AFL news 2022: New St Kilda coach Ross Lyon reveals his ruthless edge

For all the romance of Ross Lyon’s return to St Kilda the most intriguing aspect might be whether he is capable of softening in a changing football world, writes Jon Ralph.

Former Melbourne Victory coach Ernie Merrick is working with St Kilda coach Brett Ratten as a mentor for the 2022 season. Picture: supplied

Ross Lyon is back to reclaim his crown from Craig McRae as coaching’s most compelling media performer.

On Monday Lyon swept back into Moorabbin with the St Kilda football club in his thrall and it was impossible not to be captivated by every single word.

For all of Lyon’s promises to drop the “iron curtain” and let Saints fans in on the journey, his capacity to provide rich sound bites to the assembled media has always been unsurpassed.

Joh Bjelke-Petersen described it as feeding the chooks and at a venue Lyon described as “Disneyland” compared to its former decrepit state, the new Saints coach was in blistering form.

The late night TV hosts who once inhabited Lyon’s 10.30pm Footy Classified timeslot would have been happy with his comic timing, and Kevin Sheedy would have been ecstatic at his capacity to sell the vision of a mediocre list’s potential.

Ross Lyon speaks at his first press conference after returning as St Kilda coach. Picture: Quinn Rooney/Getty Images

The correlation between a strong press conference as a new coach and on-field success is exactly three fifths of stuff-all.

And yet for a St Kilda football club desperate to explain the reasons why it sacked club favourite Brett Ratten so brutally, it was a command performance from Lyon.

Those who would underestimate his media-know how should remember his furious spray of 3AW’s Shane McInnes – “You’re quite brilliant, Shane”.

It had the perfect effect as a fierce rallying cry after a question about whether his team had targeted players off the ball.

If a journalist copped the brunt to galvanise a team, it was well worth the price.

St Kilda president Andrew Bassat admitted on Monday that by the end of the club’s 10-week review, its full intention was to hire Lyon.

So it was Lyon’s task to navigate the tricky path of admitting his close St Kilda friends had months ago attempted to lure him back while stating emphatically he hadn’t knifed Brett Ratten by agreeing to the job before the contracted coach was turfed out.

Said Lyon of those delicate negotiations: “It was very clear I would enter no discussions – and the words were a bit stronger than that – while (St Kilda) had a senior coach. You (in the media) can probe and all those things, but that should make it really clear from my end where I sat.”

He bristled at talk about his defensive record – bringing the statistics to prove his case – and spoke of the wonderful possibilities of St Kilda’s list.

“I don’t work on a probability mindset,” he said. “My mindset is possible. Everything is possible.”

Ross Lyon meets St Kilda players at RSEA Park. Picture: Michael Klein

He dropped inspirational sentences that could have been printed in a self-help manual: “We always dream. Anything is possible, but if you don’t do the work you are just a daydreamer. We are going to put our work boots on”.

He warned the players of the job ahead: “There is no victory lap. I have heard that term before and I don’t like it. This is just the starting gun going off”.

And at his most honest he spoke of how he had broken down explaining to the St Kilda board why he had left for Fremantle.

“I cry a lot …. I don’t really want to open up because I might break down here, but it did change the course of my life and my family. It was a very difficult thing to do and I had a reputation about what I was for a long time and it did change that. There was a huge price to pay.”

Amid it all came a single glimpse of Lyon’s ruthless approach to football that took up just 10 words of a 30-minute press conference.

“I give trust until it’s broken and then it’s hard,” he said of his relationship with players.

For all the romance of his return to St Kilda after 11 years, the most intriguing aspect of his new tenure might be whether he is capable of softening in a changing football world.

Can he blend some of the old ruthless Ross with the new-age mantras of Chris Scott and McRae in a world where Millennials don’t want to be shouted at or punished?

Lyon has always been in the execution business – executing one to educate a thousand.

He famously dropped Garrick Ibbotson for months for his failure to pick up Tom Lynch as he rebounded from defensive 50 in a meaningless scratch match.

On Monday, Lyon made clear the “Ross the Tyrant” reputation was overblown, citing the influence of his children Nikita, Annecy and Jai as his evolution as a coach in a new-age world.

“My kids are 14, 15 and a half and 17 because I started late so they are as challenging as any teenager,” he said.

“So I understand the different world now. How they need to be handled. The young guys at Fremantle, I am as close to a lot of them as I am to the senior guys here.

“So if you treat them like they are your sons and that’s how you want your sons to be treated. Have I been perfect? No, but you establish a framework.

“Everywhere I have been they ask for honesty. Just tell us straight and if they know it’s coming from the right place, they are fine.”

Lyon knows his honeymoon period this time around could be vanishingly brief, so there is barely a day to lose.

And yet if bringing the fans with him this time around is a clear goal, day one at least ticked the box on that score.

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Originally published as AFL news 2022: New St Kilda coach Ross Lyon reveals his ruthless edge