier this week flagging the premiership Eagles boss as a potential caretaker coach for Carlton as Michael Voss comes under increased pressure.

It’s especially delicate for Simpson, who’s currently working as a part-time coaching consultant and mentor to Voss.

While Simpson earlier this year ruled out any desire to coach Carlton two years on from his split from West Coast, it didn’t stop Lyon from naming him as a candidate to take the reins at Ikon Park for the remainder of the season.

“We’ve got to get this off the table straight away, there’s some tension in the air,” Lyon began on Wednesday night.

“I just presented some hypotheticals on Monday (about Carlton’s coaching options). I don’t like doing it.”

To which Simpson interjected: “You don’t like doing it? You love doing it!”

Lyon responded: “No, history says I don’t. I didn’t even do it about you when you were struggling (at West Coast).

“But I threw your name up as a possible hypothetical. I knew the answer, so I’ll let you now declare.”

Simpson added: “Let’s just leave it as a hypothetical, hey? We’ll move on.”

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Fellow AFL 360 co-host Gerard Whateley turned and asked Lyon: “Are you going to follow up?”

Lyon replied: “He warned me, he said one question.

“It is an awkward, uncomfortable situation, I know. And it’s been discussed because of the situation we find ourselves in at Carlton. That was one we threw up.”

But Simpson wasn’t willing to speculate on “hypotheticals” and empathised for Voss.

“I’ve been in the position before, everyone is talking about who’s next when you’re in the chair,” he said.

“You’re just not comfortable talking about it. Whether you’re working ay the club or not, I don’t think it’s appropriate to talk about.

“When you’re a coach and you know what it’s like to be in those shoes.”

Lyon concluded: “Which won’t stop us, by the way. That’s the business we’re in. But I understand.”

LONGMIRE REVEALS HE LOBBIED FOR MENTAL HEALTH FUNDING

Swans premiership coach John Longmire has revealed he advocated for mental health funding to sit outside the soft cap to the AFL Commission in 2012, following the league’s evolving stance in the area.

The league, in conjunction with the clubs, said it would “improve industry-wide healthcare governance standards” in the wake of Elijah Hollands’ on-field mental health episode in Round 6 last month.

One of the measures is to review the club football department soft cap, including potentially increasing minimum investment in healthcare and strengthening expert capability.

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Speaking on Wednesday night, Longmire, who also campaigned in 2015 for psychologists to be taken outside of the soft cap, spoke to his recommendations at the time.

“It was one of a number of things (I presented). It’s a great opportunity for the premiership coach to sit in front of the Commission, and talk about some of the things that they see in the game at that particular point in time.

“It was one of many things I spoke about; it wasn’t the only thing. But, it gave me the opportunity just to mention at the time that football clubs are just examples of what’s happening in the community.

“There was growing mental health in the community, as there was at football clubs at that time. Not only growing issues, but it was coming to the surface — which was a great thing — now people are willing to talk about it.”

“Over the journey, there was a number of opportunities to speak to either the AFL or AFL Players’ Association to put psychologists’ costs outside the (soft) cap. To me, it just didn’t make sense that we were capping player care in this particular instance.

“That discussion went on for quite a while, and then Covid hit. As we know, decisions had to be made about where you spend your money. It looks like the AFL are moving in the right direction now, which is a good thing.”

It comes after the AFL, during Covid, made a significant reduction to club soft caps, with the league only one year ago announcing limit increases for 2026 and 2027.

West Coast premiership coach Adam Simpson concurred with his long-time counterpart, adding that the felt his recommendations simply weren’t acted on at times.

“They didn’t listen to a thing we presented. We heard Bevo (Luke Beveridge) speak talk the other day about some of the issues he sees in the game,” Simpson told Fox Footy.

“But unfortunately, they think we’re a bit too single-minded with our clubs. Any coach that’s been around for a little while sees a little bit, and has the feel of what’s happening at AFL land … unfortunately they didn’t listen to us too much.

“It’s gotten really messy, and there was opportunity to clean it up a little bit a few years ago, and they’ve missed the mark.”

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