Lyon’s plan for out of favour Saint
St Kilda coach Ross Lyon says Mattaes Phillipou is “aligned” with his vision to turn him into a specialist midfielder after the second-year gun was again dropped to the VFL.
The top 10 pick played every possible game in his debut season, averaging 13 disposals and booting 13 goals, but has failed to have the same forward-half impact in 2024.
He was dropped to the VFL for the first time after only five disposals against North Melbourne in round 8, but recalled immediately after he starred in a midfield role for Sandringham with 20 disposals, nine tackles and five clearances.
Lyon used Phillipou at 10 centre bounces – the fourth-most of any Saints midfielder – against Fremantle, but the 18-year-old only managed four possessions and did not register a clearance.
The coach said he wanted to stick with a midfield role for Phillipou, but the poor numbers meant he had no choice but to drop him again.
“What he did last year was exceptional as a forward, but we see him as a long-term midfielder,” Lyon said.
“He’s really keen to go back and work on his craft. Because in AFL footy, if you come in and have one possession at halftime in an AFL midfield, there’s a lot of pressure on that individual and the team.
“So he’ll go back and work on his midfield craft, and we’ll see the best of him. He was the youngest player taken in the draft last year, he was four days off this draft.”
Lyon was adamant the left-footer was on the same page as the Saints coaches, despite a social media outburst from a member of Phillipou’s management team claiming Lyon was “destroying” St Kilda’s young players after the round 9 omission.
“His performance last year as a general forward, over the last 14 years would put him in the top 25 per cent of general forwards, if you adjust it for his age,” Lyon said.
“Regardless of his age, he’s top 50 per cent, so he played really well, but we just see him as a very talented young midfielder who needs to build out his craft, so he’s aligned with that at the moment.”
Lyon said he was excited to let his runners loose on the “big expanses” of the MCG against Melbourne on Sunday as he also said the inclusion of Jack Higgins would be important.
“We’ve hit a rough couple of weeks, but we get Higgins back who we’ve really missed,” he said.
“We’ve missed our small forward transition players. Higgins, (Dan) Butler … we’re trying to train up our transition forwards, but Higgins is pretty experienced, he’ll come in and add some bite.
“If we can give those opportunities against a good defence, we should get a bit more reward for effort.”
