Spectre of Ross Lyon likely to hang over Leon Cameron at GWS Giants in 2020

If GWS flops in the finals and Ross Lyon isn’t coaching next season, Leon Cameron will be feeling the heat as a perfect replacement sits on the sidelines, writes Mick McGuane.

Players from the GWS Giants reacts after losing the Round 22 AFL match between the GWS Giants and Western Bulldogs.

There’s an argument from the footy lover to say GWS has all the talent and all the tools at its disposal.

But there’s another argument to say those tools need to be sharpened.

Ross Lyon is now sitting in the background following his axing at Fremantle and the Giants could be the perfect team to endear themselves to a coach with his hardness, assertiveness and aggressiveness.

Personally, I think Lyon would be best served to have a year off first.

He’s been in the business for close to 18 years as either an assistant or senior coach. He can take his payout of close to $1 million from the Dockers and sit back and observe footy from a neutral perspective.

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Maybe go over to America, pop into Harvard University and perhaps immerse himself in new

coaching strategies or techniques.

In an ideal world I think Ross would take a year off: Refresh, reinvigorate, reset and restump.

That could put Leon Cameron under massive pressure next season.

Ross Lyon is suddenly available if clubs are looking for a new coach.

I know Paul Roos at times has been quite critical about the Giants’ style of play. Do they work harder offensively than what they do defensively? There’s a fair argument in that.

When they lose, they lose by big margins, so that probably adds merit to that discussion.

Are they tight enough structurally? Have they got the role players in place to play roles and not kick-chase and impact on their defensive structure?

When you see their scoring sources, they are purely reliant on scores from stoppage. Their scores from turnover is ranked 14th in the competition. I’ve said before, this is simply not sustainable for a team hoping to win four finals games.

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When you’ve had two scoreless halves you’ve got to say to yourself, how are we going to help our scoreline? Generating a better turnover game would help that.

In a lot of people’s eyes GWS should be a top-four team. We know the profile of successful clubs: West Coast, Geelong, Brisbane, Richmond. They’re all strong forward-half teams built on pressure inside that forward 50.

The positive is GWS is always good in the contest and that’s never been questioned. Talent is their advantage, but I think they rely too much on their talent to get the job done. Sometimes their game is all duck and no dinner.

Gold Coast isn’t a bad match-up for the Giants coming off a couple of shocking losses. The Suns will make this a contest and while GWS might make it look easy on the surface, they’ll need maximum effort and they’ll have some sore bodies on Sunday.

The Giants have suffered two bad losses in a row.

GWS needs to take time, be patient and understand why they have an 18-man team defence. Why the need to push up the ground past halfway and keep the ball in their forward 50 once they get it in there.

If Cameron goes to this finals campaign and first game GWS gets beaten by eight goals, then the pressure will officially be on.

He has a contract to serve for 2020. If they want to see him run out that contract they will, but all year next year his fate will be based on wins and losses and he’ll come under a huge amount of pressure.

Lyon could be that person in 2021 where he might be spoken about at Giants HQ.

Mind you, the Giants aren’t the only potential suitors. There’s talk about would Ross be suited to a club like Essendon and there’s a suggestion he could find his way over to Adelaide or even Port Adelaide.

These are all the discussions at the moment. But Lyon is now an ominous figure in the background for under-pressure coaches.

Originally published as Spectre of Ross Lyon likely to hang over Leon Cameron at GWS Giants in 2020