AFL 2021: Ross Lyon in box seat to replace David Teague as Carlton coach

Carlton’s hopes to land Ross Lyon would not only be costly for David Teague, it may mean any pursuit of Adam Cerra could also be off the table. Here’s why.

Ross Lyon coaching Fremantle.

If the AFL had a Hall of Fame for Common Sense, Leigh Matthews would be the inaugural Legend.

No expert has a greater ability to cut through the bulldust and white noise better than coaching legend Matthews.

It is why he was so easily able to reawaken Ross Lyon’s interest months back, an exchange that could take Ross the Boss all the way to Carlton’s coaches box.

And it is the same radar that allows Matthews to confidently predict Lyon would make a decent fist of coaching the Blues next year.

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As Matthews told the Herald Sun on Monday, his role in rekindling Lyon’s coaching flame came about from a simple observation in the bowels of the MCG.

“We ran into each other after working a game at the MCG and I just said to him, ‘How are you enjoying the media?’. For those of us who have coached, a day in the media box is pretty dull. I just said to Ross, ‘How are you doing, are you getting stimulated by the media?’.

“And I think I used the phrase, ‘You are too young not to coach again’.

“I am not a person who can judge coaches. I can’t tell the connection between what players have done and what the coach has told them to do. There are a lot of lucky coaches who were in the right club at the right time … but you can’t be lucky twice.

“Ross has taken two separate groups of players into grand finals, and that to me says Ross must know what he is doing.

“I have never been behind the scenes with Ross. To get two clubs into grand finals, that has to be a tick for the coach. That fits into the can’t-be-lucky category.”

Ross Lyon is open to a return to senior coaching.

David Teague’s death-by-a-thousand-cuts departure from Carlton has thankfully entered its final week.

It is now 70 days since the Blues announced their external review, and if you were blunt you would say it has been a masterclass in cutting David Teague off at the knees.

Finally, on Saturday, with an injury-ravaged list that had been rocked by the second and more serious cancer diagnosis of its co-captain Sam Docherty, it all fell apart.

By Monday morning, the decks were cleared for what surely will be Teague’s final act.

Luke Sayers has finally stepped up to take over Carlton, and take responsibility for the widespread cull that will inevitably sweep so many aside within his football department.

As revealed by the Herald Sun on Monday morning, president-elect Sayers was finally elevated to the official presidency in time for the recommendations of the review to be actioned.

Sayers commissioned the review, he has reviewed it with chief executive Cain Liddle, and now he will be the latest board member, president or CEO to hire a coach, sack him quickly, and then install his replacement with little fallout for those who made those decisions.

He might say the buck will now stop with him in a way that it didn’t when his board sacked Mick Malthouse and Brendon Bolton, with Teague the latest in the firing line.

Incoming Carlton president Luke Sayers. Picture: Arsineh Houspian

It is understood Carlton’s assistant coaches are yet to learn of their fate despite the informal AFL Coaches Association August 1 deadline, and the open question is whether Teague has been informed about his future.

The strong suggestion over the weekend was that Teague had been told of his impending departure, or at least given an indication he would finish up after Round 23.

If you were Teague, wouldn’t you have bowled up to Sayers or Liddle and asked if your cards were already marked?

Regardless, he is set to coach out the season in what will also be Eddie Betts’ final game.

Sayers’ elevation came with Lyon’s perfectly timed public statement that he was interested in coaching again, just as growing speculation of the new president’s desire to install him as coach hit fever pitch.

Lyon would contest the fact he is the kind of “hard bastard” club legend John Nicholls says Carlton needs given the extraordinary relationships that run the course of over a decade with former players.

One side note: Adam Cerra is said to prefer Justin Longmuir’s style of coaching over Lyon’s intensity, so whether he would be less likely to come to Carlton remains to be seen.

But having come so far in a review that has clearly destabilised Teague’s position — intentionally or otherwise — it is impossible to see how the club could sell hope and memberships if they continued with him next year.

So Leigh Matthews has woken Ross Lyon from his coaching slumber, and if the torrent of information that has flooded out of Carlton is to be believed, it will take Alastair Clarkson’s renewed interest to beat him to the role.

Originally published as AFL 2021: Ross Lyon in box seat to replace David Teague as Carlton coach