St Kilda CEO Carl Dilena endorses Ross Lyon's blast at Hugo Garcia against Brisbane
Like a parent disciplining a child, St Kilda coach Ross Lyon's quarter-time spray was necessary.
At least that's how Saints chief executive Carl Dilena sees it.
The so-called Cuddly Ross was nowhere to be seen at Marvel Stadium on Saturday after the first quarter of their eventual 45-point loss to Brisbane in round seven.
Trailing by 18 points after taking just six inside-50s to the Lions' 50, an 'animated' Lyon refused to mince his words at quarter-time, before subbing out young midfielder Hugo Garcia early in the second term.
'Not a spray, but I was animated ... (the most) since I've been back at the club,' Lyon said after the match.
'We're talking top of the pops (Brisbane). Did I think coming here it was going to be a picnic? I wouldn't have thought so.'
Lyon was also filmed delivering harsh words to 19-year-old Garcia on the bench.
Dilena, fronting the media on Monday ahead of the annual Spud's Game in a fortnight, said he didn't have an issue with Lyon's behaviour when asked if the veteran coach had been too harsh to Garcia.
'I'll just make a personal comment — I love that aspect,' Dilena said.
'Anyone who's been a parent and has dealt with kids, you can cuddle them and nurture them as much as you like, but occasionally there might be a couple of stern words that go in there as well.
'Ross is an experienced coach. He's just driven to get the absolute best out of our players and raise the standards of our club.
'He'd been very tolerant and been very cuddly for a while.
'For him to occasionally come out and just give someone a bake, I think that's good.'
The Saints rallied to get within 17 points in the third quarter, before eventually being steamrolled by 45 points for their third consecutive loss.
They are 13th (3-4) after pulsating wins over Geelong and Port Adelaide earlier in the season.
'It's a bit of a bumpy road. We always knew it would be a bit up and down,' Dilena said.
'You don't have that sort of straight-line, linear progression towards improvement.
'And so you do go through moments, like we are at the moment, where it's a bit frustrating and you think we're not performing to what we should be doing.
'Early in the season we had some great wins against Geelong and Port, and that really set the tone, but it also raises the expectations.'
St Kilda will look to return to the winners' circle when they take on Fremantle at Marvel Stadium on Friday, before hosting Spud's Game against Carlton.
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