Flirting with form is fraught with arrogant danger. Last weekend, Ross Lyon selected his Fremantle team with 12 players rested, ill or injured.
Ross Lyon - accutely aware of the risks
St Kilda, with just four wins for the year, capitalised and strode to victory by 71-points. The win allowed the club to farewell three veterans, Stephen Milne, Jason Blake and Justin Koscitzke, in style.
Lyon might’ve expected his rookies to become heroes. Victory, with twelve men missing would be testament to Fremantle’s depth. Instead, they were exposed.
No club can rest multiple players and win.
Clearly, Lyon didn’t care about the result. Final were assured, the double chance secured. St Kilda could do what they pleased.
And they did.
In the post game interview, Lyon was adamant that the risk was worth it. ‘You play the percentages, he said. ‘Sometimes it doesn’t work your way.’
Resting players is now part of the AFL routine, but it can be a gamble the week out from the finals.
Coaches need to manage the workload, but flirting with form hasn’t exactly been successful this close to the finals.
In 1994, Carlton rested a host of players, including Greg Williams heading into the last round. They gave their opponents, Essendon, who wouldn’t make the finals, a free win.
Had the Blues won, they would’ve finished on top. Instead, they finished second and went on to lose both finals.
Their coach, David Parkin, was criticised for his policy. The criticism lasted a year.
During Lyon’s press conference, Geelong was still trying to hold out Brisbane at Kardinia Park. A journalist said the margin was eight points with about ten minutes to play in the last quarter. The inference was obvious. If Brisbane wins, Lyon might’ve sacrificed second spot on the ladder and a home final.
Lyon shrugged. He’d taken a risk. The results of other games were meaningless.
‘I understand everyone’s interest and we’re paid to make decisions,’ Lyon said. ‘If you wear an AFL jumper or you’re an AFL coach you get critiqued every week. There’s no right or wrong with this, it’s just a value judgement.’
When Lyon was coaching St Kilda in 2009, he rested nine players in round 19 for the game against Hawthorn in Tasmania. St Kilda won by 25-points. It was just the second time since 1970 a team has gone unbeaten through nineteen rounds.
The next week, Essendon knocked off the Saints by two points. In round 21, they lost to North by five points.
The week off, it could be said, wasn’t enough rest. Or it disrupted their momentum.
But St Kilda was always going to finish on top in 2009. Lyon was more concerned with player management than winning every game.
Unfortunately, the Saints lost the premiership to Geelong. It was a game St Kilda should’ve won.
The best intentions of player management hadn’t worked.
Lyon was drawn into a parallel between the Hawthorn game in 2009 and the St Kilda game in 2013.
‘It was nine (players back in 2009) and we lost the next two,’ he said. ‘I was acutely aware of it.’
Despite being acutely aware, he still gave St Kilda the win, and Matthew Pavlich and Aaron Sandilands weren’t rested. After a season interrupted by injury, they needed the run.
‘To (rest) this amount (12 players) and at this time for me wasn’t an experience I had,’ Lyon said. He was guided by the medical staff and took the risk. He didn’t care what the AFL industry or the media thought.
‘If we go down and lose (the final to Geelong) and play poorly that will come back,’ he said of the criticism. ‘The people who care about it are the people who wrote it. Its tomorrow’s fish and chip paper.’
Besides, the players who were rested didn’t have the weekend off. They trained hard, sprinting, gut running and ball work.
‘Our head conditioner stayed behind with them and worked them really hard,’ Lyon said.
Toward the end of the press conference, a journalist told Lyon that Geelong had won by a point.
Lyon smiled. ‘That’s nice, see. Good judgement,’ he said. ‘I get the interest. It’d be a different conversation if they lost.’
Had Geelong won, the conversation would’ve been different. The criticism would’ve been vicious. If the Cats were playing Hawthorn, Lyon might’ve rested the players anyway.
His focus was on winning a premiership. The result was irrelevant. Resting players was a necessity.
That Fremantle lost to mediocrity is embarrassing, but Lyon probably won’t even review the game. He’d be confident his men will rebound mentally from the dreadful loss.
Lyon did what he thought will win Fremantle a premiership. For one round he flirted with form. It leaves the ego bare.
He can’t flirt anymore.
Postscript:
If you’ve never watched a Ross Lyon press conference, you should. He looks like a man about to deliver a punch line. The smirk seems embedded on his face. He is a great media performer, a pleasure to watch.
Check out the link below.
http://www.afl.com.au/video/2013-08-31/postmatch-freo
