IN THE heady world of the AFL, with big stories breaking everywhere, Ross Lyon and his stunning defection from Fremantle to St Kilda is already old news.
And given the grilling he received at his introductory media conference last Friday, the new Freo coach would have been within his rights to tell the local footy media to go take a hike as the interview requests started to arrive.
Tuesday marked his first day on the job at Fremantle Oval, but Lyon took the time to chat with the West Australian to outline some of the difficulties he faced ahead of St Kilda's 2009 Grand Final season, including:
- the death of his sister from cancer
- the death of his nephew in a motorcycle accident
- failed investments in a mining company at the start of the season that cost him a seven-figure sum and forced him to sell his properties. At one stage he and his family moved in to live with his father.
It was pretty significant," Lyon said. "I didn't tell anyone but my closest friends. I just dug in with my wife Kirsten and we coped."
Coped he certainly did, with the Saints finishing a Matthew Scarlett toe poke away from winning the premiership that year.
But it now becomes apparent why Lyon grew so impatient with the amount of time it took for the Saints to pony up a new contract. When Fremantle came knocking on the door with a $3.2 million deal over four years, and you are two years removed from sharing a house with your father, it is hard to say no.
Also in the interview, Lyon admitted to feeling "great empathy" for Mark Harvey, the coach he replaced at Fremantle, but that he didn't want to patronize him by saying so publicly at last week's media conference.
"It's really important to reiterate I didn't create a position (at Fremantle). Basically, I was head-hunted and accepted an offer," he said.
"I certainly have great empathy for Mark and at the right time, I'm sure we'll run into each other. One ounce of common sense would tell you it would be inappropriate for me to contact Mark Harvey and his family at this time. It would be offensive ... it's illogical."
Demons' Misson link
With just four clubs in the mix for the premiership, the other 14 clubs are hard at it with their planning - and hiring - for next season.
David Misson's departure from St Kilda to join Melbourne as elite performance manager was not brought about as a result of Lyon's departure, with Misson telling the Herald Sun he was looking for a fresh challenge and may have left even had Lyon remained.
"Rossy probably summed it up when he said it was the end of an era, and maybe that put it in people's minds that maybe it was time to look for other opportunities as well," Misson said.
"St Kilda is a great club, it's got some great leaders on and off the field and it's going to survive. But for me it's about a new challenge."
Changes aplenty at Melbourne
Misson arrives at Melbourne to find he won't have Chris Connolly as a nearby colleague.
The Age reports that Connolly has moved from the club's football base at AAMI Park, across Brunton Avenue to the MCG where he will take up a commercial role with the club.
Josh Mahoney, an assistant coach under Dean Bailey, will assume most of Connolly's duties as football manager, while the hope is strong that former Adelaide coach Neil Craig will join the club in a senior football management role that will incorporate some of Connolly's work as well as mentoring new senior coach Mark Neeld.
With Craig, Misson and the impressive Neeld, the Demons will boast a top-notch football staff in 2012.
Sanderson demands success
New Adelaide coach Brenton Sanderson went on the front foot at his introductory media conference, saying: "This is a very proud football club and it demands success. I will demand this football department and this football club achieves excellence. I understand what a premiership would mean for this club and this state."
It was well received, with Adelaide Advertiser chief football writer Michaelangelo Rucci describing it as "a mantra to excite a jaded supporter base".
Malthouse set for sunny sabbatical?
Gold Coast coach Guy McKenna deserves credit for seeking to tread where others fear to, by announcing a push to lure Mick Malthouse to the Suns next year.
While most clubs run a million miles away when the outgoing Collingwood coach's name is brought up, McKenna is quite open about his hopes to bring his former boss to Metricon Stadium as his senior assistant, even for just a year to charge his batteries before coaching again somewhere else in 2013.
"(Mick having) 12 months off (senior coaching) sitting up here ... it would be good,'' McKenna told the Gold Coast Bulletin.
''Although knowing Mick he would be sitting up here gathering as much information so when he does coach the following year he would be pinching players and staff."
The pair is very close, and even had dinner together the night before the Suns-Magpies clash in July.
McKenna is banking his hopes on Collingwood and its current coach not agreeing on a role for next year and Malthouse walking away from the club entirely, while maintaining his pledge not to coach elsewhere next season.
There are worse places than the Gold Coast in which to take a sabbatical next year and if Malthouse was to get involved at club level, the Suns would be ideal, because with their premiership window still years away from opening, any role there would be developmental and hardly in opposition to Collingwood.
Battling ticket troubles
Supporters of Collingwood, Geelong, Hawthorn and West Coast are already plotting the purchase of their Grand Final tickets next week and what we already know is, many thousands of members of both clubs will miss out on tickets to the game.
The AFL has started down the path of allocating fewer tickets to non-competing clubs and other stakeholders in a bid to make sure more are available to members of the competing clubs.
It is right and fair, and is driven partly by the incredible atmosphere at last year's Grand Final replay, which given the absence of so many corporate tickets, was attended mainly by fans of the two competing clubs.
Crucially, it has the support of Collingwood, with chief executive Gary Pert telling the Herald Sun: "We went through last year's (replay) and no doubt the feel of the game is better when you have more supporters from the competing clubs.
"I would have no problem on behalf of clubs saying if we aren't in a Grand Final we don't need as many tickets. If you know you don't have as many tickets, you don't go out and promise them.
"When it comes down to it, so many supporters stick with clubs for 15 or 20 years and when you get to a Grand Final, you want to think everyone gets a chance to get into the Grand Final.''
The cost of a premiership dream
Of course, there are other costs involved with watching your team in a Grand Final and if the Eagles make it, one consideration will be the cost of the airfares from Perth to Melbourne and back.
The West Australian reports that airline ticket prices have gone up 30 per cent just for this week's preliminary final against Geelong, with the cheapest prices on Qantas and Virgin Blue starting at $539 one way.
Demand for flights to the Grand Final is already tightening and all major airlines are expecting a surge of activity late on Saturday afternoon in the event that the Eagles upset the Cats to make it through to the October 1 premiership decider.
The views in this article are those of the author and not necessarily those of the AFL or its clubs
