News Leppa and ZOB - Clash of the Titans

[Cockliff38]

http://www.theage.com.au/afl/afl-ne...gn_code=nocode&promote_channel=social_twitter

Brisbane Lions coach Justin Leppitsch has been involved in a physical clash with a young player at a seconds game at the weekend.

Leppitsch grabbed Lions rookie Zac O'Brien in the coaches' room at half time of the NEAFL match at the weekend after the young player had disrespected the seconds coach Shane Woewodin.

It is alleged Leppitsch grabbed the rookie by the throat and pinned him against the wall as he yelled at the 24-year-old midfielder, telling O'Brien his behaviour was not acceptable. The incident was seen and heard by the rest of the team.

The club has confirmed the altercation but disputed that Leppitsch had O'Brien pinned to the wall.

Lions chief executive Greg Swann said Leppitsch had hauled O'Brien into the meeting room to dress him down after O'Brien had sworn at Woewodin.

Swann said O'Brien had walked into the meeting room and stood on the tiered seating. He said Leppitsch grabbed the player by the jumper to pulled him down off the step and told the rookie not to attempt to stand over him.

The incident occurred after O'Brien had failed to come off the ground when he was instructed to during the second quarter of the match. When Woewodin challenged him for not coming off as instructed O'Brien claimed he did not know he was supposed to come off and swore at the coach, telling him where to go.

It is understood other players heard the way O'Brien spoke to Woewodin and Leppitsch was angry at the disrespect his coach had been shown, leading to the clash with O'Brien.

Leppitsch later apologised to the playing group for the incident.

O'Brien, who played in the Lions' round two loss to North Melbourne, has been told he will not be considered for senior selection for three weeks. The NEAFL team has a bye this week.

"We spoke to Justin about the incident and we are fully supportive of the action taken," Swann said.

"As far as we are concerned the matter has been resolved and there is no further issue. He did not have him pinned to the wall, when they walked into the meeting room Zac stood on one of the tiered rows of seats and Justin grabbed him by the jumper and said 'don't try and stand above me when I am talking to you'."

O'Brien played five games for the Lions seniors last season after coming to the club as a mature aged rookie from Essendon's VFL side. He has been elevated to the senior list for a long-term injured player.

 

[Cooties]

http://www.theage.com.au/afl/afl-ne...gn_code=nocode&promote_channel=social_twitter

Well there goes the talks of bringing O'Brien in this week

 

[Alan Smithee]

Well there goes the talks of bringing O'Brien in this week

or next week....or the week after....

 

[Hollow Knight]

Line in the sand moment. Learn from it ZoB.

 

[Cockliff38]

http://www.theage.com.au/afl/afl-ne...gn_code=nocode&promote_channel=social_twitter

Sounds like a beat-up article for mine. Probably not as bad as the story suggests. Disappointing nonetheless in a season that seems to be going from bad to worse.

 

[Alan Smithee]

Sounds like a beat-up article for mine. Probably not as bad as the story suggests. Disappointing nonetheless in a season that seems to be going from bad to worse.

I'm sure the media will keep a respectable lid on this and not further add any more flames to this story......

 

[Panthera]

Line in the sand moment. Learn from it ZoB.

Not a good sign for Leppa or his coaching staff at all...early season performances and now this; show's a lack of respect and that can flow through the club/team very quickly.

Could go either way for both parties in regards to a potential line in the sand moment

 

[iBeng]

Cracks showing, awesome sign...

 

[royboys4eva]

Not sure what to make of this Leppa/ O'Brien incident. Part of me thinks - can things get any worse and this is a real bad look. The other part of me thinks well Leppa did the right thing by not letting a player show disrespect. He can't let O'Brien get away with that kind of behaviour. He needs to make a statement.

It's a serious worry that players are showing a lack of respect - if he didn't want to come off that's fine but it's a team game and to then come off and abuse Woewodin in front of players and officials is a very ordinary look.

So now O'Brien is unavailable for senior selection for 3 weeks and you can imagine he will spit it and probably be out the door by seasons end. Another player we have wasted time on.

 

[GingerGreatness]

So it's alleged that the coach ended up showing more physicality than both the seniors and ressies the entire night.

 

[Lionheart182]

Career over for Z'Ob? Don't get many chances as a rookie, particularly after Hanley is back.

 

[Quigley]

Not seeing how the response in any way reflects well on Leppa. He took a heat of the moment comment and made it into a physical confrontation. This remains an employment situation and I would expect O'Brien would have a rightful expectation that his employers would take appropriate action against the individual.

I would expect ZOB to be very frustrated atm and would probably rightly expect to be getting games given how we are travelling and given that he did pretty well when he did get a chance this year. Leppa has his favourites and O'Brien is clearly not one of them. He acted inappropriately and should have been sat and a word had with him after things cooled down.

Leppa is clearly under pressure and took a nuclear option. A stupid thing to do imho.

 

[jackess]

Yeah it definitely doesn't reflect well on Leppa IF the story is 100% true.

 

[GingerGreatness]

Allegedly. Denied by the club Quigs. #standbyleppa

 

[POBT]

The "coach has his favourites" line is totally accurate.

Just like every coach in history has had their favourite players.

 

[Quigley]

Allegedly. Denied by the club Quigs. #standbyleppa

I read the article. Even on the best case scenario the club is putting out there he still escalated the situation into a physical altercation.

 

[Quigley]

The "coach has his favourites" line is totally accurate.

Just like every coach in history has had their favourite players.

True and it doesn't make my statement less true either.

 

[jjami15]

Two sides to every story but there is a chain of command if that falls down then forget about it. Respect was obvisouly not shown and ZOB should have got a dressing down. No need for holding hands and asking if anyone's feelings were hurt but straight between the eyes. Possibly sounds like there might be few bigheads running around the club.

 

[Alan Smithee]

The fact that Leppa's reaction is a story (regardless of whether it happened as reported or not) shows just how far the pendulum has swung towards being all touchy feely sooky la la please don't upset a poor Gen Y player under any circumstances whatsoever.

 

[pulpdriver]

Yeah it definitely doesn't reflect well on Leppa IF the story is 100% true.

Doesn't reflect well on anyone. Whether a media beat up or not disappointing to hear players are petulant and belligerent and disappointing to hear a frustrated coach potentially getting physical with said player. It's disappointing any way you look at it and the last thing we need.

 

[royboys4eva]

I can imagine a few blokes by the name of Matthews Malthouse Clarkson Pagan who would have done exactly the same thing as Leppa. If we had won 3 games this year the story doesn't even make the print.

 

[Lionheart182]

The fact that Leppa's reaction is a story (regardless of whether it happened as reported or not) shows just how far the pendulum has swung towards being all touchy feely sooky la la please don't upset a poor Gen Y player under any circumstances whatsoever.

Any player would be pissed if he was grabbed by the throat I would have thought, I know I would be. IF the story is true it's pretty rough and out of character, though I am willing to wait until the full story comes out.

 

[jackess]

I can imagine a few blokes by the name of Matthews Malthouse Clarkson Pagan who would have done exactly the same thing as Leppa. If we had won 3 games this year the story doesn't even make the print.

Bring back Robert Walls? He'll toughen them up.

 

[Elixuh]

Regardless of how frustrated a player is about not getting games, can't allow for this kind of rubbish behaviour and attitude. Look at how we're going now. You can't manage, run and implement anything if your players start showing this attitude and behaviour. This week its one player. Next week another player sees nothing was done and that they might be able to get away with it. Can become a slippery slope. Is probably part of the reason Leppa did it within earshot of the other players.

Club has denied the allegations about the throat against the wall. Grabbing him by the jumper and pulling him down is not ideal. I'm assuming this happened a few hours after the GC game, so probably caught Leppa at a bad time. Provides some explanation as to why he reacted the way he did.

EDIT: 3 weeks without seniors consideration is sufficient.

 

[LIONS08]

Geez is this getting blown out of proportion. I could guarantee this sort of stuff would happen way more often than is lead on. You have young men pumped up with adrenaline, giving attitude and being disrespectful.
When I played, mind you not anywhere near afl level, this kind of stuff would happen all the time. It's a heat of the moment occurrence and would be forgotten about as soon as the game is over. It's nothing.