Dawson's sealer no surprise for Saints

ST KILDA coach Ross Lyon has been planning the match-winning move of Zac Dawson to full forward since picking him up in the 2008 NAB AFL Rookie Draft.

Dawson iced the game for the Saints with just a minute left on the clock with a set shot from 35m after being switched from the defensive post he’s held down for 12 games this season.

It was only the second goal of his 26-game AFL career and was a surprise to many at the ground – except Lyon.

“We’ve had it up, not up our sleeve, but we know he can play there,” Lyon said.

“He played a lot for Box Hill up there when Hawthorn [Dawson’s former AFL club] were experimenting with him and he kicked a lot of goals.

“He certainly knows what to do down there and he is really balanced and purposeful.

“I said to [assistant coach] Leigh Tudor: ‘will he kick it?’ and he said: ‘yeh, he is a beautiful kick for goal at training’

“So he was confident and it’s what fairytales are made of; kicking a winning goal after you’ve been delisted and you come in.

“He’s done jobs at both ends now so that’s fantastic for Zac and great for the Saints.”

One aspect of the nine-point win that didn’t please Lyon was the interchange infringement by Luke Ball that cost the Saints a goal on the three-quarter-time siren.

St Kilda had possession with 15 seconds left on the clock when Ball ran on the wrong side of the interchange gate.

“I thought it might have been a holding free off the ball then someone said it was an interchange [infringement] so a few people’s ears were burning,” he said.

“We know the rules. Luke has done it once before at the Gold Coast last year against North, so he is the culprit at the moment and he has got to get his act together and get it together quick on that one.”

The Saints broke a club record with their 12th consecutive win on Friday night but Lyon remained wary of a let down.

“The competition is littered with teams that have been in strong positions and fallen away dramatically in the last seven or eight [rounds],” Lyon said.

“I’ve had a look at our draw and we still have got to go interstate three times and we’ve got the Hawks and Geelong and we’ve got Richmond after the bye which will be pretty tough with the new coach.

“So we’ve got a lot of challenges in front of us for sure.”

He said the fact St Kilda lost the contested ball count on Friday night was another reason not to get complacent.