![](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/poster-fallback.png\"\/)
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ROSS\u2019 VERDICT ON \u2018DELIBERATE\u2019 WORLD CUP CLASH<\/p>\n
Saints coach Ross Lyon said the AFL\u2019s decision to schedule the Saints versus Giants clash while the Socceroos were playing in the World Cup was a \u201cdeliberate\u201d one. <\/p>\n
On Sunday afternoon, Australia kicked off against Turkey in Vancouver at 2pm AEST, with St Kilda and GWS scheduled to clash from 3:15pm local time. <\/p>\n
Lyon was asked post-game if he would have liked to see the game scheduled so there wasn\u2019t a clash, but Lyon was happy for it to be on at the same time. <\/p>\n
\u201cIf someone knew it was on and you\u2019re a full-time fixturer, I think it was a deliberate decision, wasn\u2019t it?\u201d Lyon said. <\/p>\n
\u201cWas it logical? That was debatable but it was a deliberate decision. But I like the attitude, \u2018we\u2019re the AFL, we\u2019re a Saints home game, our people will come\u2019. <\/p>\n
\u201cLast time we played GWS up there there was probably 3000 people there with no Socceroos playing, so I\u2019ll take the 17 (thousand-odd fans who showed up).<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s on us to win more often and get more people here. Is it about the Socceroos? I don\u2019t know. That\u2019s a cross tape that I can\u2019t validate for you.\u201d<\/p>\n
Kinglsey brutally honest on Jesse Hogan | 06:21<\/p>\n
KINGSLEY CONCEDES \u2018WRONG\u2019 SELECTION CALL<\/p>\n
GWS coach Adam Kingsley concedes he made a mistake picking Jesse Hogan on Sunday<\/p>\n
as the Giants went down by eight-points in a thriller to the Saints. <\/p>\n
Hogan returned this week from a hip adductor injury and on Sunday finished with one goal and 10 touches in 86 per cent game time. <\/p>\n
Kingsley was strong in saying he didn\u2019t think Hogan impacted the game. <\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t think he had an impact on the game, which was kind of expected and understandable, he\u2019s missed a bit of footy,\u201d Kingsley said. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s hard to then slot straight back in and have an impact, particularly at that size you\u2019re going to be defended pretty much all the time.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was a discussion (playing him in the VFL) but we felt like with his quality, he\u2019s one of these guys that\u2019s capable of turning it on. <\/p>\n
\u201cHe didn\u2019t tonight, so, I got that wrong.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Saints took their chances inside 50 going at 55 per cent while the Giants went at just 42 per cent and Kingsley said that was the main difference between the two sides. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe didn\u2019t defend their entries well enough,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe restricted their entries to a really good level \u2026 but we didn\u2019t defend them well enough. They kicked 10 goals between two guys, Ryan and Sharman I thought were brilliant for them. <\/p>\n
\u201cI thought they beat us in contest behind the ball, inside D50. Ultimately, I think that was the difference, they defended our entries pretty well, even though I think we had opportunities we didn\u2019t take. But the efficiency at either end was probably the difference in the game.\u201d<\/p>\n
Kingsley added his team\u2019s 6-7 record \u201cpaints an accurate picture of our season\u201d, but said they are a better team when at their best. <\/p>\n
\u201cTalk\u2019s cheap, isn\u2019t it?\u201d he said. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve got to go and show that, we\u2019ve got to put it into action and I think the group that we have is capable of being better.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"St Kilda coach Ross Lyon has given his verdict on the AFL\u2019s \u201cdeliberate\u201d fixturing clash with the World…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":737048,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[560],"tags":[638,64,63,55,639,85],"class_list":["post-737047","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-afl","tag-afl","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-australian-football-league","tag-australianfootballleague","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/737047","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=737047"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/737047\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/737048"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=737047"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=737047"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=737047"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}