ST KILDA coach Ross Lyon said the club was expecting a ‘please explain’ notice over its extended three-quarter time break in the NAB Cup final on Saturday night.

The Saints went into the changerooms at the last change on an oppressive Adelaide evening and emerged one minute late for the re-start of play.

Speaking at the Saints family day in Frankston, Lyon said he wouldn’t deal with the issue directly. “What I do is coach and players play and we have a football operations manager to liaise with the AFL,” Lyon said.

“The AFL runs a really tight ship so I’m sure they’ll be in contact and ask a few questions and we’ll have appropriate answers.”

The Saint’s coach was also eager to point out that the victory meant there would be some extra cash at the club to cover any such expense.

“$350,000 in the coffers for a Melbourne club doesn’t hurt. It should stimulate membership so there are a lot of little benefits that go with it,” Lyon said.

Although Lyon said the squad’s main focus was a successful start to the season, he was confident that the NAB Cup victory would not hurt their chances of doing so.

“Every Melbourne club is aiming for the ultimate success,” Lyon said.

“It really is good for belief of the playing group.”

Lyon added that the good form of the replacements for injured trio Matt Maguire, Max Hudghton and Brendon Goddard meant competition for places would be fierce.

“It’s not about a star system at St Kilda, it’s about a team effort and a system so the ones that were available last night really staked their claim and the ones on the outside of that have a fair bit of work to do to get in.”