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Sport Nation
Buckley: If the players won’t execute, the coach will respond
Jaiden Sciberras • April 28th, 2025 7:18 pm
St Kilda’s 45-point drubbing at the hands of the Lions was forecast within the first term.
24 first quarter inside 50’s for Brisbane to a measly six for the Saints, coach Ross Lyon was evidently animated as his side failed to turn up for the first bounce.
Forced into a tactical substitution early in the second term, 19-year-old Hugo Garcia was withdrawn from the game, with the young midfielder copping an almighty spray from Lyon as he was removed from the contest.
"Sometimes you've got to stop talking about it and sometimes you just go 'bang'," Lyon said in his post-game press conference.
"How long after was it? Two quarters? That's a half. I live in the world of action. You'd sit there and go, 'Why'd they pull the sub?', I pulled the sub to try and get something done."
Former Collingwood coach Nathan Buckley was entirely on board with Lyon’s spray, indicating that the tactical move was warranted given the nature of the first term.
“I think it’s a manifestation of frustration in the coach,” Buckley told SEN’s Whateley.
“Of, and for, the playing group, that he knows has got more in them than he got out of them in those 30 minutes.
“It sounds like it’s quite specific, about the first possession, the clearance, but it might be any time that you have the ball in your hands, and you cannot cope with the pressure that is being exerted by the opposition.
“The ball winning was there or thereabouts, -9 contested possessions for the quarter, you’ve got the ball in your hands but then you cough it up, and if you’re coughing it up, you get a 24-6 inside 50 count for a quarter.
“You might have still got eight forward your way, eight comes off the opposition… then you’re 16-14 for the quarter for eight cough ups through the midfield.
“(The spray) was clearly directed at his mids. You’ve got a midfielder that’s shooting forward trying to outnumber and to pressure the opposition in St Kilda forward half, and as soon as you’ve got one spinning forward and you don’t look after the ball, he is offside, so you’re opened up coming the other way.
“If you go in with specific strategies and the players can’t or won’t execute it, then the coach responds. He didn’t predicate that, it wasn’t something he knew was going to happen 45 minutes earlier, but you’ve got to respond to what you’ve seen.
“You have choice with your response, and it was quite sharp. He obviously had players that he thought weren’t mentally tuned up. So, he thought that they hadn’t gone in with the necessary aggression and focus that they needed to as evidenced by what he saw in the first 25 minutes.”
The Saints will look to respond as they host the Fremantle Dockers on Friday night.
