A candid Ross Lyon has taken responsibility for St Kilda's position as a team which has lost control of its destiny in 2026.
After a loss to Carlton on Sunday night, the club must win its last two games and hope the Blues stumble in both games to reach Wildcard Round which was widely seen as the pass mark for the Saints this year after a spending spree last off-season.
The St Kilda coach is notorious for selling his own messages and has been critiqued for interactions at press conferences throughout the season, with many media commentators of the belief he causes a stir to distract attention from their middling on-field performances.
It was therefore curious that when he was asked a question about the AFL's concussion saga and league executive Craig Drummond, which the Saints media manager had called as the last question, he deviated on a tangent about where the Saints sit.
“Ultimately I take full responsibility for where we're at,” he said after indicating he would not weigh into the Drummond discussion.
“We've improved but not enough and I don't shy away from anything.”
Those comments came after an admission that missing Wildcard Round would be disappointing.
The Saints coach is contracted until the end of next season which is shaping as a significant one in this era of the club, given star midfielder Nasiah Wanganeen-Milera also comes out of contract.
“To be honest if we don't make it, we'll all be disappointed,” Lyon said of Wildcard Round.
“Our self image is we want to be successful. Clearly we're not at the moment.
“We've got to continue to improve and build. We're here to win, we're here to build. I think if you're not making the top 10 in the AFL, you can't measure yourself as a success.
“We know where we've improved. I live in the real world, we've got to improve. The environment is strong, it's positive, there's a lot of upside still and a lot of growth and some key personnel out but I don't want to live in that space even though you look around the league and it does affect you.”
Lyon offered an update on Tom De Koning who was one of several Saints to get injured in the loss.
“He had a bit of a shoulder knock, we'll assess.
“We're not in apposition to overly manage people but with a six (day break) into a five at the end of a campaign you'd prefer to be starting in a couple of weeks. We'll see how it comes out in the wash, not just Tom, but seven or eight players.”
Wanganeen-Milera's season-ending injury is a cruel blow for the Saints, but the club got a look at life without him between Rounds 9-12, learning key lessons during a 1-3 block.
“(The challenge) clearly gets bigger (without Nasiah), it got bigger on the weekend but in saying that we had a lot of opportunities, we just weren't consistent in the way we moved the ball and defended well and didn't,” Lyon said.
“It made it harder and we know availability is a key KPI in the AFL but you've got to build a team and a list and a system and a strategy that is good enough to overcome it and we couldn't get it done.
