Fremantle president Steve Harris says it was inappropriate for AFL boss Andrew Demetriou to question the integrity of new Dockers coach Ross Lyon.

Demetriou, upon hearing the news that Lyon had been sacked by his management company after secretly negotiating to replace Mark Harvey at Fremantle, said: "I think people are entitled to ask questions about issues of commitment (and) integrity.

"I'm not privy to all of the inside conversation ... but we can probably read something into (Elite Sports Properties chief executive) Craig Kelly in terminating their agreement.

"I think Craig and Elite Sport Properties are pretty honourable ... so they were pretty surprised as well.

"I didn't know this was going on. And I think it's understandable that people are questioning the value of contracts and commitments and so forth.

"I feel desperately for Mark Harvey."

Harris felt it was inappropriate for Demetriou to chime in when he didn't know all the facts.

"I've spoken to Andrew this morning because I think his comments were inappropriate (and) I've advised him of that," Harris said.

"He doesn't have a first-hand understanding of what has transpired.

"He's expressed to me his comments were personal opinion and I don't think he's fully informed of the situation.

"Andrew's got strong opinions on a lot of things, in this case he's ill-informed."

Carlton coach Brett Ratten said he felt sorry for the way Harvey was ruthlessly axed by the Dockers.

"I heard about it (Harvey's axing) last night when we got off the plane," Ratten said ahead of Saturday night's semi-final clash with West Coast in Perth.

"You really feel sorry for Mark, how it's happened.

"When you go in to plan and do all these things going forward and then have your job removed from you so quickly, it's a real hard one for him to take and I feel sorry for him.

"Hopefully he's all right. I'll give him a call in a week or two to see how it's travelling.

"But footy's just such a brutal game. I think it's a message to us all that it can change very quickly."

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