New St Kilda coach Scott Watters was expansive about AFL opponents Fremantle and mentioned their former coach Mark Harvey but did not say Ross Lyon’s name once.

Watters was determined not to buy into the hype about his predecessor on the eve of the much-anticipated match between the two clubs on Friday night at Etihad Stadium.

It will be the first time that Lyon coaches against his old side after last September’s tumultuous events.

In the space of a few hours, Fremantle ruthlessly sacked Harvey and replaced him with Lyon, who had just walked out on the Saints.

Asked how much the St Kilda players had spoken about Lyon this week, Watters replied: “I can honestly say that has not been mentioned once.

“Again, players need to invest in their game plan, they need to invest in their own performance.

“They need to make sure they take care of business from a football point of view.

“There’s a lot of outside noise, potentially, but it has no impact on the way we prepare or play.

“It’s not on our priority list.”

Similarly, Watters was not interested in discussing how Saints fans would greet Lyon.

Saints veteran Lenny Hayes has called on their supporters to not vent at Lyon, who joked he might wear a spray jacket to the game.

“To be honest, I won’t even notice – it’s not even on my radar,” Watters said.

“I hope our fans support our players, I hope they make it a hostile environment for the Fremantle players, like any interstate side coming to Melbourne.

“Outside of that, the rest of it is discussion points for other people.”

Watters was more worried about the impact of Dockers stars such as Aaron Sandilands, Matthew Pavlich, Stephen Hill and Hayden Ballantyne.

“(They’re) strong defensively, hard-nosed pros – they’re an elite interstate side,” he said.

“I’m certainly not fooled into thinking this is an inexperienced or rebuilding team.

“The list they’ve built over three or four years under Mark Harvey is an outstanding list.”

Ballantyne will return from two games’ suspension after he created plenty of strife against Geelong in round one.

Cats defender Matthew Scarlett is in the last week of a three-game ban for punching Ballantyne.

Watters once coached Ballantyne in the WA state side and loves the small forward’s feisty attitude.

“He hasn’t changed one bit – I love his gamesmanship, I love the way he goes about it,” Watters said.

“Opposition players, umpires and coaches are getting more familiar with the way he goes about his business.

“We’ll be pretty disciplined and focussed, particularly playing against a quality player like `Ballers’.”

Meanwhile, Saints defender James Gwilt will resume in the VFL this weekend after recovering from his knee reconstruction.

Watters is hopeful Gwilt will be back in the seniors within a month.