St Kilda coach Ross Lyon says criticism of team valid as he tries to address ugly slide

Finalists in 2023, St Kilda are on the nose in 2024 and coach Ross Lyon knows exactly what has to get better.

St Kilda coach Ross Lyon says criticism of his team and his coaching is “valid” as he tries to reinvigorate a “spluttering” offence amid a disappointing 3-6 start to the season.

The Saints coach was considering as many as five inclusions for Saturday night’s clash against Fremantle, with Carlton recruit Paddy Dow poised to play his first senior game for the club after a three-week stint in the VFL.

Lyon said he was strongly impressed by key forwards Anthony Caminiti and Cooper Sharman who kicked five goals between them in Sandringham’s narrow VFL loss to Box Hill on Saturday but defended under-fire spearhead Max King after he was criticised for a “lack of forward craft” by St Kilda great Nick Riewoldt this week.

King, who has booted nine goals in six games amid interruptions due to suspension and injury, will face the Dockers at Marvel Stadium but is unlikely to be joined by talls Jack Hayes and Tim Membrey who partnered him in the loss to Hawthorn.

“I think everyone does (need to work on their forward craft),” Lyon said when asked about Riewoldt’s criticism of King on Thursday.

“I remember Robert Walls, one of the great coaches – Craig Bradley said to him when he went to Carlton, ‘Keep coaching me, we all need to keep improving’. I think all there is, is improvement.

Max King (right) is under the pump to perform. Published: Quinn Rooney/Getty Images

“Caminiti played really well, and Sharman played really well. I drove down to Wonthaggi (on Sunday), I was thrilled with what they dished up.

“They’re certainly under consideration. Caminiti was probably unlucky to go out, so he’s more likely than not.”

Lyon said he was pleased by the response of teenage gun Mattaes Phillipou to his omission after playing all 32 AFL games since he was drafted with pick 10 in 2022.

“He’s been playing forward, we’ve put him in midfield, it’s a contingency approach … he was best on the ground (in the VFL), we had a really good talk about it,” Lyon said.

“He’s happy to continue that on and continue to develop that, or he’s happy to come in and play a role. He’s a ripping kid who I’m pretty close with.”

Lyon said returning midfielder Brad Crouch (knee) would play at least one game in the VFL but had been “really missed” by the Saints’ midfield as he said he understood why criticism of his coaching had grown louder over the past month.

“We’re really disappointed. I knew there would be criticism, I’m not sure exactly what it is, but we were really disappointed with our offence. Our defence for a long period has been in good order … our stoppage work is improving, so we’ve really just drilled down on trying to establish our identity with the ball,” he said.

“I accept the criticism because it’s valid. I’m not perturbed, but all there is is action, right, everyone does the talking.

“We want to develop our young players, we want to get our senior players into form. We’ve been spluttering. Ideally, we’d have another one or two wins on the board and I’d be pretty comfortable with all things taken into consideration.”

Originally published as St Kilda coach Ross Lyon says criticism of team valid as he tries to address ugly slide