St Kilda coach Ross Lyon has taken another not-so-veiled swipe at reporters in his press conference on Friday morning, declaring he has “no relationship with the media”.

The traditionally prickly head coach came under fire again this week for a condescending post-match press conference in the wake of the club’s one-point defeat to Adelaide.

While trying to defend saying the club had “improved” so far this season while sitting 2-4 after round six, he went through the Saints’ list of opponents pretending to try and remember how many had played finals last season.

Club president Andrew Bassat was forced to defend the 59-year-old’s attitude to the press, given Saturday was just the latest in a career-long history of media run-ins, including another recent press conference where Lyon claimed the media ask “stupid questions”.

When the subject was broached to the man himself on Friday, Lyon said he didn’t need to assess his “relationship” with the media.

“I don’t assess my relationship, I have no relationship with the media,” he said.

“I represent the club, and I roll up to the press conferences as they’re scheduled and probably aim to answer concisely.”

And then, when asked about Lance Collard, who had his ban for using a homophobic slur reduced from nine weeks to four with two suspended, Lyon refused to offer his “reflections”, saying, “we acknowledge the appeals board’s decision and the club’s holding statement is there, and there’s no real further comments from me”.

It comes as the Saints prepare to face West Coast at Marvel Stadium on Sunday, with Lyon saying he was looking forward to coming up against Andrew McQualter, who played 89 games for St Kilda, some under Lyon.

However, when asked if he would deploy a tag for Eagles’ young gun Harley Reid, he said they don’t look at individual players.

“It’s not about individuals, it’s about team defence and primarily about our football,” he said.

A tag proved highly successful against Reid during Sydney’s mammoth 128-point victory over West Coast at Optus Stadium in round four.