‘Filthy' Ross fires up before clash with old Fremantle mates

Perth Now

30-04-2025

A testy Ross Lyon is ready to take on his former side grumpier than ever on Friday night after firing up at his weekly press conference, which he then cut short.
Lyon walked away from reporters at his weekly media session at Moorabbin on Wednesday before he could be asked about Fremantle, just two days before their clash at Marvel Stadium.
The St Kilda coach — who has come under the spotlight after vision emerged of him spraying second-year midfielder Hugo Garcia at the weekend — blew up over a VFL-imposed suspension to top-10 pick Alix Tauru.
The four-time grand final coach will lead the Saints against the Dockers for just the third time since returning to the club at the start of 2023 on Friday night.
Lyon first returned to Perth and beat the Dockers in round 1 of that year, but the two sides only met once last season — a Saturday night clash at Marvel Stadium in round 11 — which Fremantle won.
Of the 24 players on the Dockers' flight east to take on the Saints, Sean Darcy, Andrew Brayshaw, Brennan Cox, Luke Ryan and Sam Switkowski were on the club's list under Lyon.
Former Docker Brad Hill is also set to line up for St Kilda. He left Fremantle at the end of Lyon's tenure in a deal that would help the Dockers land vice-captain Caleb Serong in the 2019 draft.
The 58-year-old was filmed having stern words with Garcia after he was hooked from the game before half-time in their heavy defeat to Brisbane on Sunday.
He also had a frosty post-match press conference exchange with a reporter, where he asked the journalist her thoughts on his team's poor first-quarter performance.
That interaction drew criticism from veteran football writer Caroline Wilson, who told Channel 7's The Agenda Setters Lyon was being a 'smart Alec' and said she 'didn't like it'.
Lyon clarified on Wednesday he 'wasn't trying to embarrass anyone' with his back-and-forth.
'It's a sharp reminder, just answer the question, don't engage too much.'
In a routine conference ahead of the club's training session on Wednesday, Lyon said he was 'incredibly disappointed' at the four-match ban handed down to Tauru for an incident in the VFL.
He then ended his conference after eight minutes, cutting off a reporter to say 'sorry guys, that's the end' and offering a thumbs-up and a wink as he walked away from the microphones.
Lyon took issue with Tauru's four-match suspension stretching across six weeks because Sandringham have two VFL byes across the next month.
He even compared the ban to the one Richmond handed down to Noah Balta after he pleaded guilty to assault.
'We are incredibly disappointed, I'm really frustrated. It's also a broken system,' Lyon said.
'We have already had one bye, we're having another bye this week, so I just don't understand the human side. The blow-up on me making a sub — we have got a first-year top-10 draft pick, if you think the penalty is four weeks, that's OK, but they know we've got a bye and then at the end of that we have got another bye.
'How the tribunal doesn't take into consideration that it is six weeks. Noah Balta got four weeks stand down for an assault off the field, with respect.
'We have got a kid that concussed a player, but it is a six-week penalty and there is just no consideration. As Paul Roos would say, common sense is commonly uncommon. I'm filthy.' St Kilda coach Ross Lyon has fired up in a routine press conference just days before a clash with his former team. Credit: Quinn Rooney / Getty Images
Earlier, when asked about Garcia, he responded: 'yeah, he is alive and breathing'.
'He is great. I understand there has been a lot of noise around it, it's quite interesting what it's been labelled,' Lyon said.
'He goes 'I'm no victim', you just coach action and he will play this week, so he's fine.
'He just said 'if I talk to the media I'll just tell them the truth, I was playing s...t', I said 'you probably can't use that word'.
'I hear the noise. I think everyone can have their view on what coaching is and there is no place for this ... there is no trait-based language, I don't label him personally, I just coach action.
'If you think you can be dry and measured the whole time and get a response — sometimes what you are, they will elevate to what you are, so you are trying to talk about action.
'I don't talk about the colour of their hair, what sort of person they are.
'I'm really comfortable with it. But everyone, when they get the job, they can do it their way.'
Lyon said he was considering handing a debut to West Australian first-year player Hugh Boxshall after another impressive performance in the VFL.
He said it was a 'quirk' that the Claremont product could play his first match against a Perth-based team.