Opinion
After the brutal axing of St. Kilda coach Brett Ratten at the end of last season many believed the Saints would struggle in 2023 but with a freshened-up Ross Lyon, the Saints could be finals contenders after all.
It was a bold call by the club’s administration to sack Ratten just after extending his contract for another two years less than 100 days before. St. Kilda President Andrew Bassett admitted it “blindsided,” Ratten and the club needed “a new style of leadership”.
“I won’t pretend that Brett was given the best chance to succeed,” Andrew Bassett said.
At the end of Round 7, the Saints have not looked back at the decision with an impressive record of five wins and two losses to start the season. Ross Lyon, Robert Harvey and Lenny Hayes have all brought a new vibrance to the dull mood of recent years.
But will it last? The Saints have established a quality blend of defence and attack in their first six rounds of the season. In the first six rounds, the Saints were first in the competition for ball movement compared to 15th last year, with Lyon’s side second in the competition for kicking the ball forward and eighth for metres gained from handball.
Their turnover game is elite being the best team for creating scores from turnover which highlights their pressure is getting it done with excellent starts from Dan Butler and Jack Higgins. Dan Butler leads the league this season for tackles inside 50 with 15 displaying the non-negotiable effort that Ross Lyon demands.
Ross Lyon of the Saints (Photo by Darrian Traynor/Getty Images)
Their defence is arguably stronger being the number side for points against.
The likes of Callum Wilkie, Dougal Howard and Josh Battle might not be well known externally to the football world but, internally they are much loved through their consistency, hard nose edge who drive the standards that Ross Lyon would love to see on and off the field.
All this has been done with a riddled injury list with their most important player Max King out with a broken collarbone and Captain Jack Steele and vice-captain Tim Membrey out for periods of time.
List management has been under the microscope throughout the past couple of years due to the mediocre performances under Brett Ratten with not enough A-grade talent and more B graders on the list.
The club decided it was in the right window in 2019 and 2020 to give away quality draft picks for big prized recruits such as Brad Hill and Zac Jones. These two especially have struggled to perform on a consistent basis playing well below their best at the Saints.
But, some of the young guns have given excitement to fans this season. Mitchito Owens is one of them playing as a hybrid forward who acts like a key forward, can apply pressure on the ground and has even played in the ruck at 191cm.
Another one is Mattaes Phillipou who has provided plenty in his first season, drafted at number 10 in the 2022 AFL national draft and is not short of confidence. Nasiah Wanganeen-Milera has continued the promising start of his career moving to a half-back role this year from his wing role last season averaging 19.4 disposals in the first seven games and being above average in metres gained with 472.
Mitch Owens and Nasiah Wanganeen-Milera of the Saints (Photo by Darrian Traynor/Getty Images)
Saints fans will hope these young stars are running around in the red white and black for the next decade.
Many have said Ross Lyon has a canny knack for finding a way to get the best out of his players and this is clear from the start. Examples of this include Mason Wood who has been labelled an All-Australian contender after a stellar start to the season using his elite running capability to help out the defence and also working hard up forward.
He averages 22.6 disposals, 459 metres gained and 6.3 score involvements per game in 2023.
Liam Stocker is another player who has found his confidence back in his first year at Moorabbin after being delisted at the end of last season by Carlton. When the new List Manager at the Saints Stephan Silvagni heard the news he was quick to get on the phone and get him training at the club.
Since joining the club in mid-January via the pre-season Supplemental Selection Period he has not looked back in his half-back role. Stocker said “Ross has been great for me”, since joining the club.
Indeed, the Saints were similarly poised at eight and three last season but the question is are the Saints different this time?
This is the burning question that is unknown at the moment but what we do know is Ross Lyon’s hunger to be a premiership coach. The former GM of Football Geoff Walsh called the team having “a degree of irrelevance”, this is certainly not the case under Lyon.
Ross Lyon said he had “unfinished business” at the Saints. Will we see him lift the premiership cup in the red white and black?
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