Ross Lyon’s potential return to St Kilda as coach is gaining momentum after he met with the club’s top brass on Monday for more than four hours.
The extensive meeting took place at Saints president Andrew Bassat’s house, and comes just four days after the club shocked the footy world by sacking former coach Brett Ratten just three months after he signed a new two-year contract.
Saints sources told The Age that the meeting, which also included CEO Simon Lethlean, was productive, and St Kilda and Lyon will keep dialogue open.
Former St Kilda and Fremantle coach Ross Lyon.Credit:Getty Images
When questioned by Channel Seven about the meeting, a visibly excited Lyon could barely wipe the smile from his face.
“It’s a big step isn’t it,” he said.
That would be an understatement, considering he was linked with the Carlton and Essendon jobs in the past 12 months but decided against going through either club’s recruitment process.
In his media roles, the four-time grand final coach has publicly flirted with the idea of a third coaching stint and it now appears as though the itch is returning with a vengeance after his unceremonious sacking at Fremantle in 2019.
Lyon is the Saints’ second-most successful coach, having taken them to three grand finals, including a replay, back in 2009 and 2010.
But he abruptly left St Kilda at the end of 2011 to take the Fremantle job after a dispute over contractual negotiations.
Lyon guided the Dockers to their first and only grand final in his second year at the club in 2013.
The Saints have struggled badly to recapture the heights of the Lyon era in the past 11 seasons, having gone through three senior coaches since then and making just one finals campaign.
However, Lyon’s reign at Fremantle ended badly, with his last four years there yielding only 29 wins from 87 games at a 33 per cent strike rate.
Lyon’s career winning rate is 57 per cent from 305 games, including nine wins from 20 finals.
Ratten’s sacking came as a shock, after the club decided on a review at the end of the season with former North Melbourne coach David Noble involved in a process steered by Bassat. The decision to cut ties with Ratten followed a quiet trade period for the Saints, with the incumbent coach involved in interviewing draft prospects without knowing he was about to lose his job. Bassett admitted on Friday that Ratten had been blindsided.
“We didn’t know where [the review) would go. I don’t think Brett had any inkling,” he said. “In sympathy to him, the fact that we signed him up to a contract not too long before probably made that harder for him to see coming.”
The club president is known to be a fan of Lyon, who also has a good relationship with board member Jason Blake, who was involved in the review and played under Lyon.
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