ST KILDA, like Melbourne a few weeks ago, is determined to ride out the “maelstrom” and stay the course.
The Saints were sharing a charter flight with Melbourne on Friday, heading to Alice Springs for Sunday’s game.
After their 0-5 start, the Demons are flying and sit just outside the top eight. A win over St Kilda will give them a 6-6 record ahead of the King’s Birthday blockbuster against Collingwood.
The Saints have lost their past three and, after a couple of impressive scalps early in the season, are struggling at 4-7.
“It just highlights the maelstrom of AFL footy, the storm and the week-to-week cycle,” St Kilda coach Ross Lyon said of Melbourne’s revival.
“You just have to stay your course and know where you’re headed, otherwise you get derailed.”
Asked how St Kilda’s season was going, Lyon expressed confidence before Friday morning training that his side’s overall strategy was on the right track.
He was also encouraged by the support of people such as club great Barry Breen.
“Every week we go to win, we go to improve our football. But we know we have that strategic vision we’re executing on – getting our salary cap in order, trying to target free agents, going to the draft, signing our really good players.
“We want to become the best Saints ever and, by definition, we win a premiership we’ll do that.
“It’s a unique question at a press conference for a weekly game … I get texts all the time – Barry Breen, ‘Stay the course, a bit rough, keep playing the kids’, which we’re doing.”
Lyon brushed aside the controversy around his pre-game “nepo baby” comment about Gold Coast last weekend.
“We’ve moved onto review, we really need to improve our footy,” he said.
In terms of their youngsters, St Kilda has dropped Darcy Wilson and Lyon referred to second-year blues for the speedy utility.
“Sometimes you have to break the glass a little bit, or just break that cycle and free him up,” he said.
“He puts huge expectations on himself.”
Another Saints speedster, Nasiah Wanganeen-Milera, is a major re-signing focus for the Saints, though Lyon said he and the half-back were focused only on Sunday’s game.
“He’s playing pretty good footy. I said, ‘How about 1000 metres gained?’ last week. He said, ‘No worries, coach’,” Lyon said.
“He delivered 920, he said, ‘They missed me on a couple of handballs’. So we’ll try to get 1000 metres this week.”
But Lyon conceded the Demons would be a tough proposition.
“Melbourne clearly have their mojo back, haven’t they? They’ve really fixed their ball use. That seemed to be their overarching issue for a period of time,” he said.
“It all depends what mindset I’m in – but it shouldn’t matter,” Lyon said of the venue.
“It should be perfect. Brad Hill said it’s a big ground. We like to run, we’d like to put on a good show (and) we’re really looking forward to the experience.
