Post-match press conferences

[LostDoggy]

Just watched both Bevo's and Lyon's post-match presser, and the difference in approach and attitude couldn't have been more stark.

Lyon went first, and he absolutely refused to concede anything at all to the Dogs today. He rolled out the cliche "all credit to them" whilst simultaneously dismantling any argument that the Dogs had indeed showed anything more than a few "sneaky balls out the back". He went on about the Etihad surface (no doubt as Evidence Exhibit A in the Fyfe Case) being shonky, he looked smug and dismissive when asked about our ruck change-up and basically made an arse of himself.

Cue Luke. He gets asked many of the same questions and handled them beautifully. He gave real, beyond-the-cliche credit to Fremantle whilst still claiming we could've won the match if a ground ball had've transpired differently. He stuck up for his players without necessarily belittling the Fremantle guys. When asked about the surface, he pointed out that two teams played on it, there'd been 3-4 matches this weekend on it and that he thought it was a good surface overall. He just seemed so much more willing to acknowledge his place moreso than Lyon.

Here's where I add my disclaimer: I hate Lyon with a passion and refer to him as Football's Antichrist. However, I was interested in your thoughts on post-match pressers as a rule? Who do you think are the best and worst to listen to? For every Mick Malthouse or Ross Lyon there is a Phil Walsh or Luke Beveridge. Who are your favourites and why?

[Yankee Hotel Foxtrot]

Very good post!
I too am no fan of Smugly Lyon and his almost patronising tone.
As bristly as he can be at times i think Clarko goes about it the right way win or lose.

[bulldogtragic]

Anyone who tells it straight. Bomber Thompsons last year were awesome.

[ReLoad]

As we all know being a coach is not only about being able to direct your players and tactically assign them roles, tasks and positions, it is being a leader of men, a leader of 50 different personailities, styles of blokes and most of all individuals, its about fusing them together, taking thier strengths and weaknesses and melding them into a cohesive team.

Lyons total inability to inspire and apply creative thinking (he has coached the same way for his whole career) will put him into the annuls of a one trick pony, who by virtue of his negativity upon everything else apart from what he does as a sour grumpy old bugger.

I have no doubt that his style of game play wins matches, and as a tactician he has drilled that team and st kilda before it to within an inch of thier lives, but is it enough? It was good enough to get to the big dance, but there is no "special trick he plays" no "plan B" Ive got no doubt in my mind when our players get to the 90-120 game mark they are going to cut through a playing style like he employs like a hot knife through butter.

Ross Lyon needs another 5% out of himself and his players, I honestly dont think he has that 5% to give.

Give me a guy who throws caution to the wind any day. Plough when he started with us was that, Rocket had us run from half back, and it seems Bevo is all about offense. gotta say, id rather die trying that know that you are very good but never great enough.

[bornadog]

I certainly didn't enjoy Macca's press conferences. I feel more positive listening to Bevo. Lyon is just a bore

[stefoid]

I like the 'out the back' dismissal, like linking up through the midfield and slicing though an oppositions defensive structure until you can kick long to a 1:1 contest is somehow cheating.

[Pedro Sanchez]

Just watched both Bevo's and Lyon's post-match presser, and the difference in approach and attitude couldn't have been more stark.

Lyon went first, and he absolutely refused to concede anything at all to the Dogs today. He rolled out the cliche "all credit to them" whilst simultaneously dismantling any argument that the Dogs had indeed showed anything more than a few "sneaky balls out the back". He went on about the Etihad surface (no doubt as Evidence Exhibit A in the Fyfe Case) being shonky, he looked smug and dismissive when asked about our ruck change-up and basically made an arse of himself.

Cue Luke. He gets asked many of the same questions and handled them beautifully. He gave real, beyond-the-cliche credit to Fremantle whilst still claiming we could've won the match if a ground ball had've transpired differently. He stuck up for his players without necessarily belittling the Fremantle guys. When asked about the surface, he pointed out that two teams played on it, there'd been 3-4 matches this weekend on it and that he thought it was a good surface overall. He just seemed so much more willing to acknowledge his place moreso than Lyon.

Here's where I add my disclaimer: I hate Lyon with a passion and refer to him as Football's Antichrist. However, I was interested in your thoughts on post-match pressers as a rule? Who do you think are the best and worst to listen to? For every Mick Malthouse or Ross Lyon there is a Phil Walsh or Luke Beveridge. Who are your favourites and why?

Good thread.

I actually really rate Lyon, think he's great for the game and if he ever ends up winning a flag, he'll go down as a great coach.

That said, there is something special about Bevo... And this comes through in almost all of what he does... I love watching his press conferences and the way he thinks through he's responses. Comes across as genuine, passionate and absolutely loyal to his players. Love it.

[The Pie Man]

Ross is a graceless turd, but we knew that

[firstdogonthemoon]

Beautifully articulated! One of the great things about AFL is that you are given a license to hate - it's even encouraged as long as your polite about it. Why do you hate Lyon so much BAS?

[LostDoggy]

Beautifully articulated! One of the great things about AFL is that you are given a license to hate - it's even encouraged as long as your polite about it. Why do you hate Lyon so much BAS?

Like many of the great hates in my lifetime, I never truly know ALL the reasons. I guess primarily his arrogant smugness. Especially at St Kilda he continually acted like we were all idiots for not realising his was the greatest coached team to ever grace the grass. That ball bounce in front of Milne in the first GF of 2010 wasn't fate, it was justice. He's the type of kid who takes his bat and ball home when he loses. He has an opinion of himself and an estimation of his own abilities that would rival Tony Abbott's in both its deluded strength and its misplaced inaccuracy.

He can make the monkeys dance in line and to the tune, but he will never win a flag because he is totally inflexible. His whole style is inflexible, and sometimes the footy gods just have different ideas than he does. Idiots, those footy gods...

[jeemak]

Make no mistake, Lyon is probably in the top two or three in the competition from a strategy sense, and he's probably in the top two for player buy in.

Sure he carries on like a bit of a buffoon in press conferences like he did today, but trust me, that's all part of his strategy in getting his team on board and knowing he has their backs.

His commentary about the far side of the ground and its slipping was just a ruse to get out of having to comment about a clear trip from his star player. It was perfectly executed, because nobody in the media actually followed up with the obvious question of "why did Nat, irrespective of the surface issues, kick the guy"..........

Beveridge looked very frustrated in his presser.

[Remi Moses]

Ross is a graceless turd, but we knew that

He is a graceless turd, but a bloody good coach.
I think Freo are good to watch, and I think he deserves a flag.
Thankfully that wasn't with those p***** we played last week!!

[Ozza]

He is a graceless turd, but a bloody good coach.
I think Freo are good to watch, and I think he deserves a flag.
Thankfully that wasn't with those p***** we played last week!!

Yep, brilliantly coached side. I couldn't have been more impressed with how quickly they can turn from defence to attack and vice versa - their ability as a team to get to the right spots is peerless at the moment.

As for his press conference, what smugness. He could seriously do with a slice of humility.

[Maddog37]

Wait til we see what sort of state he leaves Freos list in when he bails on them.

[LostDoggy]

Yep, brilliantly coached side. I couldn't have been more impressed with how quickly they can turn from defence to attack and vice versa - their ability as a team to get to the right spots is peerless at the moment.

As for his press conference, what smugness. He could seriously do with a slice of humility.

It was served to him in 2010. He just refused to eat it.

[stefoid]

Make no mistake, Lyon is probably in the top two or three in the competition from a strategy sense, and he's probably in the top two for player buy in.

Sure he carries on like a bit of a buffoon in press conferences like he did today, but trust me, that's all part of his strategy in getting his team on board and knowing he has their backs.

His commentary about the far side of the ground and its slipping was just a ruse to get out of having to comment about a clear trip from his star player. It was perfectly executed, because nobody in the media actually followed up with the obvious question of "why did Nat, irrespective of the surface issues, kick the guy"..........

Beveridge looked very frustrated in his presser.

I would have liked one of the Journalists to answer his question about why one side of the ground was dry as a CHIP (rhymes with trip) and the other was damp? "um, because there is this thing called the SUN and it shines from the north during winter so half the ground has been in shade all day?"

He carried on like we tried to water half the ground. Cos thats what a team that plays fast play on footy would try to do.

[Remi Moses]

I don't take his pressers seriously .
Takes the p155 out of every question, and is measured and gives nothing away

[Ozza]

I'm not sure why the media turns up to his press conferences, when Ross just ends up asking and answering his own questions anyway.

Are we satisfied with the performance? We're satisfied with the 4 points. Did we play a perfect game? No, but we go back, look at the tape and address the areas we need to improve in - and prepare really thoroughly for next week. Are we happy with how we're going? Well its very early in the season, we want to be winning games and give ourselves the best chance of making the top four. Do we get ahead of ourselves? Of course not, but we go back and look at the tape and prepare really thoroughly for next week.

[Twodogs]

its not that early in the season.

[Cyberdoggie]

Wait til we see what sort of state he leaves Freos list in when he bails on them.

If you ask me there is already signs that it's going to hit them like a brick wall when the older players are gone.

Take a look at their list, There are 12 players over 29 years of age, some of which are: Pav, Sandy, Mzungu, Dawson, Mundy ,Duffield, Crowley, Johnson, McPharlin, D Pearce.
On the other end of the scale it's even worse.
This is the playing list from Nat Fyfe's age and below:
(Number, Name, GAMES, Age)

7 Fyfe, Nathan 99 23yr 8mth
2 Morabito, Anthony 26 23yr 6mth
45 Hurley, Sean (R) 0 23yr 2mth
33 Sutcliffe, Cameron 54 22yr
24 Duffy, Max 2 22yr 1mth
27 Neale, Lachie 53 21yr 11mth
20 Taberner, Matthew 19 21yr 11mth
11 Sheridan, Thomas 21 21yr 6mth
17 Crozier, Hayden 24 21yr 4mth
44 Ballard, Jacob (R) 0 21yr 2mth
22 Smith, Tanner (R) 1 21yr 2mth
40 Moller, Craig (R) 1 20yr 8mth
42 Hughes, Ethan (R) 0 20yr 5mth
35 Apeness, Michael 2 20yr 3mth
43 Vandeleur, Thomas (R) 0 20yr 1mth
25 Pearce, Alex 2 19yr 11mth
28 Grey, Brady 0 19yr 9mth
26 Langdon, Ed 0 19yr 3mth
14 Weller, Lachlan 0 19yr 2mth
19 Blakely, Connor 0 19yr 2mth
39 Deluca-Cardillo, Joshua 0 19yr

None of their youngest 12 players have played more than 2 games. I'd be very worried about that.

[Twodogs]

Those twelve players have played 7 games between them.

[LostDoggy]

I'm not sure why the media turns up to his press conferences, when Ross just ends up asking and answering his own questions anyway.

Are we satisfied with the performance? We're satisfied with the 4 points. Did we play a perfect game? No, but we go back, look at the tape and address the areas we need to improve in - and prepare really thoroughly for next week. Are we happy with how we're going? Well its very early in the season, we want to be winning games and give ourselves the best chance of making the top four. Do we get ahead of ourselves? Of course not, but we go back and look at the tape and prepare really thoroughly for next week.

That's very funny!

[Happy Days]

RTB is a footballing genius and with Clarkson the best coach in the game.

[ledge]

If you ask me there is already signs that it's going to hit them like a brick wall when the older players are gone.

Take a look at their list, There are 12 players over 29 years of age, some of which are: Pav, Sandy, Mzungu, Dawson, Mundy ,Duffield, Crowley, Johnson, McPharlin, D Pearce.
On the other end of the scale it's even worse.
This is the playing list from Nat Fyfe's age and below:
(Number, Name, GAMES, Age)

7 Fyfe, Nathan 99 23yr 8mth
2 Morabito, Anthony 26 23yr 6mth
45 Hurley, Sean (R) 0 23yr 2mth
33 Sutcliffe, Cameron 54 22yr
24 Duffy, Max 2 22yr 1mth
27 Neale, Lachie 53 21yr 11mth
20 Taberner, Matthew 19 21yr 11mth
11 Sheridan, Thomas 21 21yr 6mth
17 Crozier, Hayden 24 21yr 4mth
44 Ballard, Jacob (R) 0 21yr 2mth
22 Smith, Tanner (R) 1 21yr 2mth
40 Moller, Craig (R) 1 20yr 8mth
42 Hughes, Ethan (R) 0 20yr 5mth
35 Apeness, Michael 2 20yr 3mth
43 Vandeleur, Thomas (R) 0 20yr 1mth
25 Pearce, Alex 2 19yr 11mth
28 Grey, Brady 0 19yr 9mth
26 Langdon, Ed 0 19yr 3mth
14 Weller, Lachlan 0 19yr 2mth
19 Blakely, Connor 0 19yr 2mth
39 Deluca-Cardillo, Joshua 0 19yr

None of their youngest 12 players have played more than 2 games. I'd be very worried about that.

If they win a flag who cares ? Their first and Lyon goes down as a legend of the club, if we did that once or twice in the last 50 years I would be happy.

[Greystache]

If they win a flag who cares ? Their first and Lyon goes down as a legend of the club, if we did that once or twice in the last 50 years I would be happy.

If they win a flag, no one. If St Kilda had have won either of the 2009 or 2010 premierships then I'm sure their fans would happily go home and watch a Grand Final replay after their rebuild team full of kids gets beaten by 100 points (I know I would). The problem is if you fall short you have 5-8 of pain ahead with nothing to show for it.