St Kilda coach Ross Lyon was at his cheeky best during his weekly pre-game press conference on Thursday.
After former Gold Coast chairman Tony Cochrane took aim at Lyon on radio on Tuesday, labelling him "a 20-time Brownlow Medallist at complaining" and the Saints "the most mismatched-named club in the world", the veteran mentor responded in typical fashion.
Asked for his take on Cochrane's comments from SEN's Whateley program, Lyon said: "I don't even know who Tony Cochrane is. Who's Tony Cochrane? No, seriously?"
"He's the former chairman of the Suns," a journalist said.
Lyon then commented: "Oh, is he? Former? So, he's not in the game anymore? Is he in the game? Ah, he's a supporter, a supporter. That's good, I don't comment on supporters. I don't comment on comments."
The war of words stems from St Kilda's ongoing dispute with Brisbane.
Over the past 18 months, St Kilda has attacked the northern clubs, with president Andrew Bassat claiming the draft system, specifically the Academy and father-son rules, was designed to favour clubs in Queensland and New South Wales clubs.
Lions coach Chris Fagan then questioned whether the big-spending Saints, who brought in Tom De Koning, Jack Silvagni, Liam Ryan and Sam Flanders on big money, and splashed the cash to re-sign Nasiah Wanganeen-Milera, had set a dangerous precedent.
Lyon said the issue has been blow up by the media, not by St Kilda or Brisbane, before being asked about Fagan's recent comments.
"Did we respond?," he asked.
"OK, good, I think it's done.
"Why did we call this presser, I thought it was to talk about the game.
"Oh, we want to talk about the politics? OK, where's your Canberra accreditation?"
Interestingly, St Kilda and Brisbane will do battle in a spicy Round 3 contest at Marvel Stadium on Saturday afternoon.
"Not really," Lyon said when asked if there's a rivalry building.
"It's not personal, it's business.
"I don't think we're really duking it out, I don't think it's really about Brisbane; the wider issue that the club's been championing has been equity and equal access to elite talent, because that's how the draft was set up.
"The data doesn't lie.
"And then it's the business model; growing up in Melbourne, born in the 1960s, following Carlton and all those big clubs, we're asking a lot of Melbourne football people to keep rolling up for 20 years without a lot of hope, and seeing your side lose consistently.
"What we're asking of the heartland of football is big. At what cost the inequity to the heartland of the game?"
Lyon's press conference coincided with that of Fagan.
And, like Lyon, Fagan said the back-and-forth was "not personal, it's business".
"Along comes St Kilda and decides they want to pay those players the amount of money they did," Fagan said.
"I'm thinking to myself, for the good of the game, is that what we want here? Do we want this sort of marketplace where offers to players become ridiculous?
"I wanted the opportunity to raise that so we could debate that as an industry, so that's what I did. I think it is important we do that.
"I understand why St Kilda would've been offended by that, because they were the club to do it, but I can promise you that any club that would've done that, would have raised that response in me."
