The more things change, the more they stay the same.
Ross Lyon is back at St Kilda for the first time in more than a decade, but he slipped right back into his penchant for left-field phrases and musings almost as easily as he did the club polo.
They are what iconic AFL commentator Dennis Cometti dubs ‘Lyon-isms’ and on Monday, they returned in full force.
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Lyon reveals why he returned to coaching | 00:41
“We all dream, anything’s possible, but if you don’t do the work you’re just a daydreamer,” Lyon said at one point in St Kilda’s press conference.
“We’re going to put our work boots on.”
Across his 305-game coaching career so far, there’s been no shortage of memorable quotes
Be it ‘I’ll let the cobblers do the cobbling’, ‘I left my crystal ball at home’ or ‘we don’t rebuild but re-stump, we re-wire, we re-plumb’, Lyon has offered up a smorgasbord of linguistic nuggets over the journey.
This time, however, there’s a new twist.
Where once Lyon delivered such phrases with either disdain or indifference towards those asking him, the 55-year-old now appears to have mellowed when it comes to the media, which he has in part spent his time outside of the AFL ranks a part of.
It’s a difference Lyon himself pointed out.
“I think that what I was behind closed doors, I think I‘ve got more capacity to show you guys on the other side,” he said.
“To be honest, I dropped the curtain, I was very protective of my players in the club.
“I don’t regret that, but I think you can see the other side a bit more.”
His newfound perspective of life outside said curtain has contributed to his coaching re-invention of sorts.
“I feel like through (being part of) the media I understand it better,” he said.
“I don’t know if I’m ‘cuddly Ross’, but I see how hard people work – without being a sycophant about it – and the skillset they bring. That’s given me a greater depth of understanding.”
Lyon’s approach behind the curtain may too be set for a change.
This older, wiser version appears set on righting some of his self-perceived wrongs during his previous two coaching stints. ‘
“I’ve been guilty of not bringing everyone on the journey,” he said.
“I think my players, yes, but I want to bring all my football staff, make them emotionally connected to the journey and inspire them as much as you want to inspire your playing group.”
Another part of that new window into Lyon came in his frank reveals throughout the press conference.
His first admission was that he got “very, very emotional” about his connection to the Saints.
Shortly after, he revealed a phone call from AFL legend Leigh Matthews – who he initially intended not to name – that helped give him the confidence he could return to the coaching ranks.
Sprinkled within that admission was yet another Lyon-ism, this time relating to senior coaching: “When you’ve been in there, it’s like going to the dentist, it’s hard to go back.”
Later, he even went into detail about contract negotiations with the club, specifically relating to any payout clauses within it.
They were windows into Lyon that in his previous coaching tenures would’ve been welded shut.
Perhaps these new insights are part of the “blank canvas” Lyon mentioned on several occasions during the 30-minute press conference.
Part of that canvas would involve being “in the weeds less” and relying on those around him more.
One of Lyon’s final reveals on Monday was another conversation.
“Another assistant coach texted me and said ‘I’d been out for two years and it took me about an hour to get back in the groove so I’m sure you’d be right.’”
For Lyon, it took less than 30 minutes.
