SEN Breakfast host and former Triple M employee Garry Lyon has on Wednesday responded to a Herald Sun article by Mark Robinson.
The premise of Robinson’s article was to highlight Fraser Gehrig’s dislike for the way the old Triple M call team, who the journalist referred to as “bully boys”, once offered 3-2-1 votes for the worst players on the ground in a given game.
Former St Kilda star Gehrig called it out when he was interviewed, coincidentally on Triple M, last Friday night.
“Triple M, to be honest, in their heyday, and I’m not trying to be rude saying this, when you did your 3-2-1 worst players on ground, it had an effect on things like depression,” the ‘G-Train’ said.
“And a lot of the guys who were doing those calls have had depression in their lives – and I don’t think it helped.
“Probably everyone in this room has had it and those sorts of things (the worst player votes) don’t help. I haven’t listened to Triple M for a long time but I hope you don’t do it (anymore).”
Initially in a light-hearted manner, it was brought up the time when Gehrig had bumped into James Brayshaw and Lyon at a pub, only for the Saints goalkicker to stand up against them for the on-air negativity.
Additionally, Robinson wrote: “Why did they regularly put down others which can cause mental distress when they were dealing with their own mental health issues?”
Lyon, who on the back of Gehrig’s interview first addressed the matter on SEN Breakfast on Monday, saying the 3-2-1 votes for the worst players on the ground “was wrong”, lashed Robinson for his article.
“I’m not talking for anyone else, other than myself,” Lyon said on SEN Breakfast on Wednesday.
“Let’s just see this for what it is. This is Robinson doing some point-scoring and some clickbait and ‘let me be a hero’... try and put these boys back in their box.
“His track record around mental health is dangerously appalling, this bloke. His track record is horrendous.
“He sits on his couch and makes a medical diagnosis on depression and his first reaction is, ‘Ahhh, has he really got it?’
“I’ve experienced it.
“He went on Alex Fasolo. This poor kid who was going through suicidal thoughts and his response is, ‘Oh good drugs. Clinical depression on Tuesday, training on Thursday’.
“Don’t talk to me about bullying. You want to talk about bullying?
“He knows, I’ve spoken to him about this. He’s a slow learner. In fact, he hasn’t learned at all.
“I don’t accept what he said, I accept what Fraser said.”
Tim Watson asked if perhaps Robinson was playing tit-for-tat, after Lyon said a recent Robinson comment regarding Paddy McCartin was “breathtakingly ignorant”.
“This is the danger of wandering into medical areas that you know nothing about,” Lyon added.
“His response to Paddy McCartin, who did a horrible thing on the footy field, was ‘he should never play again’.
“Come on. When are you going to learn? Just stay out of the medical stuff until you educate yourself.”
Lyon himself admitted to learning his own lessons from past mistakes, and has implored Robinson to do the same.
“I hope I learn, I’m not perfect,” he said.
“I racially abused players (when I played) which I’ve spoken about so many times. I had no understanding of that aspect. I educated myself and would never do it again, ever.
“The same when it comes to my own experiences, which are challenged still to this day. I educated myself, I have a better understanding of it.
“Educate yourself before you go off on tangents like this. Don’t sit there and accuse people of bullying when you haven’t looked in your own backyard.
“I’m challenging the Herald Sun, if you’re serious about mental health, you monitor what goes on from a comments point of view.
“It’s just when you get into areas where you have no knowledge or understanding of what people have gone through, and then you try and make your off-the-cuff (remark) whether it be a tweet or article.”