What’s got Ross Lyon so animated and will it go on?

Earlier this season, there were reviews of The White Lotus and reality powerhouse Married At First Sight from Ross Lyon. Now that they’re well and truly gone, is the ‘hard-arse’ here to stay?

North Melbourne great David King put it on the agenda about St Kilda coach Ross Lyon.

“Saints fans wanted a hard-arse, and now they’ve got one,” King said.

As King emphasised, Saints fans need to prepare for the niceties to dissipate to make way for Lyon’s hard edge they’ve pleaded for.

“You can’t have it both ways,” he said on Fox Footy.

Lyon was unapologetic for his animated bench-side feedback to youngster Hugo Garcia, and was visibly frustrated with players at the quarter-time break of the team’s loss to Brisbane on Saturday.

So, what has changed on the back of three losses and will this hard-nosed approach continue?

ROSS VS THE MEDIA

That Garcia incident led into a testy press conference exchange post-game.

“How did you see that one?,” was the opening question to Lyon on Saturday, from AFL reporter Gemma Bastiani.

Lyon: “I think you all saw it. What did you think?”

Bastiani: “Well, it would be disappointing from your perspective I imagine?”

Lyon: “Yeah, but specifically, what did you see? Q1.”

Bastiani: “A lack of ability to exit D50 and then just get …”

Lyon: “Yep. How did it get there?”

Bastiani: “From contest, clearance.”

Lyon: “So, you summed it up right.”

The coach, who said “if you want to get into the technicalities”, then answered with a more than three-minute summation of how he saw things play out, which is his usual style.

The topic of the team’s substitution of Garcia also prompted a Lyon question back about “why would I regret it?” given Mason Wood was injured soon after.

“You can’t have it both ways,” he said on Fox Footy.

Earlier in the season, there were reviews of streaming sensation White Lotus and reality powerhouse Married At First Sight.

Now, it’s pointed questions back at waiting media and assigning opening questions based on dress code at midweek press conferences, as revealed by Channel 10 reporter Nick Butler this week.

WILL IT CONTINUE?

Former Saint Leigh Montagna, who was coached by Lyon in his first period at the Saints, said it would be “interesting” to see his former mentor’s approach from here with the team now having lost three on the trot with crunch clashes with Fremantle – Lyon’s former side – and Carlton looming before a trip to Perth.

“What will be interesting to see, with Ross Lyon in this situation, he’s been open and honest about delegating a lot more to his assistants and giving a lot more responsibility,” Montagna said on Fox Footy.

No more ‘cuddly Ross’? Picture: Michael Willson/AFL Photos via Getty Images

“But what I know happens, when it’s not going his way, he says ‘no, no no – give it back to me’.

“I wouldn’t be surprised if Ross is going to take a bit more ownership of the game plan rather than overseeing some of the others and try to steer it back on track.

“Ross Lyon teams don’t concede over 100 points three weeks in a row, so we’ll be keeping an eye on that over the next few weeks.”

WHAT DO THE PLAYERS THINK?

To St Kilda player Zaine Cordy, who remains sidelined and in a sling with a pectoral injury he sustained earlier this month, the more pointed feedback from the coach showed “he just cares”.

“I don’t think it was an almighty spray … he just cares. He wants to do well, he’s come back to St Kilda to help them try and bring a premiership,” he said on Monday.

“I don’t mind it. I don’t mind seeing the coach animated, because we have been pretty poor the last couple of weeks.”

Originally published as What’s got Ross Lyon so animated and will it go on?