Mark Harvey Axed.

[Bas]

I'm with Gerard on this. Great article as usual by such a creditable journo.

Don't understand why the Saints would appoint Robert Harvey as interim coach. They have been rocked by all this as well.

It was obvious to me that he was gone after the game last week. His actions and words and he knew it at the time as well.

He might be a mate to Roos but I'm not having a great deal of rerspect for him or the dockers.

I think the Saints will benefit with seeing the back of Lyons.

But what a terrible way for Mark Harvey to go. Just pathetic. So heartless and insensitive. I hope he ends up with a good side next year and whips the dockers for the next 5 years.

[stellation]

Didn't St Kilda have a few final candidates that had been interviewing for their head coaching job, including Horse who I recall was the front runner, then out of nowhere swept in Ross to the front of the pack and appointed him rather quickly? I'm not sure how much they can hang their (Molly's?) hat on not liking sneaky coaching movements.

[On-Baller]

I cant see what Lyon has done wrong here,St Kilda failed to act quick enough and their culture is stuffed which is hardly Ross's fault.ST Kilda were the ones to put the clause in his contract so he or they could exit early,would everyone be so up in arms if the Saints had done this to Ross?Would they be bleating on about loyalty and dog acts then?

Or what if Harvey left Freo for the pies job would people blame him or would they just say he's left to goto a better club and list?Most people were fine with what Scully did as it was an offer to good to refuse,why are coaches held to any different standard?Lyon wasnt in control of how freo went about it all.

[SwansFan1972]

Maybe, but this is one clubs misery I like to revel in.

With ya all the way! Not nice of us, but feels good!

[SwansFan1972]

Lets face it, shafting is taking place all the time in footy these days - which makes 'the game' 100% undeniably, irrefutably, categorically a fully fledged business above all else. And in business, it's dog eat dog.

The only thing that changes is who (out of clubs, players, coaches, fans and managers and whoever else feeds off the game) is doing the shafting and who is being shafted!

One story I read says Lyon was ready to toss it in (in disgust) following the aints undisciplined and pretty much ridiculous scandal ridden start to the season, but was convinced by management to stay. And who could blame him for being pretty ticked off - after five years of thinking you are making a difference to their performance and presumably 'their culture', you would like to think that you aren't going to get calls in the middle of preseason about your 'professional players' acting like idiot children and dragging down the reputations of all involved with the club. They didn't even have Mad Monday as an excuse!

So - fast forwarding to now - if the management of St Kilda knew six months ago their main man was flighty BUT they wanted to keep him - a smart club would have done the deal for an extension well before now. With his record as a coach probably just behind Mick and Bomber in recent years, he would have been in demand regardless of what happened this season, and even more so after dragging them off the floor and making them a competitive unit for pretty much half a season. About five or six wins into their mid to late season revival (coming off the horror start) would have been the sensible time to lock him in. They didn't. He walked. Harvey is roadkill as a result (which is no doubt traumatic for him) but he isn't on his pat malone in being screwed over by a footy club!

Sure, Rossy's lost some paint and his halo may have slipped a little, but it is a tough old world and generally the toughest survive. Lyon is tough. Freo might have decided to get tough too for perhaps the first time in their history. Sure makes for interesting times hey!

[SwansFan1972]

Gerard Whateley isn't pulling any punches today:

Lyon leaves a villain

Sample quote: "Lyon's defection from St Kilda to the helm of Fremantle will stand as the low point on a football landscape riddled with dishonesty and treachery."

if the landscape is thus, why expect decency and honesty as the norm? Surely Lyon and Freo are just operating within the prevailing environment, no? Are they really more wicked than Melbourne, Adelaide and the Dogs? Or the pies for that matter - who are throwing Mick on the heap in full knowledge that he resents and hates them drawing the curtain on him prematurely?!?!

I do agree with others that the Swans' recent record in this area is exemplary (and it is clearly a 'nicer' way to operate) - but it is also the 1 in 100 freak occurrence. Can anyone come up with any similarly bloodless handovers in recent memory?

And for those with short memories, it was not so long ago that a dirty little backroom deal on the coaching position featured at our club. No doubt Terry Wallace could provide an insight into how things can go down - so to speak! It took another 1 in 100 freak occurence - a fan revolt which also rang loudly in the ears of the decision makers - to ensure the decent thing happened in 2002/2003 too! That makes 2 in 100 for our club alone - doesn't leave many other 100-1 chances for everything to be nicely handled for anyone else really!

[penga]

I had an interesting insight into this whole situation on Sunday morning. I was minding my own business, with my gf, having breakfast at a surf club just south of the Gold Coast. This woman just across from us was being a psycho to her poor little bugger three year old. He just wanted to be a kid and play while waiting for his breakfast. His mother would have nothing of it. Completely unhinged. I'm all for discipline, but this was too far, and I was ready to give her a piece of my mind.

Then.. Ross Lyon turns up and sits down at the table. So many pieces of the puzzle fell into place right then and there.

A very random encounter.