NATURALLY, after a most extraordinary 24 hours that saw Ross Lyon sack St Kilda and move to Fremantle to replace Mark Harvey, axed only hours before Lyon handed in his resignation, all the papers were filled with the fallout.
And it certainly appears as if roles have already been cast for all the major actors.
Ross Lyon has been cast as then Machiavellian villain, a schemer in the mould of Shakespeare's Richard III. That was certainly the view of the media in attendance for his unveiling in Perth on Friday when he, along with Fremantle president Steve Harris and chief executive Steve Rosich, faced some of the most hostile and relentless questioning ever seen at a football press conference. Nobody is quite sure whether this is Freo being the same old Freo or the dawn of a whole new era.
Mark Harvey is now in the sympathetic role of the unsuspecting victim, any kid in any horror movie, a character who smiled brightly as those with the axe stalked, waiting for the right moment.
The Fremantle Football Club's casting seems to be a cross between Willy Loman (Death of a Salesman), Dr Evil (of Austin Powers) and Gordon Gekko (of Wall Street). The line in today's papers seem to suggest Fremantle is now walking with its chest out but has shown a callous underbelly for its dismissal of Harvey.
And the St Kilda Football Club, seen more like Fredo Corleone of The Godfather than anyone else, has been generally chastised by those once at the club for its incompetence in being unable to get a deal done with Lyon. They showed a good deal of dignity when refusing to be anything but gracious to Ross Lyon but they have also been viewed to lack mongrel.
The Herald Sun went deep on its coverage of the issue.
The tabloid pulled out the St Kilda rolodex and found plenty of former Saints to offer their view. Former president Rod Butterss, quoted off radio, took aim at St Kilda: "To sit back and just see the club you know, allow a guy of that quality to slip through their fingers just smacks of arrogance and you know, it’s just the blind leading the blind I’m afraid".
Former goalkicking star Stewart Loewe was much more optimistic: "Of course I was surprised by the way it eventuated but it is probably the right move".
Brett Voss, who played his last season under Lyon, was also looking at the bright side: "You never want to forget Ross Lyon’s achievements at St Kilda".
The little paper also ran Kevin Sheedy's scathing radio comments: "This is like coming out of a war zone and being shot by one of your own."
There was a focus on the fans, running a selection of tweets as well as mentioning that "a number of pages sprung up on Facebook last night created by angry Saints fans".
Interestingly, Jon Anderson notes that "as of next season the six top-placed teams in 2010 will have new coaches. Staggering but true."
In The Australian, the main theme was integrity. The primary news story led with Lyon declaring he could hold his head high but the most eye-catching element of the story was the talk of his "cold response" to Harvey by saying he had no plans to call his predecessor.
The paper ran another piece focussing on Andrew Demetriou's criticisms of the Lyon defection under the headline "Andrew Demetriou says integrity is the loser in Lyon defection".
Patrick Smith in his column said of Lyon: "While he did not shoot Harvey in the back, he is a hired gun".
The Age followed a similar path with Caroline Wilson calling Lyon's defection a "coaching heist" and "a coup [that] became a hostile takeover".
She continued: "Lyon made it clear that in his view football is about every man for himself".
Emma Quayle provided a compelling description of the confrontational press conference, one that "must have taken aback even Lyon, one of football's more dispassionate customers".
Samantha Lane spoke to Craig Kelly of Elite Sports Properties, the management company of Harvey and former representative of Lyon, calling Fremantle's hiring of the former Saints coach "disrespectful".
Robert Walls was one of the few to jump out and defend Lyon's move, calling it "a win, win, win situation", saying "the two clubs will be better off and so too will the coach."
Readers of The West Australian believe Fremantle erred in signing Lyon with 65 per cent of respondents saying the sacking of Mark Harvey was the wrong call.
Only time will tell if the Lyon-Fremantle partnership is successful. One thing that can be stated for sure though is that his move from the Saints has been a public relations nightmare.
Regardless of the list Lyon has inherited or the money he is set to make, he has endeared himself to few over the last 48 hours. And Fremantle will continue to take a lot of flak for the way in which Mark Harvey was so brutally fired.
It is hard to picture either Lyon or Fremantle as anything but media villains for the foreseeable future.
The views in this article are those of the author and not necessarily those of the AFL or its clubs
