Brisbane Lions deny rumours off-season US trip has caused player rift

Football boss Danny Daly denies there was a “crisis meeting” after the allegations were aired on Friday and labelled reporting of the incident “poor, insensitive and factually incorrect”.

What’s next? The Lions play North Melbourne at Adelaide’s Norwood Oval on Friday evening.

Brisbane Lions co-captain Harris Andrews has insisted there are no internal tensions at the club, dismissing the impact of an off-season trip on the club’s poor AFL start.

Last year’s grand finalists are 0-3 ahead of Friday’s Gather Round date with North Melbourne, and feeling the heat after reports the club’s 2023 exertions led to a dressing-room rift.

Lions football boss Danny Daly on Monday fronted media to deny there had been a “crisis meeting” after the allegations were aired on Friday.

He labelled reporting of the incident “poor, insensitive and factually incorrect”.

Daly said he had called co-captains Andrews and Lachie Neale to seek assurances there was no division within the playing group, and insisted no personal relationships had ended because of the trip.

“It’s been an interesting [Easter] from the club’s point of view,” he said.

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“We reached out to our leaders and they reassured us … there is no story.

“I always trust our playing group, that’s where it finished. The trip has nothing to do with our on-field performance.

“This group has been through a lot of highs together and a lot of adversity together. We have full confidence in them.”

Andrews, who was holidaying in Europe while a small group of teammates went away together in October and November, is confident the squad is not divided.

“Never any tension at all … there’s nothing to be stressed about,” he said.

“There’s been a massive blow-up [externally] over the last couple of days [but] as a group we’re united, all in this together. [We] can’t control what other people say.

“I’m not walking around going, ‘Oh, there’s players bickering’.

“We haven’t had the start we wanted and people go outside the box to think of reasons why we’ve started this way.”

Neale did not train on Monday after injuring his ankle in the Lions’ 20-point loss to Collingwood last Thursday.

But the club said scans had cleared him of any ligament damage and expect him to face the Kangaroos, provided he participates in Wednesday’s main session.

AAP