St Kilda coach Ross Lyon will be treating Sunday's blockbuster clash with Geelong at Etihad Stadium as just another game and is refusing to buy into the hype surrounding the top-of-the-table clash.
Sunday's clash will be the first time in the 113-year history of the VFL/AFL that two unbeaten teams have met this late into a season and earlier in the week Geelong coach Mark Thompson said his side would relish the opportunity to test where it is at at this stage of the season.
But Lyon, notoriously a slave to the process rather than the outcome, is not getting caught up ahead of the Saints' biggest home-and-away match in some years.
"We've got ourselves into a position that we're rapt to be in, but ultimately it's still about only four points this weekend. Even though it should be a fantastic game with two very good teams," he said.
"We're keen to bank another four points, because the home-and-away journey's about getting enough points to secure, top eight, top four and then hopefully top two. This is another step along that pathway."
Lyon is yet to taste victory over the Cats in his time in charge of the club and sees this clash as a great measuring stick for where his in-form side is at.
"It's been a big build up but one we are excited about being in. We'd prefer to be playing in these types of games, than down the lower reaches of the ladder. It's exciting for the club. We're rapt to be in it, it's going to challenge us and test us, and we're going to find out a fair bit about ourselves," he said.
According to the St Kilda coach, that lesson will be learned no matter what the result is on Sunday. Lyon even said that the result on Sunday will be secondary to the effort his players put in when out on the field.
"Win lose or draw, you always learn. In particular we've learned a lot of our losses. The Prelim against Hawthorn last year was significant, our last practice game we lost by 80 points to Port Power. We've been able to learn some lessons and improve," he said.
"You can win and play poor football or lose and play good football. You can lose having gone forward. But we don't focus on results, we focus on 'How was our effort today? What did that look like? Did we reproduce what we wanted to?'"
Much of the focus ahead of the game has been on the performance of St Kilda captain Nick Riewoldt, who has been one of the Saints' standout players in the run of 13 straight wins. While Lyon concedes that having an in-form centre half-forward is important to any team, he doesn't believe that his skipper's performance is the crucial factor in his team's prospects of beating the Cats.
"Clearly Nick is playing good football. He's kicked a number of goals and high score assists. He's our captain and a multiple B and F (best and fairest) winner. Centre half-forwards who are in good form are really important to helping your team function. Nick's been able to do that," Lyon said.
"But he's been one of 22. We've learned here that success doesn't come through four or five good players, it's really about weight of numbers and performance and that will be the aim on the weekend."
