Mick Malthouse: Current Saints team has hallmarks of successful Ross Lyon coached teams but biggest test ahead
The current Saints team is already playing with the Ross Lyon methodology. And there are similarities between his players now and his side a decade ago, writes Mick Malthouse.
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St Kilda made the finals just once in the 11 years after Ross Lyon left the club. On his return, the Saints are undefeated after four rounds and the odds of them making the top four have already dramatically shortened.
Is the resurgence all because of the coach?
I am yet to encounter a long-term coach who has ever changed his football philosophy. Structures and game-styles change to suit the team list, but their coaching philosophy stays the same.
Ross Lyon has and always will be a defensively-minded coach.
But, at his most successful, he always had a big key forward to set-up around. Fraser Gehrig early at St Kilda, then Nick Riewoldt, and Matthew Pavlich at Fremantle.
The Saints made the finals four of the five years Lyon coached in his initial stint (including two years in grand finals). And with Pavlich forward, Aaron Sandilands dominating the ruck and Nat Fyfe playing his best football, the Dockers made the final eight (including a grand final) in each of the first four years of Lyon’s tenure, before dropping to 16th, 14th, 14th and 13th when Pavlich retired.
Lyon is into his 14th season as coach – sixth as St Kilda coach (with a break in between) and will remarkably move into second place for the number of games coached at the Saints, behind the great Allan Jeans.
Despite the strong start to the season, and they have been excellent, Lyon will be sweating on the return from injury of Max King – a potentially dominant key forward to structure his team around. Everything he needs to create his template for success.
Lyon generally has a band of top-quality players who become his disciples. Riewoldt, Lenny Hayes, Brendon Goddard, Leigh Montagna, Sam Fisher, Nick Dal Santo, Stephen Milne to name a few. They preach his method and act on it, and when in full flight they are hard to stop.
Lyon is one of the unluckiest coaches not to have a premiership next to his name – having played off in 2009 and 2010 with St Kilda and 2013 with Fremantle.
The current Saints team is already playing with the Lyon methodology. His hallmark is a defensive mindset – disciplined defence all over the ground, and when you can, take ground off the opposition. Clubs are only averaging 57 points per match against them, while St Kilda is still producing a healthy score.
The middle of the ground is where the job gets done. Lyon was well served by Michael Gardiner early at St Kilda, then Sandilands at Fremantle, now it’s Rowan Marshall together with Jack Steele, Jade Gresham, Seb Ross, and Brad Crouch, like Hayes, Goddard, Montagna before them.
His Milne is now Jack Higgins, and his backline of Fisher, Jason Blake and Zac Dawson is now well led by Callum Wilkie, Dougal Howard, Jack Sinclair, Josh Battle and Hunter Clark. Mason Wood as a floater can’t be compared to Dal Santo or Stephen Hill, when at Fremantle, yet, but if his fine form continues then he’s well on his way. And so, the carousal completes itself. The similarities in the types of players that can match Lyon’s game plan is quite remarkable.
It has been acknowledged that Lyon is a hard taskmaster on his assistant coaches. He can be divisive. Some love him and some don’t. But he has surrounded himself this time with former disciples Hayes, Goddard, and Robert Harvey as assistants, and with Corey Enright, his close circle of coaches is knowledgeable in his approach.
Lyon has demonstrated that he is not a long-term coach – five years at the Saints, eight years at the Dockers and now back at St Kilda. So, he drives hard and expects results quickly.
The test after such a positive start to the season is what happens when they lose a game. How the team responds will depend on how Lyon responds.
This St Kilda team playing against the Magpies on Sunday will be tested everywhere on the ground. Clearly Collingwood is struggling without a recognised ruckman, but that is minor if it can at least get close to levelling the clearances count. Whether it’s centre clearances or around the ground, it’ll only be a slight advantage for St Kilda.
It’s what Marshall can do around the ground that will test the Magpies, but it’s what the Pies can do around the ground that will test the Saints.
Both sides have speed, and are disciplined.
Collingwood under Craig McRae has full belief in his game plan, and in the short time Lyon has been back, when tested, the Saints have stuck to his game plan.
This away game, the last game of Gather Round, has the most intrigue.
It’s the first time that Lyon and McRae go head-to-head. The likeness of their game plans is quite striking. Defence first, catch your opponent out through the corridor, turn the ball over in the opposition’s back half to set up for a score.
In many ways it’s a shame that Steele is not back, just to have that extra bit of leadership and toughness through the middle for St Kilda. This is where I believe the Pies have a distinct advantage. Taylor Adams, Jack Crisp, the Daicos brothers, Jordan De Goey, Tom Mitchell, and the cameo of Scott Pendlebury will test the best teams.
It will be interesting to see how Lyon shapes his midfield for this clash. Does he call on 19-year-old Marcus Windhager to be a tagger, or does he rely on his team’s overall defensive mechanisms to counter the surging Collingwood game style?
In a way we’ve all been conditioned to be nervous Nellie’s when it comes to the Saints. So far they’ve beaten Fremantle, the Western Bulldogs, Essendon and Gold Coast. Can they stand up to the top teams?
The Magpies failed last week against a previously embarrassed Brisbane Lions outfit, but I still think the Pies are the best team, and will remain the benchmark of the competition by the end of this game.
To be a bona fide finals contender St Kilda needs to demonstrate, on a neutral ground, that it can go with the best. It is wonderful for football’s sake that the Saints have shown thus far that they will contend for the top eight. A win on Sunday would make them a top-four prospect.
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