St Kilda coach Ross Lyon has lifted the lid on the unique relationship the Saints have with NRL club Melbourne Storm.
Amid a disappointing season that sees Lyon's men sit in 14th position and well out of reach of finals, the club has opted to lean on the experiences of the Storm giving some similarities.
During a successful period between 2007 and 2010, the Storm admitted it had breached the league's salary cap ($1.7 million over five years) and was subsequently stripped of the two premierships (2007 and 2009), three minor premierships (2006-08) and all the points accumulated during the 2010 season to that point and barred them from receiving any more for the year.
Lyon likened the 2010 Storm season to the Saints of 2024, with their current campaign "unlikely and probably impossible" to yield a finals appearance.
On Sunday, St Kilda took down ladder leaders and clear premiership favourites Sydney by two points at Marvel Stadium, with what the club's coach referred to as a foundation-setter.
"It's a blessing," Lyon said about the relationship with Melbourne Storm.
"We're really fortunate that we are building a relationship with the (Melbourne) Storm in a sense that they come in, spoke about the heartbreak (of losing the premiership cup) and shared that experience.
"When they had their cups ripped off them, they played a season without points and basically won the competition and they stayed united.
"After the initial shock of that, then they just committed to the leadership and full preparation and full review because they knew they laid standards for future success.
"It's unlikely and probably impossible to play finals, but how we go about it now and try to prepare and compete and review, set standards for future success.
"I think (today) sits in that category."
Since that tumultuous time, the Storm have rebuilt into an NRL powerhouse, recording premierships in 2012, 2017 and 2020.
"There's a lot of lessons culturally you can take from (the Storm)," Lyon continued.
"We've done it off and on the field today but they've done it for a 10-year period so we got to build it out."
A key part of the Saints' future will be former top-10 Pick Mattaes Phillipou, who after playing every game in his first year, spent some time in the reserves in recent weeks.
"It's great to see Phillipou, who embraced his time in the seconds ... he worked on his midfield craft with Lenny Hayes, played and played and was happy to play and to improve," Lyon said.
Phillipou wasn't the only young gun who stood up when it mattered most as ruckman Rowan Marshall and Liam Henry were pivotal throughout the contest while Jack Higgins and Cooper Sharman had big moments.
Unrestricted free agent Josh Battle also lauded the direction the club is heading under Lyon despite heavy interest from Hawthorn.
Speaking toย News Corp post-game, Battle was adamant the Saints were on the right path despite putting contract talks on hold until the end of the year.
โThere has been a bit of noise around (about the contract) but my manager has been amazing, the club has been amazing and hopefully we can keep playing good footy and that (contract) will work itself out at the end of the year,โ Battle said.
โRoss has been brilliant with me, we have a great relationship and he is a great sounding board for me, so I am just going to keep trying to improve my footy and keep working with these guys.
โBut I have a lot of belief in Ross, his coaches and what we are implementing here."
Lyon and the Saints head to Adelaide to take on the Crows before a string of six consecutive games at Marvel Stadium to round out the season.
