Telling article by Mike Sheahan

[rodgerfox]

We don't lack class.

We've the best top end talent in the comp by a stretch.


However as a 'team', we've been taught to play without class.

[philtee]

The usual 20:20 hindsight from Mike.
Poor man must be a little giddy from jumping on and off all the bandwagons
this year. Cats, Bulldogs, Saints, Pies, he's been on them all.
How many columns has he started this year with the words "OK, I was wrong about..."
He's a fair weather traveller, and it often makes him wrong.

AND AN EDIT -
If we took Mike seriously we'd still be backing the Bulldogs for Premiers.
His frequent technique is to select an argument and then retrospectively cherry-pick
the evidence to suit it. I didn't believe him earlier this year when he lauded the Saints, and I
don't believe him now.

[SaintPav]

We won 19 in a row last year and were the best defensive team of all time.

We had won 40 out of 46.

5 prelims in 7 years.

The comparisons to pies 02-03 are wrong. We're better than he is saying....

[wallbanger]

Articles like this, jumping on a losing GF team, always make me laugh. While he has a point about of lack of class, I would like to know who he thinks is going to take it up to Collingwood next year and make the GF instead of St Kilda? In a year that was full of nightmare after nightmare, this team still beat 14 others to make it through to the last stand - which they then drew with the eventual Premiers and, at the whim of a bouncing footy, would've had a premiership Cup themselves.

Hold back on your "harsh reality" speeches Mike. Somehow I can't see Bulldogs, Geelong, Hawthorn, Fremantle, Sydney or Carlton knocking St Kilda out next year, even if Ross and the coaching staff made absolutely no changes to strategy or personnel - which clearly won't be the case.

The footy world better hope the Saints get up again, because we are the great white hope to prevent a Collingwood dynasty.

[Thinline]

He writes what most people say on here but some get upset about it. maybe he should write what he doesnt believe just so a few on here feel better. Good article on what most seem to be saying on this site.

He writes what he's paid to write.

And what he writes is influenced by many things.

Collingwood's open door, red carpet ride media policy which has Eddie always available, a range of talkative players put forward every week, and a training facility that invites easy access to crowds, colour and therefore cameras makes journos giving them a 'run' on TV and in print an absolute no brainer. Like everyone, journos will loom to maximise output for minimal effort. Collingwood makes that easy.

They also have a passionate supporter base of a kind who would happily read about the odour of a wet Daisy Thomas fart if such were offered column space.

St Kilda on the other hand has been a perennial whipping boy so it is a soft target historically and as a result cops both barrels whenever there's a sniff of scandal or the opportunity exists to sink the boot in. Add to that the irrefutable FACT that St Kilda as a public entity has a bunker mentality fed by a fear of how powerful the media can be in making the club look rather silly (see the schoolgirl sex scandal for evidence of that). We are also renowned in medial circles as being a difficult club to deal with probably second only to Brisbane. As a result or in addition, take you pick, we have few natural media performers. Our coach has grown into the only one we have. Maybe that's his choice. I suspect it is. Riewoldt is Riewoldt. But no one else is put forward or puts their hand up. By design? Maybe. Whatever the case may be, week after week of the same 'pleasing' 'bubble' 'mentally strong' grabs must drive the scribes insane.

The end result is media's view of St K will always be tainted.

The decision you have to make as a media consumer is either consider the above whenever your read the sports pages or else look somewhere other than the Hun (in particular) for your St Kilda news.

The media WANT content. If they don't get content, they will twist arms until they do. You either work with them, or have them work against you.

It's natural paradox, but one that is fed by media consumers own insatiable desire for relatively useless information.

And that final point is probably the most telling.

[older saint]

remember every year the premiers are set for years of greatness ( Hawthorn dynasty of 08 onwards) and the losers are on the slide.

MS changes like the wind. We have agoodlaugh at work each year with his premiership predictions and how they change from week to week.This year was not soo bad he only tipped Coll, Geel, WB and Hawthorn.

Master of Hindsight means any credibility when he writes is gone.

[stevie]

Articles like this, jumping on a losing GF team, always make me laugh. While he has a point about of lack of class, I would like to know who he thinks is going to take it up to Collingwood next year and make the GF instead of St Kilda? In a year that was full of nightmare after nightmare, this team still beat 14 others to make it through to the last stand - which they then drew with the eventual Premiers and, at the whim of a bouncing footy, would've had a premiership Cup themselves.

Hold back on your "harsh reality" speeches Mike. Somehow I can't see Bulldogs, Geelong, Hawthorn, Fremantle, Sydney or Carlton knocking St Kilda out next year, even if Ross and the coaching staff made absolutely no changes to strategy or personnel - which clearly won't be the case.

The footy world better hope the Saints get up again, because we are the great white hope to prevent a Collingwood dynasty.

Yeah I was thinking this , amongst all the despair. There's no reason why we can't be back in next year's GF, no reason at all!!

who's to say the pie young guys won't get ahead of themselves, now they've won a medal so early. How do we know this wasn't their one-off season where it all went right, just like the hawks in 08.

Some people are saying the pies can win the next three or four flags - I say BALONEY!!
They are nowhere near the Cats were at their peak 2 years ago. They don't have the mental toughness.
The only thing that may favour them is that the other top teams below us and them ,seem to have dropped off the pace. The Cats will take time to adjust to life without Gazza, the dogs are getting worse and the other teams are too far back.

[Thinline]

With the two new teams coming in, it certainly makes the scene a bit weird. Plenty of sides will look to rebuild and consolidate. We are one of the few sides with the opportunity and the mature cattle to continue to mount season long challenges. I'm not sure where that leaves us in three or four years, but for now it's game on.

[Con Gorozidis]

We don't lack class.

We've the best top end talent in the comp by a stretch.


However as a 'team', we've been taught to play without class.

true. our top 6 are awesome. but there is a certain stifling going on. reminds me of my old school headmaster who used to say "dont stick your neck up or ill chop it off".

there is preference for dour types that is often illogical and sniffs of ideology over reality. the coach is taking his own self proclaimed "vanillaness" too seriously.

at the end of the day its just a game of footy and its a game. so its important to have structures and defense in play but also important to just play with dash and fun sometimes.

I saw Lyons post-match comments and they worried me. he misinterpreted the loss in my opinion (mind u i wont hold what he said straight after the game against him - im sure he will have more time to think in the next few months) but just saying the Pies played 2009 mark II with their frontal press and pressure and all over the park defense doesnt tell the whole story. They also played with attacking flair and dash and daring. Something only grammy really does for us and he he has a gammy groin and a weird kicking technique. Defense is good and is the platform for premierships no doubt. but when u have the pill u need to run and link and dash. something we rarely do.....

once grammy did his groin we were in all sorts..... id have played miles 9instead of eddy) to cover for grammy. besides bj noone was prepared to take on an opponent.

i think footy 20111 will be be desctibed as

"defend like crazy and run like hell"

[Cairnsman]

Isn't it ironic that Mike has accused us of lacking class.

I suppose class comes in all shapes and forms.

Personally I like the type of class embodied in the St Kilda Football Club.

[Thinline]

Isn't it ironic that Mike has accused us of lacking class.

I suppose class comes in all shapes and forms.

Personally I like the type of class embodied in the St Kilda Football Club.

I assume you're referring to certain allegations floating about?

If so, f*** yeah.

[Cairnsman]

Isn't it ironic that Mike has accused us of lacking class.

I suppose class comes in all shapes and forms.

Personally I like the type of class embodied in the St Kilda Football Club.

I assume you're referring to certain allegations floating about?

If so, f*** yeah.

You got it.

[Con Gorozidis]

Isn't it ironic that Mike has accused us of lacking class.

I suppose class comes in all shapes and forms.

Personally I like the type of class embodied in the St Kilda Football Club.

I assume you're referring to certain allegations floating about?

If so, f*** yeah.

You got it.

the stuff in the herald sun or have u got guys got something more juicy?
if so please share.

[gringo]

Collingwood had a lot of ok young players in those years and quite a few didn't end up showing the potential some thought they had. Leon Davis Cloke mark 1 etc.

We have a much, much better core than they did. Don't worry about petty journos laying the boot. We just stick in bubble and he will go away.

Where is his article on how the pies look like imploding now that controversy surrounds them in the week of their greatest victory, kind of reminds me of 1990 all over again. History is deceiving Mike.

[Sainternist]

I was unfortunate to read this article today over a coffee break and was utterly annoyed with it.

Mike Sheahan is a complete jerk and that is why I rarely read his articles.

Anyone remember comedian Rob Sitch's observation about Sheahan looking like a Luna Park Clown in the days when he was on Channel 7's "Talking Footy" back in the 90's?

I have been calling him the Luna Park Clown ever since. Plus, if you spell Luna Park back to front it pretty much amounts to what the tosser comes up with in his writing.

[I Love Peter Kiel]

I have been calling him the Luna Park Clown ever since. Plus, if you spell Luna Park back to front it pretty much amounts to what the tosser comes up with in his writing.

That is very funny! Let me just add again what a COMPLETE a*sh*le Sheahan is!

[lefty]

Stanley, Walsh, Steven, Miles, Armitage, Raph, Geary should all play next year. I would rather Gardiner and Kosi weren't in the team; both are dinosaurs now. We will need to take gambles next year.

I'd say Stanley, Steven, Miles, Armitage, Geary, Winmar, Smith need to all be playing next year.

[vacuous space]

Interesting to see Mike pumping up the tyres of Jarryd Blair. If you'd swapped Eddy for Blair, I don't think many would have noticed. Toovey shut down McQualter and used the ball poorly. Leigh Brown looked like the player North axed. Goldsack kicked a goal and then disappeared.

I don't see much difference between our bottom sixes. They've probably got the better numbers 17 and 18, if that's really worth much. I still think the telling stat is the 17-5 out of the middle. Lenny and Joey are far more culpable for the loss than our lack of depth/class/whatever Mike's stammering on about this week.

[Mr Magic]

Interesting to see Mike pumping up the tyres of Jarryd Blair. If you'd swapped Eddy for Blair, I don't think many would have noticed. Toovey shut down McQualter and used the ball poorly. Leigh Brown looked like the player North axed. Goldsack kicked a goal and then disappeared.

I don't see much difference between our bottom sixes. They've probably got the better numbers 17 and 18, if that's really worth much. I still think the telling stat is the 17-5 out of the middle. Lenny and Joey are far more culpable for the loss than our lack of depth/class/whatever Mike's stammering on about this week.

Careful, you'll incur the wrath of the doomsayers!
That's tantamount to heresy.