‘I’d be shocked if he didn’t apologise’: Why Lions coach has riled the Saints

St Kilda great Nick Riewoldt has taken aim at Chris Fagan, insisting the Brisbane Lions premiership coach should apologise to the Saints for claiming their recruiting cash splash was a danger for the game.

The Saints have taken umbrage at Fagan’s remarks in an interview on the AFL website.

Riewoldt, who remains close to Saints leaders, including coach Ross Lyon and football department chief Lenny Hayes, said Fagan was “off-the-mark” to have put unnecessary scrutiny on the likes of Nasiah Wanganeen-Milera, who has become the league’s first $2 million-a-year man, and ruckman Tom De Koning, who inked a whopping seven-year deal worth about $12 million, among several fresh faces at the club.

While Riewoldt and Fagan share Tasmanian heritage and have played a role in the introduction of the Devils, Riewoldt suggested the two-time premiership coach would be “feeling sick” about his comments, pointing to the Lions’ own list advantages through their academy and ability to snare blue-chip talent, including the Ashcroft brothers. This masthead this week rated Fagan’s dual premiership team as having the best crop of players aged 22 or under in the AFL.

In a conversation about whether Fagan had “sooked it up”, Riewoldt said: “It sounded that way, didn’t it? Chris Fagan is a beauty, and I reckon he’d be feeling sick today. I’d be shocked if he didn’t reach out and apologise.

“They brought in Daniel Annable as a top-five [national draft] pick through the Lions Academy. [Oscar Allen] walked in under free agency ... Sam Draper came in. They’ve been able to walk in the Ashcroft boys over the last few years, as well as Jaspa Fletcher, who might be the best of the lot.

“So, maybe if other clubs were able to do these sorts of things, you wouldn’t have to overpay players to bring them into your club. I thought it was a pretty off-the-mark comment. [He] put the gun squarely at Nasiah and TDK [Tom De Koning] which was not fair. Chris Fagan would be feeling sick today.”

The Lions were contacted for comment.

On Friday, Saints chief executive Carl Dilena said: “The market system dictates behaviour and prices. Historically, northern clubs have paid the biggest contracts in the history of the game, but now benefit from talent-access concessions which have flipped the script.”

Fagan questioned whether midfielder Wanganeen-Milera and ruckman De Koning, recruited from Carlton, were worthy of their huge salaries.

“I’m hoping those numbers we saw last year, via St Kilda, don’t become a reality. I saw that as a bit of a danger for the game. I think the best players in the competition deserve to be paid the most money and that’s not the case at the moment,” Fagan said.

“That’s not an insult to Nasiah. I think he’s going to be a really good player, and how far he goes I don’t know. And TDK has shown a lot of promise for a long time but hasn’t probably played up to expectations, and they’re getting paid extremely well. I’d rather see the better players get all the big money.”

Saints president Andrew Bassat defended the splurge in an interview with this masthead last month, as his club seeks to rise from the mid-table mire it was stuck in.

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The Saints were a first-round finals exit in Lyon’s first year back in charge in 2023, and have finished 12th in each of the past two seasons.

Lyon last year created headlines when he referred to the Gold Coast Suns as the “AFL nepo baby”, in reference to their academy and draft concessions they had been given by league headquarters.

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