AFL 2025: St Kilda hopes injection of experience will boost midfield against Gold Coast Suns
St Kilda coach Ross Lyon is optimistic the injection of experience will rectify his side's recent midfield deficiency.
Lyon omitted three young Saints – Hugo Garcia, Angus McLennan and Lance Collard – for the match with Gold Coast on Sunday.
Ball-winner Jack Macrae will also miss the match with a punctured lung he sustained during last week's loss to West Coast.
But the Saints have welcomed back duo Hunter Clark and Zak Jones to counter the Noah Anderson and Matt Rowell inspired Suns.
Lyon says the addition of Clark and Jones offers 'more experience around the ball'.
'We're really thrilled, Hunter Clark has had an abdominal issue pre-Christmas, he's got back (and) is three games in,' he said.
'He's been a really good player for us and as has Zak Jones – his best is very, very good – and it just gives us a little bit more experience around the ball.
'We need to reward those performances and our midfield is an area we haven't been on top of our game. In the end we need to reward performances below.'
Garcia has ridden the highs and lows of the AFL across the past month.
The second-year Saint was issued some strong feedback against Brisbane, won a Rising Star nomination against Fremantle and faced the axe this week.
Lyon says sending Garcia back to the VFL is a chance for him to show a bit of flair.
'The narrative was the clip, my narrative was feedback on action,' he said.
'One week you're coaching, next week you're sacked – it happens to all of us, it's the AFL, the AFL is a high-demand industry.
'He's a young player, second year, lots of footy, sometimes you've got to take some pressure off and let them go back (to the VFL) and express themselves.'
Lyon hinted at more midfield minutes for Mattaes Phillipou last week but he struggled against the fired-up Eagles.
St Kilda will look to implement him in a similar role to opponent Bailey Humphrey this week.
'Phillipou, we probably threw him to the wolves last week a little bit, and we want to give him a little bit through there, maybe a 50-50 split,' he said.
'We brought him in off no games, off a 14-week rehab because he's such a great preparer and he's still running quite well, but that up and down stuff, off the ground, just can be really challenging.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
7NEWS
an hour ago
- 7NEWS
Hawthorn legend Dermott Brereton makes deeply personal admission about AFL life
Hawthorn champion and premiership hero Dermott Brereton has made a sad and disturbing admission about the deteriorating state of his body. The former glamour forward, who played in five flags for Hawthorn during a glittering career throughout the 1980s and early 1990s, says he is often in crippling pain and sometimes in tears. 'Some mornings my beautiful partner Julie has to put on my shoes and socks for me,' Brereton said during a function at the MCG. 'With the pain in my spine, where they put in a cage inserted there, I can't reach. I just can't put on socks and shoes. 'Some days I have to walk down the stairs sideways because I haven't any cartilage — bone on bone, that is — for 40 years. 'Some days I can't shake hands with other men, and if they do so, I fear they'll re-open some of the broken bones in my hands from defenders' spoils and from when (a rival player) jumped on my hand deliberately. 'Some days I have to crab my way down the stairs because my often half-a-dozen times reconstructed ankle will not flex any more.' The pain Brereton detailed belies his often happy-go-lucky exterior and jovial commentating style. It's also taken a heavy mental on the former AFL wrecking ball. 'Some days I double up from rancid heartburn from the endless dosages of (painkillers and anti-inflammatories),' he said. He said indomethacin or Indocin 'used to rip the guts out of you' and he had also poured into his body large quantities of Brufen and Voltaren over the past 40 years. 'Some nights I sleep very little because of the arthritis in my shoulder joints. That's from decades of lifting as heavy weights as I could, purely because the position I played required it,' Brereton said. 'Some mornings, I pathetically allow myself to become melancholy and even teary over the degeneration and the physical toll that football has taken on my body. 'I often ask myself, in that moment of true misery, when I can't move, that moment of weakness, I'll ask myself, 'Was it worth it?'. 'And the answer's always the same. I'd do it all over again, exactly the same again. 'Maybe next time, though in the next lifetime, I might go a little harder.' At the end of 1993, Brereton joined the Sydney Swans for the 1994 season and then played 15 games for Collingwood in 1995. He finished his career with 211 games but will always be remembered as a Hawthorn great. In 1999 he was inducted into the Australian Football Hall of Fame and he has since become a highly regarded football commentator.
News.com.au
an hour ago
- News.com.au
Chaz Mostert dominates Perth Supercars qualifying, hits Back at recent online abuse
Chaz Mostert fired back at the online critics who reckon he's too old to cut it in Supercars by claiming his first pole position in over a year at the Perth Super 440 on Saturday. The 33-year-old Mostert turned back the clock and unleashed a sizzling lap in his Ford Mustang to jump to the top of the timesheets after the first split qualifying session. Crossing the line in 53.685 seconds, Mostert secured pole position for first of the three races at Wanneroo Raceway this weekend, and Race 14 for the 2025 season. Monster's pole was the 26th of his Supercars career and his first since he started at the front of the grid at Perth in May 2024. Mostert's Walkinshaw Andretti United team mate Ryan Wood locked out the front row with the second best time, with Brodie Kostecki third and championship leader Broc Feeney fourth. 'It's always nervous coming 12 months from a good result,' Mostert told Fox Sports. 'I'm glad I had a really fast teammate, tuned me up on a bit of driving, and just sent it in and came out on the other side. 'The simple work is that there's a few internet trolls out there that basically say, 'you're done; since you have a kid and wife you lose two tenths'. 'So I'm glad to show you can find two tenths by having kids and wife, so thanks to the trolls out there, appreciate you.'
News.com.au
an hour ago
- News.com.au
Sunrays heads for well-earned spell after ending successful campaign with victory in Show A Heart at Eagle Farm
Champion jockey Tommy Berry believes classy filly Sunrays would have been competitive in next Saturday's Group 1 JJ Atkins but unfortunately he won't get to find out. The Kelly Schweida -trained Sunrays will now go for a spell after winning the Listed Show A Heart for two-year-olds over 1500m at Eagle Farm on Saturday. Schweida then grabbed a double early in the card, with Cejay Graham piloting $20 chance Vodka Martini to victory in the 1000m Lightning Handicap, ahead of Austmarr ($7) and the Schweida-trained Metalart ($6) Owner Peter Moran may have been tempted to run her in the JJ Atkins (1600m) but he and Schweida will stick to their guns and send Sunrays for a rest. Asked if the supremely gifted filly, who has now won five of her six races, could have been competitive in the JJ Atkins, Berry didn't hesitate in his response: 'If she didn't run today then yes. 'The aim was to run today and then go to the paddock. But running today, I felt like she was on the way down now. I don't think she was at her best today. 'She was a little bit flat in the way she raced and she didn't travel up that well for me off the bridle so she's got improvement 'At her best, if she'd missed today and had the extra week in between runs, for her to run top three (in the JJ Atkins) wouldn't have been out of her means.' ☀ï¸� Sunrays adds the Listed Show A Heart to her win list at Eagle Farm! @schweidaracing @TommyBerry21 @BrisRacingClub â€' SKY Racing (@SkyRacingAU) June 7, 2025 It would have been tough for Sunrays to back-up just seven days later in a long campaign that started in late January and finished with Saturday's mighty effort when the $3.20 favourite beat Jenni Gone Bonkers ($10) and Navy Pilot ($5.50) on a Soft 5 track. 'She'll be going straight for a spell now, so that was a great way to sign off her prep,' Schweida said. 'It was a great win, I don't think I've seen a jockey look more confident than Tommy did. 'He was pretty adamant she would be hard to beat, but she still had to tick the 1500m box and also the Eagle Farm box today. 'She's just so tough and she's done it all off her first prep, which is why we elected not to take her to the Group 1 next week (JJ Atkins). She's done a super job.' Berry said he felt lucky to pick up the ride from regular jockey Cejay Graham, with the top Sydney hoop guiding her to wins in the Group 3 Ken Russell Stakes (1200m) on the Gold Coast and the Listed Bill Carter Stakes (1350m) at Doomben last month. 'Cejay had done a really good job on her before I picked up the ride,' he said. 'She gave me some really good insight into what she was like to ride, so that made things much easier for me. 'She's a lovely progressive filly, and I still think the best is yet to come with her. 'If you look at her frame she probably hasn't filled into it yet. She's still a bit narrow but there's nothing wrong with her heart, she had to dig deep today. 'It's very exciting to see what she can do over the spring.'
