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Ross Lyon Speaks To Lisa, Baz & Sam Posted by Jillian McHugh 26 September, 2011 - 8:17 AM

Brand-spanking-new Fremantle coach Ross Lyon spoke to Lisa, Baz & Sam about his new team, stealing Steve Rosich’s tie, his likeness to George Costanza, why he can’t sing the Fremantle club song, and why he’ll be sending flowers to his players’ girlfriends.

92.9 brekkie host Sam Mac told Lyon that at the press conference where Freo revealed Lyon as their new coach, the first thing he had noticed was Lyon’s purple tie.

“The first thing that came to mind was: was that your decision or did Steve Rosich or other advisers at the club say ‘here’s your purple tie’?” Sam asked.

“Well the sad part about that is it’s Steve Rosich’s tie and he wants it back,” Lyon laughed.

“Ross, I’ve got to say, that was the worst knot ever tied by a male over the age of 35,” Baz joked.

“Well I’m just a state school system, working-class background and I didn’t do the old boy tie knot,” Lyon said.

Keen to provide Lyon with her expert assessment of his players, Lisa asked Lyon if he had noticed that Ryan Crowley’s off-field life seemed to affect his on-field performance.

“We have a friend of ours who plays for Fremantle and we’ve actually noticed that he plays a lot better when he has a girlfriend than when he’s single,” Lisa said. “And that’s Ryan Crowley.”

“Are you volunteering to be his partner?” Lyon asked.

“No he’s got a partner!” Lisa laughed.

“He’s with Samara,” Sam said.

“And we’re just saying he plays a lot better like that,” Lisa advised. “So can you make sure that he does stay attached for the season? Because you’ll have a much better player.”

Lyon was only too happy to oblige.

“We’re going to be sending flowers to Samara every week just to settle him down and keep him focused,” Lyon said.

Keen to test how far he has immersed himself in the culture at his new club, the team tested Lyon on his knowledge of the team song.

“The club song is such a huge part of every club,” Sam said “And...cue the music... you are very new to Freo but we want to test if you do know some lyrics in the Freo song.”

“I can tell you before I start,” Ross said. “I don’t know the song and I don’t engage in club songs.”

Ignoring his excuse, the team began to play the line “Freo, way to go...” and asked Lyon to sing the next line.

“Hit ‘em real hard, is it? Hit ‘em real hard?” Lyon guessed.

“That’s pretty close,” Lisa laughed.

Quick to make-good, Lyon promised that the song was already being ingrained in his family life.

“I think it’s a real catchy song,” Lyon said. “My kids are already practising as we speak.”

Given his openness in talking about his suffering through difficult financial times and having to move back in with his parents, the 92.9 brekkie team asked if he empathised with Seinfeld character George Costanza.

“He’s a great character, George, isn’t he,” Lyon said. “But Seinfeld, like a lot of things, is a part of the past and irrelevant at the minute.”

“That was pretty open of you to talk about your financial woes.” Lisa said “Is what sort of person you are? Are you quite open like that?”

“In a lot of ways, I think we’ve all got times we can be self-effacing and open and at other times there’s things you want to keep private,” Lyon said. “But it was put on the public domain by journalists in Melbourne and then the question was asked. It’s certainly wasn’t a cry for help or any pity, it was really putting some context of dealing with pressure and performing under pressure and helping to forge really what I am today. In simple terms, you find out a fair bit about your relationship and yourself when you’re under extreme pressure and to come through the other side and still have a strong relationship and not crumble was quite satisfying.”

Sports-enthusiast Baz was quick to try to uncover Lyon’s thoughts on his new players.

“Ross, a lot’s been made of the reasons why you’ve come to Fremantle and one of them given was St Kilda a little slow to offer you the new contract, and Freo did it quick as a flash,” Baz said “You haven’t been asked a whole lot about Freo’s list and the excitement or possibilities that you see there. I daresay that was one of the reasons for you wanting to come over here – you must genuinely see something in that list that excites you about the next couple of years and what’s possible with Freo.”

“Yeah there was a whole bunch of reasons, but as I said I’m really excited to be the Fremantle coach,” Lyon said. “We’re the third youngest list in the competition, played finals the year before, got another year into our younger players, there’ll be more younger players coming through. We want to try and build sustained success, which everyone wants and certainly I see some upside, there’s no doubt about that. What I want to bring in, or add to, is enhance the systems on-field and Monday to Friday really continue to drive the work ethic and a real growth mindset where the possibility is to be what we want to be and that’s really the attitude that I want to instil.”

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