Fremantle Football Club has ditched* coach Ross Lyon in a sensational* sacking today.
The Dockers have told Lyon to leave immediately despite him having a year left on his contract. The club’s chief executive officer* Steve Rosich was also asked to leave.
Lyon was under huge pressure earlier this season after a poor stretch of results of five losses from six games between rounds 14 to 19.
The Dockers crashed out of finals contention* with their loss to Essendon on Saturday night.
Former Hawthorn and North Melbourne player David Hale will coach the Dockers on Sunday against Port Adelaide. Hale has been the club’s forwards coach this season.
Lyon is the fourth coach to be axed* from an AFL club this season, following Brad Scott (North Melbourne), Brendon Bolton (Carlton) and Alan Richardson (St Kilda).
Lyon will have to be paid out as much as $1 million if he cannot find another senior coaching role, with St Kilda the only current club without a senior coach.
ROSS LYON’S AFL CAREER
- Fremantle coach 2012-2019
Overall record: 96 wins, 1 draw, 87 losses (winning percentage 52.45)
Finals record: 4 wins, 5 losses - St Kilda coach 2007-2011
Overall record: 76 wins, 4 draws, 41 losses (winning percentage 64.46)
Finals record: 5 wins, 1 draw, 5 losses - Playing record
129 games (1985-94 Fitzroy: 127 games; 1995 Brisbane: 2 games)
GLOSSARY
- ditched: dropped or sacked
- sensational: causing great public interest and excitement
- chief executive officer: the boss
- contention: having a chance at something
- axed: cut or dumped
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QUICK QUIZ
- Which club has axed coach Ross Lyon?
- How long was left on his contract?
- Who will take over as caretaker coach for this season?
- Name the 4 AFL clubs to sack coaches this year.
- How many games did Ross Lyon win with the Dockers?
LISTEN TO THIS STORY
CLASSROOM ACTIVITIES
1. Deliver the news
Imagine you are the boss of the Fremantle board and you have to deliver the news to Ross Lyon that he is being sacked.
What language would you use? How would you deliver the message? How would you consider Lyon’s feelings?
Write a short 2-4 paragraph note to yourself of what you would say.
Time: allow 15 minutes for this activity
Curriculum Links: English
2. Extension
Fremantle is now looking for a new coach. Write a list of the skills you think the new coach will need to take on the job. Consider skills for both on the field and off the field. What previous experience would you like the new coach to have?
Time: allow 15 minutes for this activity
Curriculum Links: English
VCOP ACTIVITY
With a partner see if you can identify all the doing words/verbs in this text. Highlight them in yellow and then make a list of them all down your page. Now see if you and your partner can come up with a synonym for the chosen verb. Make sure it still makes sense in the context it was taken from.
Try to replace some of the original verbs with your synonyms and discuss if any are better and why.
Curriculum Links: English, Big Write and VCOP
HAVE YOUR SAY: Who should be named the new Fremantle coach?
No one-word answers. Use full sentences to explain your thinking. No comments will show until approved by editors.
