Harvey raised concerns after Sunday’s loss to Adelaide that Fremantle would have a shorter break between games than their opponents for the third week in a row.
The Saints played West Coast at Docklands on Saturday afternoon, while Fremantle took on Adelaide at Subiaco the following day. This Saturday’s match will be at Docklands.
Lyon said the difference in preparation was minimal.
“It’s 24 hours. When you drill in to it, they’ve had seven-day preparations. I think their opposition [so far] has had the advantage of a day so let’s be really clear on that,” Lyon said.
“They’ve had full weeks. We had a short week going over to Adelaide (in round two). We’ll deal with what’s put in front of us.”
Lyon said there were many factors to be taken in to account when assessing teams’ advantages
“How do you measure some of the so-called advantages of home games? Adelaide have won their two games interstate and lost their one at home,” he said.
The Saints have had to make just one team change this year, Lenny Hayes coming in for the injured Raphael Clarke in round two, but have plenty of choices after its VFL team Sandringham defeated the Casey Scorpions by 103 points on the weekend.
Lyon said he was impressed by the performances of Xavier Clarke, who gathered 34 possessions, as well as Colm Begley, Robert Eddy, Ben McEvoy and Matt Maguire, who is edging closer to a senior return.
“Maguire is playing football. In saying that, he is still building. We’ve rushed him in the past. It was the right thing at the right time but we’re taking a conservative approach. We don’t want to set him up to fail, we want to set him up to succeed,” he said.
While plenty of players are pushing for selection, Lyon said good preparation and planning made it hard to find an opening.
“It’s not really a dilemma. It’s a position that we’ve worked hard to create with excellent conditioners and training habits and improving our football programs. We have good availability and players in good form,” he said.
