No distraction, Ryan insists

WEST Coast livewire Liam Ryan is adamant his drinkdriving charge has been no distraction as he prepares for a maiden grand final berth.

It was revealed on Thursday that the 21-year-old had been formally charged by police after waiting for blood test results that had been ordered following a crash in late July.

But the mature-aged rookie said that the issue had not affected his preparations.

“It’s no distraction to me, no, not at all,” he said.

“I’m really focused on my footy, I just push past that.

“The path I’m focused on is the grand final.”

He said he remained focused on football and his family and that the support he had received at the club had been “very, very good”. It has been alleged that Ryan was drunk and crashed his car into a tree. He was suspended by the Eagles for two games in July.

His Eagles teammate Elliot Yeo said escaping Perth was “a bit of a blessing” for Ryan.

“Nothing has sort of changed in terms of Liam’s spirits at all, so the boys back him in 110 per cent,” he said.

“We’ll be right behind him all the way.”

Eagles coach Adam Simpson described the situation as “old news” and said that his forward — who has played 12 games in his debut season and kicked 20 goals — would be “right to go”.

“I spoke to him briefly [ on Thursday] and this is all old news for us,’’ Simpson said.

“I’m not surprised the day before the granny that someone wants to talk about it.

“The incident happened in July that everyone is aware of and now there is a process in place with a court hearing so I think that is all that has happened.”