St Kilda coach Ross Lyon has no interest in angry fallout from disparaging comment about Gold Coast Suns

It was hard to ignore the furious response from the Gold Coast Suns to a comment from St Kilda Ross Lyon, but it seems he managed to.

St Kilda coach Ross Lyon says he was oblivious to the dramatic fallout of his “nepo baby” comments about the Gold Coast Suns despite a furious response, adamant his focus remains solely on making his team the “best St Kilda team ever”.

Lyon was hit between the eyes by both Suns coach Damien Hardwick and chief executive Mark Evans for his comment, made before last Sunday’s game at Marvel Stadium, won by Gold Coast.

Hardwick labelled the comment “disrespectful”, while Evans said it was “offensive and out of order”, having also made the club’s displeasure known to St Kilda chief executive Carl Dilena.

It was also called a “whinge” coming as part of a lengthy campaign from the Saints against draft concessions given to the expansion clubs and the impact it has had on their own list building.

Ross Lyon has ignored fallout from his ‘nepo baby’ comment. Picture: Michael Willson/AFL Photos via Getty Images

But on Friday, Lyon, who was preparing to board a flight with AFL executives to Alice Springs for his team’s cash with Melbourne, said apart from a “few calls” he took little notice of the blowback.

Instead he delivered a message about how the Saints, who sit 14th with four wins from 11 games, were “executing” on their own strategy implemented when he returned for a second stint as coach.

“I had a few calls from people on (TV) shows. I haven’t read one article or listened to one show,” he said.

“I moved on to the review, we really need to improve our footy.”

Key to the criticism of what many perceived to be a planned attack on the Suns was previous instances of St Kilda officials bemoaning their position.

But Lyon said he and the club would continue to stay the course and not be “derailed” by outside noise, with support of some of the club’s greats.

“We’ve 25 list changes in two years, gone from second and fifth oldest to third youngest (list),” he said.

“In that period of time, we played a finals series … we’ve beaten some decent teams this year, we’re inconsistent, and we’re still trying to build out our list.

“We know we have that strategic vision we are working on, getting our salary cap in order, trying to target free agents, going to the draft, signing our really good players.

St Kilda needs to re-sign Nasiah Wanganeen-Milera. Picture: Michael Klein

“We want to become the best Saints ever and we feel by definition winning a premiership will do that. The overarching view is we are executing.

“I get texts all the time, Barry Breen says stay the course. It’s a bit rough, keep playing the kids, which we are doing.”

Key to the success of the strategy is signing superstar Nasiah Wanganeen-Milera, with Lyon dispelling any idea he was “gettable” for other clubs.

“All I do is coach him,” he said.

“I said to him last week ‘how about 1000m gained’. He said no worries and delivered 920. He said ‘they missed me on a couple of handballs’.

“I don’t want to get caught in that week-to-week narrative.

“I see the headline ‘gettable’ but opinion isn’t fact.”

Originally published as St Kilda coach Ross Lyon has no interest in angry fallout from disparaging comment about Gold Coast Suns