It’s taken time, but pretty much everyone with even a slight interest in AFL has noticed and marvelled at the impact coach Ross Lyon has had at Fremantle.
Lyon has converted the men in purple from perennial underachievers to a ferociously hard-working side that needs only defeat Sydney on Saturday to become the first Dockers outfit to reach an AFL grand final in the club’s 19-season history.
Some pundits spoke of the Lyon effect in 2012, his first year in charge of the Dockers, especially after they ended Geelong’s season in week one of the finals.
Others noticed the way Lyon’s side kept churning out wins this season despite injuries to key players, while surely the last of the non-believers were won over with the way the Dockers handled their qualifying final against the Cats in Geelong.
For many of Sydney’s players, the Lyon-spearheaded transformation was made starkly clear in round 8 this year when the Dockers snatched a draw despite trailing by 27 points early in the fourth quarter at the SCG.
“Probably that last quarter when we played them earlier in the year, when we had the lead and they just piled on a few goals,” Swans on-baller Josh Kennedy said of when he first noticed the force that Fremantle had become.
“They can do that at stages, so we’ve got to try and stem the momentum when they have it, and capitalise when we do.
“But we know what we’re going to get from them, it’s not really a surprise.
“It’s not dissimilar to the way we like to play and I think that’s what finals football is all about.
“It’s just a matter of who can do it better, and who can do it longer.”
If the injury-riddled Swans manage to defeat Fremantle, despite the whole team being exhausted after playing a man down from the 19th minute of their incredible semi-final win over Carlton, they face a red-eye flight home.
It will serve as yet another hurdle in a premiership defence that’s had plenty, but Swans coach John Longmire refused to look that far ahead.
“It’s not even a consideration,” Longmire said.