Riewoldt severely injured his hamstring in the round three win over Collingwood and the Saints have lost three of their past four games.
While acknowledging his skipper’s value to the side, Lyon refused to use Riewoldt as an excuse for the losses to Port Adelaide, Carlton and on Sunday evening, Essendon.
“That’s not why we lost tonight. I think it’s self-evident we had opportunities. We had a lot of entries, we took 15 marks inside 50,” Lyon said.
“We had more shots, contested ball so ultimately we didn’t capitalise. Their big blokes - (Patrick) Ryder and (David) Hille kicked seven between them. They took six contested marks in the forward 50 so there is a little bit about defending that.”
The Saints used defender Sam Fisher in the unfamiliar role of a forward target against the Bombers. Fisher presented well and earned praise from his coach. But overall Lyon said his side worked hard but let themselves down with skill and decision making errors.
“If you put your St Kilda coach's hat on tonight, I think you make those observations I did,” he said after the game.
“Some deplorable skills, some players with skills who make some errors second-guessing themselves when you should be able to go inside and kick it.”
Debutant Nick Heyne was another to get a tick of approval from Lyon for his efforts up forward but Lyon said he was hesitant to throw in another debutant in Rhys Stanley who impressed as a tall forward in the NAB Cup.
Stanley has spent the year so far with VFL team Sandringham and Lyon said he was a while away from making the next step up.
“I hear all that but you’ve got to set them up to succeed. I’m unfortunate because I’ve been watching the opposition,” Lyon said.
“Rhys had three possessions the week before and I hear all the jungle drums about bringing him in but I’m not going to pick too many young players on three possessions. Although in saying that his weekend was better but ultimately we thought McEvoy, and Gardiner I thought worked well. Koschitzke, McEvoy and Gardiner through the ruck and Sam Fisher.”
