With St Kilda ruckman Michael Gardiner suffering a tight hamstring midway through Sunday’s game against Port Adelaide, Lyon now has a number of options to consider before the final Round 20 team is selected on Friday afternoon.
“Michael had a scan (on his hamstring)” Lyon said. “We were hopeful that it was nothing but there was just enough there. We could probably push him through but we don’t want to rush him, so he will certainly miss (Rd 20 this weekend).”
With Gardiner’s injury and King (hamstring) hopeful to return via the VFL this weekend, it raises the question on who will replace him the ruck combination. But Lyon was not short of options ahead of Sunday’s match.
“The obvious replacement (for Gardiner) is whether we ruck Koschitzke and McEvoy and share that workload with Blake, like we did last week. Or into consideration also comes Pattison and Stanley, so we may change our setup that way.
“Alternatively, maybe we could do it with the one ruckman, and share the workload with Koschitzke and Blake, which would allow us to possibly bring in an extra runner. This could open it up for an Armitage type player or Alistair Smith, who has been quite good in the seconds.”
“It’s our first session today and we’ll train again on Friday so in between that we will make the decision on what is the best option for us.”
Another Saint who has been added to the injury list this week is suspended defender Steven Baker, who received a minor fracture in his toe during training early last week.
“Baker has a fractured toe. He trained on Monday and after training pulled up sore so went for a scan. There was a fracture, so they have dealt with it which I believe is ten days ‘off legs’ and running.”
With three more matches left to serve on the suspension he received after the Saints played Geelong in Round 13, Lyon admits they will need to monitor him closely before deciding if he will return as soon as his ban is lifted for the first week of the finals.
Undergoing hand surgery after Round 18, Zac Dawson has not quite reached full fitness, but he is another one that Lyon will monitor closely at the main training session this Friday.
“He trained separately this morning and we are hopeful he will be in the full session on Friday” Lyon explained. “He is a chance, but at this stage I won’t know a lot more until Friday. We certainly don’t want to risk him as full backs are hard to find.”
After the AFL released seven possible rule changes for the 2011 earlier today, Lyon admitted it was not at the top of his mind at this stage of the year.
“I don’t really have the luxury of time to devote attention to it at this stage. You keep a loose eye on it, but ultimately they make the final decision.”
“There has been a lot of rule changes over time and the aim is to make the game better and entertain the fans. So anything that can do that is good.”
Included in the proposed rule changes was a restriction on the use of the interchange bench for all Clubs, and when asked his opinion on this Ross responded; “I’m aware it’s bubbling around but we will get the information and assess it at the right time for us. We’ll get the right people in the Club involved, our conditioners and our medical staff will assess it and put our recommendations or opinions through to the AFL for them to consider.”
