Brisbane football boss Danny Daly has stressed that there is no divide within the playing group, stating that the Lions' woeful 0-3 start has "nothing to do" with a recent players trip to the US.
Within the last week, reports from several outlets have claimed that events on a recent trip to America resulted in unrest within Chris Fagan's lockerroom, with players facing heat both at home and at work.
Several reports have also stated that players from the leadership group met in the wake of the Lions' loss to Collingwood on Thursday night in order to address the reportedly devolving situation.
However, on Monday, Daly was at pains to press that any off-field events were having no ill effect on the Lions' on-field form.
โI want to confirm there was no crisis meetings over the weekend. I called our co-captains (Lachie Neale and Harris Andrews) to confirm there was no issues in the playing group โ and both of them assured me that there weren't. I will again strongly say today there is no divide in our playing group,โ Daly said.
โThe trip has nothing to do with our on-field performance and we will not use it as any type of excuse.
โThis group has been through a lot of highs together and a lot of adversities together and we have full confidence in them they will continue to stick together.
โI want to assure our members and fans most importantly that this group is fully united as a playing group and fully focused on turning our season around.
โI ask the privacy of our players, their partners and families be respected.โ
Although some outlets have reported that Brisbane powerbrokers and players have met for crisis meetings, Daly quashed them, claiming a brief phone call was all that was required to right the ship.
โWe reached out to our leaders and co-captains. They reassured us there is nothing there, no story. It's not the reason we're 0-3,โ he added.
โI quickly spoke to our leaders over the phone, there was no meetings per se. I spoke to both leaders for about one minute to ask them if there was any truth in it. They categorically told me there wasn't.
โI trust my playing group and I will always trust our playing group. That's where it finished ... the club didn't have a crisis meeting.โ
While rumours of certain misdeeds continue to whip, Daly also stated that the club was not in a position where it needed to know exactly what members of its playing group were up to at all times.
โThere are some issues which we don't need to be aware of. It's an end-of-season trip for our players โ they're on leave โ and whatever happened on that trip wasn't to the extent that the football club needed to know about it,โ Daly continued.
โThere's no policies or anything they went outside of that we need to address. The issues are of a personal nature and that's where it'll be left.โ
The Lions will earn their next chance to earn an opening win of their flagging season when they travel to the City of Churches to face North Melbourne at Norwood Oval.
