Lyon 'acted bizarre'

[Spinner]

GT also lost

A.Hamill, M.Maguire, M.Hudghton, S.Fisher, J.Koschitzke, x.Clarke..... All at the pointy end of seasons

Good point - at what point did he decide to keep playing Luke Ball?

Did you say playing or paying?

Regardless I think it was about 600 o clock.

[Teflon]

Good post Greg.

But I am watching Lyon at Freo with interest - they will lose Sandilands, Mcpharlin, Pav's getting on (been v lucky injury wise till now).......sure, has some good mids......but those are KPP and hard to replace. Ross willhave to either develop OR go shopping. I expect Freo to make massive offers end year.

Can he develop? can he build a list? aka Malthouse re building Pies after failing early 00's THAT IMO is a true test of a great coach.

Watching Freo sneak home against Tigers I couldnt help but feel they were lucky and still struggling to score, unable to put a side away. I think against quality opposition with some flair that game plan falls over. The game has past it by so Freo might have just paid 1.5m for last years newspaper....time will tell.

Cheers Teflon
I also watch with interest,but I can't help but feel that in his short time there ,they are a well drilled accomplished side
from the Harvey coaching which Freo were clearly an easy beats side.
They have clearly taken some bigger scalps,win the closer games ,just a better unit I feel.
Maybe they were lucky against the tigers ,but they stopped them winning.Point taken.
Your right about ,chq book,recruiting etc.1.5 is a lot for last years paper.
What's worse for us were taking interest in Freo cause of Ross.Never would of thought that

The guy can certainly get a group to follow him thats for sure - I agree in a short time Freo are a better side and Harvey was a spud.

[SainterK]

Teflon, I think Freo were aware of his 'weakness' and he has little to do with developing his own or shopping at Freo...

[saintly]

A guy who would know told me that Lyon had been doing a deal with Freo way before it is supposed to have. The public version isn't exactly as it happened including sounding out staff required. He certainly looked disinterested in the final game and seemed to be shooting down the playing group. Lost plenty of resect for him because of the way it was handled.

i heard that also, but fprobably from here or big footy

[saintly]

I think everyone is overlooking the indisputable fact that after Lyon had taken us to two Grand Finals at the end of 2010, he still had a clause in his contract that enabled his contract to be terminated with three months (12 weeks) notice. So in effect a coach who had taken us to two successive Grand Finals and was arguably the best coach in the competition, was left on a contract which was in reality and practically, a 12 week contract. Don't any of you think that this was a disgraceful set of circumstances. Sure the circumstances surrounding Lyon's departure were disappointing, however IMO his contract was a disgrace and that responsibility lays at the feet of the Board.

and you are overlooking the in disputable fact that in may 2011, Lyon still had 1.5 years to go.

i believe that the out clause was becuase management was worried after the thommo debarkle and how that ended.

[Teflon]

Teflon, I think Freo were aware of his 'weakness' and he has little to do with developing his own or shopping at Freo...

sorry not sure what that means- he has little to do?

any rate, I think Freo realised they had a cabbage as coach and saw a good one they could get and went for it....dont think his weaknesses were top of mind when they parted with 1.5m...

[saintly]

I think you let Thomas off a lot

Sure he has issues with Butters but from all reports he had issues with more people than Butters

I question Thomas's game plan with arguably a better list and I don't believe Grant had the tactical nous to take us on a 19 straight season. He also had his shocking recruiting so apart from being gifted some very good draft choices and a disgruntled Hamill/Gehrig after more cash ... I'm not convinced of this so called "long term plan for the list"

Lyon did a lot wrong - both men megalomaniacs . One can't get a job the other went back to back GF's before being poached for 1.5m.

I think you are harsh on GT. I dont see how you can blame him for the recruiting. It seems the problem with recruiting is we didnt spend enough money on it. Also im also pretty sure GT had no interest in getting another job in the AFL. I reckon he earns a fair bit more outside the AFL.

amybe you could blame him for trainging services, and all those soft tissue injuries playing Kosi when injured etc etc

[Teflon]

true but the 300g's spent going to Sth Africa to "round out young men" wouldve been handy spent on sports science for our players......(Dank wouldve had a field day with that!!)

[saintly]

I think you let Thomas off a lot

Sure he has issues with Butters but from all reports he had issues with more people than Butters

I question Thomas's game plan with arguably a better list and I don't believe Grant had the tactical nous to take us on a 19 straight season. He also had his shocking recruiting so apart from being gifted some very good draft choices and a disgruntled Hamill/Gehrig after more cash ... I'm not convinced of this so called "long term plan for the list"

Lyon did a lot wrong - both men megalomaniacs . One can't get a job the other went back to back GF's before being poached for 1.5m.

I think you are harsh on GT. I dont see how you can blame him for the recruiting. It seems the problem with recruiting is we didnt spend enough money on it. Also im also pretty sure GT had no interest in getting another job in the AFL. I reckon he earns a fair bit more outside the AFL.

Lyon seems to routinely be blamed for recruiting as head coach but Grant's immune? - odd.

Lets get real GT couldn't get another job in AFL circles - as usual he'd burnt all bridges there. Lets remember Grant got a lot of his coin for the Brighton house purchase by befriending then duding a dopey Butters (who is wealthy) only after using that friendship to be placed in a well paid, senior AFL coaching role with no apprenticeship and only Warnambool as his coaching claim to fame...

Time is already being kind on here to Grant's legacy..I recall by 2006 being overrun by Melbourne in finals ....his "tacical brilliance" was exhasuted by then and as usual we were left with "man management" corporate KPI, cliched-drivel after a loss all based on emotion. Interestingly that style of one trick coaching went out in the 60's and bringing it back never provides sustainable results....ask Danny Frawley...

To be fair, I do think after the Blight fiasco we needed a strong Saints person in charge and Grant was good , along with Butters, at steadying the ship BUT I still believe he then over stayed his welcome and started reading/believing his own press and hung on to long damaging the club till we ultimately had to pay him out to be rid of him.I was intrigued to read today how 2 then Board members wanted to sack Thomas even if he won a GF such was their disdain for the man - one only has to listen to him speak to understand why that would be.

he was needed after Blight. but i had always thought he should have left after 3 years. i remember him keep saying he would go if anyone was better. but he didn't

[plugger66]

I think you let Thomas off a lot

Sure he has issues with Butters but from all reports he had issues with more people than Butters

I question Thomas's game plan with arguably a better list and I don't believe Grant had the tactical nous to take us on a 19 straight season. He also had his shocking recruiting so apart from being gifted some very good draft choices and a disgruntled Hamill/Gehrig after more cash ... I'm not convinced of this so called "long term plan for the list"

Lyon did a lot wrong - both men megalomaniacs . One can't get a job the other went back to back GF's before being poached for 1.5m.

I think you are harsh on GT. I dont see how you can blame him for the recruiting. It seems the problem with recruiting is we didnt spend enough money on it. Also im also pretty sure GT had no interest in getting another job in the AFL. I reckon he earns a fair bit more outside the AFL.

amybe you could blame him for trainging services, and all those soft tissue injuries playing Kosi when injured etc etc

Why? I doubt he was on the medical staff.

[BigMart]

Weren't we run over in 2006 because we had barely an interchange after HT?

The simple fact remains is that he is one of only 4 reasonably successful coaches in the clubs 100 odd year history.

He did clean out, set some standards and build and develop a list.... If Watters does as well as GT ill be happy....

A three year turn around would do me?!

[Moorabbin Man]

Weren't we run over in 2006 because we had barely an interchange after HT?

The simple fact remains is that he is one of only 4 reasonably successful coaches in the clubs 100 odd year history.

He did clean out, set some standards and build and develop a list.... If Watters does as well as GT ill be happy....

A three year turn around would do me?!

Yes indeed, as I recall Kosi was on fire and Melbourne were on the ropes, then Kosi copped one on the scone early in the 2nd quarter and was off for most of the rest of the game and a few players went down. We had NO ONE on the bench for the entire second half, with Hamil lumbering around completely unfit and Gehrig hopping around on one foot in the forward line. Still Melbourne took until late in the final quarter to take the lead.

[Moorabbin Man]

I think everyone is overlooking the indisputable fact that after Lyon had taken us to two Grand Finals at the end of 2010, he still had a clause in his contract that enabled his contract to be terminated with three months (12 weeks) notice. So in effect a coach who had taken us to two successive Grand Finals and was arguably the best coach in the competition, was left on a contract which was in reality and practically, a 12 week contract. Don't any of you think that this was a disgraceful set of circumstances. Sure the circumstances surrounding Lyon's departure were disappointing, however IMO his contract was a disgrace and that responsibility lays at the feet of the Board.

Your understanding of contracts is so fundamentally flawed it's basically impossible to know where to begin...

On the contrary I have extensive experience with contracts, ensuring they are airtight, finding ways around them and making sure lawyers didn't f**k them (as is a common occurrence in the Corporate sector. Is that where you're from?).

I also might point out that you cannot under any circumstances withhold an employee's annual leave entitlement for any reason. So it was rampant folly and incompetence by the Club, to end up in Court over GT's entitlement. They were always going to lose.

However, I digress and reiterate that a three or four year contract with a 12 week notice termination clause, is not in reality a three or four year contract.

[Moorabbin Man]

I think everyone is overlooking the indisputable fact that after Lyon had taken us to two Grand Finals at the end of 2010, he still had a clause in his contract that enabled his contract to be terminated with three months (12 weeks) notice. So in effect a coach who had taken us to two successive Grand Finals and was arguably the best coach in the competition, was left on a contract which was in reality and practically, a 12 week contract. Don't any of you think that this was a disgraceful set of circumstances. Sure the circumstances surrounding Lyon's departure were disappointing, however IMO his contract was a disgrace and that responsibility lays at the feet of the Board.

and you are overlooking the in disputable fact that in may 2011, Lyon still had 1.5 years to go.

i believe that the out clause was becuase management was worried after the thommo debarkle and how that ended.

I think Lyon had gone way beyond earning his stripes. If they were worried about the so called GT debacle, then their failure to lock in Lyon (regardless of the remaining 1.5 years) was a typical dumb reactive corporate decision. How can you demand loyalty and commitment when you don't give it.

[Animal Enclosure]

Weren't we run over in 2006 because we had barely an interchange after HT?

The simple fact remains is that he is one of only 4 reasonably successful coaches in the clubs 100 odd year history.

He did clean out, set some standards and build and develop a list.... If Watters does as well as GT ill be happy....

A three year turn around would do me?!

Yes indeed, as I recall Kosi was on fire and Melbourne were on the ropes, then Kosi copped one on the scone early in the 2nd quarter and was off for most of the rest of the game and a few players went down. We had NO ONE on the bench for the entire second half, with Hamil lumbering around completely unfit and Gehrig hopping around on one foot in the forward line. Still Melbourne took until late in the final quarter to take the lead.

Fraser took a mark just before half time & tried to play on around Nathan Carroll (who we were all aghast at possibly recruiting a few years later!). Carroll stomped on Fraser's foot rendering him almost immobile for the 2nd half. From memory, X got hurt going in for a hard ball, Sammy was already hurt & a few others were cooked as well.

That made 3 straight final series were we lost key players at the worst time.

GT's control over the football department (& the revolving door of medical staff) made his sacking justified in my book. It hurt the players though, who loved him & would run through brick walls for him.

I have no doubt that GT could have been a premiership coach IF he had recognised the importance of injury prevention & the board had found the funds to properly fund recruitment & development (as everyone recognises now). Remember that during GT's reign our recruiting department was basically Bevo in his car with a few interstate plane tickets per year!

[Saints43]

Fraser took a mark just before half time & tried to play on around Nathan Carroll (who we were all aghast at possibly recruiting a few years later!). Carroll stomped on Fraser's foot rendering him almost immobile for the 2nd half. From memory, X got hurt going in for a hard ball, Sammy was already hurt & a few others were cooked as well.

Rob Harvey went to full forward with a hamstring injury. It was a shocking game for injuries.

[meher baba]

AFAIC GT did a great job and Lyon did pretty well too. I have strongly positive attitudes towards the achievements of both men.

For mine, the real tragedy of the past decade was the falling out between GT and a segment of the board, including Butterss. There is still little doubt in my mind that Archie Fraser - who has an established record as a troublemaker at various organisations - was the catalyst for much of this. Having succeeded in getting rid of Thomas, he then moved on to put the knife into Butterss one year on.

The Thomas-Butterss-Waldron combination was great for our club. The recruitment of Blight seemed like a masterstroke at the time: even the way things turned out, it helped us to attract Hamill and Gehrig, who were crucial in our rise towards the top.

The removal of Blight made sense, but the insertion of Thomas seemed quite bizarre at the time. I felt - as I am sure many of you did - that this would be the beginning of the end for our club.

But Thomas was very shrewd. He managed the list and our match day performances in such a way as we achieved more terrific draft picks at the end of 2001 and 2002, while simultaneously bringing on our younger players and building the basis of a team that could start trying hard to succeed from the beginning of 2003 and start to really go places in 2004-05. Other coaches at other clubs have tried to emulate what he did, but few of them have managed it as well. (Hawthorn under Pelchen and Clarkson arguably did it better. Geelong isn't really comparable because of all their father-son picks.)

Thomas was also a pretty good coach. The playing style he developed was crowd-pleasing (unlike Lyon's) and pretty successful when enough of the key players were fit. We were clearly the best team in 2005 and were only denied a flag by too many injuries.

It used to be a popular pastime on here to blame Thomas for all the injuries we suffered in the mid-2000s. But I think, if you can remember back to the state of the playing surface at Docklands in 2005-06 and compare it in your mind to what we see there now, you can work out the true source of most of the problems. In those days, teams that played at Docklands a lot suffered more injuries than those who didn't.

The improvement in the playing surface from around 2008 turned things around for us. Perhaps Dave Missen helped a bit too, although I have always been something of a sceptic about conditioning experts (not to mention "sports scientists").

It is true that Thomas sometimes put players out there who were injured, and we performed less well than we might conceivably have been done if he had instead played some of our backup players who were not injured. But I don't know about either the 2005 PF or the 2006 EF: in both of those games the teams we fielded comprised pretty much all the AFL-standard players we had available. Perhaps posters on here - and the Board - would have been more inclined to forgive him if he had fielded weaker, fitter lineups which had got thrashed in those games: I guess there was something particularly disheartening about the way we were challenging for the lead in both those games well into the final quarter only then literally to collapse in a heap.

It is easy now to blame Thomas for paying too much to re-sign players like Kosi and Ball, although - if we'd lost those two to other clubs in the mid-2000s - we'd probably still be hearing the whinging about on here today. I note that people are still whinging about him putting Milne on the trade table in 2006. Anyway, it isn't as if no strange recruiting decision were made under Lyon (re-signing Brad Howard, signing Lovett, Jesse Smith, etc, etc).

Once Thomas was disposed of, the recruitment of Lyon was something of a coup. Admittedly, at first, the players had a great deal of trouble delivering the type of game he was looking for: so much so that many (including posters on here - especially me - and, in a somewhat oblique way, even the club's President) were highly critical of his selection as coach. Then, in a game against the Hawks in mid-2008, it suddenly all clicked and by mid-2009 we were clearly the best-performing team in the comp.

Yes, Lyon coaches for the here and now and is at the other end of the scale to GT in terms of a commitment to developing young talent. But he coaches bloody well and he isn't to be blamed for our failing to win the two GFs we played in under him. One might say that, in the GF replay in 2010, he should have mixed things up a bit more. But it's easy to forget now that most commentators were inclined to favour us slightly over the Pies going into that game. It was with some justification that Lyon didn't want to muck around too much with an almost-winning formula.

For me, that second GF in 2010 was a black, black day: far more so than the losses in the PFs in 2004 and 2005. It was bleedingly obvious that day that we had gone as far as we were going to go for now and that the journey down the mountain was about to begin.

While saluting Lyon for his brilliant coaching, I have never made any secret of my view that the strategy we were trying to pursue between 2001-05 - to become one of the top clubs in the competition over a consistent period - was much better than the one devised after GT's sacking: which seemed to be that we needed at all costs to win a premiership with our current list, and would be prepared to adopt the Devil's game plan - the soul-destroying, uber-defensive approach progressively developed by Eade-Roos-Lyon at the Swans - in order to achieve this. I liked the idea that we focus on doing everything we could to improve our list, develop our young players and strive to consistently deliver strong and entertaining onfield performances year in/year out until our club had membership numbers rivalling those of the Pies, Bombers, Carlton, etc. It was a great strategy which effectively died the day that GT and Butterss fell out with each other. The sacking of GT and his replacement by Lyon was a symptom of the problem rather than the cause.

But I would want to salute Butterrs, Thomas, Lyon and even the despised Waldron for what they have all done for our club since 2000. And Nettlefold and Westaway get a guernsey from me too (but there's a lot more for them to do). And Bevo and Misson should get an honourable mention too. I'm afraid I don't have much to say in favour of Fraser or Drain: maybe they achieved some things that I haven't detected, but I doubt it.

[loris]

Pav's getting on (been v lucky injury wise till now).......

Pav started getting injury (leg) problems last season.......... then had to have 2 different ops this pre season.

Is it coincidence that Pav started having leg probs since Lyin took over as coach at Freo? Last season Pav body shape had changed, from the body of previous seasons. He had dropped kilos (think I read 4 kilos) and had really fined down. Obviously Lyin was going to use him more in a running role.

Whilst Pav was played up forward, you continually saw him used a la the Reiwoldt role........ running down the wing , doubling back and then leading out wide to pockets. Then, running down the other side of the ground, doubling back etc and leading. He was on the move gut running. Often lining up for goal, he was really sucking in the air, stuffed from all the running. Previously he had been used by his coaches as a power forward or in short power bursts through the centre, when Freo needed him at centre bounces.

I can remember I was at a couple of Freo matches last season and as I watched Pavlich cover immense amount of territory on the subi oval, leading to all points of the compass at the subi oval............. I said to my Freo supporting friends, 'Lyin will run Pavlich into the ground like he did Reiwoldt, don't be surprised if he ends up with leg problems'. Trouble for Lyin...... he's taken over Pav at the end of his career, not the peak. Poor Pav.

[stinger]

Pav's getting on (been v lucky injury wise till now).......

Pav started getting injury (leg) problems last season.......... then had to have 2 different ops this pre season.

Is it coincidence that Pav started having leg probs since Lyin took over as coach at Freo? Last season Pav body shape had changed, from the body of previous seasons. He had dropped kilos (think I read 4 kilos) and had really fined down. Obviously Lyin was going to use him more in a running role.

Whilst Pav was played up forward, you continually saw him used a la the Reiwoldt role........ running down the wing , doubling back and then leading out wide to pockets. Then, running down the other side of the ground, doubling back etc and leading. He was on the move gut running. Often lining up for goal, he was really sucking in the air, stuffed from all the running. Previously he had been used by his coaches as a power forward or in short power bursts through the centre, when Freo needed him at centre bounces.

I can remember I was at a couple of Freo matches last season and as I watched Pavlich cover immense amount of territory on the subi oval, leading to all points of the compass at the subi oval............. I said to my Freo supporting friends, 'Lyin will run Pavlich into the ground like he did Reiwoldt, don't be surprised if he ends up with leg problems'. Trouble for Lyin...... he's taken over Pav at the end of his career, not the peak. Poor Pav.

interesting comments loris......

[saintly]

AFAIC GT did a great job and Lyon did pretty well too. I have strongly positive attitudes towards the achievements of both men.

For mine, the real tragedy of the past decade was the falling out between GT and a segment of the board, including Butterss. There is still little doubt in my mind that Archie Fraser - who has an established record as a troublemaker at various organisations - was the catalyst for much of this. Having succeeded in getting rid of Thomas, he then moved on to put the knife into Butterss one year on.

The Thomas-Butterss-Waldron combination was great for our club. The recruitment of Blight seemed like a masterstroke at the time: even the way things turned out, it helped us to attract Hamill and Gehrig, who were crucial in our rise towards the top.

The removal of Blight made sense, but the insertion of Thomas seemed quite bizarre at the time. I felt - as I am sure many of you did - that this would be the beginning of the end for our club.

But Thomas was very shrewd. He managed the list and our match day performances in such a way as we achieved more terrific draft picks at the end of 2001 and 2002, while simultaneously bringing on our younger players and building the basis of a team that could start trying hard to succeed from the beginning of 2003 and start to really go places in 2004-05. Other coaches at other clubs have tried to emulate what he did, but few of them have managed it as well. (Hawthorn under Pelchen and Clarkson arguably did it better. Geelong isn't really comparable because of all their father-son picks.)

Thomas was also a pretty good coach. The playing style he developed was crowd-pleasing (unlike Lyon's) and pretty successful when enough of the key players were fit. We were clearly the best team in 2005 and were only denied a flag by too many injuries.

It used to be a popular pastime on here to blame Thomas for all the injuries we suffered in the mid-2000s. But I think, if you can remember back to the state of the playing surface at Docklands in 2005-06 and compare it in your mind to what we see there now, you can work out the true source of most of the problems. In those days, teams that played at Docklands a lot suffered more injuries than those who didn't.

The improvement in the playing surface from around 2008 turned things around for us. Perhaps Dave Missen helped a bit too, although I have always been something of a sceptic about conditioning experts (not to mention "sports scientists").

It is true that Thomas sometimes put players out there who were injured, and we performed less well than we might conceivably have been done if he had instead played some of our backup players who were not injured. But I don't know about either the 2005 PF or the 2006 EF: in both of those games the teams we fielded comprised pretty much all the AFL-standard players we had available. Perhaps posters on here - and the Board - would have been more inclined to forgive him if he had fielded weaker, fitter lineups which had got thrashed in those games: I guess there was something particularly disheartening about the way we were challenging for the lead in both those games well into the final quarter only then literally to collapse in a heap.

It is easy now to blame Thomas for paying too much to re-sign players like Kosi and Ball, although - if we'd lost those two to other clubs in the mid-2000s - we'd probably still be hearing the whinging about on here today. I note that people are still whinging about him putting Milne on the trade table in 2006. Anyway, it isn't as if no strange recruiting decision were made under Lyon (re-signing Brad Howard, signing Lovett, Jesse Smith, etc, etc).

Once Thomas was disposed of, the recruitment of Lyon was something of a coup. Admittedly, at first, the players had a great deal of trouble delivering the type of game he was looking for: so much so that many (including posters on here - especially me - and, in a somewhat oblique way, even the club's President) were highly critical of his selection as coach. Then, in a game against the Hawks in mid-2008, it suddenly all clicked and by mid-2009 we were clearly the best-performing team in the comp.

Yes, Lyon coaches for the here and now and is at the other end of the scale to GT in terms of a commitment to developing young talent. But he coaches bloody well and he isn't to be blamed for our failing to win the two GFs we played in under him. One might say that, in the GF replay in 2010, he should have mixed things up a bit more. But it's easy to forget now that most commentators were inclined to favour us slightly over the Pies going into that game. It was with some justification that Lyon didn't want to muck around too much with an almost-winning formula.

For me, that second GF in 2010 was a black, black day: far more so than the losses in the PFs in 2004 and 2005. It was bleedingly obvious that day that we had gone as far as we were going to go for now and that the journey down the mountain was about to begin.

While saluting Lyon for his brilliant coaching, I have never made any secret of my view that the strategy we were trying to pursue between 2001-05 - to become one of the top clubs in the competition over a consistent period - was much better than the one devised after GT's sacking: which seemed to be that we needed at all costs to win a premiership with our current list, and would be prepared to adopt the Devil's game plan - the soul-destroying, uber-defensive approach progressively developed by Eade-Roos-Lyon at the Swans - in order to achieve this. I liked the idea that we focus on doing everything we could to improve our list, develop our young players and strive to consistently deliver strong and entertaining onfield performances year in/year out until our club had membership numbers rivalling those of the Pies, Bombers, Carlton, etc. It was a great strategy which effectively died the day that GT and Butterss fell out with each other. The sacking of GT and his replacement by Lyon was a symptom of the problem rather than the cause.

But I would want to salute Butterrs, Thomas, Lyon and even the despised Waldron for what they have all done for our club since 2000. And Nettlefold and Westaway get a guernsey from me too (but there's a lot more for them to do). And Bevo and Misson should get an honourable mention too. I'm afraid I don't have much to say in favour of Fraser or Drain: maybe they achieved some things that I haven't detected, but I doubt it.

very nice

[barks4eva]

I think everyone is overlooking the indisputable fact that after Lyon had taken us to two Grand Finals at the end of 2010, he still had a clause in his contract that enabled his contract to be terminated with three months (12 weeks) notice. So in effect a coach who had taken us to two successive Grand Finals and was arguably the best coach in the competition, was left on a contract which was in reality and practically, a 12 week contract. Don't any of you think that this was a disgraceful set of circumstances. IMO his contract was a disgrace and that responsibility lays at the feet of the Board.

THIS

[Teflon]

Meher Babble we you are an unashamed Thomas lover

Fancy attributing all medical improvements to your so called "Etihad got better" instead of simply saying - Lyon DID what Thomas failed to do.... invest in the best sports/fitness person around at the time from the Swans ..."maybe Misson helped a but..." Please spare us revisionist drivel

Instead of roaming around Sth Africa to be a "pioneer" we should've been investing in better fitness personal - maybe Luke Ball , Hamill and others who were always injured would've fared better

Nettlefolds has come out along with others and shed truth on what Thomas was - go listen to Spiders interview if you need further evidence - the guy is an out of control meglomaniac and we were his "hobby to greatness"
As 1 departed assistant of Thomas's told me later directly - "he forked your club".

But still some fail to see... amazed!

[st_Trav_ofWA]

Meher Babble we you are an unashamed Thomas lover

Fancy attributing all medical improvements to your so called "Etihad got better" instead of simply saying - Lyon DID what Thomas failed to do.... invest in the best sports/fitness person around at the time from the Swans ..."maybe Misson helped a but..." Please spare us revisionist drivel

Instead of roaming around Sth Africa to be a "pioneer" we should've been investing in better fitness personal - maybe Luke Ball , Hamill and others who were always injured would've fared better

Nettlefolds has come out along with others and shed truth on what Thomas was - go listen to Spiders interview if you need further evidence - the guy is an out of control meglomaniac and we were his "hobby to greatness"
As 1 departed assistant of Thomas's told me later directly - "he forked your club".

But still some fail to see... amazed!

i agree with most of that except who the blame for the lack of spending on the fitness side of things should be directed ... i would imagine GT would have loved to have had some of the money the board boasted about each year that we were making directed into the footy department but they seemed more hell bent on having a profit to present at the AGM then spending it on the best for our club .... i remember reading that in Burkies last year the club purchased second hand tackle bags from a suburban team after the old ones were worn beyond use ... that same year we posted a profit of nearly $1mil ?!?!?!? i also remember hearing about how we were getting Stewie Loewe coming in after hours to perform maintenance on the offices ...

GT had his faults but i think the lack of spending on the fitness side of things was more the then boards neglect not his

[barks4eva]

Meher Babble we you are an unashamed Thomas lover

Fancy attributing all medical improvements to your so called "Etihad got better" instead of simply saying - Lyon DID what Thomas failed to do.... invest in the best sports/fitness person around at the time from the Swans ..."maybe Misson helped a but..." Please spare us revisionist drivel

Instead of roaming around Sth Africa to be a "pioneer" we should've been investing in better fitness personal - maybe Luke Ball , Hamill and others who were always injured would've fared better

Nettlefolds has come out along with others and shed truth on what Thomas was - go listen to Spiders interview if you need further evidence - the guy is an out of control meglomaniac and we were his "hobby to greatness"
As 1 departed assistant of Thomas's told me later directly - "he forked your club".

But still some fail to see... amazed!

THIS

[meher baba]

Meher Babble we you are an unashamed Thomas lover

Fancy attributing all medical improvements to your so called "Etihad got better" instead of simply saying - Lyon DID what Thomas failed to do.... invest in the best sports/fitness person around at the time from the Swans ..."maybe Misson helped a but..." Please spare us revisionist drivel

Instead of roaming around Sth Africa to be a "pioneer" we should've been investing in better fitness personal - maybe Luke Ball , Hamill and others who were always injured would've fared better

Nettlefolds has come out along with others and shed truth on what Thomas was - go listen to Spiders interview if you need further evidence - the guy is an out of control meglomaniac and we were his "hobby to greatness"
As 1 departed assistant of Thomas's told me later directly - "he forked your club".

But still some fail to see... amazed!

THIS

"Great men think alike....." Now what's the second half of that quote again?