(Murray Middleton was the winner of The Age short story competition in 2010.)

The football world got a taste of Ross Lyon's infamous ‘bubble' last week. No one - not even Lyon's management company - had any idea that he had been negotiating with the Fremantle hierarchy. Like all great coups, it was swift and ruthless.

During his time as coach of St Kilda, Lyon cultivated an insular world for his players. Nothing got in and nothing got out without his consent. This pioneered a siege mentality which seemed to finally catch up with the club during their disappointing elimination-final loss to Sydney.

In five years at St Kilda, Lyon had a 63% winning record, the best of any current AFL coach with more than one year of experience. He coached the Saints to four finals appearances and three grand finals.

Lyon deserves a lot of credit for what he accomplished at St Kilda. Unfortunately, like every Saints' coach aside from ‘Yabby' Jeans, he failed to achieve the ultimate success.

I've always found it strange when people, such as Joan Rivers-lookalike Shane Warne, criticise Lyon for adopting an unattractive brand of football. Football is a results-based industry. When coaches stop being judged on their win-loss ratio, then, and only then, should aesthetics enter the equation.

I'm sure Lyon never cared whether his side was attractive to the neutral viewer. I loved turning up every week knowing the Saints would make a contest. The only problem with Lyon's approach, at times, was that it lacked flexibility.

In January this year Paul Cahill, Zac Dawson, Rhys Stanley and Jack Steven were caught using sleeping pills and alcohol in Queenstown. It was an unmitigated disaster for the club. The seven-day training camp in New Zealand was supposed to act as a circuit-breaker for the adverse publicity the club had been receiving in Melbourne.

There were also allegations that players had urinated on a shop window and been involved in a street fight in Queenstown. Add to this allegations of sexual assault against Andrew Lovett, the cross-examination of several star Saints during the ensuing trial, the prospect of Stephen Milne's case being re-opened, the fictional ‘schoolgirl' pregnancy, the nude photo scandal, the Ricky Nixon romp and it is easy to understand why Lyon might have reached his threshold.

Throughout this season I have regularly stated that I wouldn't begrudge Lyon if he walked away from the club. As opposed to many Saints fans, I'm not angry at Lyon for what has transpired. In recent weeks it's been made abundantly clear that loyalty is a diminishing trait in AFL circles.

Lyon's players rarely let him down on the field. They demonstrated a willingness to put their trust in his regime, despite teething problems, and to adhere to his defensive ethos.

They let their coach down off the field time and time again. They repeatedly ignored his pleas to curb their enthusiasm and finally the bubble burst. If a no-nonsense customer such as Lyon couldn't tame the wayward Saints, who on earth can?

In spite of everything I've mentioned, there are several reasons why the Saints are better off without Ross Lyon. After all, when your girlfriend leaves you for someone else, the first thing you do (after wrestling with John Barleycorn) is convince yourself why you're better off without her.

In The Age yesterday, Martin Blake made reference to the challenges which will be faced by St Kilda's next coach. Blake wrote: "It's not an especially attractive job at all, whichever way you look at it."

This is largely Lyon's fault. He has always adhered to the Sydney mantra of avoiding the perceived indignity of ‘bottoming out'. There is certainly some merit to this approach. However it has meant that Lyon has managed St Kilda's list in a short-sighted manner.

In a bid to remain in contention in recent seasons, Lyon has recruited numerous recycled players - Ryan Gamble, Brett Peake, Dean Polo, Adam Patterson, Charlie Gardner - who have curtailed the progress of younger, more talented specimens.

It's interesting to consider such an approach in light of the events of the past week. Perhaps Lyon was ensuring that his stocks remained high should the need arise to jump ship?

The club's most successful young player in 2011 has been Jack Steven. He is tough, nuggetty and thrives at the stoppages. He has been the sole beneficiary of Lenny Hayes' knee injury. Put simply, Steven plays the Ross Lyon way.

Conversely, Rhys Stanley has been horribly mismanaged by Ross Lyon over the past three seasons. Stanley won the grand final sprint in 2009; not a bad effort for a 200-centimetre ruckman. In his second match in 2010 Stanley kicked a superb goal against Adelaide, displaying his breakneck speed and willingness to take the opposition on. He performed commendably in Nick Riewoldt's absence.

Yet Stanley has proved to be too raw for Lyon's rigorous ‘Saints Footy' mould. Lyon believes that Stanley isn't a natural footballer and lacks heart. He has deprived Stanley of up to 15 senior games in the past two seasons, at times opting for cumbersome creatures such as Adam Patterson instead.

Athletes like Stanley don't come along too often. The only player remotely like him in the competition is Fremantle's Zac Clarke. If a coach can't, or isn't willing, to turn a gifted individual such as Stanley into a footballer, there is a patent flaw in their approach to the game.

In the 2009 grand final, Lyon deployed Sean Dempster as his sixth forward. It didn't work. He refused to address the issue throughout the 2010 season and was left with the same quandary in the lead-up to last year's decider.

This time he opted for foot soldiers Andrew McQualter and Robert Eddy as small forwards. Neither player had much of an impact in either grand final. It showed a lack of foresight and, more pointedly, a lack of creativity on Lyon's behalf.

Lyon has churned through assistant coaches in recent seasons. The likes of Stephen Silvagni, Andy Lovell, Anthony Rock, John Barker, Tony Elshaugh and Leigh Tudor have all departed the club under Lyon's tenure.

Lyon alluded to this fact after St Kilda's 25-point loss to Sydney in the elimination final: "I'm not very easily pleased. I'm really hard to work with."

No matter how difficult he was to work with, Ross Lyon will be even more difficult for the St Kilda hierarchy to replace.

The next coaching appointment will reveal the club's hand. They will either opt for an experienced coach - in a bid to fight the light - or they will appoint a rookie coach to oversee a rebuilding phase.

During a 2010 training camp, Lyon summoned the St Kilda players to a 6am session after learning that two members of the rehabilitation group had been involved in another drunken episode. He spoke bluntly to the playing group about their options.

"We can be a great team or we can follow the St Kilda tradition of being pretty good for a while and then turning to shit," he said.

In a circuitous way, all concerned have made their choice.