St George Illawarra Dragons' fans have been left outraged after Jack Bird suggested they "don't know too much about footy."
Bird was quick to apologise for the comments, but the damage to an already angry fan base who have watched their team play finals just twice since the end of Wayne Bennett's time at the club - in 2011 - had been done.
The comments from Bird came at a media engagement on Wednesday in Queensland, where the Dragons are currently in camp between Magic Round's loss to the Wests Tigers and Saturday night's match in Townsville against the similarly struggling North Queensland Cowboys.
The Cowboys managed to right some wrongs last Sunday with a surprise win over the Sydney Roosters.
Bird, speaking in defence of coach Anthony Griffin and ahead of a mass planned protest by the club's fans at their next home game during Round 12 against the Sydney Roosters at Kogarah, stated that fans don't know much about footy and suggested he feels sorry for Anthony Griffin.
Griffin is off-contract at the end of the year and has been asked to reapply for a job he appears increasingly unlikely of holding into 2024.
"Fans don't really know too much about footy I don't think," Bird said.
"They have a lot to say about people on the field, so I don't think they have ever played a game of footy.
"I'm just speaking from first-hand stuff that I've been copped with. I feel sorry for Hook [Dragons coach Anthony Griffin]. It's us out there playing, so we should be the ones to blame for, but they don't make the decisions I don't think.
"Fans are good for the game and stuff like that, but it comes to a point where you can't cop so much criticism over the players and coaching staff.
"People don't know what people are going through these days. Hook could be struggling or any player could be struggling outside of footy, then people come on social media and give you a gobful. That might be the part where they push you over the edge.
"That's fans for you. They are passionate and they want us to win games and we aren't doing that, so I understand where they are coming from, but it speaks for itself I guess."
It comes with the Dragons winning just two of their first nine games this season, with the club going from problem to problem under Griffin.
The under fire coach had an extra year in the form of a club option taken up on his deal before a ball had been kicked last year in a decision that now appears to be haunting administrators at the Red V.
Despite the pressure the Dragons are under, and the issues with form on the park, Bird said via the Sydney Morning Herald later on Wednesday that he was sorry to the fans for his comments.
“I want to say sorry to the fans for upsetting them,” Bird told the publication.
“In no way, shape or form did I mean to make comments coming at the fans personally, I was just trying to stick up for my coach.
“What I said is not what I meant, I just wanted to clarify it. It came out the wrong way, I got tripped up a bit in the way I expressed myself, I didn't mean it in that way.
“I just want to clear everything up. Hook is not just my coach, he's my friend as well.
“When you have a coach, you always try to back them, no matter what. He's obviously under a lot of pressure and I don't want to dog my own coach or see other people talk shit about him. I was just sticking up for him.
“I'm fine with stuff coming my way. But people don't understand that with Hook going through a rough patch with football, he may be struggling with stuff outside of footy as well. That can push somebody over the edge.
“It wasn't that fans don't know what they are talking about, it was that they may not know what's going on behind the scenes in someone's personal life.”
It follows a big week off-field for Bird, who has been linked with wanting a move away from the Dragons alongside Jaydn Su'A. It's a move Bird has denied, suggesting he is committed to the Dragons, having only re-signed with the joint venture last year.