There was some good news to come out of Moorabbin this morning, with Ross Lyon predicting four senior players to be available from injury for Round 22 against Adelaide at AAMI Stadium.
Lenny Hayes (back) was cited as a ‘certain starter’ by St Kilda’s Senior Coach, with Clint Jones (ankle), Michael Gardiner (hamstring) and Zac Dawson (hand) also expected to be available to travel on Friday afternoon.
When asked about Hayes, Lyon said; “He is a very important player for us and has been in very good form, so we look forward to bringing our full compliment of midfield together, with Clint Jones expected to return as well.”
“We’re pretty confident Gardiner will play, as well as Zac Dawson. We’ve still got to get through the week though, so we will train today and on Thursday, and once they are all ticked off we can do our final selection in preparation for Adelaide.”
With David Armitage called up against Richmond to play his first game in the Saints’ senior side since Round 8, Lyon was pleased with the effort the young midfielder has shown during recovery from a knee injury and is hopeful he may retain his spot for Round 22.
“He has worked so hard in rehabilitation and played some really good football in the VFL so we wanted to reward that and also use the opportunity to give us another player who can play senior football.”
“We haven’t had selection, we will have that on Thursday morning, but obviously we mull over the team and we are keen to keep him going if we can.”
With only one round left before the AFL Finals campaign begins, and a top three place secure for his side, Lyon was quick to make it known that he would certainly not look to ‘rest’ any players for the match against the Crows. He was however clear in saying that no risks would be taken.
“You work hard to get that reward (top four position), and it is nice that we’ve got it sewn up. Now we go in really aiming to improve our footy, as we do every week.”
“We’re certainly not going to be flippant at all with selection. We’re trying to keep improving our footy, and we need to.”
“We want our best 22 to be available but if someone does need a week (off) and we think it would benefit them, we would make that decision.”
Highlighting a number of areas that he wants to work against the Crows, Ross said; “I thought our stoppage work, our scoring and our contested ball went really well (last weekend).”
“There were some holes in our team defence, which we’ve been able to identify and we will work on. It is the way we do things and we’re confident we’ll improve.”
“Adelaide were really impressive on Saturday night with a lot of enthusiasm. It is always tough over there, so it is probably the perfect prelude to finals - a high tempo intense game of footy.”
Despite their disappointing year, Adelaide have certainly been impressive against the top four sides. And Lyon expects nothing less from the Crows in their last game of the year at AAMI Stadium.
“They play really strong team defence and were really impressive against Collingwood, coming forward to defend and also working their way through the Collingwood zone.”
“There are some really good challenges for us (against Adelaide) and I think it will help bring us to a sharp edge coming into the finals.”
With the Home and Away season nearly complete, Lyon was able to reflect on the season that has passed and is positive about the position the Club is currently in.
“There have been some unique circumstances (this season) but I think it is a credit to group’s mental toughness. We are a mentally strong group and I think all those challenges that we’ve faced, accepted and overcome, stands us in really good stead going into the (Finals) period.”
