“I deal in facts and the facts are that they’re the benchmark team,” Lyon said of the Cats.
“So we go away and we learn a lot from it. In a lot of ways we were in the game for a fair chunk, but they made us pay with a lot of turnover goals.
“I thought we looked dangerous when we were winning the ball, but clearly not taking the opportunities early to put some scoreboard pressure on [hurt us]. Then in the second quarter they really got to work as what happened [to us] the previous week, so I’ll have to go and analyse it.
“There was a significant swing from quarter to quarter. That’s what we’re trying to understand because the plans don’t change, but the results did.
“I’m not sure the scoreboard exactly indicates it, but at no stage did our group give up.”
The Saints’ onball brigade was subjected to some intense media scrutiny in the aftermath of last week’s loss to the Western Bulldogs, but Lyon was pleased with the response he received across the board from his players.
“I thought our centre square group of [Lenny] Hayes, [Luke] Ball, [Leigh] Montagna and [Nick] Dal Santo really were desperate right to the end in there,” he said.
“[But] it wasn’t just them; it was the whole club that was criticised. Some of our aging champions were criticised, our gun midfielders, we were all criticised, so we all win and lose together.
“I thought for three quarters we competed pretty well.”
Lyon admitted an attack focused on the aerial dominance of talls Fraser Gehrig, Justin Koschitzke and Nick Riewoldt was “clearly under pressure” after another match in which the forward line lacked cohesion.
Gehrig has returned three goals in the last two games with his opponent on Saturday, Matthew Scarlett, able to run and create. But Lyon would not be drawn on the spearhead’s form.
“I’m not going to talk about individuals,” he said.
“I think it’s easy to single out individuals; that’s the easiest thing in the world to do. It’s a collective team defence, so it’s everyone that’s out there.
“We’ve got to improve our forward 50 pressure; the world knows that and we’ll do something about that. I’m not sure exactly what, but we’ll look at it.
“Clearly our team defence [needs work]; in the last two weeks the opposition has scored too easily. Our team defence from the front 50 to the midfield to the back end needs to improve and quickly.”
Lyon broke his ‘no individuals’ policy for a moment to single out Matt Maguire after the unlucky defender completed his first match back from injury unscathed.
He felt the courage shown by the 23-year-old was a bold example for his teammates and “typified” what the club seeks to become in 2008.
“We’re 2-2 and the season is well and truly alive for us and I thought there were some good signs,” he said.
“They’re a class team and every error we made they capitalised on, there were a lot of turnover goals, but if you take all that away it’s certainly not doom and gloom. We’ve played two teams that haven’t lost a game obviously and we’re really looking forward to getting back on the paddock.
“We’re excited in a real sense; if we can fix what we need to fix I don’t think we’re far off being a very good team.”
