Ross Lyon opens up on his St Kilda vision – and how he plans to make it happen
Over the past decade, the ‘irrelevant’ Saints have been the most ridiculed team in Victoria. But Ross Lyon is adamant St Kilda is ‘a serious football club’. He opens up on why – and what’s next.
St Kilda coach Ross Lyon jetted overseas late last year and approved an order he had never ticked-off before.
The club needed another assistant coach, but the selection process was running at the same time Lyon was slated to be abroad on an end-of-season holiday.
So Lyon, in a sign of how much he has perhaps mellowed, let assistants Corey Enright and Robert Harvey sort the search that secured Jared Rivers.
“I said, ‘I trust yas’. It shows you how much things have changed,” Lyon said.
“‘Riv’ was appointed before I came back (from overseas) and they were really strong on his character, but I definitely would never have allowed that in the past.”
Lyon then burst out laughing, making fun of his previously extra-serious self, which led the Saints and Fremantle to four grand finals between 2009 and 2013.
In those days, he was relentless and manic, if not “a bit short” with people at times as he worked ferociously.
“You can lose your sh*t a bit when you are spinning the plates,” Lyon said.
“These days I spend more time on the dynamics than the mechanics.
“We had a great coaches dinner the other night with eight coaches and that is something I just never would have had the time or the inclination for. So I’m not speeding along anymore, or clipping someone accidentally. I’m more balanced with my time.
“I know this is my last go (at coaching), but I’m loving it, actually.”
It means at 58, Lyon might be an even better, if not more well-rounded coach, leading a club that now has the equal fifth-youngest list to 24 wins over the past two seasons.
In a South Melbourne restaurant this week, Lyon was approached by a St Kilda fan, who told the coach he has been a rusted-on supporter for life, but had never seen a flag.
Lyon reached out for a handshake.
“Sorry for all the stress,” he joked once again.
Then came the reassurance, that exciting times were ahead for the bayside club.
AGE SHALL NOT WEARY THEM
Over the past decade, the Saints have been perhaps the most ridiculed team in Victoria, labelled “irrelevant” and kicked to the kerb for its 58-year premiership drought and long string of draft mishaps.
In 2021, the Saints had the second-oldest list in the competition, a maxed-out salary cap and missed finals. It was a dead-end, prompting the club to take drastic action in 2022 replacing contracted coach Brett Ratten with Lyon on a mandate to recalibrate the list and help reset the Saints for success.
This year, they begin the season with a similar age profile to Richmond after 20 changes in the past two years to help build a nucleus of young talent.
“I think St Kilda supporters would say ‘the club had a go (in 2021-22), and weren’t good enough’,” Lyon said.
“But we have built quickly to become the fifth-youngest list in the comp and we have been just as competitive on the scoreboard (24 wins in two years), and played in a finals series.
“So, if you are looking for context, the Dockers fell off a cliff in 2016, went to the draft, and they are now in their 10th year of that rebuild.
“They have played one finals series since and basically have the wherewithal now (to challenge). We don’t want to take that long. But I think that gives you context in two years.
“We think if we have everyone fully available and fit this year and improve our system – because we have a great coaching panel, and sports science team – we are looking to win lots of games. We are a serious football club.”
DETERMINED TO DELIVER
That is the thing with Lyon. There is no white flag, ever. Young team or not.
Not last year at round 17 when the Saints, who were out of the finals mix, surged home with five wins from their last six games including upset victories over finalists Geelong and Carlton. In that stretch, the Saints unveiled a new game plan that will become the foundation of the way they want to play this year.
There will be more risk and more chaos. More trust for the contest. Less handbrake.
They want to get it quicker to Max King and company.
The temptation last year might have been to flick the bails on the season early, put players in for surgery and slide down the ladder at the end of 2024, just like other clubs have in the past to get the best draft pick possible.
But the Saints won’t fold or be walked over, Lyon said.
As long as he is holding the clipboard, the club would fight for every single inch of on-field growth and respect from its fan base.
“We want to be the best Saints ever of the modern era,” Lyon said.
“If we win the flag, that is what we will be – that is indisputable.
“What gets that done? It starts with great character and confidence. Your culture.
“And once you start to flirt with that it becomes a dangerous game and there have been enough examples. People have tried (tanking) and it hasn’t worked.
“And I would find it pretty uncomfortable standing up there as an AFL coach, sending them out there and not caring. Players read bullsh*t pretty quickly.
“So I think the ‘theory men’ – other list managers or people outside the club who talk about (the position of) picks and selections like to run with it. But the people in the trenches understand that character and culture counts, so we said (at round 17), ‘No, this counts’.”
YOUTH POLICY
While the strong finish couldn’t keep Josh Battle from joining Hawthorn, the Saints ended up taking playmaker Tobie Travaglia and intercepting wizard Alix Tauru in the 2024 draft with picks seven and eight.
Travaglia’s on-ball production matched some of the best of his draft class last year, while Lyon quipped that Tauru’s marking reminded him of Essendon great Paul van der Haar.
Tauru has been nicknamed “The Flying Viking”.
“He (Tauru) is a freak in the air,” Lyon said.
But there is more talent under the hood at Moorabbin, Lyon said, after four strong drafts.
There’s spearhead King, maybe the best kick in the league in Nasiah Wanganeen-Milera, Mattaes Phillipou who “was really booming before he got hurt”, running-machine Darcy Wilson, and others such as playmakers Hugo Garcia, Angus Hastie, Arie Schoenmaker and bolters Hugh Boxshall and James Barratt – a competitive swingman from this year’s draft.
Western Australian hard nut Boxshall will play on Saturday against Carlton and developing 203cm ruckman and gun junior basketballer Alex Dodson has put on 4kg this summer.
Plus there’s senior locks Mitch Owens and Marcus Windhager.
Travaglia reminds Lyon of Collingwood star Jack Crisp, while Wilson has shown the silkiness of champion Scott Pendlebury playing inside and outside midfield.
And the big trade and free agency moves yet might come at season’s end, as the Saints target Carlton big man Tom De Koning, explosive North Melbourne ball-winner Luke Davies-Uniacke, and Greater Western Sydney jet Finn Callaghan, among others.
“We analyse the best – we talk about Geelong and Brisbane and how they have done it?” Lyon said.
“It was draft, draft, draft and then they (Lions) traded four first-round draft picks for Lachie Neale, Charlie Cameron and got Joe Daniher and Darcy Fort, who are all high-end.
“At the right time, we could look to do the same.
“Was it the right time when (Dan) Houston and all that was floating around? We didn’t think so. Instead, we drafted Alix Tauru who we think is probably the most exciting player aerially in the draft. So we applied discipline to our strategy and didn’t deviate.
“Sometimes I hear people say ‘You should do what Richmond did and rebuild’.
“I say 20 players are gone and we are now the fifth-youngest (list). Do the work.
“But does Brisbane get it done without Cameron, Neale and Daniher? Not sure.
“What about Geelong without (Jeremy) Cameron and (Patrick) Dangerfield? Maybe.
“What I’m saying is, you keep building until you get it done. We want to be a destination club.”
BUILDING RELATIONSHIPS
To accomplish that goal, the Saints needed to grow off-field, too, and the club’s top brass has worked to re-engage some of its most wealthy and influential supporters to build a network of business and investment acumen.
Geelong, which has arguably the best recruiting policy in the game, has relationships and sponsorship agreements with Morris Finance for senior coach Chris Scott and Cotton On for players, including new star recruit Bailey Smith.
“We aspire to be a Geelong with Cotton On partnerships. Families and friends do play a role in independent commercial agreements,” Lyon said.
“They are all legal with the AFL. There is nothing illegal here, but we feel like we have got that level of support and we want to provide opportunity within the rules of the game.
“We have connected our off-field more. There has been commercial acumen and power that wants to be in. We are bringing the fabric of the club together.”
It also includes changes to the father-son and daughter program to include every former player’s child to join up “regardless of talent”.
There is also more engagement with players’ families and their partners as part of an assessment into Battle’s departure.
“We learned a bit about the Battle situation and the family. We have formalised that and we think now that is really strong,” he said.
“It wasn’t everything but it was ‘Yeah, we can get a bit better in terms of formal engagement, post-game, communication’.
“We were not going to get out-cultured (by rivals). Or it can be used against us. We feel like we are doing a lot right.”
The coaching group has been bolstered by the arrival of former Carlton senior coach and Collingwood and Hawthorn premiership assistant Brendon Bolton, while Enright has been elevated to head of strategy, continuing on a path which looks set to land him a senior coaching gig.
Bolton has recently come under fire from former Blue Zach Tuohy, who complained about Bolton’s intensity and decision one day to deride Carlton players who ate a packet of biscuits on a plane.
Lyon said Bolton has been outstanding.
“I read the ‘biscuits’ article from Tuohy, I think it says more about Tuohy trying to make some money off-field than it does about ‘Bolts’,” he said.
“But that was a moment in time and he (Bolton) would say he got that wrong.
“All the moments I have seen from Bolts, (he) is really highly skilled. His knowledge of the teaching cycle. Ability, focus, demonstrate, engage. It is really high-level.
“We are not trying to build something to compete, we are trying to build something to win, and we felt like we shifted to more of that at the back end of last year.”
ATTACKING EFFICIENCY
This is where the complexion of the Saints’ game style will change this year based on the success in the last six weeks of the season.
The Saints were the No.1 scoring team from the back half of last year, and want to attack more efficiently from the stoppages.
Recruiting more power for the engine room will help, clearly, at season’s end.
But generally the Saints want to play with more chaos in 2025. More live play. More excitement. But he said the flooding criticism of the club, which included a barb from Gold Coast coach Damien Hardwick last year, was off the mark.
“I thought about that (Hardwick comment) when I was in the shower the other day actually,” Lyon said.
“I remember Sydney beat them (Richmond) when they (Tigers) were rocking and he (Hardwick) said Sydney played a number back, too.
“So, he’s got an issue throwing that out. Great coach, though. Three (premierships) in the bank, so who could argue?
“But when you analyse it, no one moves the ball quicker from the defensive 50m to the other end quicker than us. I would have thought that is exciting.
It (flooding) is an easy throwaway line. We know the extra 14 or 16 points a game we are chasing are really from stoppage and front half.
“Late last year it looked and felt a bit different. And we liked it. We want to pursue it.”
With such a young list, Lyon knows the season ahead will be anything but easy. But he is unafraid of any bumps they may hit, having experienced just about everything in his 15 years of senior coaching.
The void in the club’s trophy cabinet is what drives him every day.
“I know it is going to be tough. I have committed to the players that they will have a safe environment,” he said. “If there are any rumblings and shaking, as long as you are bringing the effort and a growth mindset, I will stick the cause.
“I have been to hell and back. This is a snack.
“We are about to see who is in and who is out over a period of time.”
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