Tell the truth. That’s the simple message former Melbourne captain Garry Lyon has for AFL players who find themselves at the centre of an off-field incident.
Speculation continues to mount over the circumstances of Collingwood Jordan De Goey’s broken hand that will keep him sidelined for the early part of the season, after the Magpies yesterday announced that the third-year midfielder injured it while playing with his dog on the weekend.
“You won’t believe me ... he was playing with his dog,” coach Nathan Buckley told the media on Monday.
“If we don’t laugh, we’ll cry about it - or I will, anyway.
“He was playing with his dog and he went to throw a toy - it wasn’t a frisbee.
“He caught his hand on the edge of a door, a door handle.”
De Goey celebrated his 21st birthday over the weekend, which has resulted in multiple conspiracy theories and rumors, leading Lyon to warn players that they are better off telling the truth about any indecent, rather than attempting to cover it up.
“I’m 100 percent convinced that’s what ‘Bucks’ believes to be the case, and I’ve got no information to suggest otherwise,” he said.
“(But) if you’re the club, you must have an environment where that player comes up and says, ‘listen, I was out last night (and) this happened; I was driving my car (and) this happened.’
“You will not keep that stuff under wraps anymore.
“Who will ever forget Eddie McGuire standing up and defending Heath Shaw and Alan Didak in the most vehement (fashion). He was old a pup by Didak and Shaw at the time about a crash and fleeing the scene.
“Since that time, ever club went back to their players and said, ‘listen just don’t do it. Front up, get it over with (and) we’ll deal with it.’
“Every person out there in the public has a phone, every phone has a camera and they all going to talk, and you’re not going to get away with it.”
UPDATE: It has since been revealed that De Goey become involved in an altercation on Friday night that saw him break his hand.