FOR THE first 11 seasons of his 13 as a coach in the AFL, Ross Lyon could afford to be cryptic, abrasive, evasive, weird, cliched and even deliberately obtuse in his public dealings.
Winning lots of football matches has always allowed such luxury.
Lyon's mannerisms gave him an air of mystique, were accepted as part of his overall football brain brilliance, and made for fascinating media presentations.
But when the wins dried up, so too did the tolerance of those ways.
Lyon is actually the same man he's always been, but the public, Fremantle fans, the media and even some Dockers players (two-time best-and-fairest winner Lachie Neale walked out of a contract last year) are no longer seeing Lyon - Man Of Mystery, but Lyon – Man Of Balderdash.
These days, when he muses about outsiders making assumptions on: "A) that I want to continue to coach, B) that I want to coach here (Dockers), and C) that I need to coach," they are not accepted as the words of a genius, but the words of a man who may actually be out of answers for the plight he and the Dockers are now in.
Lyon is still wily enough to know that his performances in the past four years make it pointless to ask for an extension
Upon entry to round 20 of the 2019 season, Fremantle is 12th with an 8-10 scoreline, one game and a heap of percentage out of the top eight.
It is highly unlikely they make the finals from here, which would be a fourth consecutive season of failing to do so, a disastrous outcome for a coach who incredibly tallied 148 wins or draws (143, five) in his first nine seasons as coach (2007-11 at St Kilda, 2012-15 at Fremantle).
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Even when the Dockers and Lyon slump came – unexpectedly and hard - in 2016 with just four wins that year, the Lyon mystique remained, as it did in 2017 when eight wins were secured.
But as 2018 unfolded and ended with just another eight wins, Lyon rightly began to be called out.
Almost forgotten these days is his brilliance in reaching four Grand Finals in 2009 (Saints loss to Geelong), 2010 (two GFs that season, one drawn and one lost to Collingwood) and 2013 (Dockers loss to Hawthorn), as well as two other preliminary final finishes inside his first nine seasons.
Ross Lyon after the 2013 Grand Final loss to Hawthorn. Picture: AFL Photos
Lyon is contracted on very big money to Fremantle for 2020.
In recent times, football clubs have been reticent to allow a coach to enter a season with just one year remaining on a contract. But Lyon is still wily enough to know that his performances in the past four years make it pointless to ask for an extension, and the Dockers equally know it would be plain stupid to offer one.
He will not be offered an interview for the coaching vacancy at Carlton, and it is very highly unlikely that St Kilda would approach him to be part of its process, given the carnage left behind when he – understandably in his eyes - walked out of the Saints at the end of 2011.
There have been reasons for Fremantle's slump in the past six weeks where it has gone from 7-5 to 8-10. Season-ending injuries to Jesse Hogan, Alex Pearce and Matt Taberner have seriously hindered progress, while Nat Fyfe, Stephen Hill and Rory Lobb have been regularly restricted.
Alex Pearce's season-ending injury was a massive blow to the Dockers. Picture: AFL Photos
But some seriously weird team selection hampered the side's chances last weekend, when Lyon inexplicably opted to play three giants in Aaron Sandilands, Sean Darcy and Rory Lobb against the super-quick Western Bulldogs. He also produced for just his second game of the year the once-very good but now banged-up Hayden Ballantyne.
Maybe the cryptic words of Lyon's time in the game are creeping into actions. Maybe there was a message to club officials in the selection of that round 19 team that team that he's simply out of answers.
Twitter: @barrettdamian
