SAM Newman has been warned by Channel Nine management in Sydney to stop his "stupid" behaviour on The Footy Show, according to a senior network source.

The source said managing director David Gyngell was "displeased" with an incident last month in which Newman fondled a lingerie-clad mannequin to which he had attached a photo of The Age's chief football writer, Caroline Wilson. Mr Gyngell has also publicly responded to a letter from a group of influential AFL women — including board members of some clubs — who called for the cast of The Footy Show to be counselled on their attitude to women.

A statement issued by Channel Nine last night said: "David Gyngell has responded appropriately to the letter, and fully accepts the concerns it raised. Furthermore, David has also personally spoken with Caro- line Wilson, who generously accepted his apology on Nine's behalf."

But there was no indication that the network would act on the women's push for the counselling of cast members, or on a separate proposal for a code of conduct on the portrayal of women on The Footy Show.

Newman was unrepentant last night, saying of the women who wrote the letter to Gyngell: "They're liars and hypocrites."

He also questioned the presence of women in football. "They serve very little purpose at board level. What do they do?"

When co-host Garry Lyon said the game had come a long way in its treatment of women, Newman retorted: "We've been forced to come a long way."

The Footy Show said the women named Collingwood board member and Committee for Melbourne chief executive Sally Capp on the letter, even though she had explicitly asked not to be included.

"I think if you looked up liar and misrepresentation in the dictionary, there would be a picture of those women," Newman said.

The letter writers include long-serving Essendon director Beverly Knight, Western Bulldogs director Susan Alberti, Sydney director Lynn Ralph, Melbourne director Sue Nattrass, Hawthorn director Janine Allis and Gabrielle Trainor, who sits on the AFL's NSW-ACT commission.

A Melbourne-based Nine executive yesterday also said the letter, while having good intentions, was "ham-fisted", and led some at the network to believe the women wanted to hijack the issue and turn it into a "feminist platform".

Newman also said that he had offered his resignation to Nine's Melbourne chief, Jeff Browne, because he was concerned that his behaviour was embarrassing Lyon and co-host James Brayshaw, who is also North Melbourne president. He said the offer was rejected.

But the senior Nine source in Sydney who spoke to The Age said Newman, who has acted out many controversial stunts on the show since it began 15 years ago, had been given his first official warning in response to the mannequin skit. The source said Gyngell, who was brought back by James Packer to help revive the network, was not part of Nine's boy's club and that executives in Sydney were "growing a little weary of Newman behaving like a bonehead".

The perception was that an on-air apology by Lyon to Wilson on the following Monday's edition of Footy Classified should have ended the matter, but that Newman was "giving it oxygen and pretending that it was somehow never an issue and that it's all right".

"It's not all right. It's tiresome, inappropriate and stupid, and he's been told to pull his head in."

Other well-placed network sources said executives were concerned that not only had Newman done something on air that was seen as sexist, but he had vilified one of Nine's own personalities. Wilson appears every week on Footy Classified.

Lyon said last night it was a laughable suggestion that he and other members of the program should receive counselling to help them better understand issues relating to women and anti-discrimination.

"Those women do not know me, I've not met those women (and) I don't accept that I've got to go and talk about showing respect for women," he said.

"We accept that you have been critical of us … that is it, done and dusted … if you can't get over it, well, that's your problem."

The stunt was last night labelled "borderline harassment", "disgraceful" and "sick" by University of NSW professor of journalism and media research, Catherine Lumby.

She said the incident would turn younger viewers — who were alert to sexism — off the show, one of the few remaining programs achieving consistently high ratings for Nine.