BRISBANE Lions coach Justin Leppitsch has apologised to midfielder Zac O'Brien for his "inappropriate" actions during an altercation at half-time of a NEAFL game.
Leppitsch grabbed O'Brien by his jumper and yelled at him after the player swore at Lions reserves coach Shane Woewodin during the first half of the game at Metricon Stadium on Saturday night.
The Lions coach conceded he should have reacted differently to O'Brien's outburst.
"What's happened is a couple of really passionate people have crossed the line and I've apologised to Zac," Leppitsch said in a statement released on Tuesday afternoon.
"I've yelled at him a little bit and grabbed his shirt, and that was inappropriate. It's not something that I'm proud of.
"It was two passionate people in the heat of the moment. We've nipped it in the bud and everything is OK now.
"The one disappointing fact for Zac and I, is that we spoke on Sunday and Monday and it was all good, and for it to be raised again is disappointing."
'Our blokes didn't care': Leppa's fury boils over
O'Brien also expressed his remorse for the outburst that sparked the incident, which he described as just a "hiccup" in his relationship with Leppitsch.
"I overreacted on the bench, which I'm not happy about and very remorseful and regret it," he said in the statement.
"At half-time I went into the rooms with Justin and we had a chat, and we're two pretty passionate people who care a lot about the club and things got a little bit heated.
"But we put it to bed yesterday, I'm happy with where it's at and Justin's happy with where it's at. We've cleared the air and are on good terms."
O'Brien will be ineligible for senior selection for the next two games for swearing at Woewodin, but will remain eligible to play NEAFL in that time.
Lions CEO Greg Swann said the matter had been discussed with both parties and was considered closed.
Earlier on Tuesday, Lions ruckman Stefan Martin leapt to Leppitsch's defence after a tumultuous 72 hours, saying the players were 100 per cent behind their coach.
"I don't think a coach loses his players in five weeks," Martin said on Tuesday morning.
"Everyone's backing Leppa in and it's on us to turn it around.
"We don't want to disappoint Leppa, we don't want to disappoint the fans. We see he's a bit down and that hurts us too."
Martin said although the players were trying, he understood why the coach had questioned their effort following the loss to Gold Coast.
"Every player cares but the way we played, it would have looked like we didn't care and that's a fair enough statement," he said.
