THERE'S more than meets the eye when it comes to the connection between ex-St Kilda and Fremantle pair Ross Lyon and Zac Dawson.

Lyon shocked the football world when he left the Saints in 2011 to head to Fremantle ... and Dawson joined the team not long after.

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But the Dockers actually chased Dawson way before Lyon got there, as revealed in Shaped by the Game.

>> WATCH ROSS LYON AND ZAC DAWSON IN PART 2 OF SHAPED BY THE GAME IN THE PLAYER BELOW

"During the year they'd (Fremantle) reached out to my management just to understand where my contract was at," Dawson said.

"I was like, 'I'm playing, I'm finally playing, I've cemented myself into the team, I'm not going anywhere'.

>> CHECK OUT PART 1 BELOW

"Then I'd gone on my holidays, come back, and then I woke up one morning and you'd gone."

Lyon replied: "I had no idea they'd spoken to you." 

Lyon said he had "no regrets" about his move to the Dockers, while Dawson said going to Fremantle was the "best thing I ever did".

Dawson also took the time to reflect on how Lyon changed his life in a lot of ways.

"The impact that you have on the way I see the world, the way I view feedback, the way I seek help is because of you," Dawson said.

>> WATCH ROSS LYON AND ZAC DAWSON IN PART 1 OF SHAPED BY THE GAME IN THE PLAYER BELOW 

"The biggest example is the way my parents talk about you and they know how much you've shaped my life and changed the course of my life.

"That reflection on you is more important to me, the fact they can see that."