Fremantle and coach Ross Lyon could be set to mutually go their separate ways at the end of the home-and-away season, according to Foxfooty.com.au's Tom Morris.
Morris spoke about Lyon on his usual segment on On The Couch on Monday night, and said some fractured relationships coupled with the Dockers staring at a fourth-straight season without finals football could equal the end of Lyon's tenure.
โJohn Longmire and Luke Beveridge both signed long-term deals over the past couple of weeks, but aside from those and a selection of others, this is a very unsettled coaching landscape,โ Morris told On The Couch.
โI can tell you tonight that it would be premature to suggest that the three clubs who have already got rid of their coaches will be the only clubs that will have coaching changes at the end of the year.
โThat brings me to Ross Lyon, who is front and centre at the moment in Perth, rightly or wrongly. Heโs under significant pressure, heโs getting whacked from all angles. Thatโs the climate over there in Perth at the moment.
โNow I canโt see him leaving without another job to go to - heโs under contract for next year - but there is still a chance, despite what you read in the media and what the Dockers are saying, that they could amicably part ways at the end of the season.
โThat is what Iโm being told at the moment from the Dockers and that is the reality of the situation, and how volatile it is at Fremantle.โ
Morris went on to speak of the relationships between Lyon, head of football Peter Bell and CEO Steve Rosich, with fractures among the trio potentially leading to Lyon's exit.
โItโs simmering away. Itโs a watching point for the rest of the season,โ he said.
โPeter Bell is the interesting player in this. Heโs come from the board, heโs the head of footy.
โPeter Bell and Ross Lyon get along very well, Iโm told, but Steve Rosich is under significant pressure as the CEO.
โSo how does this work? Does Steve Rosich think Peter Bell is going to take his job? Is Peter Bell being brought into the role to move along Ross Lyon?
โI donโt think heโs going to be sacked, Ross Lyon, I donโt think heโs going to leave without the blessing of Fremantle. But this could easily become an amicable parting of ways, just like Brad Scott and North Melbourne."