Some good points there. Doesn't seem too keen to talk about Geelong...
http://www.afl.com.au/news/newsarticle/ ... fault.aspx
Ross Lyon Q&A on AFL site
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highlight for mine:
On one hand, it's going to make identifying the chaff harder - on the other hand, it's not like before the organised approach Lyon takes we didn't end up with chaff type players spending years at the club without any eventual return... but more than any individual talent, it's th recognition for what's required to get to the end game that makes me optimistic.
As a sort of follow on, I'll be curious to see come draft time whether we end up manouvering a player from list to rookie list again. Worked well with McQualter, it's looking more dubious with Howard, but the nature of the beast is that 2 years of no noise seems to put a players value below that of very speculative 18 year olds these days. It seems a great mechanism for aligning draft rules to what Lyon tries to achieve from a development perspective.
Thought for a while that turnover and the deliberate shift to rebuild has created a culture where we often throw kids to the wolves too soon. Inevitably settled teams where a development strategy is in place will eventualy shift the trend away from the teenagers, but in the short term, expansion is only going to exacerbate the situation.Ross Lyon wrote: Q: Eddy and Geary are the two youngest to have played this year. Are you conscious of trying to get more players their age and younger into the team?
A: Not particularly. You don’t have to be playing AFL seniors to be developing. If anything, you can expose young bodies to significant injury before they are physically ready to play. Let’s understand that AFL footy is a brutal industry, and you want to be physically and mentally right to come in. I think we’ve got 11 players 18 or under through this year, and 13 new players to the club. Just because they are not running down the race doesn’t mean they are not improving their footy and developing. We are not into gifting games away.
On one hand, it's going to make identifying the chaff harder - on the other hand, it's not like before the organised approach Lyon takes we didn't end up with chaff type players spending years at the club without any eventual return... but more than any individual talent, it's th recognition for what's required to get to the end game that makes me optimistic.
As a sort of follow on, I'll be curious to see come draft time whether we end up manouvering a player from list to rookie list again. Worked well with McQualter, it's looking more dubious with Howard, but the nature of the beast is that 2 years of no noise seems to put a players value below that of very speculative 18 year olds these days. It seems a great mechanism for aligning draft rules to what Lyon tries to achieve from a development perspective.
"Everything comes to he who hustles while he waits"
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- Henry Ford
here is the lot...
News
Ross Lyon: Q&A
St Kilda coach Ross Lyon says his team's stellar start to the year begun with pre-season preparation
* AFL Today: PM edition
Wed, Jun 24, 09
By Luke Holmesby 12:50 PM Wed 24 June, 2009
I imagine you’d never have thought you’d be going into the break at 12-0.
It’s not common is it? We thought we had prepared really well, had a strong summer and were keen to win as many games as we could early on. The players would recognise that going back a long way, this group had started slowly, so we wanted to make it a feature to start the season well. Clearly, all the work the players did is bearing fruit. They are harvesting their hard work quite well.
What did you work on specifically over the pre-season that has stood out this year?
We continued the physical development with the work in the gym to build strong bodies and good power and durability. They worked really hard there, and that has been a two-and-a-half year program from when Peter Mulkearns took over from Craig Starcevich, and then Dave Misson came in over the top. That has been a feature of their work. Our weights coach Stephen Tingay has also worked on our primary strength and conditioning work. That started a long time ago. Then obviously we wanted to improve our ball movement and defensive mechanisms. Fundamentally we wanted to compete, but we felt that was more of a mindset; we didn’t do much competing over summer apart from trying to beat personal bests. That has really been driven by an attitude of the group, to compete well. We really ramped up our possession rate in the second half of 2008 to about 360-370 (possessions per game). We’ve ramped it up again to about 405 possessions. We’re certainly sharing the ball around and moving it quite well.
There are a lot of questions about whether the team can sustain that physical style of game. Are you confident they can?
I think it’s been blown out of proportion. There are about four or five teams averaging more tackles than us at the minute. Brisbane are up there. Carlton are up there, Geelong. I think people can speculate all they like. We’ve been challenged in a number of ways, and there are going to be people telling us we can, people telling us we can’t, people telling us what a successful season is from here. All those things. All it is for us is a trigger to refocus on what we know works for us, which is preparation and teamwork and persistence.
How much of a role has the good run with injuries played in the success so far?
You want your key personnel available. I think we are starting to move up the ladder of people played now. I look at some of the figures from other teams and I look at what we went through in '07 and '08 and I don’t think any of them are any worse. It certainly makes it more difficult when you have injuries, but I am sure we’ve started to get a few. The reality is we’ve had some injuries, but blokes have been able to play and carry them. That is a tribute to their mental toughness.
Your message all year is that Geelong is still the benchmark. What aspect of their game still puts them ahead of your team?
I’m here to talk about St Kilda. I’m not really here to talk about Geelong. I thought it was our mid-year review, to be honest.
OK, what aspects of St Kilda’s game can improve?
We got beaten in contested ball by Carlton last week, which is the first time this year. We’re no different to everyone else; we’re looking for consistency. Our contested ball has been consistent, but our attack and defence has dropped off here and there. We are continually working on our ball movement. Teams are continually evolving and changing their defences and ball movement pretty quickly. It’s going to be a combination of improving ourselves and tracking the opposition we’re coming up against so that we’re able to deal with what is put in front of us. There are that many components to the game and we evaluate them as they become problems. Then we get to work on them. In general terms, our accuracy has been an issue, but the work they did in the proceeding weeks against Carlton ... and our tackling has dropped off a little bit, so we’ll look to ramp that up. Our kicking efficiency is down and our skill level is something we can always work on. There are going to be things bobbing up along the way we need to improve on. Our stoppage work has been good, but our centre bounces in the third quarter against Carlton struggled. Within games there are facets of your game you have to address and get going again. The bigger picture stuff in broad terms is contest, attack and defence.
The last few wins haven’t been as easy and convincing as some of the early wins. Do you put that down to the opposition changing tactics against you?
I think we’re coming up against some quality teams. It’s a marathon. Our average winning margin is 46 points, which is reasonable. If you want to be specific and talk about Carlton last week, then we rate them as a top-four team. They’ve won the third-most quarters behind ourselves and Geelong. They’ve been in front for the third-most percentage of game time. We were under no illusions - it was going to be difficult. I really felt the only thing we didn’t do against Melbourne and North was put them through the sticks. We had the shots, we had the entries, we had the contested ball. I thought that was inaccurate, the perception. We dominated both North and Melbourne after quarter-time to be frank in contested ball, entries and shots. Carlton was a different issue. We got five goals up three times. They persisted and challenged us, but we found a way to win.
Is Zac Dawson’s football resurrection one of your proudest achievements as a coach?
All we’ve done is give Zac an opportunity, the resources and guidance. Zac has been the one that has been mentally strong enough to dig in and do the work and compete against his opponents. Sometimes too much is attributed to coaches and game plans. I think our job is to guide and provide resources and help prod and push and drive players. Ultimately, Zac is the one that has done the work, as has the rest of the group. All I do is navigate them along the way when they go outside the boundaries of what we want fundamentally. It is a credit to Zac. His first career was over, he had experienced footy death in a real sense, and clearly he had strong thoughts about whether to do it or not. All we did was identify his talent and give him the opportunity.
When you say ‘identify his talent’, what exactly did you see in him that made you want to give him a spot on the rookie list?
We saw his performances in the NAB Cup. We saw VFL performances. We researched him with our football network and we interviewed him. That was the path and process we took. We sifted through a lot of VFL players and listed players for what we needed. He’s got speed, power and size, and similar to Farren (Ray), we felt he had done a fair apprenticeship. Everyone talks about first-year players contributing; it is a rare first-year player that comes in and is consistent. I saw the stats on Adelaide’s young group, and a lot of them are fourth-year players. It is really not dissimilar to what Zac has experienced, and Robert Eddy and Jarryn Geary. I think people judge young players harshly, too quickly and it is all the rage at the minute. If you look at who comes in and dominates in their first year, they are very few and far between. In a nutshell, Zac had done a three or four-year apprenticeship, and my experience tells me that is when good players will start to come through unless you are an exception.
Eddy and Geary are the two youngest to have played this year. Are you conscious of trying to get more players their age and younger into the team?
Not particularly. You don’t have to be playing AFL seniors to be developing. If anything, you can expose young bodies to significant injury before they are physically ready to play. Let’s understand that AFL footy is a brutal industry, and you want to be physically and mentally right to come in. I think we’ve got 11 players 18 or under through this year, and 13 new players to the club. Just because they are not running down the race doesn’t mean they are not improving their footy and developing. We are not into gifting games away.
Justin Koschitzke has hit his straps this year. Can you identify anything that has clicked for him? Is it confidence or skills?
It’s called hard work. He didn’t miss a session over summer. He developed his speed and power, lost a couple of kilos and worked on his agility. Out of all that hard work comes confidence. It doesn’t hurt that the team is giving quality entries to the forwards.
Has Nick Riewoldt’s re-signing lifted his teammates?
I don’t think it has lifted his teammates. I don’t think the group was in any doubt Nick wouldn’t be playing at St Kilda. Again, internal versus outside expectations are markedly different. We’d like to think we’d look after all our players and give them commercial and equitable deals that will see them at St Kilda. It is certainly a fillip for the whole club, but I think it is a sign of confidence to the outside world in relation to the direction that the board and commercial operations (and) our football department in conjunction with the players is taking. It is a really good sign. There is no doubt outside clubs will pay more. There is a go and a stay price, but Nick is a very loyal person.
Where do you rank him in terms of the best AFL players?
Nick is an elite player, an elite forward in the competition. We are lucky to have him.
Michael Gardiner’s form must give you a lot of pride. Are you pleased to see him make the most of his second crack at the AFL?
It’s the same deal - opportunity, environment and hard work from the player. It didn’t come straight away, but everyone laughed when we said he played 15 games of football last year in AFL and VFL. He had good continuity and a couple of little calf tweaks. We felt that with another full summer, we saw some really good signs in Michael. He left no stone unturned in his preparation, and he is a really good influence around the club and contributing to the team.
Has the midfield depth surprised you in the first season without Robert Harvey?
'Harves' is a respected player, a very good midfielder. We’ve done a lot of things to develop a midfield that we knew was getting thin. Andrew Thompson was really hanging on in that last year, and (Stephen) Powell and (Justin) Peckett had gone the year before. (Brendon) Goddard did his knee and Lenny Hayes was coming back off a reco and then did his shoulder in the first half of ‘07. We were conscious of once (Nick) Dal Santo and (Leigh) Montagna got sat on, it became pretty thin. We’ve consciously built a number of players to go through there – Goddard, (Jason) Gram and Farren Ray. Then Montagna and Dal Santo have elevated their performances and Luke Ball has been consistent. Hayes has got going again and you’ve also got Clint Jones. We’ve purposely built a number that can go through there. It hasn’t surprised me – they played pretty solid football last year, to be honest. Everyone conveniently ignores eight wins out of 10, but that’s fine.
Whenever the Saints are up and going, there is always a lot of hype and expectation. Is the history of having one premiership a motivating factor?
AFL footy is about the business of winning premierships. There is not a club in the land that doesn’t want to win a premiership. I can tell you the past doesn’t curtail or influence anything we’re doing now. That is a long bow to draw. What we’re au fait with is the demands of AFL football and the preparation required on a weekly, daily and hourly basis. We haven’t got the luxury of looking backwards or looking ahead. We’ve got to stay in the present and do the work. To be honest, I’m not hearing the hype. I think the way the group and the club has conducted themselves, there is no hype. People who push that barrow and say that we as a club get ahead of ourselves and all those things have stopped because of the way we focus on the present and the hard work required. We understand 12-0 means absolutely nothing. All it means is that we’ve got 12 wins in the bank and we need to keep banking four points as we go, so our focus is on how to get those points.
News
Ross Lyon: Q&A
St Kilda coach Ross Lyon says his team's stellar start to the year begun with pre-season preparation
* AFL Today: PM edition
Wed, Jun 24, 09
By Luke Holmesby 12:50 PM Wed 24 June, 2009
I imagine you’d never have thought you’d be going into the break at 12-0.
It’s not common is it? We thought we had prepared really well, had a strong summer and were keen to win as many games as we could early on. The players would recognise that going back a long way, this group had started slowly, so we wanted to make it a feature to start the season well. Clearly, all the work the players did is bearing fruit. They are harvesting their hard work quite well.
What did you work on specifically over the pre-season that has stood out this year?
We continued the physical development with the work in the gym to build strong bodies and good power and durability. They worked really hard there, and that has been a two-and-a-half year program from when Peter Mulkearns took over from Craig Starcevich, and then Dave Misson came in over the top. That has been a feature of their work. Our weights coach Stephen Tingay has also worked on our primary strength and conditioning work. That started a long time ago. Then obviously we wanted to improve our ball movement and defensive mechanisms. Fundamentally we wanted to compete, but we felt that was more of a mindset; we didn’t do much competing over summer apart from trying to beat personal bests. That has really been driven by an attitude of the group, to compete well. We really ramped up our possession rate in the second half of 2008 to about 360-370 (possessions per game). We’ve ramped it up again to about 405 possessions. We’re certainly sharing the ball around and moving it quite well.
There are a lot of questions about whether the team can sustain that physical style of game. Are you confident they can?
I think it’s been blown out of proportion. There are about four or five teams averaging more tackles than us at the minute. Brisbane are up there. Carlton are up there, Geelong. I think people can speculate all they like. We’ve been challenged in a number of ways, and there are going to be people telling us we can, people telling us we can’t, people telling us what a successful season is from here. All those things. All it is for us is a trigger to refocus on what we know works for us, which is preparation and teamwork and persistence.
How much of a role has the good run with injuries played in the success so far?
You want your key personnel available. I think we are starting to move up the ladder of people played now. I look at some of the figures from other teams and I look at what we went through in '07 and '08 and I don’t think any of them are any worse. It certainly makes it more difficult when you have injuries, but I am sure we’ve started to get a few. The reality is we’ve had some injuries, but blokes have been able to play and carry them. That is a tribute to their mental toughness.
Your message all year is that Geelong is still the benchmark. What aspect of their game still puts them ahead of your team?
I’m here to talk about St Kilda. I’m not really here to talk about Geelong. I thought it was our mid-year review, to be honest.
OK, what aspects of St Kilda’s game can improve?
We got beaten in contested ball by Carlton last week, which is the first time this year. We’re no different to everyone else; we’re looking for consistency. Our contested ball has been consistent, but our attack and defence has dropped off here and there. We are continually working on our ball movement. Teams are continually evolving and changing their defences and ball movement pretty quickly. It’s going to be a combination of improving ourselves and tracking the opposition we’re coming up against so that we’re able to deal with what is put in front of us. There are that many components to the game and we evaluate them as they become problems. Then we get to work on them. In general terms, our accuracy has been an issue, but the work they did in the proceeding weeks against Carlton ... and our tackling has dropped off a little bit, so we’ll look to ramp that up. Our kicking efficiency is down and our skill level is something we can always work on. There are going to be things bobbing up along the way we need to improve on. Our stoppage work has been good, but our centre bounces in the third quarter against Carlton struggled. Within games there are facets of your game you have to address and get going again. The bigger picture stuff in broad terms is contest, attack and defence.
The last few wins haven’t been as easy and convincing as some of the early wins. Do you put that down to the opposition changing tactics against you?
I think we’re coming up against some quality teams. It’s a marathon. Our average winning margin is 46 points, which is reasonable. If you want to be specific and talk about Carlton last week, then we rate them as a top-four team. They’ve won the third-most quarters behind ourselves and Geelong. They’ve been in front for the third-most percentage of game time. We were under no illusions - it was going to be difficult. I really felt the only thing we didn’t do against Melbourne and North was put them through the sticks. We had the shots, we had the entries, we had the contested ball. I thought that was inaccurate, the perception. We dominated both North and Melbourne after quarter-time to be frank in contested ball, entries and shots. Carlton was a different issue. We got five goals up three times. They persisted and challenged us, but we found a way to win.
Is Zac Dawson’s football resurrection one of your proudest achievements as a coach?
All we’ve done is give Zac an opportunity, the resources and guidance. Zac has been the one that has been mentally strong enough to dig in and do the work and compete against his opponents. Sometimes too much is attributed to coaches and game plans. I think our job is to guide and provide resources and help prod and push and drive players. Ultimately, Zac is the one that has done the work, as has the rest of the group. All I do is navigate them along the way when they go outside the boundaries of what we want fundamentally. It is a credit to Zac. His first career was over, he had experienced footy death in a real sense, and clearly he had strong thoughts about whether to do it or not. All we did was identify his talent and give him the opportunity.
When you say ‘identify his talent’, what exactly did you see in him that made you want to give him a spot on the rookie list?
We saw his performances in the NAB Cup. We saw VFL performances. We researched him with our football network and we interviewed him. That was the path and process we took. We sifted through a lot of VFL players and listed players for what we needed. He’s got speed, power and size, and similar to Farren (Ray), we felt he had done a fair apprenticeship. Everyone talks about first-year players contributing; it is a rare first-year player that comes in and is consistent. I saw the stats on Adelaide’s young group, and a lot of them are fourth-year players. It is really not dissimilar to what Zac has experienced, and Robert Eddy and Jarryn Geary. I think people judge young players harshly, too quickly and it is all the rage at the minute. If you look at who comes in and dominates in their first year, they are very few and far between. In a nutshell, Zac had done a three or four-year apprenticeship, and my experience tells me that is when good players will start to come through unless you are an exception.
Eddy and Geary are the two youngest to have played this year. Are you conscious of trying to get more players their age and younger into the team?
Not particularly. You don’t have to be playing AFL seniors to be developing. If anything, you can expose young bodies to significant injury before they are physically ready to play. Let’s understand that AFL footy is a brutal industry, and you want to be physically and mentally right to come in. I think we’ve got 11 players 18 or under through this year, and 13 new players to the club. Just because they are not running down the race doesn’t mean they are not improving their footy and developing. We are not into gifting games away.
Justin Koschitzke has hit his straps this year. Can you identify anything that has clicked for him? Is it confidence or skills?
It’s called hard work. He didn’t miss a session over summer. He developed his speed and power, lost a couple of kilos and worked on his agility. Out of all that hard work comes confidence. It doesn’t hurt that the team is giving quality entries to the forwards.
Has Nick Riewoldt’s re-signing lifted his teammates?
I don’t think it has lifted his teammates. I don’t think the group was in any doubt Nick wouldn’t be playing at St Kilda. Again, internal versus outside expectations are markedly different. We’d like to think we’d look after all our players and give them commercial and equitable deals that will see them at St Kilda. It is certainly a fillip for the whole club, but I think it is a sign of confidence to the outside world in relation to the direction that the board and commercial operations (and) our football department in conjunction with the players is taking. It is a really good sign. There is no doubt outside clubs will pay more. There is a go and a stay price, but Nick is a very loyal person.
Where do you rank him in terms of the best AFL players?
Nick is an elite player, an elite forward in the competition. We are lucky to have him.
Michael Gardiner’s form must give you a lot of pride. Are you pleased to see him make the most of his second crack at the AFL?
It’s the same deal - opportunity, environment and hard work from the player. It didn’t come straight away, but everyone laughed when we said he played 15 games of football last year in AFL and VFL. He had good continuity and a couple of little calf tweaks. We felt that with another full summer, we saw some really good signs in Michael. He left no stone unturned in his preparation, and he is a really good influence around the club and contributing to the team.
Has the midfield depth surprised you in the first season without Robert Harvey?
'Harves' is a respected player, a very good midfielder. We’ve done a lot of things to develop a midfield that we knew was getting thin. Andrew Thompson was really hanging on in that last year, and (Stephen) Powell and (Justin) Peckett had gone the year before. (Brendon) Goddard did his knee and Lenny Hayes was coming back off a reco and then did his shoulder in the first half of ‘07. We were conscious of once (Nick) Dal Santo and (Leigh) Montagna got sat on, it became pretty thin. We’ve consciously built a number of players to go through there – Goddard, (Jason) Gram and Farren Ray. Then Montagna and Dal Santo have elevated their performances and Luke Ball has been consistent. Hayes has got going again and you’ve also got Clint Jones. We’ve purposely built a number that can go through there. It hasn’t surprised me – they played pretty solid football last year, to be honest. Everyone conveniently ignores eight wins out of 10, but that’s fine.
Whenever the Saints are up and going, there is always a lot of hype and expectation. Is the history of having one premiership a motivating factor?
AFL footy is about the business of winning premierships. There is not a club in the land that doesn’t want to win a premiership. I can tell you the past doesn’t curtail or influence anything we’re doing now. That is a long bow to draw. What we’re au fait with is the demands of AFL football and the preparation required on a weekly, daily and hourly basis. We haven’t got the luxury of looking backwards or looking ahead. We’ve got to stay in the present and do the work. To be honest, I’m not hearing the hype. I think the way the group and the club has conducted themselves, there is no hype. People who push that barrow and say that we as a club get ahead of ourselves and all those things have stopped because of the way we focus on the present and the hard work required. We understand 12-0 means absolutely nothing. All it means is that we’ve got 12 wins in the bank and we need to keep banking four points as we go, so our focus is on how to get those points.
.everybody still loves lenny....and we always will
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saintbrat
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http://www.saints.com.au/season2009/new ... fault.aspx
another section
Head and heart lift Saints
Luke Holmesby
3:14 PM Wed 24 June, 2009
Conditioning and mental toughness are keys to the Saints success in 2009, says Ross Lyon
ST KILDA coach Ross Lyon says his team’s ability to play with injuries has been a factor in its success this year.
While the Saints are undefeated after 12 weeks and only have two players – Jarryd Allen and Xavier Clarke - on the injured list, Lyon told afl.com.au that was not simply a case of good luck.
“The reality is we’ve had some injuries, but blokes have been able to play and carry them. That is a tribute to their mental toughness,â€
another section
Head and heart lift Saints
Luke Holmesby
3:14 PM Wed 24 June, 2009
Conditioning and mental toughness are keys to the Saints success in 2009, says Ross Lyon
ST KILDA coach Ross Lyon says his team’s ability to play with injuries has been a factor in its success this year.
While the Saints are undefeated after 12 weeks and only have two players – Jarryd Allen and Xavier Clarke - on the injured list, Lyon told afl.com.au that was not simply a case of good luck.
“The reality is we’ve had some injuries, but blokes have been able to play and carry them. That is a tribute to their mental toughness,â€
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Rejoicing in hope, patient in tribulation, continuing steadfastly..!!
MEMBERSHIP 2014 31,134 Membership 2015 32,746 MEMBERSHIP 2016 - 38,101
MEMBERSHIP 2017 42,095 , Membership 2018 46,998
MEMBERSHIP 2019 43,106 http://saintsational.net/viewtopic.php? ... 9#p1816890
MEMBERSHIP 2020 48,588 http://saintsational.net/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=100107