Ross the Boss is almost a month into his second stint as St Kilda’s coach.
Amid the fanfare of Ross Lyon 2.0 – the nicknames just keep coming – the first hint of the club’s direction under their back-to-the-future coach is on the horizon.
Ross Lyon has returned for his second stint as the Saints’ senior coach.Credit:Getty Images
The AFL draft will be held across two days on November 28 and 29, and Lyon’s footprint, along with that of new football boss Geoff Walsh, is sure to be present, given the Saints’ football department review revealed some strategy deficiencies.
They will enter the draft with picks 9, 28, 32, 47, 73 and 81.
Perhaps overblown in the optimistic assessment of St Kilda’s list was that “many” of their key players were “not yet in their prime”, although it is true that none have reached 30 years of age.
Only generational key forward Max King (22), Jade Gresham (25) and Josh Battle (24) were younger than 26 out of the Saints’ top 10 in this year’s club champion award.
The rest of this group – Jack Sinclair (27), Callum Wilkie (26), captain Jack Steele (27 in December), Tim Membrey (28), Seb Ross (29), Brad Crouch (29 in January) and Bradley Hill (29) – is already at least in the early stages of their prime.
Jimmy Webster (29), Zak Jones (27), Dan Butler (26), and Jack Billings (27), who underwent post-season back surgery after an injury-marred campaign, are in the same boat. Much-hyped ruckman Rowan Marshall finished outside the top 10 despite playing 21 matches, as did tall defender Dougal Howard (26) after 17 appearances.
Marshall will blow the candles out on his 27th birthday cake on Thursday, but that is young at his position, and he is undoubtedly one of St Kilda’s key players, particularly with Paddy Ryder retired.
Key forward Max King is St Kilda’s most promising player.Credit:AFL Photos
Howard, too, is an important piece who could go to another level, even with the recruitment of Western Bulldogs premiership swingman Zaine Cordy.
Then there are the likes of Ben Paton (24), Jack Higgins (23) and top-10 draftees Hunter Clark (23), who wanted to leave for North Melbourne this past trade period, and Nick Coffield (23), who is set to return from an ACL rupture that wiped out his 2022 season.
One of the goals of club great and new assistant coach Lenny Hayes is to help the richly talented Clark realise his potential.
Nasiah Wanganeen-Milera, the No.11 pick in last year’s draft, offers as much promise as any other player on the list not named Max King. What is abundantly clear, and also highlighted in the review, is the desperate need for more elite talent, which Saints list boss James Gallagher explained as part of the reason for a quiet trade period (although they did have a serious crack at Collingwood restricted free agent Jordan De Goey).
“Retention, development and adding more talent through the draft were our main focuses this off-season,” Gallagher said after the trade period.
“We performed quite strongly in the first half of this season without any real impact from Nick Coffield, Zak Jones, Hunter Clark, Jack Billings and Jack Hayes (after round five), so we made a clear decision to focus on retaining our own talent and adding to it through the draft or free agency.
“The past three years have got us to a point with bringing in established talent, but now it’s about backing in our emerging core to grow and play, alongside our quality cohort of senior players.”
A peek at Lyon’s first few seasons after defecting from St Kilda to a then-similarly mediocre Fremantle in late 2011 shows a restraint from vicious, deep cuts or recruiting bulk established talent.
The Dockers did sign free agents Danyle Pearce and Colin Sylvia, trade for Scott Gumbleton and select Zac Dawson and fellow mature-ager Lee Spurr in the draft across Lyon’s first three years in charge. But they also invested in youth, making 11 national draft picks in the same period, albeit with modest results from their first-round selections Tom Sheridan, Josh Simpson and Michael Apeness.
Fremantle instead performed well with later and rookie picks used on Lachie Neale, Alex Pearce, Matt Taberner, Hayden Crozier and Cam Sutcliffe, and went on to play in the 2013 grand final.
What this suggests is Lyon’s greatest impact may not be in shaking up the Saints’ list but rather in getting more out of a playing group that needs top-end talent but is mature enough to be a finals contender in 2023.
Keep up to date with the best AFL coverage in the country. Sign up for the Real Footy newsletter.
