So after 5 rounds of 2019, Fremantle have the least points scored against indicating Ross Lyon has his defensive game plan back and working well.
And yet now when we win well against poor defensive teams (eg. GWS & Norths), I'm hearing how Ross Lyon has finally listened to his haters and is now playing a more attacking game plan. Even though when we play teams with strong defensive game plans, we still struggle to score.
Let me rewind a little ... when Lyon was appointed as Freo's Senior coach, replacing Harvey in 2011, I can remember saying to friends how annoyed I was, but I did acknowledge that Freo supporters (myself included) are very fickle and if Ross Lyon starts winning games, then we will all jump back on the band wagon. Well, I did just that, but what I didn't do was jump off once we stopped winning games. Even though my biggest disappointment was early 2016 when after a huge amount of negative press about Lyon's coaching and game plan (in 2015), Freo seemed to try to copy Hawthorn and we got smashed because of the lack of defense behind the ball when turnovers occurred (mostly from skill errors). Throw in some major injuries to key players and a rebuild was flagged and again I found myself annoyed. But I accepted that Freo's list was aging and something radical may be required to give us best possible chance of a premiership. Well now the list is looking better and Ross can once again show just how good his defensive game plans can be.
So, whatever you believe when it comes to Ross Lyon and his coaching, if Freo start winning games you'll mostly be jumping back on that band wagon and quickly forget the reasons why you ever jumped off. But that's all good with me ... after all, who am I to judge.