Lyon stands up for his battered skipper

FAIRLY or unfairly, St Kilda's grand final fortunes were always going to rely heavily on the exploits of skipper Nick Riewoldt.

With the cup headed down the highway to Geelong, history will show the star forward was unable to once more lift his team up onto his broad shoulders and propel them to victory in the 2009 premiership decider.

Most neutral observers would give the points to young Cat defender Harry Taylor after their enthralling duel, but coach Ross Lyon defended Riewoldt's 13-posession, one-goal return following the gut-wrenching 12-point defeat.

"I thought he led from the front and I thought he stood up in really difficult conditions for the talls," Lyon said.

"He competed and we had plenty of ground level opportunities. I thought he willed himself to a lot of contests. Obviously he's been sore, but his mind controls his body and he pushes through all those things."

Riewoldt has managed a nagging knee injury during the latter stages of the season with the severity of the ailment the source of much conjecture.

The 26-year-old threw himself around the MCG with typical abandon on Saturday, but still appeared to struggle with the injury at times.

But Lyon said intense speculation on the nature of the injury and the degree to which it has limited Riewoldt during the finals series had more to do with the superstar's standing in the game than the problem itself.

"I don't want to go into detail [about it]. It's something that he can manage and play with as I imagine a lot of players out there [do]," he said.

"But obviously he's one of the highest profile players in the competition so everyone has a really good look at it.

"There's lesser lights playing with injuries that you wouldn't even know [about].

"We're certainly not putting him at risk because he's too important an asset to the club. If there was any hint that we were damaging him for the future then he wouldn't be playing."

An inconsolable Riewoldt left media commitments to teammates Luke Ball, Lenny Hayes and Leigh Montagna in the aftermath of the loss.