STEPHEN Milne is unaffected by the abuse he received from Collingwood fans and the subsequent media scrutiny on crowd behaviour, according to St Kilda coach Ross Lyon.
Milne was subjected to personal taunts from the Collingwood cheer squad for much of the game between the two teams last week, but Lyon said he was unfazed.
"He's fine. As a comment, there is a lot of a media bubble forming around what happened last week and as a representative of the St Kilda football club I just talk about what Stephen Milne means to us," Lyon said on Wednesday afternoon.
"He is an incredibly consistent performer, really valued around the club, he is the lifeblood of the club.
"He is a wonderful family man and we value him incredibly highly. I think it says more about the people who are leveling those sort of chants than it does about Stephen."
Lyon said the club would support Milne however it could.
"That's as simple as it is, we value him, he's important, he's left a mark on league footy that not many people can do and he is continuing on that. We will certainly rally and support around Stephen," he said.
"If anything it just steels our resolve."
The Saints sit in sixth position with three home and away games remaining with a finals berth all but certain. However, Lyon is firmly focused on the short-term.
"You can't play in finals until you secure your berth. The aim is to get four points but we know it is about delivering on effort and execution on the day," he said.
"If we get caught up in the result you can be distracted. We understand it is important."
The Saints face the Sydney Swans at ANZ stadium this Sunday. The Swans are also looking to lock down a finals position after a surprise loss to Richmond last week.
Lyon said he was expecting them to be out to prove a point.
"They're on record that they want to improve and they're disappointed but at the end of the day we can only control ourselves and we are in a really fierce battle and we feel we can improve," he said.
"That's been our whole theme. We talk about how good teams win interstate, we want to be a good team. I think our record is 4-1 on the road (this year). We aim to go up and prove ourselves on the road, we understand it is going to be tough."
Speaking just hours after it was announced that Rodney Eade's coaching tenure at the Bulldogs had come to an end, Lyon praised Eade as a challenging opponent.
"He was very difficult (to coach against). We had a couple of great prelim battles against Rodney. There are only 17 (coaching) jobs in the country and really he has done a sterling job at a club that hasn't been fully resourced all the time," he said.
Luke Holmesby covers St Kilda news for afl.com.au. Follow him on Twitter: @AFL_LHolmesby.
