Ross Lyon might have cut a cocksure figure as he assured the assembled media at Moorabbin on Tuesday that the Saints had done their due diligence before the now ill-fated decision to trade their first-round pick to Essendon in exchange for Andrew Lovett.

But rest assured the Saints are anxious at how the media chooses to spin the turn of events that saw them lose Luke Ball to Collingwood for nothing and now, not have Lovett as his replacement.

As we at The Toy Department understand it, two senior St Kilda football department figures spent about 20 minutes on Tuesday evening tearing strips off one veteran Melbourne footy scribe, who had already gone public with a damning view of St Kilda’s recent list management.

Very touchy they are at Moorabbin and when you’re coming off such a narrow defeat in a grand final, you’re on a hiding to nothing. The Saints need to walk away with the silverware this season or legitimate questions will be asked about why they let Ball walk away for nothing and then rolled the dice to secure obviously damaged goods in Lovett.

It was interesting to hear Matthew Lloyd say on Melbourne radio station SEN on Wednesday morning that if the Saints conducted their due diligence on Lovett that they claimed to have done, that they didn’t speak to him in his capacity as the most recent captain of Essendon.

If they didn’t speak to the skipper, and they already knew that Lovett had twice been suspended by Bomber coach Matthew Knights, just who was it from Windy Hill who advised them that Lovett would be a good pick-up?

All credit to the Saints if they can put all this behind them and win that elusive second flag. But for now, we suggest this has been a major distraction.

On a related matter, it has been fascinating to observe the AFL Players Association’s stance on all this. The AFLPA and the league have been all but joined at the hip in recent years, in common agreement on most issues and with matters such as the Collective Bargaining Agreement signed off with a minimum of fuss and even less rancour.

But this could be the issue that drives a wedge between the two bodies. The Saints clearly sacked Lovett with the consent of the AFL, prompting the AFPLA to label the move as “disappointing” and call out the Saints for not allowing a grievance resolution procedure lodged by Lovett to run its course.

Negotiations for the next CBA are on the horizon. You have to wonder whether events of the past few days will lead to a harder edge to those discussions.