The club had wins over Richmond in the round of 16, Geelong in the quarter-finals, Essendon in the semi-finals and won the final against the Adelaide Crows by five points at Football Park (AAMI stadium) 2-7-9-(69) to 0-9-10-(64) - St Kilda's third preseason cup win in the AFL.

Jason Gram won the Michael Tuck medal for the player judged best on ground during the final.

This mixed season drew both criticism and praise at differing times towards Lyon from supporters and the media.

His game plan has been described as one championing accountability, similar to the Sydney Swans model by Paul Roos.

[1] Lyon's surprise move to drop midfielder Nick Dal Santo (as well as Stephen Milne) from the side was due to them not meeting these "benchmarks".