Ross Lyon

Ross Lyon
Personal information
Full name	Ross Lyon
Date of birth	(1966-11-08) 8 November 1966
Original team(s)	Reservoir (NFL)
Height / weight	183cm / 78kg
Club information
Current club	Fremantle
Career highlights
AFL Coaches Association Coach of the Year 2009
Sources: AFL Tables, AustralianFootball.com

Ross Lyon (born 8 November 1966) is a former Australian rules football player for Fitzroy and the Brisbane Bears. He is the current senior coach of the Fremantle Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL).

Playing career

Lyon began his career with Fitzroy in 1985 and played 127 games over the next ten years and a further two games with Brisbane in 1995 before retiring due to a knee problem. As a player he battled injury but was renowned for his fearless approach to the game, particularly his strong tackling and fierce bump.

Coaching career

St Kilda Football Club: 2007-2011

Lyon discusses tactics with St Kilda assistant coaches Stephen Silvagni and Tony Elshaug

After retiring as a player, Lyon began his coaching career as an assistant to Robert Walls at Richmond in 1996 before moving to Carlton in 2000. He spent five years at Carlton both as an assistant coach and as the club's VFL coach where he worked alongside respected coaches David Parkin and Denis Pagan.

In 2004 he joined Sydney as their midfield coach, working under his former Fitzroy teammate Paul Roos and was instrumental in helping the Swans reach consecutive grand finals in 2005 and 2006.

When the St Kilda coaching position became available at the end of 2006, a list of candidates was drawn up. Lyon beat a total of 52 candidates for the job, including favourite John Longmire.

Lyon succeeded Grant Thomas, who was controversially sacked just days after the Saints were defeated in an elimination final by Melbourne.

Upon becoming coach of the club, Lyon hired his own assistants, with close friend and AFL Team of the Century fullback Stephen Silvagni, Anthony Rock, former Carlton assistant coach Tony Elshaug and John Barker all being appointed in assistant coaching positions for Lyon's first season. He also helped lure highly rated fitness coach David Misson to the club from Sydney. The impressive Silvagni spent a total of four years at the club as defence coach, leaving at the end of 2010 to work with GWS, whilst Elshaug is now the head of recruiting at St Kilda. Other notable assistants to have worked with Lyon in his time as coach include Leigh Tudor and Robert Harvey.

Lyon is now the most successful St Kilda coach by percentage of games won, with a 64.46% winning record since taking over in 2007.

2007 season

Lyon began his first season as coach with a victory against Melbourne in Round 1 of 2007 and the Saints then won four of their first seven games. Injuries hit the club badly in Round 8, however, with St Kilda having only 24 out of a possible 38 players to choose from against the Hawthorn Football Club. Lyon was criticised for flooding excessively and many became angry with the more defensive style of St Kilda over the subsequent weeks [1].

After an upset victory in Robert Harvey's 350th match in Round 12 against West Coast, Lyon proceeded to guide the Saints to win three out of the next four matches and a drawn game against the Western Bulldogs. This left the Saints in eighth position on the ladder, a spot the side was unable to maintain after narrow losses to reigning grand-finalists Sydney and West Coast in the remaining five rounds [2]. The club narrowly missed playing finals for the fourth consecutive season, finishing 9th with 11 wins, 10 losses and 1 draw for the year. Despite missing finals action the Saints finished the year strongly, winning 7.5 of the last 11 matches.

During the 2007 trade period, St Kilda were widely considered to have traded very well, picking up Geelong premiership ruckman Steven King, Geelong forward Charlie Gardiner and Swans pair Adam Schneider and Shaun Dempster for draft selections 26 and 90.

2008 season

St Kilda started the season strongly by winning the 2008 NAB Cup, defeating the Adelaide Crows by five points at Football Park. Despite this strong showing the Saints went on to have a mixed first half of the season with five wins and six losses. In the second half of the season, their fortune improved and they sealed a spot in the top four with a record-breaking 108 point victory against Essendon in the final round.

The 2008 finals campaign, Lyon's first as coach, saw St Kilda lose to Geelong in the first qualifying final and then defeat Collingwood by 34 points in a semi final. In what would be veteran and club legend Robert Harvey's final game as a player, the Saints were well beaten by eventual premiers Hawthorn in a preliminary final, losing by 49 points.

2009 season

St Kilda made a number of changes to their coaching and playing staff in the 2008/09 pre-season, adding Geelong assistant coach Leigh Tudor as the forward coach. Over the pre-season Lyon worked on a new game plan based around forward pressure, midfield zone defence and pushing numbers behind the ball. This was the platform for a record-breaking year. St Kilda won 19 consecutive matches, including a game described by some observers{{who"" as one of the best home-and-away clashes of all time in Round 14 against Geelong (who were also undefeated at the time). Despite losing narrowly to Essendon and North Melbourne late in the season, the Saints finished two-games clear on top of the AFL ladder, winning the McLelland Trophy for the first time since 1997.

The club won its first final against Collingwood before beating the Western Bulldogs by seven points in a preliminary final to advance to their first AFL Grand Final since 1997. Lyon became only the third man (after Stan Alves and Allan Jeans) to coach the club to a grand final since World War Two.

The 2009 AFL Grand Final was one of the closest and hardest-fought ever held. A record-breaking 214 tackles were laid in the match (118 by the Saints). St Kilda led the game at every quarter but fell short at the final siren, losing the match by 12 points. Several St Kilda players missed short range shots on goal and the team had three more scoring shots than Geelong for the match. Four of St Kilda's scoring shots were rushed behinds; Geelong had none.

Despite the grand final loss, Lyon was named the AFL Coaches Association Coach of the Year in 2009.

2010 season

Controversy plagued the St Kilda Football Club in the 2009/2010 pre-season. Former club captain Luke Ball signed with rival club Collingwood and Lyon was criticised for failing to keep Ball and not gaining any compensation in return. The Saints chose to trade their first round draft pick for former Essendon footballer Andrew Lovett. It was hoped that Lovett's pace and skill would enable the Saints to win the premiership in 2010. Lovett never played a game for the club, being sacked after allegations of rape were made against him.

Despite the controversy, the Saints managed to win 15.5 games in 2010 and finished 3rd on the AFL ladder. The season was notable for the loss of club captain Nick Riewoldt to a serious injury in Round 3. Riewoldt did not return for four months, but managed to come back into the team and lead them into another finals series.

The Saints beat Geelong narrowly in their first final in 2010, and then comfortably won a Preliminary Final against the Western Bulldogs for the second year in a row. Lyon became the only man apart from Allan Jeans to coach St Kilda to multiple Grand Final appearances. The 2010 AFL Grand Final famously ended in a draw, with St Kilda coming from 24 points down at half-time to square the result at the final siren. The replay the following week saw the Saints beaten comfortably, and the club finished runner-up for the second year in a row.

Lyon addresses the Saints team at training prior to the 2009 AFL Grand Final

2011 season

St Kilda had their worst start to a season in almost a decade, only winning one and drawing one of their first seven matches. This followed a disruptive off-season for the club which involved the "St Kilda schoolgirl" incidents and the short preseason caused as a result of their drawn and then defeated grand finals against Collingwood the year previous. St Kilda then started their revival, defeating Melbourne in Round 9 and then only losing three more games for the remainder of the year. They also caused West Coast's only loss in the second half of the season when both clubs were on a winning roll.

After St Kilda finished seventh at the end of the season, following an elimination final loss to Sydney on 15 September 2011, Lyon resigned as the Saints' coach. He left St Kilda with the best winning percentage of any other Saints coach in the club's history, and became the first person to coach the Saints to four straight finals series (the first three of those included a top four finish).

Fremantle Football Club

On 16 September 2011, Lyon was officially appointed as the senior coach of the Fremantle Football Club for four years in a deal which is believed to make him the highest paid coach in the AFL.