STUART Dew has revealed why Gold Coast's emerging leaders were involved in a meeting to determine the fallout from Tom Lynch's decision to leave the Suns.

Lynch spoke to the leadership group last Thursday to inform them he was exploring free agency, before telling the rest of his teammates.

Lachie Weller, Brayden Fiorini and Jack Bowes were part of the meeting despite not being in the club's official leadership group.

Reports have emerged the younger players were the most vocal in criticising Lynch, with former coach Rodney Eade saying on Melbourne radio on Tuesday it was a bit rich for Weller to be involved after he broke a contract with Fremantle to head to the Suns.

"There's been a few mistruths," Dew said on Wednesday.

"Matt Rosa was away for a funeral and Steven May was at pilot school for the initial chat, and obviously Tom wasn't part of it.

"There were some emerging leaders brought in to make the group bigger than three or four, and that was to get a gauge on the whole group because they wanted a collective say on where the footy club sat, rather than two or three making the call for the whole playing group with 45 players.

"To label one or two younger players, I think that's grossly incorrect. Everyone had their say."

Dew said Gold Coast had a strong indication about Lynch's desire to leave but was happy to keep it quiet until season's end.

However, he said once the situation became public – via Collingwood coach Nathan Buckley's confession he had spoken to Lynch – things changed.

"No-one's questioning Tom's right to exercise free agency," he said.

"When it became public that changed things for the footy club, certainly for the players.

"The footy club had a reasonably strong indication from Tom and we were willing to carry that through until the end of the year, but once the public nature of it, the discussion around where does Tom fits … how would he feel walking in Monday when we've just been rolled by 90-odd points?

"It would be an awkward day for Tom and the other players.

"Tom's been a big part of the club and it wasn't easy to go through those times, but in the end I think the playing group was really aligned."

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