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We Still Need to Top Cats, Says Lyon

11 May 2009

ROSS Lyon’s team is sitting atop the ladder, undefeated, and with a percentage of 208.20.

But good luck convincing the St Kilda coach that the Saints are the most imposing side in the AFL.

All season long, Lyon has maintained that Geelong is the team to beat, and his argument didn’t change after St Kilda defeated Collingwood by a record margin of 88 points on Monday night at Docklands.

“There is a benchmark team in the competition called Geelong. They’ve won 48 out of 50 and we need to win another 41 to try to catch them,” Lyon said.

The undefeated Cats are sitting more than 54 percentage points behind the Saints, while there are three games separating the leading duo and the Western Bulldogs in third.

Lyon said he understood why the Saints were winning so much praise from but insisted the side was not getting ahead of itself.

“I’ll trot out the line...it’s not a line, it’s a fact. It is a really big business and it is exciting in Melbourne. We are a winning team. We love the fact we are winning. We expect articles to be written,” he said.

“For every club there are expectations set high and set low. There are expectations generally by the media and the fans. Just because they said it doesn’t make it right or accurate. Fremantle were written off and they’ve won three in a row.”

Lyon said a big reason for the Saints’ success so far was stability, having used just 25 players in seven games.

“Everyone laughed when I sat here after an Essendon game (in 2007) and we lost another couple (of players) with hammies and I said we were missing some meat and potatoes in our program,” Lyon said.

“We got the right people and the club put the resources and the money into it. The players have duly delivered with their work ethic and built strong bodies, strong through the hips and the hammies.”

Lyon might be uncomfortable with the praise but said he was happy to have the spotlight that came with playing in the unusual timeslot of a Monday night.

“The nation was watching, it was a Monday night experiment for the time slot,” he said.

“We knew it was going to be a really good crowd. Collingwood are a big club. They were a club under siege. Their coach had been criticised and they had lost some key players before the bounce which we were aware might happen.

“We see ourselves as a growing club and Collingwood have a big membership base. We see ourselves right up there (as a drawcard).

“We are a top-four side from last year and have been preliminary finalists three times in the last five years.

“We’re aiming to be a really aggressive contested team that scores heavily and defends well. You walk out of there and (we) ticked those boxes tonight, which is pleasing.”

Source: www.saints.com.au

Stephen Milne celebrates a goal on Monday night at Docklands

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