St Kilda coach Ross Lyon has bristled at questions over the tagging tactic he has been using in recent games.
Saints midfielder Marcus Windhager came under scrutiny for his tagging role on Nick Daicos, which resulted in a $1500 fine for shoving Daicos in the chest.
The tag was defended by commentators such as David King, but Collingwood coach Craig McRae said umpires should be wary of the holding free kicks before their match.
Ross Lyon was in fine form at his pre-match press conference, discussing a variety of topics, from his coaching future to the tagging tactics his team employs.
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Lyon sarcastically said there was a lot of contact in the incident Windhager was fined for before lightly tapping his own chest, but explained that the Saints received some clarity after receiving a visit from the umpires.
“It’s set a high standard for contact hasn’t it… so that’s interesting itself, there’s going to be a lot of fines in the AFL,” Lyon said.
“Collingwood come and supported and that's fine and Marcus was just physically grabbed and dragged off. So, you get some clarity, ‘put your hands in the air so it’s easier to see that you’re being tackled without the ball in a stoppage.’ We got some clarity.”
Lyon went back at a reporter who asked if the same tagging tactics used against Collingwood would be used against Fremantle this week.
“Just to be clear, what are the tactics? I don’t quite understand,” Lyon replied to the question.
“Sorry for going out and competing, I thought you were able to compete in the AFL. I never knew playing on someone was a tactic.”
Lyon also responded to reports this week that assistant coach Corey Enright would be a part of a succession plan to replace Lyon as coach in the future.
“In all seriousness, we’ve got some really high-end assistants like what we’re building here on and off the field, we’d like to get an alignment and continue it on in perpetuity and ultimately end up as the best Saints ever,” Lyon added.
“We’ll continue to grow him (Enright) and yeah, there’s nothing anywhere in writing or any agreement.”
St Kilda play away this week, taking on Fremantle at Optus Stadium to try as they try to continue to improve this season.