A week into his tenure as St Kilda coach, Ross Lyon is already plenty busy.
The Saints unveiled the 55-year-old to the public last Friday after much expectation through the previous two weeks following Brett Ratten’s sacking
The AFL coach turned media performer had previously turned down invitations from Carlton and Essendon to go through their coaching processes but was almost instantly linked to the Saints when news broke of Ratten’s axing.
Similar to public opinion, Essendon great Matthew Lloyd believes the St Kilda hierarchy already had some idea Lyon was going to be the club’s next coach.
“The way he’d never rule it out for any of the jobs said to me if the right fit came he’d go, but he didn’t really want to go through the process for any of these clubs,” Lloyd told Sportsday.
“So I think St Kilda came along and it was pretty much Ross. And if they didn’t get Ross, was there a Plan B? I’m not sure they actually had one.
“I’m sure they knew Ross was going to come before they sacked Brett Ratten, so they had their man.”
Lyon was a notoriously hard-edged coach for St Kilda between 2007-2011 and then Fremantle from 2012-2019, gaining a reputation as a strong operator.
His appointment could catapult St Kilda back to relevancy after two mediocre seasons, and it’s widely tipped he’ll get the best out of the list.
Lloyd added Lyon was already hard at work.
“My understanding is he’s been at the club the last three or four days, the last week, having some really hard conversations with players and staff and there’s changes afoot,” he continued.
“I think he’s a very driven man. The jury’s out how he will go with St Kilda, but it’s interesting they felt Ratten wasn’t hard enough and they’ve gone for a man who is very hard in his convictions.”
Lyon has been a weekly contributor on Nine’s Footy Classified in recent years and has developed a lighter tone than what was seen during his coaching days.
Lloyd, who appears on Footy Classified with Lyon, acknowledged the coach was “as relaxed as you could be” on the show, but questioned how that will hold up under the rigours of the AFL landscape.
“But he’s doing a TV show for one hour a week where there’s not the pressure of coaching an AFL side,” Lloyd explained.
“So the challenge for Ross is going to be when he loses four or five games in a row can he still go in the way he wants to be and be different to the first time, maybe not as hard on people, staff, as he was the first time.”
Lloyd enjoyed a win-loss percentage of 64.46 in his 121 games in charge of the Saints previously, and despite three Grand Final appearances, wasn’t able to break the AFL’s current longest-standing premiership drought.