St Kilda coach says the AFL Coaches Association (AFLCA) is a "paper tiger" with not real muscle to fix prominent issues surrounding the funding for football departments.
Earlier this week, Essendon coach Brad Scott put back on the agenda the slashed soft cap for football staff, which hasn't returned to pre-COVID-19 levels, noting the coaching groups are "disenfranchised".
Collingwood coach Craig McRae shared the same sentiment, as did Western Bulldogs' Luke Beveridge and Melbourne's Simon Goodwin.
For 2025-27, the AFL increased the soft-cap limit from $7.275 million to $7.675 million, which, in contrast to other key stakeholders of the game, pales in comparison.
"The game is in rude health, I don't get stuck in it too much," Lyon told reporters at Adelaide's Glenelg Oval on Friday.
"But it's not just about the coaches, I'd really make that point.
"It's a football department, it's our sports science (specialists), physios, our doctors, our psychs ... all of that goes to supporting and developing players to put them on, right?"
A pragmatic Lyon refused to get into the crux of the issue, saying no matter how much noise senior coaches make, the AFL will have the final say.
"I'm certainly not an activist because I think in the end, head office will do what they do," Lyon continued.
"There's an AFL Coaches Association, they're really good people. But we're a paper tiger, right? We've got no muscle, have we?
"Otherwise, if we had muscle, do you reckon we would be $1.5 (million) down in the soft cap?
"I wouldn't have thought so because we'd strike, but we're a paper tiger.
"Hopefully ... what everyone in football contributes to the rude financial health of the competition is respected.
"It's just illogical to think they're still $1.5 (million) under."
The AFL's footy boss Laura Kane said on Thursday ahead of the opening of Gather Round that the grievances from the coaches is a concern.
"I don't want them, them as a collective, our coaching panels and staff, to feel that way," Kane told reporters in the Barossa Valley on Thursday.
"I don't want them to feel like we as a code, we as a football department, don't value what they do.
"My team will work really hard to make sure that perception changes.
"And if it's a reality, it's one I don't want anyone to feel like that."
