‘He had 41, but…’: Ross Lyon explains call on Daicos tag as ‘really costly’ errors play part in loss

St Kilda coach Ross Lyon believes his side “handled the heat” in their two-goal loss to Collingwood to close out Gather Round, as the Magpies’ young and old faces ran riot throughout.

In front of a buzzing crowd filled with 82,528 people, the Saints fell short of four premiership points after unveiling a quartet of star recruits during last October’s trade and free agency period.

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After being subject to less tagging attention than recent clashes, rival superstar Nick Daicos was the pick of the Magpies players on Sunday night after amassing 41 disposals, 11 score involvements, 811 metres gained and a goal assist.

A more traditional midfield role in 2026 for renowned tagger Marcus Windhager — who has previously had the wood over Daicos — saw the three-time All-Australian at times run his own show through the defensive half of the ground, and play seemingly untroubled by later attention from young Saint Hugo Garcia.

However, Lyon noted upon reflection how given their wish to play with a more structured system, he was mostly unfazed by Daicos’ output.

“Should we have tagged Daicos? We’re trying to display a bit more system… maybe? He had 41, but momentum is interesting. We sent someone to him for a little bit,” Lyon told journalists during his post-match press conference.

“It was more about being accountable to yourself; I thought Garcia did that really well … I don’t think that’s why either one of them — whether it be ‘Nas’ or Daicos — why they got the points, and we didn’t.

“I thought it was more the overall ‘letting them off’, or they were a bit more efficient than we’d like, and we were inefficient. They took their chances, and we didn’t.

“I thought he played his part. I could be wrong … but I wouldn’t have thought (he was the difference).”

A far more senior figure who showcased his impact in the first term was 426-game Magpies legend Scott Pendlebury.

Lyon’s counterpart Craig McRae told Fox Footy pre-game that he intended to ease the 38-year-old into the Opening Round finale off the bench, in a move that paid huge dividends before the first break.

Pendlebury registered three consecutive goal assists from just 32 per cent game time by quarter time, before closing out the match with 10 score involvements from 55 per cent time on ground.

“We thought his touches were quality. 400 games, he looked composed … (but) he had one kick in the first half. We didn’t speak about him at half time, with respect to everybody,” Lyon said, after pointing to his side’s positive takeaways.

“Our centre bounce work was great, our stoppage work was great. Our front-half game was great … the real challenge is they’ll aim to beat you off turnover and their outside game.

“Handling the heat, I thought we did that. But, you’ve got to be organised off turnover when you’re behind the attack. Sometimes, they beat us at the contest, but they obviously did that more than we’d like.

“We’ll take the 61 (inside 50) entries, we’ll take the front-half game, we’ll take our stoppage work … but clearly, the connection, contest, cleanness and taking full opportunities and converting them wasn’t at the level.

“Strategically, they had 147 marks — 98 of them were in their back half. The second quarter was interesting; they took 38 in the back half, but we had 21 (inside 50) entries to seven. So, we had territory.

“They took seven intercepts off those 21 entries, so the ability to get the ball to ground or make the right decision wasn’t at the level. To be honest, it was really costly.

Nasiah Wanganeen-Milera was well held by Harry Perryman in a hard tag deployed by Collingwood, and was restricted to his lowest disposal count (19) since Round 6, 2024 against the Western Bulldogs.

By extension, it was just the third time the 23-year-old superstar has had less than 20 disposals in a match since Round 9, 2023.

“I thought he started the game really well … Nas worked through it (the tag),” Lyon added.

“He didn’t have his best night, but he never gave up and kept working. He’s got to work through that phase.”

“I think we’re in pretty good order, if we learn our lessons.”

St Kilda will continue their chase for a maiden win in 2026 against Melbourne next Sunday afternoon at the MCG without Rowan Marshall, who sat out the final quarter with concussion.