By Sam Lienert
July 16th 2009 @ 12:57am
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Saints can’t afford to ease off, says Lyon
St Kilda coach Ross Lyon says his unbeaten AFL side risks a quick slide into mediocrity if they start flirting with their relentless approach.
Lyon is predicting an enormous challenge against Adelaide at Etihad Stadium on Sunday, rating the Crows’ recent run of results as superior to the Saints’.
But he welcomes another tough clash, coming after the Saints downed Geelong in a ferocious round 14 encounter, then survived a hard fight against West Coast in Perth last round.
He said there was no desire to rest players, alter training loads, or ease off as finals approached.
“We see it as a positive that we’re in tight, hard-fought contests and people see us as a scalp to get … what that does is give us great preparation for what lays ahead and we think it can only benefit us,” Lyon said.
“It’s just outside expectations or (people) trying to set agendas (that suggest) we’re tired, we’re niggly and everything’s been tough.
“It’s been 15 weeks, it’s a marathon and they’re all tough, so our reality hasn’t changed from where it was four weeks ago or six weeks ago going into round one.
“AFL footy’s hard work, it’s hard preparation and we go out to improve and compete fiercely every time we play.
“Or you blink, you practice mediocrity and you practice it often, you’ll blink and you’ll find yourself sliding down the ladder.”
Lyon said the Saints needed to step up in attack against an Adelaide side which is unbeaten over the past seven rounds.
That includes a mammoth 117-point win over Fremantle last round.
“When you analyse their last seven weeks, if you want to break it down into attack and defence, we’re No.1 in defence and they’re No.2,” he said.
“Attack we’ve slipped a bit, we’re concerned about that so we want to start scoring a little bit more heavily again.
“They’re fifth in attack and we’ve slipped to I think seventh or eighth.
“It’s not a big gap, but really on the surface coming in statistically over the last seven weeks they’re better than us.”
But he said a heartening sign was that the Saints had been able to hit their straps at crucial times in games.
Saints ruckman Steven King is available for the game after completing a suspension, but Lyon rated him only a 50-50 chance to return, saying the club needed to weigh up whether to keep youngster Ben McEvoy in the side to further his development.
He said veteran defender Max Hudghton was “more than likely” to be available to return from injury.
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