St Kilda coach Ross Lyon spoke to the media after the game...
Q: Ross, are last quarters like that why you got back into footy and why you wanted to feel like you did tonight?
A: Yes, the Saints family or tribe, with a bit of euphoria about the team’s performance, it’s nice to experience it. It’s a hardfought win. We are still coming together as a group, it was a year of exploration. They have come to hand relatively quickly on how we want them to play. It would be remiss if I didn’t mention (assistants) Robert Harvey, Lenny Hayes and Corey Enright, how big an influence they have been on how we play. That has come through at training and meetings. I am leaning in to support. Ultimately our players are the ones that make the choice to work as hard as they do. Over pre-season and in games to this point. So it is really pleasing.
Q: Has it surprised you somewhat given the injuries you had and the pre-season hurdles you had to overcome that you are 2-0, having beaten teams that played finals last year?
A: I’m not sure what expectation I had. I’m trying to build up my understanding of the group and the capacity. There is no doubt we have got theoretical first-choice players out. Particularly out of our front half. But in saying that, anything is possible and we were convinced the 23 we were picking were match fit and rock-hard fit and knew how we wanted them to play. It’s a game of competition, the game is introduced shape for winning contested and ground ball and we do that pretty well. We are transitioning it well and the opposition have got our pressure, it has been elite. We had some challenges, they were able to convert in the second quarter and the champion Marcus Bontempelli really lifted them with a number of others. But you can’t keep Tom Liberatore and Jack Macrae and Bailey Smith and those guys down. We spoke at half-time, they are allowed to do that, just accept the challenge and go again. They were marking a lot of our entries, I think they took nine intercept marks out of 30 entries in the first half. That was a focus at half-time to lower our eyes and deliver better and give our young forwards a chance. Then I thought you saw Caminiti and Mitch Owens and Phillipou come to hand. The experienced guys around them Zaine Cordy and Jack Higgins and Dan Butler were significant in their support of them. Really, it gets done in the midfield, I thought the midfield led by Rowan Marshall and Steele and Seb Ross, do we go several markers and we had experience in our leaders. They are getting it done around the ball with Brad Hill and young Ryan Byrnes. They give stability with their hit and their pressure to our back half and they provide opportunities for our front half.
Q: You mentioned the experience but how excited were you by what that young trio especially up forward were able to deliver? Phillipou’s goals came at crucial time, the long-range one was a steadier at the start of the third. Does it feel like the sky is the limit with these kids?
A: I always say to the player if I see it at training, good or bad, I will see it in the game. I’ve seen him at training kicking from outside 50. I have experience. Mitch Owens was great. We have Caminiti coming in from the first day with training he took those marks. He had that ground and that speed. We pick them on what we saw and they have been able to deliver in AFL footy. It’s more credit to those kids. This is the easy part of your AFL career, those first three. We see they are hunting Nick Daicos now and they will hunt these kids. They are going to have to work their way through it. They will have moments. Ryan Byrnes, who I called Alex last week so apologies. He contributed today. He was used last week. He still contributed but they will have those ebbs and flows but ultimately, Ryan still contributed and through weight of numbers, we are not going to have four or five superstars.
Q: How have you set him up for the start of the season he has had? Hunter Clark?
A: I haven’t done anything, Hunter has done the work. That’s where we have to be careful how we judge the past because he had a broken jaw and played three games and three operations. That is no one’s fault, you do sometimes need a good run. He had an appetite for the work, you’ve got to have an appetite. We certainly have given him opportunities in situ display. I thought there was times he did some really good things and then Bontempelli exposed him with smarts so we spoke about you can keep the other bit and learn from that. Bontempelli is great. If you learn from it, there is no accident they are great. He got that. When people invest, not everybody invests and get rewarded but it’s good to see him getting rewarded.
Q: Have you got an update on Jack Steele’s shoulder injury?
A: Yes I have. He came back on and got hit about four or five or six times. He will go for a scan tomorrow so fingers crossed. It is the same shoulder but look, is it an AC or is it a hairline fracture or something, we don’t know. As soon as that comes to hand we will let you know.