'Embarrassing': Ex-Suns chairman Tony Cochrane slams Ross Lyon's 'nepo baby’ jab in epic tirade

Former Gold Coast chairman Tony Cochrane has slammed St Kilda coach Ross Lyon for his 'nepo baby' jab at the club, going so far as to suggest the comments brought 'the whole sport into disrepute'.

The Saints coach made the remark in the lead-up to his side's loss to the Suns on Sunday afternoon, which drew the ire of both Gold Coast coach Damien Hardwick and chief Mark Evans.

While clubs like St Kilda have been vocal about the Suns' academy-player access, which could result in them bringing in eight-first round picks in three years at a discount, Cochrane insists that it is best for the league overall.

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He believes Lyon let himself down as a veteran statesman of the competition.

"I thought it brought the whole sport into disrepute," Cochrane told SEN.

"You listen to a coach of any team, any sport before a game, they are normally talking up their playing group and what they're going to bring that day or that game or what have you.

"I thought it was a completely inappropriate and embarrassing comment for a bloke who's meant to be a senior statesman of the game. Really poor form. It's a load of shit.

"You build a football club; it takes a village. No one person or no one group is ever going to get it all happening. It takes a lot of people, and it takes a lot of perseverance and a lot of hard work."

Cochrane went as far as to label Lyon's quip as a reason for St Kilda's struggles since he returned.

"Unfortunately, St Kilda for the last few years, the only time they've gotten in commentary is talking down their own side and talking about the opportunities they haven't been afforded," he continued.

"They wonder why their crowds are dropping… I would go to the footy every week when I started my presidency knowing we'd probably be beaten, but not once did I ever talk down our chances.

"You've got to be like that; how can you inspire your fanbase that follow you if you're not going to be positive about your playing group and your club?

"It's 101 stuff, this is not rocket science. The fact is, he might be talking down things like the academy and the like, but I bet he doesn't talk down the cheque he gets via the television rights.

"All of the presidents know this, they have no hope. They got the last big increase primarily on the back of that all the media companies are now doing fantastic ratings in New South Wales and Queensland. The first and the third biggest populous states in Australia."

Cochrane added that the academies came to be after the club lost co-captains Stephen May and Tom Lynch in the same off-season.

This led to his pitch and the AFL's approval of the controversial academy system, which has proven fruitful for the Suns, as well as Sydney, Brisbane and GWS.

"It's easy to now talk about 'why do they get this and why didn't they get that', I didn't see anybody helping us when we were working out of sheds for the first five years. Could not find any of these guys then to say 'oh geez that's ridiculous, that the AFL expects you to survive in this environment'," Cochrane said.

"We lost our co-captains in the same year. Tom and Stephen left us for a richer journey down in Melbourne.

"Ironically at the time, St Kilda was trying to get one of those two players. To some degree, I accepted the criticism.

"We were criticised very heavily. 'You've got to get your own backyard in order, you've got to create your own up there, you can't expect to come and get people out of the southern states all the time because the go-home factor will be too great.

"The truth of the matter is, we took that on board. We said 'look, they've got a valid point with this. We have got to find a way'.

"So, our way was to go to the commission, I sat there for the good part of three hours and drove them nuts.

"We got them to fund what we now call the academy program, and we got serious about it. We got the right teachers in; we got the right young people in to help us. We got involved in places like Cairns and the like, northern NSW.

"We got set up. Today, we've got over 1000 kids in the academy program, and instead people down south going 'hey, how good is this for our great game, they are really developing it up there, they're bringing their own players on', instead we're now being criticised for it.

"This year the academy will probably knock out seven draft selections. We have got a very good crop of young guys this year, an exciting group. We are pretty well set up now as a club.

"We'll take two or three of them, but there will be three or four of them that will go to other clubs, that have spent six years in our academy, we've got them ready for AFL standard football.

"Instead of ripping at that system, which only the weaker presidents are doing, the smarter ones have worked out that this builds a whole pile for everybody, they should be trying to emulate or involve parts of our system in what they want to do in the southern states.

"You told us we had to sort out our own mess, so we go and sort it out, and now you're not happy with how we've sorted it out!"

The AFL has not yet stated whether they will sanction Lyon for his comments.