Gold Coast AFL coach Stuart Dew says former premiership teammate Damien Hardwick’s admission that Richmond would “make room” for his off-contract star Tom Lynch is irrelevant.
The Richmond coach caused a stir when he indicated the premiers were interested in the Suns’ co-captain, with the Melbourne powerhouse later contacting Gold Coast to apologise for the comments.
But Dew, who is yet to make his AFL coaching debut, isn’t fussed about the constant speculation, calling it white noise that “comes and goes in one day”.
Hardwick endured the same contract saga with star Tiger Dustin Martin last year and empathised with Dew, saying he thought the year-long speculation grew “tiresome”.
But in the same Fox Footy interview he said a player of Lynch’s stature coming off contract made him someone “you probably make room for”.
“He’s an incredible athlete, a great player and a great leader by all accounts,” Hardwick said.
“You’ve got to have a look at it.”
Dew, who won a flag at Port Adelaide with Hardwick in 2004, isn’t about to get worked up about rival coaches preying on his cattle.
“We don’t really need to; it’s outside noise to us, whether it’s from another coach, other teams, media, we’re not concerned,” he said on Thursday.
“It happened all last year, it’ll happen all next year, sometimes I’ll have to deal with it, sometimes I won’t.
“I’m not really (concerned) to be honest, it comes and goes in one day, it’s a little bit irrelevant.”
Lynch will play in the Suns’ final pre-season trial on the Gold Coast against Brisbane on Sunday, with Sean Lemmens and Peter Wright the two major injury concerns.
Lemmens hurt his hamstring in last week’s impressive defeat of Geelong, while Wright has battled a calf complaint with both in doubt for round one.