St Kilda coach Ross Lyon says he is not concerned by the prospect of one of the wettest grand finals in years for Saturday's AFL premiership decider against Geelong at the MCG despite the fact his team has spent much of the season playing in pristine conditions at its indoor home ground Etihad Stadium.
In contrast Geelong's home ground Skilled Stadium is arguably the most weather affected ground in the competition with the Cats players regularly exposed to playing in wet and windy conditions.
The forecast for Saturday's grand final is for showers, hail and thunderstorms and north-westerly winds in excess of 40kph with a temperature of just 15 degrees with the MCG expected to resemble the depths of winter rather than early spring.
However Lyon is confident the Saints' game plan will hold up no matter what the conditions on Saturday, denying the Cats will have a major advantage if conditions do turn out to be as wet as expected given their greater exposure to such conditions in the past.
"I think the way we play we have got a game style that can stand up anywhere, any time and in any conditions," Lyon said on Tuesday.
"We have had some good wins in the wet, not as consistently (as Geelong) I suppose but AAMI Stadium (in Adelaide where the Saints won twice this year) gets pretty wild and (playing in) Tassie (where the Saints beat Hawthorn in Round 19 with a second string team) was a good experience."
"And even last week (during its seven-point preliminary final win over the Bulldogs at the MCG) everyone thought it was perfect (conditions) but it was really quite dewy so we will take whatever comes."
"We will play in the sun or the hail - it wouldn't matter at this time of the year."
While the Cats - who ended their own 44-year premiership drought two years ago - are aiming for their second flag in three years, following last year's shock loss to Hawthorn, on Saturday it is the Saints who head into Saturday's premiership decider with the weight of history and the burden of expectation on them.
After winning a club record 20 of 22 home and away games - including a six-point win over Geelong in their only home and away meeting in Round 14 - the Saints have their best chance of winning just their second flag in the competition's 112-year history and their first since that famous one-point win over Collingwood in 1966.
But Lyon says he is unconcerned by the pressure on his team to end its premiership drought going into Saturday's grand final - a pressure highlighted by the fact more than 10,000 fans turned up for a training session at Moorabbin on Tuesday afternoon in the middle of a normal working day in Melbourne.
"It's great for the fans and the club but we can't be distracted by it either," he said.
"We are focused on preparing really well and they (Geelong) are a great team with three successive grand final appearances and a premiership and we want to be a great team and we still have got some work to do."
Lyon insisted he will not even mention 1966 in the lead-up to Saturday's grand final decider.
"It (1966) has no role whatsoever," Lyon said.
"It has no relevance, if you can tell me how it will help or hinder us I am happy to hear it but I have delved into and I can't see any help or hindrance (in talking about it) so therefore it's irrelevant."