Ross Lyon knows what it’s like to be on the other end of a sizeable drubbing, and it’s more than reason enough for him to ensure the Saints aren’t complacent heading up against West Coast this weekend.
The Eagles have been the main talking point this week following last Saturday's 171-point loss to Sydney, however Lyon remains wary of being swept up in the noise and is instead putting the focus on a strong response from his charges.
Lyon was on the receiving end of a 133-point hiding in 2018 during his coaching days at Fremantle, with Geelong slamming home 23 straight goals against the Dockers in a crushing display.
But the response was swift the following week with a tight finish against that year’s Grand Finalists, Collingwood, and Lyon is anticipating a similar theme from the Eagles this weekend.
“I’ve been through that on the other side of the ledger when I was coaching the Dockers… I can’t remember what year it was, I think I’ve wiped it from the memory,” Lyon said.
“The next week we played Collingwood and we took them to five points, so there’s two things: Western Australian teams at home are really hard to beat and they tend to grow in confidence.
The Saints will have eyes on coming out swinging come Sunday off the back of an unsatisfactory showing against Brisbane last Friday.
While a frank Lyon admitted the Saints had “lost their identity” of the opening months of the season as of late, the opportunity to rekindle its dare and dash is front of mind as the Saints aim to a leading storyline come Round 16.
“We were really disappointed in our first half performance (against Brisbane), but the big picture is - and we’ve spoken about it with the group - we just feel we’ve lost a little bit of how we were playing after the first eight rounds,” Lyon said.
“The last four or five weeks we’ve just fallen away in some areas, lost our identity a bit with our outnumber, aggressive defence and braveness with the ball, so in the last third of the season get that back.
“It starts this week with West Coast. I suppose it’s fortunate because there’s a lot of noise around West Coast, but we’ve made (this week) about ourselves. We’re disappointed and we’re keen to get back out there… and get back to our boldness with the ball.
“Earlier in the year we were brave and put ourselves out there with no guarantees. We’ve earned where we are on the ladder, we’re fifth, but unfortunately it doesn’t count. We’ve just got to get to work and bring it to life.”
Jack Billings, Daniel McKenzie and Zak Jones will all line up for Sandringham following successful returns from injury the following week, while Hunter Clark was on deck at this morning’s session as he builds back up from a knee setback.
