Lions Leak Merrett, McGrath and Parish Notes in Brisbane Lions Whiteboard Drama
The brisbane lions whiteboard leak put private Essendon scouting notes online on Friday, with Zach Merrett, Andrew McGrath and Darcy Parish all named in blunt assessments. Photos of the board were posted in a Facebook supporters group before being deleted, turning a routine matchweek note into the story before Saturday afternoon’s clash at Marvel Stadium.
Merrett, McGrath and Parish
The notes were plain enough to leave little room for interpretation. Merrett’s strengths were listed as “kicking, licence and pressure,” while his weaknesses described him as “selfish.” Kyle Langford was also labelled “selfish,” Sam Durham was marked as a “hot head,” and McGrath had “kicking cough up” written next to his name.
Parish was said to “cough up under pressure,” Jaxon Prior was listed as having “no right foot,” and Ben McKay, Elijah Tsatas and Archer May had nothing written in their strengths box. The page caption attached to the photos read, “My kid did Auskick at the Lions’ Brighton Arena... look what I come (sic) across,” with a laughing face emoji.
Facebook Group Leak
Mitch Cleary reported that the photos had been posted on a social media fan page, and the Lions were aware of the images being shared. The photos later disappeared from the Essendon supporters group on Facebook, but not before they had spread beyond the original post.
The timing sharpened the issue. Brisbane had earlier warned fans about AI-created fake content, then saw genuine-looking images of its own board circulate alongside the kind of misinformation it had already told supporters to watch for. The club said, “We just wanted to bring to your attention a number of fake/ AI Facebook pages that are posted fake stories regarding our players,” and added, “Please stay vigilant online to misinformation — some of these stories are regarding real news events and falsely involving our playing group, and also impacting the lives of the players families.”
Brighton Arena Warning
The club also said, “This is harmful and is important to stay aware of what you read.” It followed with, “If you’re unsure about something, always feel free to reach out to us for confirmation or information.” In that context, the whiteboard leak cut straight through the warning: the board notes were not fake, and the names on them were specific enough to make the post travel fast before it was taken down.
That left the Bombers front and centre before Saturday afternoon’s match at Marvel Stadium, with the leaked notes exposing exactly how Brisbane had broken down several of their players. Max King’s suspected hamstring injury in his second match back at VFL level sat outside the main leak story, but it added another live injury note from the same weekend.
