Coach slammed for ‘sexist’ comments

Former Australian Diamonds coach Lisa Alexander has slammed current Canberra Raiders boss Ricky Stuart for his ‘sexist’ comment about netball, the Daily Mail has revealed.

Alexander was outraged by the Canberra Raiders coach ash she watched NRL 360 on Fox Sports on Wednesday.

Columnist Paul Kent appeared on the sport panel and claimed he spoke to Stuart about his rumoured rift with English hooker Josh Hodgson. But, Kent said Stuart told him the pair spoke behind closed doors and that there was no bad blood between them.

‘As Ricky said to me: “If I can’t have tough conversations with my better players, I might as well coach netball”,’ he told the sport panel.

That comment hit a nerve for Alexander who took to the The Daily Telegraph to call Stuart out in what she labelled a ‘lazy potshot at netball’.

‘Is it a sexist comment?’ she wrote. ‘Probably, yes. But then what would the men’s netballers think?’

Alexander called it an ‘old school attitude’ to look at men’s and women’s sports differently.

‘All high-performance coaching is tough at times and it doesn’t matter if it’s men or women, it still can be tough – because you’re dealing with people’s careers and dreams, and it’s certainly not any easier in netball,’ she said.