Fremantle coach Ross Lyon has played down an altercation with a fan who slapped him on the back while walking through the crowd in Saturday’s AFL loss to Sydney.

Lyon was making his way towards the ground at ANZ Stadium at three-quarter time when a man seated in front of the media box touched him.

The Dockers boss stopped, yelled and allegedly reached towards the fan’s neck.

A security guard quickly separated the pair before a visibly fired-up Lyon continued walking.

“Someone hit me on the back and I responded – that was about the size of it,” Lyon said after the match.

“I felt some force to my back, so I turned around and said, ‘Please don’t do that’.”

When Lyon returned to the coach’s box after the break, he pointed to the seat where the man had been sitting and spoke briefly to security.

The fan later identified himself as a Dockers supporter. He was not ejected from the stadium.

“I just said, ‘Go get ’em Ross’, and he turned around and grabbed me by the throat and said, ‘Don’t you f***ing touch me c***’,” the man told The Australian newspaper.

“I was shocked. I didn’t mean anything by it.”

Asked whether he had a problem with walking through the crowd, Lyon said: “It’s never an issue but you only need one.

“It’s a safe environment.

“You’ve got security. Sometimes things happen.”