Defeated St Kilda coach Ross Lyon has shown glimpses of his prickly past during a bizarre post-match press conference on Friday night.
Lyon appeared to take umbrage at a number of questions about the Saints’ inability to wear down an injury-hit Port Adelaide late in the game, falling 10 points short.
It was shades of Lyon at his antsy best during his time at Fremantle when he made headlines for signalling out a journalist’s line of questioning. “You’re quite brilliant, Shane,” he said at the time.
On Friday night, Lyon seemed to bristle slightly and then alternate between sarcasm and humour when asked if he was disappointed with how St Kilda finished the game, considering the Power were out on their feet with injuries to three key players – Aliir Aliir, Sam Powell-Pepper and Connor Rozee.
“I don’t know, did you think that we weren’t running and didn’t get close?” Lyon asked back.
A quizzical Ross Lyon.Credit: Getty Images
The journalist then asked if St Kilda could have shown a little bit more dare to win the match.
“I thought we were daring,” Lyon said. “I thought the entries, I thought we were playing up-tempo. We were taking it on. Well, that’s just my opinion.
“I would have thought, as Kenny said, ‘I saw you in green, I saw you going, and we were really worried’. So, I know sometimes it’s a fumble or a dropped mark, isn’t it? Do you know what I mean?”
A second journalist then asked if Lyon altered the way St Kilda approached the last quarter when they saw Port Adelaide’s injuries.
“Yeah, what did you observe?” Lyon shot back with a wry grin. “I thought we were challenging and they were under a little bit of pressure.”
Lyon was next asked if he took positives from the night after a big loss against the Western Bulldogs last week.
“I think we took a step forward. I don’t know, where do you put them (Port Adelaide)? What are they, top what? You’re local journos, where do you put them? What’s your expectation on them?”
In explaining St Kilda’s season, Lyon said the Saints were trying to win games and rebuild at the same time by blooding young kids.
“Win and run a dual narrative,” he said of the Saints approach. “And, you know, we had a bit of youth tonight with Phillipou; we liked Hastie when he came on.
“So we feel that we’ve got some youth that we’re gonna continue to push through with Owens and Caminiti.
“But we know ourselves really well. And we know when you get in that really tight stuff, and what separates us a little bit is that we’re going to have a fair bit of work to do - but nothing that we don’t know about.”
Lyon was also asked about the 25-10 free-kick count from the match.
“Was it? See, I don’t even buy in. Who’s way did it go?” he asked.
The free-kick count was in Port Adelaide’s favour.
“That’s not what cost us the game,” he said. “It didn’t cost us. That’s not why we didn’t win. Umpires do a bloody hard job.
“If I’m sitting here talking about rub of the green and umpires consistently, I’m in the wrong chair. I should be on that side.”