'Unfinished business': Ross Lyon explains return as St Kilda coach - and how an AFL legend helped convince him to go back

St Kilda have officially named Ross Lyon as its senior coach, ending weeks of speculation.

The 55-year old previously coached the Saints between 2007 and 2011, during which he made and lost grand finals in 2009 and 2010, before leaving in acrimonious circumstances to join Fremantle.

Lyon has worked in the media since being sacked by the Dockers in late 2019, but was widely expected to re-join the Saints following the sacking of Brett Ratten two weeks ago.

He has signed a four-year contract that ties him to the club until the end of 2026.

“My motivation for coming back is to position the club to win a premiership,” Lyon said in a message on St Kilda’s social media.

“I want to change the narrative, and be a respected force in the AFL.

“I am back in our 150th year for unfinished business.”

Speaking to the media on Monday, Lyon revealed the prospect of returning to the club he first joined 16 years ago left him ‘very emotional’, and confirmed that he was prepared to take up the gauntlet once again.

“For a long time, there’s been St Kilda – even when I was coaching at Fremantle, there was a lot of noise about me coming back to St Kilda,” he said.

“There’s a lot of influential families around St Kilda that I do have relationships with that always spoke about the romance. It was never on my radar.

“It’s a privilege to be back… once this opportunity started to open up, I reflected on the special bonds and friendships I have with past players and staff that I’ve maintained since 2007 and my departure.

“I presented to the board and I got very emotional.

“It sort of unleashed a lot of memories – there were a lot of highs and a lot of lows – but it’s really validated how I felt about the club, if there was any doubt.

“We all know that AFL coaching’s incredibly challenging, it takes you to places sometimes men or women shouldn’t go, but I’m really up for the fight. I feel like I’m ready to take the emotional risk to give everything without any guarantee.”

Saints coach Ross Lyon talks with Stephen Milne during a St Kilda training session in 2009. (Photo by Robert Cianflone/Getty Images)

Lyon also revealed that a phone call from AFL legend Leigh Matthews, who won four premierships as coach with Collingwood and Brisbane alongside a glittering playing career, helped convince him that he was throwing his hat in the ring for the right reasons.

“Leigh Matthews… he rang me during the week, out of the blue, unsolicited,” he said.

“I shared a little bit, and he said ‘You don’t wake up one day and think ‘I want to coach AFL football’. Because when you’ve been through it, you know the highs and you know the lows. You know the challenges. You know the hot seat you’re in and you know the expectation.

“He didn’t push me. There was no ‘do it, don’t do it’, but it’s nice to have someone that really understands. They are incredible, coveted, rare jobs, but when you’ve been in there, it’s like a kid going to the dentist – it’s hard to go back.

“But the highs, walking on the MCG, 100,000 people, prelim finals, winning them, grand finals, big games at both clubs.”

Lyon also cited inspiration from Geelong premiership coach Chris Scott and Magpies boss Craig McRae, praising their approach to coaching and vowing to follow suit.

“I loved listening to Craig McRae [this year] – let’s get as good as we can, as quick as we can,” Lyon said.

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“Chris Scott, every year it’s a blank canvas; Chris Scott, if my players don’t want me, I’ll go. I’ve been strong in delivery, but it’s a blank canvas here.”

While Lyon hasn’t coached at AFL level in three years, he credits his work in the media for Channel 9 and Triple M for keeping him well acquainted with the game’s nuances, as well as the many changes implemented since departing the Dockers.

“I think the design of the game’s come back to me,” he said.

“The game was stilted, the double guarding the mark, you had to go around and back and probe. Now you can go, you can play an up-tempo brand.

“In my due diligence I’ve done a lot on the club, in the background… one thing I do know, these boys can really run. So that gives us the capacity to play a brand that can go.”

For Lyon, the lure of becoming just the Saints’ second-ever premiership coach, having fallen heartbreakingly short in 2009 and 2010, was extra incentive to jump aboard and attempt to end the torment of the league’s longest-suffering fans.

“In my coaching resume, there’s unfinished business,” he said.

“Fremantle need to win a flag, here it’s since ’66. It’s an Everest that can be climbed, needs to be climbed, and I’d like to be the person to do that with the group.

“The aim is to build something that’s sustainable, and a game plan that, in the end, we can get to where we want to be. I don’t like the narrative around St Kilda, I haven’t enjoyed it at all.

Lyon isn’t concerned about the much-criticised Saints’ list, saying the playing group at his disposal has never troubled him before and wouldn’t in his third stint as a league coach.

“I see possibility in everyone, I give trust until it’s broken,” Lyon said.

“I didn’t look at the list when I got the job here, I didn’t look at it when I got to Fremantle, I didn’t look at it here.

“If you get the right people making the right decisions, it can turn around quickly. We want to go down and give 100 per cent effort 100 per cent of the time for our members and ourselves.”

Reflecting on his ugly split with the Saints in 2011, when he unceremoniously exercised a get-out clause in his contract with one season remaining to sign with Freo, Lyon argued he ‘would do the same’ now.

“Under the same circumstances, I would do the same, but it was a very difficult thing to,” Lyon said.

“I had a reputation about what I was for a long time – and I really liked that. It did change that, even though I don‘t think it was justified, but there was a huge price to pay.

“I think it changed the course of the events in the history of this club as well. I didn‘t get to exit those champion players in the manner I believe they should have been. There‘s lots of people that paid a price for that.

“But in saying that, we’re all as good as our next moment. It’s a wonderful opportunity.

“There’s no victory lap here… this is just the starting gun going off. Everyone at the club’s got to do some heavy lifting here.”

Saints president Andrew Bassat said he was ‘delighted’ with the appointment, revealing more details about the club’s ‘very painful’ split with Ratten.

“While his coaching record and reputation as a leader speaks for itself, Ross also shares with our members a love for our club and a deep desire to see it respected and celebrated,” Bassat said of Lyon’s appointment.

“The decision on our previous coach was made on the Thursday night of our board meeting. The review had been very clear about what direction we needed, and we gave Brett the opportunity to outline his vision.

“Parting ways with Brett was very painful, and we again thank him for everything he gave to our club.

“Our first choice was Ross Lyon, and we did run the risk of not getting him. I contacted him immediately after our last press conference, and I’m delighted that we’ve been able to get our man.”

With a winning record of 65.91 per cent across 110 games in his first stint at the Saints, Lyon is the most successful coach in the club’s history.

Only inaugural premiership coach Allan Jeans (185 wins) has coached the perennial strugglers to more victories than Lyon’s 71, with his five finals wins, including preliminary final triumphs in 2009 and 2010 over the Western Bulldogs, second only to Jeans’ eight as well.