Garry Lyon says Gary Ablett should resign his captaincy of AFL club the Gold Coast Suns as the expansion side faces the biggest “upheaval” of their short history.

Gold Coast “need a strong visible leader and Gary Ablett is not that”, the commentator and former Demon captain told the Footy Show.

Fans responded on social media to defend the superstar, branding Lyon’s opinion a “joke”.

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“He hasn’t been that,” Lyon said. “He has been absent throughout the upheaval over the past couple of weeks.

“Being the best player doesn’t necessarily mean you are the best leader.

“They need strong directive leadership right at the top and I don’t think Gary has been able to display that.”

Not everyone agreed with Lyon, particularly on the Footy Show Facebook with Kyle Webb saying “Joke, bloody carried that side last year”.

Jacob Jones responded on Twitter saying he “built the club on his leadership”.

@AFLFootyShow It’s not @GaryAblettJnr fault that the @GoldCoastSUNS have a culture problem. Blame the @AFL & $million man Karmichael Hunt !

— Collin G Wood (@Collin_G_Wood) May 7, 2015

During the week Gold Coast suspended prominent playing trio Trent McKenzie, Harley Bennell and Brandon Matera for breaking a team commitment not to drink.

This morning it also emerged senior player Danny Stanley had been suspended too. These punishments were brought on by Suns’ vice-captain Michael Rischitelli and not Ablett.

The Suns’ have had a terrible start to the season winning one game and sitting 15th on the ladder.

Having had the best pick of talent in numerous drafts and trade concessions to make their inception easier, many predicted this season would be the young club’s emergence to contender.

AFL.com journalist Damian Barrett agreed with Lyon writing that “Gaz (Ablett) doesn’t appear he wants to keep the main job, either.”