Ross Lyon

It's been 11 years since Ross Lyon left for Fremantle, now St Kilda tells members that he is returning to the club as coach.

I want to bring everyone on the journey [here at St Kilda]," he said. "In my coaching resume there is unfinished business. "But I'm really up for the fight. I've been guilty of not bringing everyone on the journey … Speaking to the media, Lyon said that when he spoke to St Kilda's board about what the club meant to him he got "really emotional". Ross Lyon has said he is ready to "give everything" the second time round, after St Kilda's announcement that he is the Saints new coach.

Earning a second chance at the same club with his return to St Kilda, Ross Lyon has made what is a rare move in the modern age.

He won premierships in both periods at Princes Park, and no one has overseen more flags, games or wins at the Blues. Bob Rose had two spells at the helm of Collingwood, from 1964-71 and 1985-86, the first of those stints resulting in three Grand Final losses by a total of 15 points. The 55-year-old returns to St Kilda 11 years after he defected to Fremantle, having led the Saints to Grand Finals in 2009 and 2010 and the Dockers to the decider in 2013.

Lyon met with club president Andrew Bassat, chief executive Simon Lethlean, influential football director Jason Blake and new football department boss Geoff ...

[Jon Pierik](/by/jon-pierik-hveju)is a sports journalist at The Age. Sources say the debate was over how the club could fit in a football-department figure Lyon wanted under the soft cap. He coached Fremantle from 2012-19, which included a grand final appearance in 2013.

The 55-year-old replaces Brett Ratten at Moorabbin who was sacked by the club last week. Lyon last coached with Fremantle in 2019 and returns to St Kilda where ...

We are confident that we have made the right decisions in pursuit of this goal. We have spent the last 10 days talking extensively to Ross. Our club is now creating a culture we can all be proud of, and the fact that we are able to attract some of our industry’s best football administrators and coaches is testament to that. The last few weeks have been incredibly difficult. The appointment of a new Senior Coach and a new General Manager of Football in Geoff Walsh are key outcomes of our review that we commenced in late July. Ross emerged from our review as the primary target and it became clear in our discussions that he had the vision and characteristics that we need in our Senior Coach.

St Kilda Football Club is thrilled to announce Ross Lyon as its new AFL Senior Coach. With more than 35 years' experience in the AFL industry both as a ...

“I have kept a close eye on the competition since leaving the coaching ranks, and have used this time to grow in areas I believe will assist me in this next chapter of my football career,” Lyon said. “I have always had a strong affinity to the Saints, and it feels incredible to be back here as Senior Coach,” Lyon said. With more than 35 years’ experience in the AFL industry both as a player and a coach, Lyon joins the Saints as one of the most widely respected senior coaches in the competition.

ROSS Lyon says he's "up for the fight" in his return as St Kilda coach, with Saints president Andrew Bassat insisting he did not contact Lyon about coming ...

I have unfinished business with St Kilda and want to play a role in delivering success to the industry's most loyal fans," he said. This is like Disneyland." - on his departure from the Saints in 2011 The four-time premiership coach led the Blues to two flags in his first stint, before winning another one in 1995 after he returned. "It's the model that Andrew Ireland and the Swans championed with Paul Roos. "Or the weekend at the latest. We've got to put our work boots on." It's hard to go back." "He said 'You don’t wake up one day and think I want to coach AFL football, because when you've been through it, you know the highs, and you know the lows, you know the challenges, the hot seat you're in, and the expectations. He understands it and I shared a little bit," Lyon said at a press conference on Monday afternoon. "In my coaching resume there is unfinished business. "He didn’t push me, there was no do it or don't do it.

NEW ST KILDA coach Ross Lyon has revealed AFL Legend Leigh Matthews was instrumental in convincing him to return to the coaches box, more than three years ...

I have unfinished business with St Kilda and want to play a role in delivering success to the industry's most loyal fans," he said. This is like Disneyland." - on his departure from the Saints in 2011 The four-time premiership coach led the Blues to two flags in his first stint, before winning another one in 1995 after he returned. "It's the model that Andrew Ireland and the Swans championed with Paul Roos. "Or the weekend at the latest. We've got to put our work boots on." It's hard to go back." "He said 'You don’t wake up one day and think I want to coach AFL football, because when you've been through it, you know the highs, and you know the lows, you know the challenges, the hot seat you're in, and the expectations. He understands it and I shared a little bit," Lyon said at a press conference on Monday afternoon. "In my coaching resume there is unfinished business. "He didn’t push me, there was no do it or don't do it.

'I was moving on': The phone call out of the blue that convinced Lyon to return to St Kilda.

“I think the desire to the game’s come back to me. “What I want to do – I’ll be strong in delivery but it’s a blank canvas here. You know the challenges, you know the hot seat you’re in and you know the expectations. I see how hard people work. And that’s really what happened.” Because when you’ve been through it, you know the highs and you know the lows.

The returning coach says he has 'unfinished business' after taking on a job loaded with emotional risk – both for him and the club.

He’s only interested in the now, in putting the work boots on and in embracing the grind. He pretty much walked out in the middle of the night. If he’s given time and space by the new regime, and if he can make this list pop, he’ll go down as one of the great coaches of the modern era. In the coach’s box, Lyon has his head in his hands. To make this work, he’s going to have to change, to delegate and to soften. He left the list in tatters. Are the 18 and 19-year-olds coming through the system, so many of them now from privileged backgrounds, equipped to deal with a man like Ross Lyon? Over the next few years, Lyon wears his players down, and wears out his welcome in Perth. It’s hard to see how his defensive, asphyxiating, attritional brand will cut it in this conspicuously more attacking, open era of football. Many of his former players insist there’s a cuddlier side to him – a sentimental side, a caring, fatherly side. Rioli pounces, turns on a dime, slams home a 50-metre goal and gives the crestfallen, butter-fingered kid a dig in the kidneys. The action, as Tom Sizemore says in Michael Mann’s Heat, is the juice.

Ross Lyon has promised a different AFL coaching regime in his stunning return to St Kilda, saying he...

So we're going to put our work boots on." "I've been guilty of not bringing everyone on the journey. that's given me a greater depth of understanding," he said. But if you don't do the work you're just a day dreamer, aren't you. I see how hard people work ... Advertisement

An "emotional" Ross Lyon is returning for a second stint as St Kilda coach, 11 years after controversially walking out on the AFL club to join Fremantle.

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