Dear Members and Supporters,
The Brisbane Lions this afternoon held a press conference that involved myself, CEO Steven Wright, Senior Coach Michael Voss and Captain Jonathan Brown.
The Club is committed to maintaining ongoing communication with all of our members and supporters. The following is my opening statement from that press conference:
As you are aware, the Board of the Brisbane Lions met late yesterday, where it was decided that the contract of Brendan Fevola would be terminated, effective immediately.
This decision took into account the views of the Club's administration and football department as well as the need to protect and uphold the culture and reputation of the Club.
The grounds for termination were that Brendan had engaged in serious or wilful misconduct through persistent breaches of his obligations as an AFL player to the Club.
The Club had therefore lost confidence in his ability to meet his obligations as an AFL player due to these persistent breaches. Brendan was informed of the decision last night.
The timing of that decision was the result of medical advice that strongly indicated it was in the best interest of Brendan's health and wellbeing to notify him immediately.
Brendan's health and wellbeing has been the Club's primary focus throughout this period. The Club will now work with his management to finalise our ongoing support to that.
While Brendan will no longer be a part of our playing group the Club will not be abandoning him.
We will provide assistance to Brendan that will provide him with an opportunity to obtain the necessary treatment required to maintain his health.
The Club has opened dialogue with his management in an effort to finalise financial support to Brendan in order to allow him to receive the necessary assistance with his financial situation. This should also allow Brendan to prepare for his future life.
Further information regarding those discussions will only be released once they are completed.
Just to finish, the Brisbane Lions have done and will continue to do all we can to support our players through education, counselling and constant reinforcement but ultimately, individuals also have to take responsibility for their actions and accept the consequences when they fail to meet standards set by their Club and teammates.
Make no mistake - this was an extremely difficult decision. But we believed it to be the right decision.
Over the past six months, we have acknowledged this Club has had a number of issues, resulting in the full review into all operations that took place at the end of last year.
As a result of that review, the Club has implemented a number of extremely positive changes that will be reflected in the years to come as they continue to oversee positive change at Brisbane Lions.
Yours sincerely,
Angus Johnson
Chairman - Brisbane Lions
