New St Kilda Saints coach Ross Lyon wants to see his team play a style of football which will see the club become a much greater threat off turnovers.
Lyon, who is returning to the club for his second stint in charge, Lyon will look to bring a key element of the charge to back-to-back grand finals during his first stint in charge.
The Saints made the grand final in both 2009 and 2010 under Lyon, with the club losing to Geelong in 2009 and Collingwood in a heartbreaking 2010 grand final replay after drawing the initial encounter.
Both years saw the Saints in the top three for scoring from turnovers. It's something the club struggled with under former coach Brett Ratten, sitting only mid table during the 2022 campaign which saw St Kilda wind up in tenth spot on the table, just four points out of the finals.
Speaking on SEN Radio, Lyon said he wants to see his team be a go-forward side during the 2023 AFL season.
“We want to improve our turnover use because you can't live on stoppage,” Lyon said.
“I've coached teams (reliant on stoppage) and it's too easy to negate in the big games. We like to be a go-forward team, use our run, be a pressure team.”
The men in red, white and black last made the fnials in 2020, but have otherwise failed to qualify for the finals since Lyon's original departure from the club at the end of the 2011 season.
Lyon, who moved to Fremantle ahead of the 2012 season, played a similar brand of football in the west to notch up 96 wins from 184 games with the Dockers.
While he has spent some time out of a head coaching seat since his departure from Fremantle at the end of 2019, Lyon has 172 wins from 305 games during his exceptional coaching career, having previously played 127 games for Fitzroy and 2 for the Brisbane Bears during his playing career.
The 56-year-old said has signed a four-year deal with St Kilda.
