Ross Lyon has officially been declared the coach of Fremantle but it's still no clearer why the old coach was arsed. Mark Harvey was sacked on Thursday afternoon by the CEO, in the company of Chris Bond and the President (someone had to make the coffees) and Ross Lyon was installed as coach a short while after that. Steve Harris had had breakfast with Mark Harvey earlier that morning, his expressionless face and dead eyes giving no indication that he knew anything (about anything) as usual. The result was the most publicity Fremantle has had in September since Chris Connolly nearly coached Fremantle to a premiership but far from the well executed plan it was touted to be, the discussions, decisions and final blows were done in a matter of a few days.

The story reads like a cheap romance novel. Fremantle CEO Steve Rosich met with Ross Lyon with nothing but the purest of intentions. A run of the mill business meeting that became so much more.

Being the thorough and professional businessman that he is, captain of a crack team down at the Fremantle bunker, he looked to the future and, purely as a precaution, sounded out St Kilda coach Ross Lyon about whether he might possibly be interested in, should events conspire in an particular way, be interested in coming to Fremantle at some point down the track.

Should things go pear shaped in 2012 and the Fremantle board were forced to make the tough decision not to renew Mark Harvey's contract, they thought it best to seek out a potential replacement so they could stay ahead of the game. Lyon's contract was also up at the end of 2012 so, should he take an interest in Fremantle, they would be able to pursue him with a better idea of where they stood.

Lyon indicated he would be interested in talking it through, once St Kilda was out of the finals. So  a meet was set up.

But when Rosich met Lyon face to face the chemistry was instant. Rosich fell in love, the club fell in love. Ross fell in love (well not so much love but he saw his ticket out of the Godless cess hole he was stuck in). Fremantle just had to have him. Consequences be damned.

So within a period of 72 hours, Fremantle decided they would leave Mark Harvey. Ross Lyon decided he would leave St Kilda. All that was left was to break off the relationships and the two would be free to parade their love for all to see. Neither Harvey nor St Kilda saw it coming. They’d both been planning for the new year, they had big plans, but love is blind to such things and the relationships were ended. Harvey given the arse with a year to go on his contract and Ross ringing St Kilda to tell him the deal was off. 

They decided to parade their aforementioned love in the offices of the mining company that sponsors Fremantle. It was a heated audience. Everyone liked Mark Harvey, some people seemed to like St Kilda, nobody cares much for Steve Rosich, none of them knew who Steve Haris was. Ross Lyon quickly realised why clubs usually hold a press conference to sack their coach then a second one to announce his replacement with the questions about loyalty and Mark Harvey strangely directed at him...the out of town hoochie who’d stolen Mark Harvey’s job.

Steve Rosich struggled to hide his love stuck grin throughout the announcement, shocked that the assembled media types didn't share his enthusiasm for his fantasy football team skills,
while President Steve Harris was outraged that the CEO of the AFL had questioned the way the club had handled themselves.

When asked what Mark Harvey had done wrong to get the sack, Rosich said that Mark Harvey was a top bloke and their time together had been great and he hoped they could remain friends. It's not him, it's us.

The club have apparently received many, many calls of support from the fans and see the decision as an act of loyalty to the members. Loyalty by ensuring that they will make finals and win premierships. They also showed loyalty to the sponsors by ringing them as soon as Mark Harvey had been shown the door. The loyalty didn’t come with a caveat that anyone would take the blame should the act of loyalty fail to deliver a premiership.

Ross Lyon made some comments, something about working towards goals and striving to achieve but the sleep apnea kicked in and no one can quite remember what his point was.