Ross Lyon
Ross Lyon is a former Australian rules football player and the current senior coach of the St Kilda Football Club in the Australian Football League. He previously coached St Kilda from 2007 to 2011 and the Fremantle Football Club from 2012 to 2019. He played for Fitzroy and the Brisbane Bears from 1985 to 1995.
Lyon is second on the all-time AFL/VFL list of most games coached without a premiership with 354, behind only Rodney Eade.
Playing career
Fitzroy
Lyon began his career with Fitzroy in 1985. After playing the last five games of the season and the first game in 1986 he missed the remainder of the season and most of 1987 due to groin and back injuries that was later diagnosed as spondylolisthesis. He returned to play 19 games in 1988 and ended up playing 127 games over the next ten years until the end of the 1994 season.Lyon played for Fitzroy from 1985 until 1994 for a total of 127 games and kicked 112 goals.
Brisbane Bears
Lyon played two games with the Brisbane Bears in 1995 before retiring due to a knee problem. As a player, he battled injury but was known for his fearless approach to the game, particularly his strong tackling and bumping.Coaching career
Richmond Football Club assistant coach: 1996–1999
After retiring as a player, Lyon began his coaching career as an assistant coach under senior coach Robert Walls at Richmond in 1996.Carlton Football Club assistant coach: 2000–2003
Lyon moved to Carlton in 2000. He spent three years at Carlton both as an assistant coach and as the club's VFL coach where he worked under senior coaches David Parkin, Wayne Brittain and Denis Pagan.Sydney Swans assistant coach: 2004–2006
In 2004, Lyon joined the Sydney Swans in an assistant coaching position as midfield coach, working under senior coach Paul Roos his former Fitzroy teammate. He was instrumental in helping the Swans reach consecutive grand finals in 2005 and 2006, triumphing in the former year.St Kilda Football Club: 2007–2011
When the St Kilda senior coaching position became available at the end of 2006, a list of candidates was drawn up. Lyon beat 52 candidates for the job, including favourite John Longmire. He succeeded Grant Thomas as St Kilda's senior coach who had been sacked a week after the Saints were defeated in an elimination final by Melbourne in the 2006 finals series.Upon becoming senior 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. Silvagni spent four years at the club as defensive coach, leaving at the end of 2010 to work with, while Elshaug became head of recruiting. Other notable assistants to have worked with Lyon in his time as coach include Leigh Tudor and Robert Harvey.
Lyon is the most successful St Kilda coach by percentage of games won, with a 64.5% winning record.
2007 season
Lyon began his first season as senior 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 Hawthorn. Lyon was criticised for flooding excessively and many became angry with the more defensive style of St Kilda over the subsequent weeks.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 . The team narrowly missed playing finals for the fourth consecutive season, finishing 9th with 11 wins, 10 losses and 1 draw for the year. Despite missing the finals, 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 Sean 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 fortunes improved sealing 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 54 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 as one of the best home-and-away clashes of all time in Round 14 against Geelong, which was 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 the preliminary finals to advance to their first AFL Grand Final since 1997. Lyon became only the third coach to lead 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. 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 captain Luke Ball signed with rival club 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 third 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 narrowly in the qualifying finals and then comfortably won a preliminary final against the Western Bulldogs for the second year in a row. Lyon became the only coach apart from Allan Jeans to lead St Kilda to multiple grand final appearances. The 2010 AFL Grand Final against Collingwood 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 with the club finishing runner-up for the second year in a row.
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. St Kilda then started their revival, defeating in Round 9 and then only losing three more games for the remainder of the year. They also inflicted 's only loss in the second half of the season when both clubs were on a winning roll. St Kilda finished seventh at the end of the season, following an elimination final loss to.Departure from St Kilda and move to Fremantle
On 15 September 2011, shortly after St Kilda's elimination from the 2011 finals series, Lyon suddenly walked out and resigned as senior coach of St Kilda and then suddenly signed a four-year deal to become the senior coach of Fremantle Football Club, leaving Fremantle senior coach Mark Harvey abruptly and unexpectedly sacked. Both Lyon and Harvey had one year remaining on their respective contracts, with Lyon exercising a get-out clause and Fremantle paying out Harvey's final year. It emerged that Fremantle had head-hunted Lyon to take over after both coaches' existing contracts had expired at the end of 2012, but that when it was discovered that Lyon had a get-out clause, the possibility of an immediate move was discussed.The coaching change was a surprise throughout the football world, as there had been no media speculation or reporting on any potential change prior to it occurring. As Lyon and Harvey were both managed by the same company, Elite Sport Properties, Lyon carried out the negotiations without his management's knowledge; in fact, his management had been actively negotiating a contract extension with St Kilda at the same time. The aftermath of the decision saw hurt feelings at St Kilda and for Mark Harvey, as neither knew anything about the deal until it was done. There was a backlash from many in the football world about the way the deal was done and particularly about the manner in which Harvey was treated by Fremantle.
Lyon 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 consecutive finals series. Lyon was then replaced by Scott Watters as St Kilda's senior coach.