Looking ahead to next Monday night’s Round 7 match against Carlton, Senior Coach Ross Lyon knows the Blues will come out strong for the blockbuster game, after they have shown an impressive start to the season so far.

“They’ve got a really strong midfield and have been playing with a lot of enthusiasm. We certainly acknowledge we’re going to have our hands full - we’ve had some tight games (against Carlton) over the last year.”

“It’s a big stage Monday night. But I think all the teams are really tough - you can’t relax. I don’t think the competition has ever been so even. It’s another big battle we need to prepare for and try to improve our footy again.”

The Monday night game concept has been trialed by the AFL with mixed reviews, but Lyon sees the positives in the Club having the opportunity to play on the ‘big stage’ more often.

“We love to be on Friday and Monday nights - on the big stage in the big time slots. We’ll take the opportunity and will try to put on a big show.”

“It’s really about focusing on the game and our preparation.”

Criticised for the style of football seen on the field after two low scoring matches, Lyon admits it has been difficult for the team to adapt, but they are working hard on ensuring they are capable of scoring big targets without full forward and Saints Captain, Nick Riewoldt.

“We were quite frustrated after the low scoring game last weekend, but I think everyone has to understand that we are working on our systems and developing our personnel (without Riewoldt).”

“It is a work in progress for us at the moment. We’re confident we can get on top of it, but it’s clearly taking a bit longer than two weeks to develop.”

“Fortunately we could hang on (to the game on Friday night), and gradually we were able to work our way into getting a number of entries up forward. We persisted and persisted until we were able to have those seven shots in the last quarter.

“If we are able to take that momentum into our game against Carlton and average five-seven shots per quarter, we would be happy with this.”

A number of questions have been asked of the Saints as to who can provide the extra momentum up forward, and Lyon recognises it is still something he and the rest of the St Kilda coaching staff are working on.

“We’re working through it. Do I play Sam Fisher forward again this week? Or do I bring in a McEvoy, Pattison or Stanley, who is exciting but raw? Or do we stick with a smaller set up?”

“They are the things we are working through -we need to try to keep winning and finding our form while we are still experimenting.”

“As it sits we are 5-1 plus have another massive game this week.”

With the Saints sitting second on the Premiership ladder, Lyon is certainly proud of how the boys have shown great fighting spirit so far this year.

“If you have a look at who we’ve played so far this year, Fremantle have lost one, to us, and Collingwood have lost one, also to us, (plus Sydney). They were all tough games, but we’ve been fighting hard and I think our supporters would be proud of our efforts.”


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