I was cleaning out my email, and found a copy of an opinion piece that I was very lucky to have had the opportunity to write for the Herald Sun. I wrote this in my lunchbreak at work and it was published in the paper after St Kilda coach Ross Lyon made his cold and calculated move to Fremantle. This was September, 2011.
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I’d love to have one single year without a St Kilda making headlines for all the wrong reasons. We’ve had sex scandals, nude photos of our beloved players stolen and ejected into cyberspace, spats between players and opposition coaches, and enough sensational headlines to last a lifetime.
And Thursday night gave us the biggest bombshell of all. Adored coach Ross Lyon – the man I genuinely believed would take us to our first premiership in half a century – had walked out on the club. St Kilda officials, players and supporters (hell, and even Ross’s management) were totally blindsided.
It’s been a bad week for St Kilda fans. Last Saturday we watched our 2011 premiership hopes slip away with each Sydney goal celebration. After the game, Ross Lyon joined the Saints as they huddled on the field, remaining there long after the Swans returned to the rooms. I’ve heard people say that the out on the ground can be the most private place for a footy club, away from the hangers on in the change room. So as fans we could only speculate what was being said. Of course we assumed it would be that the players need to focus, regroup and look ahead to next year. Strength through loyalty, right?
Then on Thursday night it was announced that Mark Harvey had been sacked, and rumours swirled about his replacement. Would it be Rodney Eade? That’s when the bombshell hit. It was Ross Lyon. I headed straight to the rumour mill- Twitter.
And so I watched it unfold, and it got worse.
Sure we heard rumours that Melbourne was interested in Lyon, but never did I consider that he would consider leaving the Saints, for Melbourne, or for anyone. So when I read that in fact Lyon had been talking to Fremantle for FIVE weeks, it was like a punch in the guts. He was finishing the season knowing that there was a fair chance that he wouldn’t be in a Saints polo shirt come trade week.
Fans were stunned. There was anger, shock, disgust. Don’t get me wrong, either. I don’t want to speak for all supporters (Ross certainly had his critics in fans, Shane Warne being a high-profile example), but most Saints supporters really liked Ross. I loved Ross, and he has certainly been St Kilda’s most successful modern coach. All those coming out of the woodwork now saying ‘I never liked him anyway’ are just feeling the hurt. And you know why? Because our coach has given up on us.
So here is my question Ross: why did you prematurely announce the retirements of three Saints players, including my favourite club veteran Steven Baker? Could it have not waited one more week after you’d gone, or at least have given you time to speak to your players who would have done anything for the red, black and white?
Lyon rode the highs and the lows with the players, club officials and the supporters. Together we’ve felt the elation at two winning preliminary finals, the heart-pounding moments in three grand finals in two years, the same stunned, empty feeling of a drawn grand final, and the absolute heartbreak at two lost premierships. I watched the 2009 grand final squashed into standing room on the bottom level of the MCG. Half of the ground was obscured, but I lived and breathed every moment and like always, stayed til the very end.
For Ross to have come just so close to knowing what a premiership could feel like, and then walk away just blows my mind. Doesn’t he feel what we feel?
While the supporters are reeling, I can only begin to imagine what the players must be feeling. Ross didn’t sit down with the players and face them like he should have, he was a coward. I’ve heard that Ross was a tough man to work for. Sometimes he arrived at the club at 5am, and expected the same level of commitment from coaching staff and players alike. So when the players gave him the commitment he required, shouldn’t they expect the same from their coach? Next year would have been the real test for the Saints, and he owed them that.
Losing two consecutive grand finals (as well as the off-season that will haunt them forever) definitely did take its toll on my club. How could it not? How could you go all through that and still have the same level of drive and determination? But the Saints really did turn their season around, and put in a solid foundation for a better year in 2012. I want to know- why jump ship now? Give your players one more chance.
Call me naive, or even delusional, but I believe whole-heartedly that I will watch this playing group win the flag that they deserve, with or without Ross Lyon. I hope with all my heart that the club can get through this – its biggest challenge ever – and come out firing. St Kilda needs unity right now. I want all the club officials, the coaching staff and especially the players to know that their supporters are passionate and loyal, and we’ll be with them til the very end.
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