Ross Lyon - A story of Injury, woe, and kerfuffle.

[Otiman]

Ross Lyon could be considered one of the luckiest men in AFL coaching circles, but it wasn't always that way. The former Fitzroy vice-captain went through a saga that rivals that of any player today.

Thanks to the fantastic news archive of http://footystats.freeservers.com/ (some quotes taken directly) we can take an overview of Ross Lyon's career, which not many saints fans knew or cared about until last year.

He was reported for striking in both 1992 and 1993, getting two weeks each time, firstly for striking John Gastev, and in 1993 for striking Mark Bickley.

October 1994, Paul Roos, Fitzroy’s 14-season veteran and captain for six of the past seven years, quit the club in October 1994, but was not traded before the deadline. He now becomes part of the February draft when Sydney are expected to gain him. Ruck-rover Matthew Armstrong and defender Marcus Seecamp follow Paul Roos in quitting Fitzroy.

In December 1994, then vice-captain, Ross Lyon follows Paul Roos's lead and quits the Fitzroy Lions.

February 1995 the Swans show interest in Ross Lyon.

Then came the draft drama.

[quote]Draft fiasco damages Swans credibility
Top level mismanagement disqualified Sydney from exercising their second draft pick on Feb 21. The Swans grabbed former Fitzroy captain PAUL ROOS with the first pick, Freo were next, taking GREG MADIGAN from Hawthorn. Sydney had third choice and the room was stunned when Sydney recruiting manager Rob Snowden, instead of naming “ROSS LYON, Fitzroyâ€

[riccardo]

Thats fantastic.

[Sobraz]

In some ways he cost us the 97 flag?!!.. he obviously didnt smash Jarman well enough...

Hopefully he gets the job done for us this year...

[Iceman234]

Great job Otiman, most enjoyable.

I'd love to see some old footage of him playing too - have to admit I didn't take much notice of Fitzroy games when he was playing there.

[Oh When the Saints]

Some posts have been removed from this thread.

Build a bridge guys ... I'm getting sick of having to delete/lock/warn posters for the same crap about GT all the time. Just get over it. Any further comments, please PM me and keep it out of the thread.


Fantastic post on Ross Lyon ... I'm too young to remember him as a player, but I had no idea of the circumstances surrounding his move to Brisbane etc.

He was only 29 I believe when his career ended, so he was probably robbed of another 30-40 games of footy - particularly considering he won Brownlow votes in his last ever game, so clearly still was good enough at the highest level.

[saintsRrising]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ross_Lyon

Ross Lyon
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Ross Lyon (born November 8, 1966) is a former player of Australian rules football, and is currently coach of the St. Kilda Football Club.


Ross Lyon Personal information
Birth November 8, 1966 (1966-11-08) (age 41),
Recruited from Reservoir
Height and weight 183 cm / 78 kg
Playing career¹
Debut 1985, Fitzroy Lions vs. , at
Team(s) 129 games 112 goals
Fitzroy Lions (1985-1994) 127 games 112 goals
Brisbane Bears (1995) 2 games 0 goals

Coaching career¹ Team(s) St. Kilda (2007- )

Career highlights
2008 NAB Elimination Cup Win




Playing career
Lyon was recruited from Reservoir Colts and debuted in the VFL with the Fitzroy Football Club in 1985; he became renowned for his toughness as a forward and midfielder, although restricted by injury setbacks. Lyon went on to play 127 games with the Lions in the No. 29 guernsey before moving to the Brisbane Bears in 1995. He played just 2 games before injury forced his retirement at the age of 29.


Coaching career
Lyon became an assistant coach at Richmond under Robert Walls in 1996, and was retained in a full-time role when Jeff Geischen coached the club from 1997-99. He moved to Carlton in 2000 as an assistant under David Parkin and later Denis Pagan. During this period, he spent time at the Blues' affiliate in the Victorian Football League, the Northern Bullants. In 2004, Lyon was appointed an assistant coach at the Sydney Swans in charge of the midfield under Paul Roos. He was considered an integral part of developing the discipline and work-ethic that lead to the Sydney Swans premiership in 2005.

In 2006, he was shortlisted as a candidate for the position of coach of the St. Kilda Football Club for the 2007 season. Although some considered him a surprise candidate [1], Lyon was appointed for three years after a lengthy application process.[2]

Upon becoming coach of the club, Lyon hired his own assistants, with close friend and AFL Team of the Century fullback Stephen Silvagni, former Kangaroos and Hawthorn player and Melbourne assistant coach Anthony Rock, former assistant coach at Carlton Tony Elshaug, and former Fitzroy and Hawthorn forward John Barker all being appointed in assistant coaching positions.

Lyon also recruited veteran ruckman Matthew Clarke to the club, and over-saw the recruitment of six rookies for the first time in the club's history

[Oh When the Saints]

I wrote most of that saintsRrising when RL was appointed ...

[plugger66]

I wrote most of that saintsRrising when RL was appointed ...

You are my hero.

[saintsRrising]

I wrote most of that saintsRrising when RL was appointed ...

Well I hope you were accurate then!!!!!

Looks like you can update it now.......................

[rodgerfox]

ROSS LYON may seek damages from Sydney’s failure to meet promises and draft him 12 months ago. Lyon, a former Fitzroy player was promised a base of $100,000 plus a $35,000 job by the Swans – Sydney would have exceeded their salary cap and in the draft were embarrassed to ‘pass’ on Lyon who ended up with Brisbane. Injury restricted Lyon to just two 1995 games with the Bears – he now is a skills coach at Punt Road.

This is interesting.

[brown-coat]

Should have been awared 8 brownlow votes for striking Bickley.

That little..weasel.

[saintspremiers]

Some posts have been removed from this thread.

Build a bridge guys ... I'm getting sick of having to delete/lock/warn posters for the same crap about GT all the time. Just get over it. Any further comments, please PM me and keep it out of the thread.


.

great post re Ross Lyon - OWTS - why not just let it go? Does it really matter that much?

If you want to keep playing the hard man, then why not just ban all talk about GT altogether?

You and the mods could just create a rule banning all talk about him if that's your wish.

[Iceman234]

Some posts have been removed from this thread.

Build a bridge guys ... I'm getting sick of having to delete/lock/warn posters for the same crap about GT all the time. Just get over it. Any further comments, please PM me and keep it out of the thread.


.

great post re Ross Lyon - OWTS - why not just let it go? Does it really matter that much?

If you want to keep playing the hard man, then why not just ban all talk about GT altogether?

You and the mods could just create a rule banning all talk about him if that's your wish.

In fairness to OWTS, the posts he deleted had NOTHING to do with the OP.

They were just the same recycled ctrlC/ctrlV crap that you can read in numerous other threads.

I think what OWTS did was showing a bit of respect to Otiman who had a genuine crack at giving us an insight into RL.

[saintsRrising]

Interesting too that all of Lyon's former teammates, coaches, workmates etc from what I have read only have good things to say about him despite his "hardness'.

A trail of quality relationships.

Sign of a quality individual I think.

Even the Swans who could not get him as a player due to their own error later grabbed him as assistant coach when they could.

Also interesting is his horrific injury run.....so he can probaly realte to BJ, Hayes, Goose etc quite well...

[saint66au]

Some posts have been removed from this thread.

Build a bridge guys ... I'm getting sick of having to delete/lock/warn posters for the same crap about GT all the time. Just get over it. Any further comments, please PM me and keep it out of the thread.


.

great post re Ross Lyon - OWTS - why not just let it go? Does it really matter that much?

If you want to keep playing the hard man, then why not just ban all talk about GT altogether?

You and the mods could just create a rule banning all talk about him if that's your wish.

....because EVERY threead about GT descends into abuse and name calling..without exception

I know you and a few others seem to get your jollies from reading people scream at each other...but myself and the other mods have better things to do with our time that read eeeeveryyyy single post in a 7 page thread where every post is quoted over and over again

There are several topics and several posters that as a mod you have to keep your eyes on...and anthing involving GT is right at the top of the pile

[saintsRrising]

Here is an interesting inisght in Lyon's influence on Kirk of the Swans midfield.


http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2004/09/ ... 48562.html
September 4, 2004

"Last year I had that run-with role and I had an OK year," Kirk said. "This year I thought, 'I need to work even harder to remain consistent'. I knew maybe I'd get a bit more attention during the year.

"It was good, [Swans midfield coach] Ross Lyon had new ideas, he's helped me work through my stoppage work, getting a bit more inside in clearances."

Lyon said he admired Kirk's honesty and his fierce competitiveness. "The game of AFL demands Brett Kirk, it suits him, going hard at the ball. And he has the ability to endure," Lyon said.

"He's a real competitor. Being a really good competitor is one of the greatest skills."

In particular, Lyon has noticed the fact Kirk has started to win the football more frequently this year.

"With Ross, we've talked about me going in and after it rather than just trailing someone," Kirk said. "With good players, if you trail behind them they can still get their hands on the footy, you can't stop them. We've worked on that," Kirk said.

[Otiman]

Here's another interesting Lyon + Saints link. See if you can spot Spud and Lyon.

[saintspremiers]

Some posts have been removed from this thread.

Build a bridge guys ... I'm getting sick of having to delete/lock/warn posters for the same crap about GT all the time. Just get over it. Any further comments, please PM me and keep it out of the thread.


.

great post re Ross Lyon - OWTS - why not just let it go? Does it really matter that much?

If you want to keep playing the hard man, then why not just ban all talk about GT altogether?

You and the mods could just create a rule banning all talk about him if that's your wish.

....because EVERY threead about GT descends into abuse and name calling..without exception

I know you and a few others seem to get your jollies from reading people scream at each other...but myself and the other mods have better things to do with our time that read eeeeveryyyy single post in a 7 page thread where every post is quoted over and over again

There are several topics and several posters that as a mod you have to keep your eyes on...and anthing involving GT is right at the top of the pile

Ok fair enough, I guess it's a pain in the arse being a mod on this site, but thanks for doing it - I certainly wouldn't offer my services!!

The way I read it, is that the anti-GT faction are more fired up now than ever before because we can see already the positive effect Lyon has had that are all things GT wouldn't have done.

GT did after all cost us a flag in 2004/05 period!