St Kilda champion Leigh Montagna has lauded his former club’s “courageous call” to appoint Ross Lyon during the off-season, declaring the Saints are now “united” amid their brilliant start to the season.
The Saints will end Round 6 on top of the AFL ladder with an impressive 5-1 record following their strong 22-point over Carlton on Sunday, with the club now well placed for a surprise finals berth.
It comes just over six months after St Kilda brutally sacked coach Brett Ratten – despite re-signing him for a further two years last July – and replaced him with Lyon, who returned to the Saints 12 years after he sensationally blindsided the club to join Fremantle.
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Speaking on Fox Footy’s First Crack on Sunday, dual All-Australian Montagna said Saints president Andrew Bassat deserved ample credit.
“The decision to appoint Ross Lyon – it came with a lot of baggage,” Montagna told First Crack. “There was a lot of heat on Andrew Bassat and that footy club, we know it was a brutal call, it was a courageous call.
“But I think now we can say it was the right call – and the proof is now in the pudding.
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“Andrew Bassat had some sleepless nights and there would’ve been a lot of people to jump down the club’s throat if it didn’t go well at the start … And to be fair, there were some cynical fans. A lot of St Kilda fans were divided about the return of Ross Lyon and whether his game plan was too defensive and the way that he left the club. But even those fans are now all on the same page and we’ve got a club that is united and on the same page.
“They’ve created a high-performance environment, which the club have craved, and they’re making the whole football club proud.
“It’s a credit to not only Ross, but his coaching staff and for the club to appoint the coaching group they’ve got. You can argue it’s up there with probably Collingwood’s and maybe Geelong’s as the best coaching group in the competition with Corey Enright and Lenny Hayes and Robert Harvey. “
Montagna later added: “There’s still a long way to go. I mean we’re six rounds in and not getting carried away, but what they’ve done so far is full credit.”
Dual premiership Kangaroo David King said it was clear “St Kilda fans are abuzz”, adding on First Crack: “It’s probably the best $300,000 or $400,000 they (the Saints) have spent in 20 years.”
Lyon has joked how he’s “mellowed” since returning to the AFL coaching landscape after spending three years in the footy media while also working in the property industry.
The Saints coach post-game on Sunday was seen giving his lucky CC’s packet to a Saints fan before walking around the boundary line giving high fives.
Upon seeing Lyon’s interactions with the crowd, triple premiership forward Cameron Mooney joked on Fox Footy that Lyon had “never done anything like that in his life”, while five-time premiership Hawk Dermott Brereton said the Saints had “never been so friendly”.
Rather than be spooked by the growing excitement from his success-starved fan base, Lyon said he and the club welcomed it.
“We gave them a high-five, we don’t shut anything down,” Lyon told reporters on Sunday.
“We sang a second rendition of the song, I didn’t think the first one was loud enough so in the coaches’ room we sang another one.”
The Saints were also 5-1 at the same point of the season last year, before collapsing in the back-half of the year to finish outside the top eight with an 11-11 record.
But Montagna said there was a “different feel” about the Saints this season, adding there was “consistency now with their effort and the inconsistencies in games and performances were no longer there”.
Lyon, however, said he wasn’t keen to look too far ahead.
“I don’t set any long-term goals. It’s self-evident in the AFL, everyone’s trying to play finals – otherwise you shouldn’t be in,” he said.
“We were exploring tonight, so you get an audit every week you play at this level.
“I don’t think expectation ever leaves AFL football because everyone puts it on you anyway. We know expectation individually and collectively is just inherent.
“I heard Stuart Dew, who said ‘it’s never left me’. So I don’t think there’s more this week or next. “Every day you wake up as an AFL coach and player, it’s there.”
Montagna said a big reason behind the Saints’ strong start to the season was the form of high half-forwards Jack Higgins, Dan Butler, Jade Gresham and Brad Hill.
“The things they are doing, both with football in-hand and without the ball, has what’s turned this club around,” he said.
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“I still think the half-forward role is the most important role in football this season – the ability to get up the ground, help out on defence but then also provide something on offence.
“Last year we were critical of them as the ‘Fraudulent Saints’. They would get downhill when St Kilda were winning, they were looking for goals out the back. Now they are as honest as you get. They get front-and-square, they apply pressure, they do all the tough stuff and then when they get their opportunity to run and spread and use their natural football talent, they’re getting on the end of it.
“This is why they have a brand. They are the number one team off turnover in the competition (points differential), because when they win the ball back from turnover, they go quick.
“At the right time they’ll play controlled and at the right time they’ll have to get back and defend and hold up and not allow teams to score. But they are playing with a great brand, a great system and they are spreading the love.
“And these four guys that have been maligned – and they have been by Saints fans and myself and others over the last couple of years with their inconsistency – are now playing with great consistency and effort – and it’s why they’re 5-1.”
— with NCA Newswire
