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Yahoo
4 days ago
- Sport
- Yahoo
'Work your arse off': age-old advice for Saints
Almost four decades later the advice keeps ageing well for St Kilda coach Ross Lyon. He was a hard-nosed utility at Fitzroy in 1986 under legendary coach David Parkin, dealing with injury in his second season. As the 15th-placed Saints take a four-game losing streak into Sunday's Marvel Stadium game against Sydney, Lyon says nothing has changed about the attitude needed to lift themselves out of the bottom four. "David Parkin, when I was a young kid in 1986 ... as an AFL player, every day, you get up, you've got to work your arse off to get better," Lyon said this week. "The game is giving us feedback. Three-and-a-half quarters or poor execution doesn't get it done. "It has to be great spirit and great execution." The Saints pushed Hawthorn last weekend and also had their moments in previous losses to Fremantle and Collingwood. The only disaster in this losing streak was the round-15 shocker against the Western Bulldogs. But a lack of polish is costing them dearly. "I thought we were fantastic - contested ball, pressure, all the metrics indicated we probably should have been able to win ... bar our execution," Lyon said of the Hawthorn loss. "We just made some errors behind the ball, we coughed up some simple goals and left a lot on the table. "I'm strongly of the view we played with great spirit. We don't need to rectify anything. I'd like to perpetuate it, but as we know, you're only as good as your next moment. "There were some really good signs from us, without being perfect, obviously." The Saints have made three changes, giving 204cm ruckman Max "Moose" Heath his AFL debut, while recalling Liam Stocker and Hugh Boxshall. Meanwhile, if anyone is to bridge the gulf between the top nine and bottom nine on the ladder with seven rounds left, it will be Sydney. But the Swans have their work cut out and must win on Sunday, which looms as a danger game. They are 10th, three games plus a sizeable chunk of percentage behind eighth spot. Injuries aren't helping with Tom Papley and Joel Amartey significant casualties this week. Riley Bice and Aarong Francis will take their places. Unless Sydney make the finals, this will be their last game in Melbourne for the year.
ABC News
01-07-2025
- Sport
- ABC News
If Carlton sacks Michael Voss, recent history suggests it should avoid likes of John Longmire and Adam Simpson
As the AFL season rounds towards the finals, a number of angsty teams are considering where exactly they stand in the league's pecking order. Professional sport is a cruel caper. Every team comes into the new season full of hope regardless of how the previous one ended. New game plans, new fitness regimes and new players are all floated as potential game-changers. Then the season actually begins and the sobering reality of where you stand as a team actually hits. Carlton came into 2025 as one of the popular pre-season premiership picks. In the months that have followed, the Blues have fallen flat, continuing what has been a steady decline since an improbable run to the preliminary final in 2023. Michael Voss is the latest Carlton coach to be tasked with the seemingly impossible task of reviving the AFL's fallen giant. To Voss's credit, he has done better than most of the seven full-time senior coaches who have followed David Parkin, the last man to lead Carlton to a premiership. This is a role that has chewed up and spat out coaches of all shapes and sizes in the last three decades. It has not discriminated between first-timers or coaches with glittering resumes. Almost two years ago to the date, Carlton made a decision to stick by Voss in the face of public pressure. Voss and the players thrived as a result of the vote of confidence, soaring from 15th on the ladder after Round 13 to within two wins of an elusive 17th premiership. Carlton's decision-makers will be facing a major case of déjà vu as they find themselves in a near-identical spot two years later. Voss will once again be afforded the chance to see out the season, but barring another 2023-style Houdini act, he is doubtful at best to see the final year of his contract in 2026. Carlton is one of five clubs to have employed three or more coaches in the last decade, with Essendon, Gold Coast, North Melbourne and St Kilda the others. It is no coincidence that neither of the quintet have sniffed any discernible sustained success in that time. Incoming CEO Graham Wright, the man who helped build Collingwood's 2023 premiership team, will be tasked with either building around Voss or finding his replacement. Wright expertly handled the Magpies' transition away from former head coach and club legend Nathan Buckley in 2021, and his decision to replace Buckley with Craig McRae has already reaped significant rewards. Carlton fans will hope Wright can make a similarly astute hire if Voss is indeed shown the door at the end of the season. Voss is one of four current coaches who are at their second stop, joining Essendon's Brad Scott, Gold Coast's Damien Hardwick and North Melbourne's Alastair Clarkson. St Kilda coach Ross Lyon is at his third stop, although he has returned to his original club after a stint with Fremantle. It is unclear whether any of the quintet will be around to see their club's next premiership. Hardwick probably has the best chance, given the strength of Gold Coast's current list and the wealth of talent coming through the northern academies. What these five coaches have in common is they have all been required to come in and be stabilising forces first at clubs with shaky cultures. Essentially, you are forced to be a football boss while still being the senior coach. Voss has come in and made Carlton competent again, and that means something. But with the ship now relatively steady, the prerogative is winning. Naturally, given Carlton's stature as one of the 'big' Victorian clubs, the Blues will be linked to some of the more established names available on the market. John Longmire and Adam Simpson are two coaches with premiership experience, while Ken Hinkley has led a perennial finalist for the last decade. But a look back at the league's recent history suggests avoiding the flashy experienced coach might be the right move. Since Parkin led Carlton to its last premiership in 1995, only three other coaches have won a premiership at their second or third stop. Malcolm Blight came off four grand final defeats with Geelong to lead Adelaide to consecutive premierships in 1997 and 1998 and then Leigh Matthews followed up his Collingwood premiership from 1990 with three more at Brisbane between 2001 and 2003. Mick Malthouse is the last retread AFL coach to win a premiership, having guided Collingwood to the 2010 premiership after stints at Footscray and West Coast. The rise in newer coaches winning premierships is a departure from previous generations. In the decade leading to Carlton's 1995 premiership, six of the 10 flags were won by retread coaches as Malthouse, Allan Jeans and Robert Walls all hoisted the cup having previously coached elsewhere. It is unclear why exactly newer coaches tend to find more success. Usually they are plucked from strong programs where they have served lengthy apprenticeships as assistant coaches or in other roles. Clarkson's 2013 Hawthorn side featured Chris Fagan as the football boss and Luke Beveridge and Adam Simpson as assistant coaches, a trio which won premierships since leaving the Hawks. The high-performance era the AFL is currently in means the game is constantly evolving. It is why you rarely see coaches winning premierships with decades in between their first and last, with Geelong's Chris Scott being the exception. While it has no bearing on Carlton's decision-making, it is interesting to note that the anti-retread coach trend also appears to be prevalent in the NRL. Before Ivan Cleary led Penrith to the last three NRL premierships, Wayne Bennett was the last retread to win a premiership. Ironically, his triumph with St George Illawarra came in the same year Malthouse won his flag with the Pies. This history is tough if you're a coach like Voss, who at just 49, is still extremely young by coaching standards and no doubt harbours ambitions of lifting the premiership cup as a coach, after doing it three times as Brisbane's captain. Do you simply give up and concede you're better off as an assistant somewhere? There is no proof of giving up being in Voss's DNA in our three-plus decades of knowing him. Wright's call is a pivotal one for the next decade in Carlton's history. He has built premiership teams in his last two spots, and this decision will ultimately decide whether he sees another at Princes Park. Excruciatingly difficult decisions such as these are why CEOs are paid the big bucks, and Wright has shown time and time again that he doesn't lack the ruthlessness for the role. As Wright's Carlton and other clubs approach key calls on their coaches in this summer and beyond, they'd all be well served to look to the past in order to realise they need to look to the future.
