Loose lips sink ships.
So climb aboard for a pleasure trip.
– AC/DC
Solutions are often found through frank and honest discussions. Having coached helplessly throughout a shocking capitulation, Ross Lyon needed to talk, a long chat for therapeutic reasons, to help with the grieving process and to hopefully attain enlightenment.
The Saints are a club that devours their own. Grant Thomas was appointed coach midway through 2001 following the demise of Malcolm Blight. After a few lean seasons Thomas guided St Kilda to consecutive preliminary finals in 2004-05. He was sacked just days after losing an elimination final to in 2006 to Melbourne by eighteen points.
Lyon reportedly beat 52 applicants for the senior job. Since 2007, his winning percentage of 63.67 is the best in the club’s history, but in terms of real success, a premiership, he remains a failure.
It could’ve been so different, if not for a toe-poke in the centre of the MCG in one grand final and an errant bounce in the pocket late in another. Lyon could be a super coach. Reality is so much different. He is crushed, distraught and sad.
From 101 games, he’s coached 64 wins, 33 losses and two draws, leading the Saints into 10 finals for five wins, four losses and one draw. It is a good record. All he needs to compliment it is a premiership. He won’t get it, not this year.
On Sunday night, Essendon hammered St Kilda by 52-points, their biggest defeat since round seven last year. Afterwards, Lyon fronted the media in a measured mood, bewildered and deflated. Gone was his natural good humour. The expression that has been described as being seconds away from the punch line was flat. He was deadpan, pained and drained.
A journalist asked if Lyon was surprised by the magnitude of the loss. In answering, Lyon contradicted himself, not particularly, then he began talking as though he was guilty of dreadful crimes and needed to confess.
Most coaches, in victory and defeat, treat the press conference with disdain, done because it must be, answering questions they consider basic and ridiculous. All coaches are guilty of irascible behaviour, of being condescending and belligerent. Most coaches wait for a question, give an answer filled with football speak, smashed in clearances, couldn’t execute tonight, then wait for the next question. Journalists jostle for space and time to get a question in that covers their angle. Press conferences generally last between five and 10 minutes.
The questions aren’t always smart. The answers aren’t always friendly or genuine.
Coaches have been vilified for attacking journalists for queries they perceive to be irrelevant or wrong. Journalists need to be smarter, but it is a big moment when the coach picks you out, eye contact and listens intently, without any clue as to the nature of the question.
In previous seasons, Lyon has taken exception to various questions or scenarios posed by journalists. He isn’t infallible, but in five seasons of AFL football, he’s been one of the most honest coaches in the competition.
At the weekend, he answered the first question in circles then went on a ramble, talking non-stop for six and a half minutes. No journalist spoke. Lyon didn’t give them a chance. He just kept talking, an extraordinary, unprompted rant based on unbiased, blunt honesty.
What Lyon said went beyond the standard responses to a big loss, where coaches typically mutter clichés such as we were out-performed, nobody stood up to be counted and we’ve got an opportunity to bounce back next week.
Lyon spoke about the magnitude of the loss and just kept talking, a man hoping to find answers by listening to his own voice. The vision is compelling. Obviously he didn’t realise what was happening, that he was venting, answering unasked questions with complete frankness. At the four minute mark of the interview, the viewer can’t help but suggest he stop talking, imploring him to let the journalists ask and not to volunteer anything further.
He rambled on, talking without a break for six and a half minutes. In that time, Lyon gave up everything, analysing the entire game, the weaknesses, try to get a forward 50 tackle, and the heartache, I haven’t heard the heartbreak as I’ve heard going onto the ground for a long period of time.
It got worse beyond the obvious. Lyon started to second guess himself, simply because he didn’t know what was happening to his team. He talked about the end of an era, if it’s a transition phase, that’s what it is. In the next sentence he discussed, in admiration, players he’d left out of the team because of poor performance. Lyon questioned his own ability and after six and a half minutes he looked around the room and blinked.
A journalist asked him about the bye, if it came at a good or bad time. Lyon was non-committal, almost rude. The journalist refined his question. Lyon gave an answer. The remnants of the press conference involved Lyon quizzing a journalist about the game plans employed by West Coast and Essendon.
Not only had Lyon purged, the interview became interactive.
It is the first time in a long time, perhaps decades that a coach has talked for so long, unaided by basic, banal questions. Lyon has always been a good media performer, honest, blunt and protective, but his performance following the Essendon game was different.
He gave up everything, leaving nothing to the imagination. It was the performance of a shell-shocked man, too devastated to shut up and let the journalists guide the interview, too distraught to hide behind cliché and statistics.
Ross Lyon was hurting on Sunday night and he gave clues to his mindset, questioning if the players had climbed the mountain too many times. Perhaps Lyon has been to the mountain too many times and can’t find the inspiration for one more step. He gave every indication the incline is too great.
The press conference was extraordinary, an example of what football can do to good coaches, how the game plummets resolve and determination, turns strong men to depression. Every AFL fan, every player and aspiring coach should watch the press conference and see what the pressure of coaching has done to Ross Lyon. It is compelling, a confessional, harrowing, disturbing, made worse by the silence of the journalists. Lyon tried subtle humour, let’s try and get some contested ball, and no one dared laugh. He couldn’t even smirk.
If St Kilda had the fortune to win one of those grand finals, the press conference wouldn’t have been much different, but Lyon, in years to come, might be regarded differently. Watching the vision, the viewer is overcome with the urge to wish good fortune upon the Saints for the simple the fact that Lyon has given all he could to football.
The confessional could signal the end of St Kilda’s window of opportunity and Lyon’s window to coach a premiership. His brutal honesty was difficult to watch. A question must be asked, in Lyon’s lingo; can he get St Kilda to scale the mountain one more time???
Watch the vision and decide for yourself. The link below will take you to the game highlights. Select the H Press Conf link under the St K v Ess banner. It is simple.
http://www.afl.com.au/video/tabid/76/default.aspx
The following is a full transcript of the press conference. I have removed some words that were repeated back to back, and included, in brackets, things that were left out.
0.03 – (It was a big loss) were you surprised by the magnitude?
The magnitude? Not particularly. We haven’t been playing great footy although Geelong are in pretty good nick, we probably had enough opportunities to win that game. And Richmond, they haven’t been great but kick straight and you sort of snuff that game.
It’s hard to predict things in life. I think I read an article today, something about monkeys have more degree of accuracy throwing darts, predicting the future than some experts, so that was in one of the Sunday papers. If I use it in that context it’s pretty hard to speculate or crystal ball.
I knew we were playing a very good football team, they’re competing fiercely I knew that, but that’s the expectation I have for the St Kilda football team. You’d like to think when two equal forces meet, willpower and discipline and all those attributes we talk about great teams comes to the fore and clearly we wilted and very quickly and they didn’t.
People talk about attack but they’re just scoring way too easily, I think they kicked three (goals from) defensive 50 stoppages in the first quarter, 30 minutes. To put that in context, 2010 we had 20 for the year and 2009 we had nine, so probably tells you a little bit where we’re at, five stoppage goals for the first quarter so it was really poor. Our inability to lead and direct and man up and compete was really poor, and that’s what I spoke about at quarter time. I showed the footage, but other than that I thought in general play we looked dangerous at times and if we had have taken those things out we were sort of probably in the contest at quarter time.
Second quarter very similar to Richmond, our inability to defend at all, I mean people talk about our defence and negativity but the reality is they had 12 entries and kicked 8.2 and it was embarrassing, so nothing breaks the heart of a team more than an inability either to clear the ball from a stoppage, if it goes the other way and our defensive one on ones, ability to play on someone and defend and protect the corridor and all those things, it was embarrassing really.
And ultimately it’s a coaching issue isn’t it. Myself and the coaching group, we’ve had things in place, some basics done very well for a long period of time so we’re not adhering to any basics so that broke the spirit of the team.
And then at half time we spoke about standing up on your own two feet so we really held our forwards, it was one on one and there was no defensive support and we saw how that looked, it really didn’t look pretty at all. We didn’t have a forward 50 tackle to three-quarter time and I just set some simple objectives of let’s try and get a forward 50 tackle, win some contested ball and I thought our over handball, you know we’ve been talking about introducing more run and carry but it’s probably gone against where the game is at. It’s about using handball to create a kicker, we used handball to then run into the next wave of defence, so that was pretty abysmal as well.
There’s not too many positives. And it’s not about milestones but obviously what is a great St Kilda player and I’m really disappointed for Nick and I’m disappointed for our supporters. I haven’t heard the heartbreak as I’ve heard going onto the ground for a long period of time, I think this group’s delivered in spades with effort and our supporters walk away proud but clearly as a player group and a coaching group we’ve gotta take responsibility for not delivering on some minimum expectations.
Clearly something’s going on, I’m not sure, we introduced five new players tonight, or pretty much, Stanley, Steven, you know Schneider and Al Smith’s debut, you know for some enthusiasm but it’s still not kicking in.
It’s a multitude of issues I think I’ve covered as best I can and we’re all hurting but we’ve been under pressure before. Look, if it’s a transition phase, that’s what it is. This group’s been to five prelims, you know three under me and two grand finals under me and ultimately couldn’t get through a prelim under the previous incumbent so it’s a lot of prelims, it’s five, two grand finals ultimately short, and maybe it is transition.
I could easily pick for honesty Jason Blake, Andrew McQualter and Robert Eddy and people say why do you pick those players? Well on the back of their honesty and effort and discipline we’ve been able to manufacture a lot of wins over a couple of year period so it’d be easy for me to pick those guys and elevate Robert off the (rookie list), because they’ve been so honest and so combative and so disciplined. They help create a complimentary team where we all get to shine a little bit but at the minute without Baker and Blake there’s a few playing without honesty and discipline and selflessness and my job will be to sort it out with the match committee.
Winmar we’re really keen to play, Will Johnson’s whacking away so maybe it’s the full transition, maybe it is, maybe everyone’s been right, maybe I’ve been in denial, maybe we’ve climbed the mountain too many times, we need to regenerate or alternatively keep picking honest players that are disciplined, selfless and try and shine again.
I need to go away and assess it but clearly I can’t defend the indefensible, that was indefensible tonight, even though they’re a very good football team I thought there were stages where we were non-competitive and our desire to run and compete, the shackles are off, we talk about winning the ball and attacking so that’s all garbage to be honest. We had 30 shots the week before and couldn’t defend, I think early, just can’t defend or compete.
6.27 – Does the bye come at a bad time or a good time?
Oh, that’s irrelevant. To be honest, I’m not being, what does it mean, is the bye good, bad, indifferent, who knows?
It’ll give you a chance to sort of step back and reassess.
I think it gives us some think time and assess time, and there’s nowhere to hide is there, so that’s where it’s at really. There’s some stark reminders for players like the room is empty after the game, there’s no press there. It’s a great reminder if you don’t perform and compete people drop off pretty quick. So that’s a really good reminder for them and me. We’ve spoken about don’t get caught up in it so if you don’t perform in the AFL you become yesterday’s heroes pretty quick.
7.19 Does it also become a confidence thing and it doesn’t seem they have enough confidence in each other tonight.
Well confidence is built on action, you can’t go and buy confidence. Confidence is built on action and preparation and action. What gives you great action? Great preparation, mental and physical and you know you can only have confidence in a team-mate when you can trust what he’s going to do. At the minute those basic fabrics of team sport and life in the AFL aren’t at the level they need to be. They’re there in fits and spurts but nowhere near consistently enough.
7.52 Ross two years ago you had a march on the competition, you had something going on that was unique to yourselves.
Yeah, for two years.
Was there a sense that the game’s evolved away from you now?
Yeah, I think that’s a good point but I think any team’s, why has West Coast improved, they’re pressing.
8.14 They’re doing what you sort of introduced in a sense.
Well I don’t think it’s gone past what we did, well it’s not much. What do you think they’ve added?
West Coast?
Na na in general, the competition.
A lot of teams appear to be defensively capable, as you are, or were.
No, were.
Were, but you’ve fumbled going the other way perhaps.
Yeah but if you can’t win the ball and you can’t defend, do you know what I mean? Even at half time I think, turnover scores from the midfield we’d created and scored off them really well. The reality is we’re not defending anything. We’re playing collapse back footy. We collapse back round one and a high entry game. Round two collapse back, we had high entry, they had high entry and where the modern game is at is stopping it centre forward and locking it in there.
No forward 50 tackles. None. So if anything we’re not doing what you need to be doing in the modern game which obviously we helped pioneer, with, so what I’m saying our hunger, because it’s demanding. What are Essendon doing, playing collapse back footy or press footy?
They played press tonight.
Yeah they’re press, so at the moment if you want to get a kick and an uncontested mark come and play against the Saints.
