A testy Ross Lyon says his Saints weren’t “mentally tuned in” after falling by 45 points to Brisbane on Saturday, defending a surprise early tactical sub call.
St Kilda was -23 for inside-50s just one week after losing the count by 38 in a heavy 71-point defeat to the Western Bulldogs.
Lyon labelled ‘contest and clearance’ his side’s “Achilles heel” in a post-game press conference where he made no attempt at hiding his disappointment.
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Asked how he saw the game play out, an abrupt Lyon quipped: “I think like you all saw it; what’d you think?”
“When we’ve played well, our clearance work has been good … but ultimately around the contest — which is really stoppage — they’re a real territory team … they got it in there and they dominated clearance wins and territory, and we were pinned and couldn’t get it out.”
The Saints finished a glaring -18 for clearances and lost the final inside-50 count 43-66 on Saturday.
“Our forwards were too far away, not good enough with the ball in hand, got stripped, so yeah, think it was 23 entries to four (in the first quarter),” Lyon continued.
“That’s what I thought of the first quarter … I haven’t sprayed the group since I’ve been here, but I think first possession was 12-10 at one point and our clearances were 3-12 — so we had it, but their physicality, our (inability) to control the ball, exit the ball in a manner that is expected was bottom-end.”
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The 58-year-old believed his side was too ‘flippant’ in possession — succumbing to the Lions’ significant pressure at the coalface — but maintained his chargers continue to ‘develop’ and ‘emerge’ despite back-to-back disappointing fade-outs.
“You win the ball, first possession off the ruck’s hand, and either they’re too big and strong and strip it or we just flick it out flippantly and the ball just gets swept away, and that’s what happened a lot,” Lyon said.
“After quarter-time, they responded to that. We were far from perfect, we know that … (but) we feel like we’re developing and emerging and all those sort of things — the throwaways — but we felt at times we were in the game and we could win the ball.
“Our competition was pretty good, but … (at times) we just slaughtered the ball, which was just demoralising, and they’re just that good they go bang-bang, people are hanging their heads — which we don’t do normally.
“We had some good passages, but we weren’t executing at a high enough standard for long enough. We know what the promised land looks like — a number of us have been on the other side of what (a) really high level looks like.
“We’re on that journey, but you’ve got to make sure you (are) at your capabilities so you don’t fall by the wayside.”
Lyon added his disappointment at his side’s ‘mental’ shortfall in a sluggish start to the contest.
“How do you improve it after an old bloke comes down and says ‘how about you focus on this, this and this’ and then it tidies up pretty quick — which tells you mentally they weren’t tuned in to the conditions or the opponent like they needed to be,” he said.
“So, that was really disappointing.”
Lyon tactically subbed 19-year-old midfielder Hugo Garcia out of the game halfway through the second term in a statement wake-up call to the rest of his troops.
The 16-gamer had managed four disposals and one tackle in 36 per cent game time.
“Hugo was a part of it (getting out-muscled in the middle). I don’t know. How much do you guys know about stay-ahead mids and swivelling and turning? Sometimes I just get to roll-the-eyes stage,” Lyon said post-game of his call to pull Garcia.
“Sometimes you’ve got to stop talking about it and sometimes you just go ‘bang’.”
Asked if Lyon regretted his early cub call after Mason Wood exited with concussion in the third quarter, Lyon defiantly said: “Not at all”.
“How long after was it? Two quarters? That’s a half. I live in the world of action. You’d sit there and go ‘why’d they pull the sub?’ I pulled the sub to try and get something done.”
Lyon said he didn’t give the players a spray but agreed it was the most “animated” he’d openly been since his return to Moorabbin.
“Not a spray, but yeah, I was animated … but it’s not personal, (I’m talking about) first possession 12-3 or 12-4 and clearances are 3-12,” he said.
“How about show some fortitude, hang on to the ball and go and get it going our way, or get a restart?”
Asked if it was the most disappointed he’s been since returning to the helm, Lyon said it wasn’t “about disappointment”.
“It’s about, AFL teams don’t do this under pressure,” he said. “I just coach action, that’s all you can coach.
“You can’t read their minds, can you? Can I coach feelings? … What are we talking about here? Action, aren’t we? So, we know what actions we need to deliver … so, at quarter-time, it was (about) modifying the action and (start) doing this.”
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