If Ross Lyon is in his second honeymoon period at the Saints, then Stuart Dew is entering marriage counselling with the Suns.
And counselling might not be enough.
Mitch Owens flies for a mark.Credit: AFL Photos
Lyon’s governance of St Kilda was a perfect counterpoint to Dew’s on Saturday night. Lyon has had barely six months in charge of the Saints; Dew is in his sixth year. St Kilda were organised and playing with belief; the only belief the Suns played with was the fatalistic knowledge they would lose. And they did.
Lyon is in his honeymoon period and it won’t be like this forever, but he is romancing St Kilda now with the spirited way they are playing despite having an injury-affected team. He has them playing with belief in themselves and in their system.
The Suns were good in the second term on Saturday night, going long with deep entries to their forward line, so if and when St Kilda did gain possession they were mounting their favoured counter-punch running game from very deep in defence. Yet still the Saints kept faith and knew they would make their own move.
Lyon moved Jack Sinclair onto the ball and he gave them added run and lateral movement. Lyon started Bradley Hill high forward but rolled him deep into defence.
The Saints shut down Suns bull Matt Rowell, who had dominated on ball in the first three weeks. And Gold Coast did nothing to change it, nothing to help him. He could have been moved to half-forward to shake the tag and get into the game, but no. They could have tried Ben Ainsworth or Lachie Weller or someone else on ball, but they didn’t. They unerringly stuck with the same preferred on-ball trio – Rowell, Noah Anderson and Touk Miller – and just seemed to hope things would change.
Lyon is getting more from less. Mason Wood is playing with utter belief in himself, and makes you wonder if it was just Wood holding himself back all this time, not just finding a position on a wing. Ditto Callum Wilkie, who is playing damaging football.
The Suns leave the field after losing to St Kilda.Credit: AFL Photos
They have brought in young players who are told they are not just there to cover for injuries, but to earn their place.
Lyon is exploiting what he has got. He isn’t fretting over injuries; he is investing in the style of play, a harder-running and much fitter team than last year. He embraces the idea he has damaging small forwards; Jack Higgins and Dan Butler are back playing as they did when they arrived from Richmond and Jade Gresham is working hard for chances at goal.
And then they have the awkward Mitch Owens. He stands 191 centimetres, but he plays like a much taller player when flying for marks and a much smaller player when the ball is on the ground. He is a tall and a small, both clever and agile.
Medium-sized forwards are polarising players. Some love them when they come in the shape of Bayley Fritsch or Will Hayward. Others worry they are like bad all-rounders, neither one thing nor the other.
Owens is of the first category. He is smart and knows where the goals are. He got one goal from a big push in the back, but he was smart enough to know that free kick is seldom paid against anyone any more, so he rode his luck.
The Saints have shown the impact that change can make. The game plan is simple, the belief important.
The Saints, undefeated, now face Collingwood, a team of belief and a similar game of daring and run. The Pies will be a better measure of the Saints’ improvement than the flaky Suns.
The Suns came off a strong home win over Geelong with yet another weak letdown. They now face Fremantle and North Melbourne. They should win both. The test for their marriage counselling session comes in the weeks after that.
Please stop
I don’t know Paddy McCartin, who suffered yet another concussion against Port Adelaide on Saturday night. I don’t know Will Pucovski, the cricketer whose concussions number in the double figures. I love watching them play their games. But now I just wish they would stop playing them.
I’m not a doctor, but there are enough horror stories of professional sportspeople’s struggles after retiring to make you fret for both players. You understand their anguish at being denied their lifelong dreams from something so hard to measure, but it feels like the risk is now too great.
Tigers’ best were beaten
Richmond played on Saturday with their best midfield in the team. Dustin Martin, Dion Prestia, Tim Taranto and Jacob Hopper. Yes, some of the supporting cast was missing, but the stars were there.
And they were beaten. As Damien Hardwick, said they were beaten in clearances. Forget the other missing personnel – this was about the coalface, and that is where they were beaten.
Richmond’s loss to Collingwood last week flattered them. The margin could have and should have been much bigger at half-time. This game didn’t. They were very, very good for a period in the second quarter but when the game tightened to one of territory with the rain, it was the Dogs’ midfield that was better and cleaner, the Dogs’ backs who were intercepting, and the Dogs’ forward line where the ball remained.
Heave ho
A month is long enough to get perspective on the season. And the view in purple is poor. Fremantle lost to St Kilda in round one. OK, the Saints are showing themselves to be a good team, even if Freo also approached the season thinking after last year they should be better.
But then they then lost to North. Yes, North, no longer terrible but not yet good.
They then beat West Coast, who had so many players injured, Adam Simpson was just about pulling on the boots.
Now Fremantle have been rumbled by Adelaide. This is a Dockers team that brought in Jaeger O’Meara (on heavily subsidised terms) and Luke Jackson on mega bucks. They signalled in their trades where they thought they were at, but that is not where they are now.
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