Ross Lyon’s first week of pre-season at St Kilda is almost complete, and he’s already had a significant impact on Marcus Windhager.
Lyon joined the Saints in late October, almost two weeks after Brett Ratten’s sacking, and was rumoured to be plenty busy in his first week at the club.
Despite now holding the role for over a month, the former Fremantle coach only officially got to work with his players when the majority of the group returned for pre-season on Monday.
Lyon is seen as a hard-edged coach who demands the best from his players and Windhager – speaking to SEN Breakfast - said that’s the vibe around the group.
“There was a lot of talk amongst the boys with Ross, obviously he is an experienced coach who is so knowledgeable and respected in the AFL,” the 18-gamer said.
“Everything he has said to the playing group I’ve just loved, just the way he goes about it and everything he stands for is just awesome and I can’t wait to get amongst everything and have the older boys come in and really start driving the standards forward.
“At the moment it is an amazing feeling around the club, everyone’s enthusiastic and eager to put their head down and that is Ross’ main pointer in just working your backsides off and the coaches will have your back.
“A lot of the boys have been pretty good at getting on the track and just putting their head down with our running and training.”
Appointing Lyon was a key outcome of St Kilda’s review, with the coaching structure under Ratten one plagued by “significant issues”.
Robert Harvey and Brendon Goddard have since joined the coaching unit, while Lenny Hayes has also commenced as an assistant coach.
All played under Lyon when he formerly led St Kilda for 128 games between 2007-2011. The club hopes the significant cultural figures will boost the Saints next year after an underwhelming 2022 campaign, and if Windhager’s comments are anything to go by, the appointments are having an immediate impact.
“Ross has mentioned a few times in a few meetings that is where we can start, just work as hard as possible,” the 19-year-old continued.
“I think being a part of a side that is just going to run all day and just attack is going to be a joy to be a part of but I think as a group collectively, I think that what we are focusing on at the moment.
“It is extraordinary... it is quite an exciting time at the club, to be able to tap into the legends of the club like those three (Hayes, Goddard and Harvey) is pretty awesome.
“Us younger boys have already started catching up with them and getting the most out of them because they are very experienced, so it is going to be great for us.”
Despite the improving optimism around the club, the sentiment was far poorer when Ratten was initially sacked.
The news came out of the blue to shock the AFL world, not least the St Kilda players.
However, the ex-St Kilda coach has since landed a new role at North Melbourne.
“When it happened, to be honest, no one had heard anything of it really and no one was expecting Ratts to go out the door,” Windhager admitted.
“Ratts was a great bloke and he had so much respect from all the players it was obviously sad to see him go but it’s pretty cool now to see he has got a gig at North Melbourne but it was definitely a shock at the time.
“We all reached out to Ratts and jumped on the phone with him and he was obviously quite upset with what happened but he is in a good place and it is awesome that he is still in the industry working with North Melbourne now.”