AFL 2022: Latest news on St Kilda’s coaching search

One of St Kilda’s leading coaching options has been compared to Collingwood’s Craig McRae, who led the Magpies from the bottom four to a preliminary final in his first season.

Brendon Goddard wants to lend a hand to his former club.

St Kilda champion Brendon Goddard believes Ross Lyon would be “perfect” to take over the Saints and has also put his hand up for an assistant coaching job.

Goddard said Lyon, a four-time grand final coach, would have no problems returning to Moorabbin 11 years after he sensationally defected to Fremantle.

Not a single player on St Kilda’s list was coached by Lyon during his previous stint at the club, with Seb Ross drafted two months after Lyon left.

Bradley Hill played 54 games under Lyon but they were all as a Docker.

Brendon Goddard in action for the Saints in 2010.

“I'm a massive advocate and fan of Ross,” Goddard, 37, told the Herald Sun.

“There’s no reason why he wouldn’t be perfect for it, really. The game hasn’t changed that much (since Lyon left the Dockers in 2019).

“He still watches it and he still loves footy and his methods and his plan around how to build a culture, that hasn't changed.

“It's still the same. It hasn’t changed for 100 years.”

Only Alastair Clarkson and Mick Malthouse have coached more grand finals (five each) than Lyon this century.

Goddard, a former Essendon captain and respected football figure, has been eager to get back into footy.

He said he would be keen to speak to the Saints regardless of whether Lyon was locked in as Brett Ratten’s replacement and would also consider options elsewhere.

“I'm pretty confident in my ability to see the game, know the game and be able to teach, essentially,” the 2009-10 All-Australian said.

“I felt like I was pretty good (at that) as a player. I’d be pretty confident in doing anything, but a line coach or something along those lines.”

It emerged on Saturday that there has been background discussions from some influential St Kilda people about a succession plan that would see Lenny Hayes eventually take charge.

Hayes spent five years as an assistant coach at Greater Western Sydney before taking a break after the 2020 season.

The St Kilda legend will return to Moorabbin next month when he starts as the club’s new midfield coach.

An astute industry judge said Hayes the coach was in the mould of Collingwood’s Craig McRae, who was recently named the AFL’s coach of the year in his first season.

Lenny Hayes has been compared to Craig McRae. Picture: Glenn Hunt

“Everyone loves (Hayes) because he’s fair, he’s got great empathy, he’s honest and he’s a super person whose level headed,” they said.

“He had white-line fever and that's what he expects from his players – to give everything you’ve got.

“But then when he crosses back over the line he’s there for your all the time. If they are thinking about that (a succession plan) it’s probably not a bad choice.”

On Hayes, Goddard said “I love the man” but added he wasn’t privy to what he was like as a coach or whether he had ambitions to be a senior coach.

Goddard was unsure whether a succession plan would appeal to Lyon.

“I don't think Ross would want to do it for two or three years. If he’s going to do it he’s 100 per cent in,” Goddard said.

“I‘d say he’d make a five-year plan or something and go from there.”

The certain return of Hayes, possible return of Lyon and potentially Goddard would be a throwback to the club’s 2009-10 era of dominance that narrowly missed out on an elusive premiership.

Nick Dal Santo, another star from that time, is also at the Saints as their AFLW coach.

President Andrew Bassat and chief executive Simon Lethlean said they would move “quickly and decisively” to sign their next coach.

They have identified the need for a “new style of leadership and new voice” to help the Saints break out of the middle part of the ladder.

Goddard last saw Lyon at St Kilda’s annual preliminary final weekend reunion although they only spoke socially outside of a “brief chat” about Essendon, which Lyon turned down.

Originally published as AFL 2022: Latest news on St Kilda’s coaching search