"Why hasn’t he signed?": What Cornes would have asked Ross Lyon

St Kilda coach Ross Lyon has come under fire for shutting down a press conference just six minutes in over what he believed to be some wayward questioning.

With news over the past week revealing potential rumours of unrest amongst the playing group at the Saints, a range of media personnel opted to question Lyon on list management during his scheduled Round 23 press conference.

The line of questioning was quickly shut down by Lyon, cutting his presser short ahead of St Kilda's Friday night bout with the Bombers.

Discussing on SEN’s Sportsday, Gerard Healy revealed that he was a fan of Lyon’s actions, while Kane Cornes purely saw the situation as Lyon avoiding questions surrounding the future of the Saints.

The day before that controversial presser, Lyon appeared on Nine’s Footy Classified, and wasn’t asked any tough questions.

“So, he’s gone on Footy Classified… He would have been paid handsomely to go on. Whilst he threw some haymakers and it was great, he wasn’t asked any hard questions,” Cornes said.

“He wasn’t asked any of the hard questions that needed to be asked.”

Gerard Healy chimed in, adding that one of the panellists, Tom Morris, seemed frustrated at the lack of hard-hitting questions, to which Cornes agreed.

“I felt Tom Morris looked a bit frustrated,” Healy said.

“You could tell Tom wanted to ask the questions, but he was shut down pretty quickly,” responded Cornes.

“We probably didn’t get to the questions that needed to be asked.

“Whatever, that’s okay, that’s the panellist decision to go down that path, and look after essentially one of their own and provide an environment for him that is not threatening.”

However, the day after his Footy Classified appearance Lyon addressed a press conference full of journalists ready to question St Kilda’s future.

“Those journalists would have been prepared to ask the tough questions cause they don’t have a friendly relationship with Ross,” Cornes revealed.

“And I don’t think anyone really cares about the questions that relate to how St Kilda are gonna beat the wounded Bombers this week.

“It’s not really where our interests lie.

“Our interests lie in how the team is going to get better, and become relevant, and a powerful side.”

The journalists at the presser ended up asking those tough questions on list management, prompting Lyon to abruptly end the presser.

“I’m not here to go list management pre-game going into a Friday game,” Lyon said.

“That’s not why we called this presser.

“So, if that’s where you’re heading again, I’m not really prepared to dive into individuals.

“Enough’s enough, to be honest.”

Healy revealed that he was actually a fan of Lyon’s comments, backing in the St Kilda coach.

“I didn’t mind that,” Healy admitted.

“I think a couple of days out from a game, I don’t think you can (answer those questions) as coach.”

However, Cornes was in disbelief, questioning when can you actually ask those questions.

“I thought he let his club and his fans down,” Cornes said.

“You can’t do it in the media conference, cause he would say this media conference is about the game that we’ve just played.

“So, when can you? When do you have access to Ross?”

Healy doubled down on his stance with Lyon, stating that the St Kilda coach is in a lose-lose situation.

“There’s no win for Ross dissecting list management,” Healy said.

“What did you want asked?”

Cornes put forward the heavy list management questions which he would have asked Lyon.

“Do you regret offering Tom De Koning 1.7 million?” asked Cornes.

“Did you underestimate the impact that that offer would have on Rowan Marshall?

“Has Rowan addressed his future with you? And is he disgruntled?

“It’s Round 23, Marcus Windhager, why hasn’t he signed?

“Is it possible that Cal Wilkie called you last night to avoid the awkwardness and tell you one thing you wanted to hear, but he’s telling his management or the people around him something different?"

The Port Adelaide great then delved into questions about the Saints' shaky performance against Richmond last week.

“You said pre-game that you had a younger side than Richmond, do you now realise that that was factually untrue?” Cornes questioned.

“Against Richmond you went sideways more than any other team this year, does your game-style need to be heavily reviewed at the end of the year?”

Lyon also attacked SEN SA’s Michelangelo Rucci on Footy Classified, as Rucci stated that he felt Nasiah Wanganeen-Milera would leave while also suggesting that Wilkie, Jack Steele, Windhager and Marshall could potentially leave this off-season.

SEN's Sam Edmund also reported those same comments, however Lyon didn’t go after Edmund.

Cornes wants to know why that is.

“You were highly critical of Michelangelo Rucci, you were disrespectful to him, do you share the same view of Sam Edmund who also went with the exact same report that Michelangelo Rucci did? And did he make that up, is he a nuffie?” Cornes asked.

“They’re the questions that I would’ve asked and that I think at least some of the journalists would’ve asked those questions.”