St Kilda topped up on high-end talent during the trade and free agency period, lifting expectation for what might be achieved in 2026. So, is there more pressure on Ross Lyon than ever before? And will he head into next season as the coach under the most scrutiny in the league?
Let's get to this week's AFL overreactions column, where we judge the week's big takeaway as legitimate or irrational.
St Kilda's monster offseason makes Ross Lyon the most under pressure coach in the league
The Saints were arguably the biggest winners of the trade and free agency period, adding a host of talent to their list in the hope of finally being able to seriously contend for a premiership.
Emerging ruck star Tom De Koning and forward-turned-defender Jack Silvagni joined from the Blues as free agents, while young midfielder Sam Flanders and West Coast premiership forward Liam Ryan were both traded for the following week. The high-profile additions improve the Saints on every line, add much needed depth to the squad, and should have the club climbing up the ladder in 2026.
Verdict: Not an overreaction
St Kilda has been a middling side for far too long and this offseason list rejuvenation has brought widespread expectation that the club should -- at an absolute minimum -- be a finalist next season. That has to put a mountain of pressure on Ross Lyon, who has been trending in the wrong direction since rejoining the Saints at the beginning of 2023.
In his first season, the Saints won 13 games and qualified for finals. The following year yielded just 11 wins. This year, they won nine times for a 12th-place finish, and that was with the Saints going 5-1 in games decided by nine or fewer points, an unsustainable trait that will inevitably revert to the mean. But perhaps the biggest worry for the club is the lack of attacking firepower. This past season, Lyon's team managed to score 100 points only once, though the prospect of a returning Max King may also help in this regard.
The other wrinkle to the Saints in 2026 will be proving to young gun Nasiah Wanganeen-Milera that the club is turning its fortunes around. The 22-year-old star inked a mammoth two-year contract extension earlier this year, but there is a fear he could head for the exit at the end of 2027 if the situation at Moorabbin hasn't improved. St Kilda's powerbrokers can't afford to patiently wait for the results to come, and that piles even more pressure on Lyon from Round 1 next season.
Of course, Lyon, who has only enjoyed one winning season from his last seven in the league, isn't the only coach who will enter 2026 under immense pressure and scrutiny. Like Lyon, Carlton coach Michael Voss has gone backwards in recent years and wouldn't want to begin next season slowly. With that said, Voss might have earned a few sympathy credits this offseason given the high-profile departures of Silvagni, De Koning, and Charlie Curnow.
And then there's Justin Longmuir, who will enter his seventh season at the helm of the Dockers next year. A recent 16-win season and a place in September has lifted expectations dramatically and Longmuir, who was already skating on thin ice heading into year six, simply has to keep the momentum going in order to guarantee his job security.