No matter what you expected of St Kilda this year, surely you expected better than that. Sunday was the quintessential Ross Lyon game – minus the win, and minus the effort. The coach tried to remain upbeat in the post-match press conference. As always, he sought to deflect, to charm and to set the narrative around the team. But he was fooling no one, perhaps with the exception of his former media colleagues who continue to pull their punches. For it was blindingly obvious on Sunday – St Kilda don’t have the stars, they certainly don’t have the midfield and they don’t really have anything that makes you want to watch them, or believe in them.
Lyon has been granted an unusual amount of power at St Kilda. He’s shaped a lot of change around him – recruiters, development staff, CEOs. When he was appointed, he laid out his vision for how he wanted the team to play, and how he wanted the club to be run. He was disarming, and he was blunt. He gave us all the old aphorisms. Football has changed, he said, and he would change with it. He’d be less of a lunatic in the box. He’d be less of an autocrat. He’d be “Cuddly Ross”.
