AFL 2025: St Kilda coach Ross Lyon doubles down on Marcus Windhager defence

St Kilda coach Ross Lyon has again jumped to the defence of one of his players and says AFL has “set a high standard”.

St Kilda coach Ross Lyon has again defended tagger Marcus Windhager after his highly documented role on Collingwood star Nick Daicos.

Windhager was issued a $1500 fine for his shove to the chest of Daicos in the opening 10 seconds of their entertaining battle last Saturday night.

Lyon post-game asked whether there were two sets of rules for certain players and said he would seek clarification from the AFL on two early free kicks.

He gave little away about the umpire explanation on those free kicks but said the league was poised to make a windfall after setting the benchmark for fineable contact.

“It’s set a high standard for contact, hasn’t it? It’s really interesting. That’s interesting in itself, there’s going to be a lot of fines in the AFL,” he said.

All eyes were on the Daicos-Windhager battle on Saturday night. Picture: Michael Willson/AFL Photos via Getty Images

“Marcus was in the rules, I think the umpires just tried to stamp stuff early, there’s a lot of noise.

“Collingwood come and supported, Marcus was physically grabbed and dragged off, he gets some clarity, put your hands in the air so it’s easy to see you’re getting tackled without the ball in the stoppage.”

Windhager was critiqued for parts of his coverage of Daicos, specifically the apparent knee to the back of the Magpie’s hamstring.

Lyon bristled when asked if Windhager would use those “tactics” this Sunday against any of Fremantle’s midfielders.

“Just to be clear, what are the tactics? I don’t quite understand … sorry for going out and competing, I thought you were allowed to compete in the AFL,” he said.

“I never knew playing on someone was a tactic, manning up at the stoppage; since Adam was a boy people have played and great midfielders get tighter attention.”

Windhager kept close tabs on Daicos. Picture: Michael Willson/AFL Photos via Getty Images

Fremantle ball-winner Caleb Serong said he would “embrace” the company of Windhager if he was St Kilda’s target.

“If it’s really challenging, then you to go to the levers you can pull around stoppage and the team things that we’ll work on,” Serong said on Thursday.

“But first and foremost, you’ve got to embrace it and stick to your guns.”

Lyon responded to Serong’s comments in trademark fashion.

“Terrific. Well done, Caleb,” he said.

Originally published as AFL 2025: St Kilda coach Ross Lyon doubles down on Marcus Windhager defence