Port Adelaide, Hawthorn and Sydney head the field after nine rounds of action, and Lyon told 6PR’s Sports Today there was a reason why.
“I think at the moment there’s clearly three – Port Adelaide, Hawthorn, and Sydney’s form at the moment, with personnel availability and form, rightly deserve to be premiership favourites,” he said.
“The rest are trying to prove to be more consistent than we are at the minute.”
Fremantle enters its bye with a 5-4 record, and many experts are predicting it to push for the top four in the second half of the season because of a supposedly easier draw.
But Lyon disagreed.
“Everyone is starting to bang on about our draw opening up, but people writing or talking about those things certainly aren’t looking at Adelaide beating Collingwood or Melbourne beating Richmond,” he said.
“There’s a lot of seesaw results and that’s the way it’s designed.
“I knew coming in it’d be incredibly even. It’s what the AFL’s been after and it’s occurring.
“At this level, if you’re off five per cent in your intensity or (not) working together, you’re going to be under a lot of pressure.
“It’s going to be a challenging year for everybody.”
