Saints reward Lyon

[Moccha]

St Kilda rewards coach Ross Lyon with undisclosed and unscheduled financial boost for efforts during the 2008 season, extends his contract until 2010.

http://www.realfooty.com.au/news/news/s ... 85328.html

[markinUSA]

I don't know about others, but that link didn't work for me.

However, I Googled it and found the same story here:
http://www.news.com.au/couriermail/spor ... 69,00.html

The article starts with this:

EXCLUSIVE: ST Kilda coach Ross Lyon has been awarded a contract extension until the end of 2010. The Saints told Lyon this week he had board support and would be granted an additional year on his present three-year deal, which expires at the end of 2009.

He is the first of seven coaches whose deals expire at the end of next season to have convinced his club to extend his tenure.

[my les foote]

Link working now.

Interesting to note that Hutchy and the Herald Sun claim the story as "Exclusive" but it is essentially the same story that appears in the age.



ST KILDA has rewarded its coach Ross Lyon with an undisclosed and unscheduled financial boost for his efforts during the 2008 season and has extended his contract until 2010.

In a decision reportedly passed unanimously by the Saints' board four days ago, the coach, who replaced Grant Thomas at the end of 2006 and had a difficult debut season marred by political turmoil and the overthrow of former president Rod Butterss and his team, has now been assured of two years of off-field stability.

Not only has Lyon been given a one-year extension, but St Kilda has renewed the contracts of his assistant Tony Elshaug, the club's midfield coach, and defence coach Stephen Silvagni until the end of 2010.

The Saints' end-of-season restructure has seen Matthew Drain promoted to take charge of list management, playing contracts and recruiting, while assistant coach Greg Hutchison has been appointed football operations manager. Leigh Tudor will coach the St Kilda forwards next season and Andy Lovell has been appointed coach of the club's new VFL affiliate, Sandringham.

The Sunday Age understands club executive Archie Fraser was authorised by the board more than a month ago to renegotiate Lyon's contract around the same time it was deciding whether to recruit Ben Cousins, a move Lyon was not convinced would be a positive one.

Fraser and Lyon came to terms more than a week ago and the coach will take charge of this week's Gold Coast training camp in the knowledge he has the full commitment of Greg Westaway's one-year-old administration.

Not only has the former Swans assistant been rewarded for St Kilda's fourth-placed finish in 2008, but also for his work in rebuilding the club's list that failed to make the finals for the first time in four years in Lyon's first season. In 2009, the Saints' playing list will boast an average age of 22 years and three months. Nineteen players have been turned over since he took over as coach.

The board's decision last Wednesday effectively saw Lyon handed a new two-year deal, replacing next season's final contracted year. There was a recognition that the coach had struggled for a variety of reasons, not all of his own doing, during his first months in the job and that he had gradually grown into the role and remained the best choice to continue the Saints' quest for a second flag.

[Eastern]

Has to be a GOOD THING. Having off-field stability is important to having on-field success !!

[Ghost Like]

Good move Saints, well deserved Ross.

[Pilgram]

Has to be a GOOD THING. Having off-field stability is important to having on-field success !!

is a great thing.
one of the best handful of coaches going around.

[skeptic]

i got nothing against RL, but i think this is a bit premature...

i would have liked to have seen him back up 2008 b4 extending his contract

[Richter]

Well, I think it's a good move. He did well last year and deserves a reward. Additionally it's good for us to have the stability.

I don't like the idea of a coach being under the gun - can lead to short term decision making which is rarely helpful to the club's chances of overall success. And it's only one extra year so that if we do decide to part ways then it isn't a long contract to pay out.

[Go Sainters Go]

We tend to forget that Ross in 2007 was a Rookie Coach, and therefore couldn't really expect the world from him in his first year, particularly with all the changes and turmoil with Butterss etc going on.
In only his second year, he has taken us to fourth, that is better than twelve other far more experienced coaches - perhaps Dean Bailey excluded.
I think that is an excellant result from a second year rookie coach and rightfully has been acknowledged by the Club and should be acknowledged by more on this forum.
Well done to the Board, another positive outcome.

[james rose]

glad we aren't doing like we have in the past and either sacking the coach or the board, yet.

about time we had some stability.

[Saints43]

The board needed to make this decision. If they believe that RL is the long term future of this club then a contract extension prior to next season was a message that needs to be sent. Not only does it remove any need to make short term decisions (as noted above) but it lets any player(s) on this list know that if they expect to play at this club then the man they have to impress in 2010 is the same one there now.

[duckduckduckgoose]

I think he owes some of that tasty bonus to Adam Ramanauskas- it certainly would have been a different story had he not hit the post in the 4th quarter of round 22.
Seems like whoever hands out the bonus payments didn't use the unofficial ladder:
1. Geelong
2. Hawthorn
3. Bulldogs
4. Daylight
5. St. Kilda

Dare I say it? rewarding mediocrity?


Edit- forgot to mention, having said all that I have no qualms with the contract extension.

[james rose]

nothing mediocre about finishing 4th/5th with a mini rebuilding list.

[Ice Wolf]

Good news this. Ross earned the extension, good to have Silvagni extend his stay as well, our backline has been really good with him.

[Saints Premiers 2008]

nothing mediocre about finishing 4th/5th with a mini rebuilding list.

19 players from our list have gone since lyon has taken over..some of which people on here had been demanding get the boot in the previous administration

plus our core is entering its prime...we have 10-12 players in all positions to build around coupled with a few depth players i.e. blake playing steadily we are in need of the poor bottom 4-6 to assert themselves in the 22

surely a draftee or two can???

[Iceman234]

Good to see some stability and great to see SOS retained also.

RL certainly won me over during 2008.

[n1ck]

Good idea, im glad though, that the article states that it is until two thousand and ten, and not for ten years!

[rexy]

i got nothing against RL, but i think this is a bit premature...

i would have liked to have seen him back up 2008 b4 extending his contract

Agree

[Saint Bev]

I think he owes some of that tasty bonus to Adam Ramanauskas- it certainly would have been a different story had he not hit the post in the 4th quarter of round 22.
Seems like whoever hands out the bonus payments didn't use the unofficial ladder:
1. Geelong
2. Hawthorn
3. Bulldogs
4. Daylight
5. St. Kilda

Dare I say it? rewarding mediocrity?


Edit- forgot to mention, having said all that I have no qualms with the contract extension.

Just watched that game last night and what you say is not actually correct. We had a goal up our sleeve

But it doesn't matter anyway as he did miss and the rest is history.

Good move by the board. Lets not forget we won the night grannie in enemy territory as well as making the prelim last season.

[timclark27]

skeptic wrote:
i got nothing against RL, but i think this is a bit premature...

i would have liked to have seen him back up 2008 b4 extending his contract


I agree. We only just made it into the finals thanks to other teams falling over at the right time. Our one finals victory was again thanks more to Collingwood choking than anything else. The defensive mindset that I saw during the year is never going to get us through to a Grand Final. I would have liked to have seen more before extending his contract.

[bigcarl]

The defensive mindset that I saw during the year is never going to get us through to a Grand Final.

hopefully he's addressing that. i have a feeling that he's dug in like a good test batsman and is about to start playing some shots.

[Saints Premiers 2008]

The defensive mindset that I saw during the year is never going to get us through to a Grand Final.

hopefully he's addressing that. i have a feeling that he's dug in like a good test batsman and is about to start playing some shots.

the release of gram, goddard and fish up the field and placing and more importantly backing less-skilled players in the back positions is an example of this

[WayneJudson42]

i got nothing against RL, but i think this is a bit premature...

i would have liked to have seen him back up 2008 b4 extending his contract

Yep, we should have given him one more finals series before we sacked him.

Good move by the board IMO. Takes the pressure off RL.

Interesting that 19 players have been turnoed over, and RL pretty much has his "own" type of player.

Obviously the board are happy with his direction, and the players have also emrbacd him. They, after all, are in the ebst position to judge.

[WayneJudson42]

The defensive mindset that I saw during the year is never going to get us through to a Grand Final.

hopefully he's addressing that. i have a feeling that he's dug in like a good test batsman and is about to start playing some shots.

the release of gram, goddard and fish up the field and placing and more importantly backing less-skilled players in the back positions is an example of this

From Big M's training report, it appears that players are getting leaner and there's a fair bit of emphasis on running, so I'd expect some more attacke next year... now that the defensive aspect has been indoctrinated into our boys.

[Pilgram]

yep good call WJ42.
i cant believe these guys.
they think that they can just kick the ball and win games without running.
no wait, they kicked the ball without running and won games.
who knows what they can do with more run.