St Kilda coach Ross Lyon has been left red-faced after the club’s IT department made a costly error that could potentially give rival clubs some inside info.
In an embarrassing bungle, the Saints’ coaches-box audio was mistakenly uploaded to a league-wide shared folder by the IT department, providing sensitive information to other teams.
The file contained audio from St Kilda’s 35-point pre-season win over Essendon last week and was meant to be a muted version of the behind-the-goals vision. However, it was available for several hours before the Saints became aware of the mistake and took it down. It’s unclear whether any rival clubs had downloaded the audio before it was removed.
If accessed, the audio could provide rival teams with valuable insights into the inner workings of Lyon and his coaching staff, just weeks out from the start of the AFL season. St Kilda CEO Simon Lethlean – no stranger to controversy – downplayed the incident, stating that the IT department was unaware the audio was attached to the vision.
“We haven’t heard anything to suggest anyone has downloaded it. But Ross dealt with it with the playing group to let them know,” Lethlean told SEN.
St Kilda’s acting football manager David Misson issued a statement, saying that the upload occurred due to human error and was corrected as soon as the club was notified. The behind-the-goals vision has since been replaced with a muted version, which is standard protocol. The club also addressed the issue directly with its playing group.
The leak has caused a great deal of embarrassment for St Kilda, with Nine News reporter Tony Jones suggesting that the language in the audio was “quite fruity” and that the assessment of some players was “quite frank”. To pre-empt any potential fallout, Lyon spoke to the players one-on-one to clarify his views on them.
St Kilda’s season begins on March 19 with a game against Fremantle at Marvel Stadium.
While the audio leak is an embarrassing blunder for the club, it remains to be seen if it will have any impact on their performance in the upcoming AFL season.
Club Statement
St Kilda Football Club can confirm that a file containing audio from the coaches’ box during last week’s official AFL practice game against Essendon was uploaded to a league-wide shared folder in error on Saturday morning.
As soon as the club was made aware some hours later, the file was immediately taken down and replaced with the muted version, as is standard protocol.
“This upload occurred through human error, which was corrected as soon as we were notified,” Acting General Manager of Football David Misson said.
“There is no certainty that this file has been accessed and downloaded by anybody, however, regardless of the low risk, we wanted to be on the front foot and proactive in our response.
“Our focus is on creating a program with high integrity, open communication and care for our people.
“As a matter of course, we addressed this issue directly with our playing group.
“As part of our response, we also alerted the AFL and relevant key stakeholders.
“We feel that this matter has now been resolved and our focus remains on our preparations for the season ahead.
“The club has also taken the opportunity to review its broader processes to reduce the likelihood of this error occurring again.”
