Has the game passed Ross the Boss by?

Ross Lyon has been renowned as one of the game’s best coaches and strategists for a number of years.

‘The Boss’, as he is so elegantly known, has led both St Kilda and Fremantle to success during his fruitful tenures.

However, one thing has always eluded Lyon, the one and only thing he truly desires: the ultimate success of being a premiership coach.

Ross Lyon has led a team to the grand final on four separate occasions, for four losses and zero wins. This will be a record that plagues him for the remainder of his coaching career as he looks to rejuvenate the Fremantle Dockers and deliver them a first premiership.

This was looking likely at the beginning of his time over in the West as an unexpected semi final appearance in 2012 followed by a grand final appearance in 2013 drove many to believe that the Dockers were finally bound for glory.

This was followed up by another semi appearance in 2014, before I side labelled “too old” and “past its prime” galvanised in 2015 to finish the regular season as minor premiers, only to fall to eventual champions Hawthorn in a tightly contested preliminary final.

After a strong body of work, many thought the Dockers window to premiership glory was still open heading into 2016, before injuries and poor performance struck Lyon’s men as they slumped to a dismal four wins and 16th placed finish.

Following this slump, confusion began to surround Lyon and his Dockers as a number of bold off season moves such as the inclusions of Bradley Hill, Joel Hamling, Shane Kersten and Cam McCarthy saw pundits begin to believe that 2016 was a one-off for Ross the Boss.

However, just two rounds in, it is safe to say that this will not be the case.

Beginning the year at 0-2, Fremantle have looked arguably the worst of all comers thus far in 2017 as Nathan Fyfe’s tenure as captain has seen the side put up almost non competitive performances against Geelong at home and Port Adelaide at the Adelaide Oval. Granted, both of these sides are particularly strong, Lyon’s men seemed almost disinterested and unwilling to work at times.

Following the mediocre performance of his players, Lyon has looked to shoulder most of the blame for the poor start. In his press conference after Fremantle’s Round 1 loss to Geelong he stated that “O’m probably a little disappointed in myself as I could have prepared us for more of Geelong’s systems.”

Statements such as these depict a coach not high on confidence in both his players and his ability to put forward a game plan that will effectively stack up against the competition’s best. This is therefore an extremely worrying situation for Fremantle moving forward as they enter the majority of the 2017 season without any clear direction and clarity in their game style.

Hence, after processing last season and the first two games of 2017, as well as Lyon’s comments in the media, is it time to question whether the game has passed Ross the Boss by?

When he entered the AFL as a senior coach in 2007, the AFL landscape was extremely different as sides looked to build success around a strong defence and not allowing their opposition to score. This came from the coaching of recently retired legend Paul Roos who led his Swans to a premiership in 2005 based on having a sound defence and rebounding the ball from the backline.

In 2007, the average amount of goals kicked a game by teams stood at around 12.5-13 in comparison to the 14.5 goals sides averaged in the 2016 season. Hence at the beginning of Lyon’s reign he looked to build teams centred around defence with his St Kilda teams in particular renowned for keeping opposition forwards to limited scores.

This can be highlighted with the 2009 Saints, who after winning their first 19 games of the season and claiming the minor premiership fell in a classic grand final to Geelong.

Lyon took this defence-first mentality to the struggling Dockers, who after bringing the Boss on board soared to four straight finals series and a grand final appearance. Don’t get me wrong, Lyon’s system has worked for a very long time and revolutionised the way in which coaches around the league operated.

However, with the high scoring shift the game appears to be moving towards, it seems as if he has struggled to adjust to the new style of play which has given teams such as the Bulldogs, Crows, Swans and Hawks much success over the last two seasons.

It would be foolish to suggest that Lyon is completely finished as an AFL coach as he will most likely work through this slump and bring the Dockers back to some sort of relevance.

However, his list has no young talent and an over-reliance on captain Nat Fyfe and Lachie Neale. The game may have passed him by to a point where he will be unable to capture that elusive premiership.

So has Ross lost his final chance at glory or will his Dockers rebound and begin to build another successful system?