PETER Schwab has hit back at Matthew Lloyd after the Essendon great claimed the Brisbane Lions were an unhappy club.
Speaking on Melbourne radio station 3AW on Wednesday, Lloyd said the Lions' 131-point loss against Hawthorn in the NAB Challenge "might not be a one off".
"I think they're in for a world of pain this year. I'm not sure that they're happy," Lloyd said.
"New coach, a player exodus - I'm not sure that everything is that happy up there in Brisbane. I think they're in for a tough year."
Schwab, the new head of coaching and development at the Lions, hit back on Thursday, saying Lloyd had no right to make those calls from afar.
"I haven't seen Matty in Brisbane lately, so how would he know?" Schwab said.
"Matty was a great player, he's paid for his opinions and often opinions aren't based on facts.
"I don’t think any person outside of Brisbane can talk about culture, because they don't know, they're not here."
Schwab joined the club in October in the midst of sweeping changes that brought in Justin Leppitsch as coach and Bob Sharpless to lead a new board.
The off-season also saw the departure of five players under the age of 21, who all requested trades back to their home states.
Schwab said the Lions were not annoyed by Lloyd's comments, although the club would be calling him later in the day for clarification.
While praising the addition of Leigh Matthews to the Lions board, Schwab took another veiled swipe at Lloyd.
"It's just great to have someone of Leigh's experience available," he said.
"And he does know Brisbane. He can make some comments on Essendon which he mightn't know, but he can actually make some comments on Brisbane because he does know."
On the field, Schwab confirmed the Lions would make 10 or 11 changes for Sunday's clash against Gold Coast from the team that was thumped by Hawthorn.
"The next two games are critically important for us to get our best possible team on the paddock to get our game plan flowing from there," he said.
"It's a big learning experience and we can't expect it to happen straight away, but we've got to hold our line and we've got to make sure we persevere and persevere and the results will come."
