Former Saints coach Ross Lyon has labelled the club's trade for controversial star Andrew Lovett as an "unmitigated disaster".
Lovett moved to St Kilda from Essendon after 88 games in the red and black, with the Saints parting with pick 16 in the 2009 draft.
In a matter of months, Lovett's three-year, million-dollar contract with his new club was torn up following multiple breaches of the club's player code of conduct and contract obligations.
Lovett was charged for rape in February 2010, with the charges eventually dropped, however, St Kilda insisted their decision was unrelated to the case and was a result of damage Lovett had stained on the club's image.
"Lovett, he was a sublime talent, there’s no doubt about that. And it’s like talk’s cheap isn’t it? Everyone can sell themselves,” Lyon told The Couch.
“You get all the references, but the danger with some references is they’re biased or they’re weighted.
“Lovett was an unmitigated disaster, really.
“Andrew started to train well in his last session – and maybe as a club did we act too quickly … and not see it out? But it was on the back of a lot of builds, so it became a compounding effect.”
"When there’s some noise wrapped around the player coming in and if you’re playing group’s a little bit hesitant and you push that through and doesn’t work, then you’ve got all sorts of problems to be honest." Lyon said, speaking on the impacts those face when acquiring players that lead to failed trades.
“When your senior players get to the roll the eye stage, it makes it very harder to bring the next one through … you can lose them pretty quickly.”
