St Kilda coaching latest: Saints meet with Ross Lyon for third time in as many days
Ross Lyon has expressed his interest in returning to the Saints as coach and three meetings in three days with St Kilda officials suggests he all but has the job wrapped up.
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Ross Lyon is closing in on a return as St Kilda coach after meeting with the club’s board on Wednesday.
Less than a week after Brett Ratten was sacked as St Kilda coach, Lyon moved another step closer to a second stint in the role at the club he walked out on in 2011.
The former Saints’ and Dockers coach was at Moorabbin for a meeting with the club’s board for more than two hours on Wednesday afternoon.
Lyon confirmed his interest in re-joining the club he took to back-to-back grand finals in 2009 and 2010 after a meeting with the club’s hierarchy on Monday.
After the four-hour meeting on Monday, News Corp reported St Kilda officials including board members spoke in person with Lyon again for several more hours on Tuesday in a bid to seal his return to Moorabbin.
A third meeting with the Saints in as many days this week would indicate Lyon was zeroing in on a sensational return to the club.
Lyon gave little away when asked about his meeting as he arrived at Saints’ headquarters.
“I’m going to a meeting with the board,” Lyon told Channel 7.
“So just part of stepping through the hoop.”
Asked if he had the job, Lyon said laughing “I wouldn’t have thought so”.
Lyon became the No.1 coaching target for the Saints’ after Ratten was sacked last week following a searing and wide-ranging club review.
Ratten’s axing came just three months after the Saints had given him a two-year contract extension.
Lyon coached the Saints from 2008 to 2011, leading the team to grand final appearances in 2009 and 2010 when they drew with Collingwood and then lost in the grand final replay.
Former Saints who played under Lyon, including Brendon Goddard, have backed his return to Moorabbin.
“I’m a massive advocate and fan of Ross,” Goddard said.
“There’s no reason why he wouldn’t be perfect for it, really. The game hasn’t changed that much.
“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.”
Club legend Lenny Hayes recently agreed to return as an assistant coach alongside Ratten.
Lyon blindsided the Saints when he walked out on them — he didn’t even tell his own manager — at the end of 2011, taking up a massive offer to coach Fremantle.
He took the Dockers to their first grand final in 2013 where they lost to Hawthorn before he was sacked in 2019.
Ross set for key meeting as Saints close in
- Jay Clark
St Kilda powerbrokers met with Ross Lyon for a second time in as many days as the club zeroes in on its No.1 senior coaching target.
After a four-hour meeting on Monday, St Kilda officials including board members spoke in person with Lyon again for several more hours on Tuesday in a bid to seal his return to Moorabbin.
St Kilda is keen to land Lyon in the firm belief he has the experience, player relationship skills and tactical acumen to help the club rise up the ladder after only one finals campaign in 11 years.
While it is understood Lyon has not yet made a decision, he is clearly weighing up a return to the club he coached to four finals campaigns and three grand finals over five seasons between 2007-2011.
Friends have urged Lyon to take the reins again if he feels he has the hunger to commit to coaching at the highest level again after a two-year stint in AFL media and commercial property.
He has received strong endorsement from former St Kilda and Fremantle players including respected midfield great David Mundy over the past 48 hours.
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Talks will continue over the next week as new Saints’ football manager Geoff Walsh looks to speak with Lyon and together assess the potential look of the rest of the football department.
Those discussions could happen as early as today as the Saints look to move quickly to appoint a replacement for Brett Ratten.
Former Adelaide coach Don Pyke and former Collingwood coach Nathan Buckley, as well as contracted Western Bulldogs’ boss Luke Beveridge could also be sounded out.
Beveridge has one year to run on his contract at the kennel and could help use any interest from St Kilda to bolster a new long-term contract extension with the Bulldogs.
St Kilda has made clear it wants an experienced coach with a hard edge but Lyon’s enduring bonds with many of his senior players have also swayed the Saints to head hunt him.
They include Saints’ director Jason Blake and new midfield coach Lenny Hayes.
Lyon helped change the culture at Fremantle when he arrived in 2012 and led the Dockers to a Grand Final in his second season in charge in 2013 after back-to-back Grand Finals at St Kilda in 2009-10.
St Kilda sacked Ratten with two years remaining on his contract last week following a searing review of the football club prompted president Andrew Bassat to make the big move.
The Saints have conceded the call to re-sign Ratten mid-year was a mistake.
However there has been criticism of the list over the past week which has described the squad as average and lacking in top-end talent.
The limitations could provide a challenge for any quick rise up the ladder next year but Lyon would likely be offered a long-term deal to take over at St Kilda.
An appointment is expected in the next fortnight.
‘Big step’ in Saints return for Ross the boss
—Scott Gullan
Ross Lyon is a step closer to returning to coach St Kilda after a four-hour meeting with the club’s hierarchy on Monday.
Lyon emerged from St Kilda president Andrew Bassat’s Bayside home and confirmed his interest in the job.
“I just had a meeting, it’s a big step isn’t it?” he told Channel 7.
“We just had initial discussions.
“Otherwise I wouldn’t come and meet (if I wasn’t interested), it is a delicate time for everybody.
“It’s not easy coaching an AFL club.”
St Kilda’s chief executive Simon Lethlean also attended the meeting where Lyon outlined his plans for a possible return to the club he walked out on in 2011.
Bassat has effectively taken charge of the club after being heavily involved in the wide-ranging review which led to the sacking of Ratten just three months after he’d been given a two-year contract extension.
It was obvious at Friday’s press conference to announce Ratten’s dismissal that the Saints already had someone in mind for the senior job.
“What I would say is between Andrew and myself and the board, we’ve uncovered what we need and our members need to know we’ll be swift and decisive and go and find the coach we need,” Lethlean said.
A number of former Saints who played under Lyon, including Brendon Goddard, have come out in support of his return to Moorabbin.
“I’m a massive advocate and fan of Ross,” Goddard said.
“There’s no reason why he wouldn’t be perfect for it, really. The game hasn’t changed that much.
“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.”
Goddard, a key piece in St Kilda’s near-successes under Lyon in 2009 and 2010, has revealed he would be open to returning to Linton Street.
Club legend Lenny Hayes recently agreed to return as an assistant coach alongside Ratten.
Lyon blindsided the Saints when he walked out on them – he didn’t even tell his own manager – at the end of 2011, taking up a massive offer to coach Fremantle.
He took the Dockers to the Grand Final in 2013 where they lost to Hawthorn before being sacked in 2019.
Lyon has since forged an impressive media career appearing on Nine’s Footy Classified and in the special comments chair for Triple M.
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Originally published as St Kilda coaching latest: Saints meet with Ross Lyon for third time in as many days
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