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The Saints made finals in Lyon’s first year in 2023, but finished 12th last year, despite winning eight of their final 12 games.

Lyon, who led the Saints in three grand finals in his previous tenure, and also a lost a grand final with Fremantle, said he remained as committed as ever to his craft, heading into Sunday’s season-opener in Adelaide against the Crows.

“I’m as passionate about coaching and bringing this club success as I was on the first day I walked through the doors over 15 years ago,” Lyon said.

“Holding the position of senior coach is a privilege I don’t take lightly. It is my responsibility to make those around me not only better but great, so that we as a collective can realise our club’s potential.

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“We will leave no stone unturned over the next three years to ensure we take purposeful, powerful steps towards achieving the ultimate success.”

In a statement later released by the club, Bassat said the time was right to offer Lyon an extension.

“By extending Ross’ contract, we are ensuring stability in leadership and reinforcing our commitment to long-term success. In the past, we have wavered from our plans, but this decision reflects our resolve to stay the course this time,” Bassat said.

“We have made strong progress on our planned build towards contention since Ross rejoined us.

“We have transformed from one of the oldest lists in the competition to one of the youngest through considered list management, bolstered our development and analytic capabilities, gotten more games into players under 21 than almost any other team, assembled an enviable coaching panel, and streamlined many day-to-day processes.

“We are striving across all areas to not only meet best practice but to be best in class.”

Lyon’s extension comes in the same week Essendon opted to give coach Brad Scott a one-year extension, tying him to the club until the end of 2027, prompting criticism from club greats James Hird and Matthew Lloyd on Footy Classified.

Scott has not led the Bombers into the finals in his two years in charge.

The premiership coach spoke at length on Wednesday about how had erred by engaging in “banter” with Kingsley, a close friend of his, but shut down questions focusing on his interaction with Bedford, who had been applying a close tag on Magpies star Nick Daicos.

“I’m cheeky, and I’ve got a great relationship with Kingers, and so I have a bit of banter with him but then I realised really quickly, particularly when my wife tells me the next day, you can’t do that, Craig,” McRae said.

“And I understand, for the look of the game, it’s not what we want, for the AFL or for young coaches aspiring to be more than that, they’re going to sometimes get a bit too cheeky, I apologise for that.”

Though McRae’s jibe – a “well done” to Bedford for giving away a 50-metre penalty in an off-the-ball collision with Daicos – was relatively harmless, the coach was wary of the message it sent to coaches at the grassroots level, saying it was not good for the game.

“My little girl plays at Williamstown under 10s, and if her coach was doing that to the other under 10s, I’d be going, ‘Oh, come on mate, what are you doing?’” McRae said.

“So for that reason, I could be cheeky doing during the week, but yeah, I’ve got a responsibility for the game.”

Pressed on whether he had erred by interacting with a player, which earned $20,000 fines for Port Adelaide coach Ken Hinkley and Giants football boss Jason McCartney during last year’s finals series, McRae said: “I think I’ve made enough comments about that. I think we’re all good with that. I take responsibility for all my actions and I want to be a good role model.”

Howe is likely to play after exceeding expectations at training on Wednesday but there are more doubt over Josh Daicos, the club’s best and fairest winner in 2023, due to an ankle issue.

“He’s probably a test Friday, more than Howie, both will be a race to the line,” McRae said.

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McRae defended Nick Daicos’ preparation after he was severely impeded by cramp in the warm and humid conditions.

“We’ve never seen him cramp before, but when you look at his GPS [numbers] in the first half, it was off the charts,” McRae said. “I’ve never seen anyone run as hard for as long as he did in that first half. So we’ve got to protect him from himself sometimes.”

McRae said he had “zero fear” over the fitness of his team.

“We need to work on our game in terms of getting our systems right, to be able to look like we’ve got more energy,” McRae said. “And that’s something we’ve worked we’ve gone to work on this week.”

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