FREMANTLE coach Ross Lyon has fiercely defended his players' approach after the Dockers won a tough final against Geelong at Simonds Stadium.
Lyon said it was wrong to infer that his players were the sole perpetrators of aggression and reacted angrily when asked whether he had provided any direction to his players to be particularly physical early.
"I think you are out of line because what I saw was I saw some Docker players go down off the ball," Lyon said.
He said that his team played within the rules and any free kicks that resulted from incidents were line-ball. He considered the game to be a tough final with nothing out of the ordinary.
Lyon however was happy to concede there were incidents that were likely to be examined by the Match Review Panel, however he took offence at the suggestion only Dockers players had anything to be concerned about.
"We need to lick our wounds and clearly there some things to be looked at," Lyon said. "That has been alluded to and we have got some sore boys that had plenty of whacks. There was plenty of on and off-ball things that will probably be looked at I would suggest … to allude it was [only] one team I can't let it go because it is incredibly disappointing."
The obvious incidents involved Dockers players however both clubs engaged in a fierce struggle in close all afternoon.
Before the ball was bounced, key defender Zac Dawson was on report for striking James Podsiadly.
Dawson also gave away a free kick to Podsiadly in the second quarter when he impeded his run to a bouncing ball and gave away a free kick downfield when he collected Joel Selwood when trying to smother a kick.
Chris Mayne appeared to tangle with Steve Johnson in the second quarter. Johnson was left on the ground. When he regained his composure he suggested to Mayne that he might miss a couple of weeks as a result of the incident.
Both are crucial players with just two games – at most – remaining for the Dockers.
Lyon said he had reviewed some of the incidents and they were, in his view, marginal free kicks at best.
After making the comment that he "just happened to be coach of the team", a fact evident to everyone, Lyon gave his assessment.
"I have behind the goals vision. I have broadcast vision that I replay and I saw them and they were incredibly marginal, marginal free kicks," Lyon said. "That is OK if they get paid but to then focus on them is really disappointing in the context of the effort we have delivered."
Geelong coach Chris Scott did not see anything particularly untoward about the physical nature of the game.
"Most of it, to be honest, I don't see it. You look around and see players on the ground, and that's what the behind the goals vision is for," Scott said.
"I didn’t think that our discipline was a factor in the game at all. From what I saw it was pretty solid. I'm happy to be proven wrong on that, and I'll review it, but I didn't think our guys were concentrating on things other than the game."
