Ross Lyon is the AFL's best coach, according to Dockers president Steve Harris TOP BILLING: Ross Lyon is the best coach in the AFL, according to Fremantle president Steve Harris. ROSS Lyon is the best coach in the competition and his arrival at Fremantle has sparked a cultural transformation of the entire club, according to Dockers president Steve Harris. Fremantle has this weekend off after its Round 1 victory over West Coast and will take on the Western Bulldogs at Etihad Stadium on Saturday as it seeks to continue its perfect start to the new season. In an interview with The Sunday Times, Harris said he firmly believed Lyon was capable of leading the Dockers to their first premiership. "We genuinely believe Ross is the best coach in the AFL," Harris said. So we're capable of doing it. Ross is someone who is capable of taking us there. Harris said the leadership structure and training introduced to the club by Lyon had even helped the club's board. "It's been a transformation culturally that has gone wider than just the team," he said. His personal high standards and his desire for excellence in performance and continuous improvement has infected not only the coaching staff and the playing group, but that's actually gone out into the wider team. He's had a club-wide delivery and I think everyone has higher expectations on themselves in the club, and I think you're seeing that in our supporters and members as well. They've got higher expectations; as they should. Lyon crossed from St Kilda to the Dockers 18 months ago amid high drama, replacing Mark Harvey who was sacked despite having a year remaining on his contract. Harris said Fremantle needed to grow ahead of the move to the Burswood stadium in 2018 and hoped for crowds of about 50,000 at the new venue. The managing director of advertising company The Brand Agency, Harris said he recognised the huge marketing power of Hawthorn's out-of-contract star Lance Franklin. But he was adamant he would never try to influence recruiting decisions for financial reasons. "If you look at the jumpers he sells and people who buy Hawthorn gear, they'd be buying Buddy's jumper," Harris said. (But) I've never yet sat in a meeting where we've talked about, 'if we got this player, they'd be great for membership', or anything like that. I think if we're making decisions around the marketability of a player, we'd be making the wrong decisions. And when you get the president getting too involved in list management, I think things would run off the rails.