Lyon has regularly said in the past 18 months his team can be too coachable to the point where they follow instruction too rigidly. At quarter-time, an animated Lyon spent much of the break addressing their “sloppy” play and putting the onus on his players to take charge.
“Sometimes, the little green man and the bloke with the phone in the box can’t do it,” Lyon said. “I thought they took ownership of their performance and turned it around a bit. There was no ranting, [I simply said] ‘boys, you need to take ownership and execute a bit better’.”
Injuries have hurt the Saints, but they had close to full list to pick from against the Demons. Though not a “silver bullet”, inside midfielder Brad Crouch will push for selection after a third game in the VFL returning from injury, but Zaine Cordy, who can hold down a key post at either end, may have suffered a serious knee injury.
“I feel for our fans and members,” Lyon said. “I said to our players, we need to stick together. I thought we fought on, we never gave up, kicked a few late cheapies, but it’s better than not kicking them.
“We’ve really fallen away a bit, so we’ve got to go away and assess, try and keep a cool head, take the heat that comes and stay true to working hard and keeping a safe environment for the players.”
Gawn was the dominant player on the ground, overcoming a tight calf that required a late fitness test to dominate Rowan Marshall and finish with 27 possessions, 10 clearances and a goal.
St Kilda players trudge off their ground following their loss to Melbourne.Credit: AFL Photos
Though clunky at times with their delivery inside 50, Narrm put the game beyond doubt with a burst of four goals in 11 minutes in the third quarter.
Their defence, with Steven May among the best afield, was miserly despite Jake Lever’s absence, holding the Saints to nine goals – three of which came in junk time.
Their forward line, this time with Jacob Van Rooyen and Harry Petty as the key tall targets, remains a work in progress, but they cracked the ton for only the second time this year.
Loading
“I won’t sit here and tell everyone where we’re going to go with our game,” Goodwin said. “We haven’t been comfortable with it. We’ve certainly made improvement in that space (the forward line).
“We are scoring better inside 50, but there’s other parts of our game we have to tighten up, and we’re going to go after that. It’s a bit untapped where we can get to.”
Petty was subbed out with a sprained ankle, but Goodwin said he was “really confident” the defender-turned-forward would be fit to face Fremantle on Sunday in Alice Springs.