An Insight

[tony74]

The team - Most pundits thought we would have a very poor year this year. Inside the club the expectations were a little more optimistic but once we lost Gilbert and Hickey and to a lesser extent Gears our year was shot. Whether you rate him or not Gilbert is incredibly important to our structure. The long term plan for the club is on track. There will be definite improvement next year with 2016 really making a few of us sit up and notice. There are no alarm bells at the club in relation to where we are positioned, however the effort is below par. Behind closed doors they are copping it. Be assured of that.

The coach - there are a variety of different coaches and recently we have had them all. The emotionalist ( Alves ), the controller ( Thommo ), the poor communicator ( Watters ) and the master technician ( Lyons ). We now have Richo who in my opinion has a little bit of all those traits bar the poor communication skills. I really believe he is the right man for the job. He has to get all the other aspects of the job correct as in coaching staff, support, fitness group etc. Considering he hasn't really had the chance to have his input in to all of these decisions expect some changes next year. He's probably no better than the previous coaches we've had and is probably no better or worse than all the other coaches presently at the AFL, but he's a very safe choice and is very passionate and determined to get this cub a premiership. Have faith. Get the building blocks in place and before you know it Richo will be the Messiah.

Pelchen - The one that causes most angst on this website. Make no mistake, an enormous onus rests with him in regards to our future. He has a plan and has total belief in it. He has the blueprint for what he believes is the perfect team balance. Based on the Hawthorn team balance of a few years ago and tweaked just recently with Geelongs ongoing success, he is adamant that once our club has this model we will win. You would not believe the spreadsheet he has on our current team and the spreadsheet that he requires of our team to win the flag. Every player is rated and I don't mean just by numbers. They will have at least 10 ratings each ranging from age to positional flexabilty, to strength to handball efficiency and many, many more. The spreadsheet ( players ) will be moved on ,traded , drafted until we have as close as possible to the spreadsheet of the Hawks success. Involved, risky, extremely difficult but he's hellbent on doing it.
as for him in the box. Was there last year as a mediator ( wasn't a good place to be last year ) and as Hutchy did the midfield rotations last year and he has been moved out Chris has helped with those. Don't expect him to be in the box next year.

Spencer - Very similar to Rhys. The worst thing that ever happened to Stanley was winning the Grand Final sprint. Put him in the spotlight and made the club play him before he was ready both physically and emotionally. Spencer is the same. He really wishes the "Buddy " goal hadn't been televised as he is now facing the same pressures. Don't get me wrong, the club knows they have a very talented player they just don't want to make the same mistake. Both Rhys and Spencer have one glaring weakness, some of you know what this is and I won't publicise it here. But it needs to be worked on.

Sorry about the length of the post but their continues to be negativity here, and some of it is justified, but there is light at the end of the tunnel and before you know it some of you will be complain about the prohibitive cost of final tickets

[asiu]

nice read bloke. ta

[Beno88]

Thanks tony74, love the insight.

[Spinner]

Superb insights tony - love your work!!!

[Old Mate]

Good work Tony a good read mate.

[SemperFidelis]

Tony, as always, the Seaford weather report is timely.

[Cairnsman]

I really, really hope there isn't enormous onus resting on Pelchen. If there is anything we have learnt then surely it is that the success of the organisation relies on the plan, processes, procedures and the personnel employed to work within them and not one single bloke with a spreadsheet.

I also hope that like all good blueprints, has been subjected to some type of independent scrutiny and/or peer group review.

Tony I have a question, if Chris Pelchen suddenly departs the club, is there somebody else that can immediately open up his spreadsheets and continue to execute the current plan without hopefully missing a beat or does he take his spreadsheet with him and we are left without a plan?

[BringBackMadDog]

thanks for the great insight Tony, Love ya work!!

[ShanghaiSaint]

The team - Most pundits thought we would have a very poor year this year. Inside the club the expectations were a little more optimistic but once we lost Gilbert and Hickey and to a lesser extent Gears our year was shot. Whether you rate him or not Gilbert is incredibly important to our structure. The long term plan for the club is on track. There will be definite improvement next year with 2016 really making a few of us sit up and notice. There are no alarm bells at the club in relation to where we are positioned, however the effort is below par. Behind closed doors they are copping it. Be assured of that.

The coach - there are a variety of different coaches and recently we have had them all. The emotionalist ( Alves ), the controller ( Thommo ), the poor communicator ( Watters ) and the master technician ( Lyons ). We now have Richo who in my opinion has a little bit of all those traits bar the poor communication skills. I really believe he is the right man for the job. He has to get all the other aspects of the job correct as in coaching staff, support, fitness group etc. Considering he hasn't really had the chance to have his input in to all of these decisions expect some changes next year. He's probably no better than the previous coaches we've had and is probably no better or worse than all the other coaches presently at the AFL, but he's a very safe choice and is very passionate and determined to get this cub a premiership. Have faith. Get the building blocks in place and before you know it Richo will be the Messiah.

Pelchen - The one that causes most angst on this website. Make no mistake, an enormous onus rests with him in regards to our future. He has a plan and has total belief in it. He has the blueprint for what he believes is the perfect team balance. Based on the Hawthorn team balance of a few years ago and tweaked just recently with Geelongs ongoing success, he is adamant that once our club has this model we will win. You would not believe the spreadsheet he has on our current team and the spreadsheet that he requires of our team to win the flag. Every player is rated and I don't mean just by numbers. They will have at least 10 ratings each ranging from age to positional flexabilty, to strength to handball efficiency and many, many more. The spreadsheet ( players ) will be moved on ,traded , drafted until we have as close as possible to the spreadsheet of the Hawks success. Involved, risky, extremely difficult but he's hellbent on doing it.
as for him in the box. Was there last year as a mediator ( wasn't a good place to be last year ) and as Hutchy did the midfield rotations last year and he has been moved out Chris has helped with those. Don't expect him to be in the box next year.

Spencer - Very similar to Rhys. The worst thing that ever happened to Stanley was winning the Grand Final sprint. Put him in the spotlight and made the club play him before he was ready both physically and emotionally. Spencer is the same. He really wishes the "Buddy " goal hadn't been televised as he is now facing the same pressures. Don't get me wrong, the club knows they have a very talented player they just don't want to make the same mistake. Both Rhys and Spencer have one glaring weakness, some of you know what this is and I won't publicise it here. But it needs to be worked on.

Sorry about the length of the post but their continues to be negativity here, and some of it is justified, but there is light at the end of the tunnel and before you know it some of you will be complain about the prohibitive cost of final tickets

Very nice post Tony

But Gilbert Hickley and Gears is not the reason we slumped.... theses guys are players in a team not the whole team. again really enjoyed your post and message but we have to stop using we're missing guys atm, we are where we are and that's that. we'll get better over the years and it's going to be exciting to watch just like it was early to mid 2000's

[howlinwolf]

We have slumped because of our recruiting over the years we were a chance.
With our full list before the start of the season we were a 10-14 ladder position.
Our injury toll has dropped us down below this.

Thanks for the balanced insight Tony. I have faith we are on the right track. None of us know the full aspects of the plan so it's of no value to keep putting a negative spin on it.
I will never complain about Saints finals ticket prices

[tony74]

I really, really hope there isn't enormous onus resting on Pelchen. If there is anything we have learnt then surely it is that the success of the organisation relies on the plan, processes, procedures and the personnel employed to work within them and not one single bloke with a spreadsheet.

I also hope that like all good blueprints, has been subjected to some type of independent scrutiny and/or peer group review.

Tony I have a question, if Chris Pelchen suddenly departs the club, is there somebody else that can immediately open up his spreadsheets and continue to execute the current plan without hopefully missing a beat or does he take his spreadsheet with him and we are left without a plan?

Coaching panel, board etc etc are right behind the spreadsheet and know to a certain degree the inner workings. It's an unbelievably involved document. If it all goes belly up it's not all doom and gloom as the idea is to basically have a good spread of all players etc etc. it's just that his is so involved!!! But you know what sometimes that one extra detail makes the difference. ( yappers bounce ! )

[dragit]

Very nice post Tony

But Gilbert Hickley and Gears is not the reason we slumped.... theses guys are players in a team not the whole team. again really enjoyed your post and message but we have to stop using we're missing guys atm, we are where we are and that's that. we'll get better over the years and it's going to be exciting to watch just like it was early to mid 2000's

I think the point is that… at full strength we might still be a bottom 4 side, but we would be competitive with most sides. But take out Fisher, Gilbert, Geary, Armitage & Hickey and we see beltings of 10-15 goals a lot more often.

Injuries to our senior players probably hurts us more than most sides as our 15th - 40th players on the list are just so inexperienced and they get horribly exposed when playing together without much senior support.

[Cairnsman]

I really, really hope there isn't enormous onus resting on Pelchen. If there is anything we have learnt then surely it is that the success of the organisation relies on the plan, processes, procedures and the personnel employed to work within them and not one single bloke with a spreadsheet.

I also hope that like all good blueprints, has been subjected to some type of independent scrutiny and/or peer group review.

Tony I have a question, if Chris Pelchen suddenly departs the club, is there somebody else that can immediately open up his spreadsheets and continue to execute the current plan without hopefully missing a beat or does he take his spreadsheet with him and we are left without a plan?

Coaching panel, board etc etc are right behind the spreadsheet and know to a certain degree the inner workings. It's an unbelievably involved document. If it all goes belly up it's not all doom and gloom as the idea is to basically have a good spread of all players etc etc. it's just that his is so involved!!! But you know what sometimes that one extra detail makes the difference. ( yappers bounce ! )

Gee Tony it would be fairly amateurish if the board and upper management weren't across more than just a "certain degree" of the inner workings. Hopefully the board and upper management have pulled it apart completely and subjected it to much scrutiny, even some external/independent scrutiny and executed in a way that doesn't rely on any particular individual such as Pelchen for it to be a success. What I'm saying is, it appears Pelchen brings a lot of skill and expertise to his position and even a proven track record but hopefully he is just one part of a system and he himself is not the system. Hopefully the club owns the system.

[saintspremiers]

Re Stanley and White. Mentally soft is their big weakness at this stage. Is that what other's think?
Tony - surely White shouldn't play this week given the unfair pressure on him as you rightly point out. Media spin from Richo suggests otherwise. I hope he doesn't get burnt.

[dragit]

I've got the spreadsheet Cairnsman, it's a belter… I'll email it to you.

[asiu]

interesting 'n valid POV imo C.
... we saw it fall apart a bit during the change between GT/Ross
the change between Admin teams , change in general from Plan A
to the NEW Plan A.
... the Plan needs to be bigger than the personel 'n sustains Itself
during periods of personel adjustment / replacement ... yea ?

[dragit]

the Plan needs to be bigger than the personel

I would suggest this is the case, but who would know… we could just speculate that we are completely amateurish and haven't even scrutinised our long term plan, much juicier.

[bergholt]

Interesting post, Tony. But if you want to keep spirits up around here I reckon you'll have to post similar twice a week for the next couple of years!

[saintspremiers]

I've got the spreadsheet Cairnsman, it's a belter… I'll email it to you.

Did you get it off Fat Hutchy?

[tony74]

I really, really hope there isn't enormous onus resting on Pelchen. If there is anything we have learnt then surely it is that the success of the organisation relies on the plan, processes, procedures and the personnel employed to work within them and not one single bloke with a spreadsheet.

I also hope that like all good blueprints, has been subjected to some type of independent scrutiny and/or peer group review.

Tony I have a question, if Chris Pelchen suddenly departs the club, is there somebody else that can immediately open up his spreadsheets and continue to execute the current plan without hopefully missing a beat or does he take his spreadsheet with him and we are left without a plan?

Coaching panel, board etc etc are right behind the spreadsheet and know to a certain degree the inner workings. It's an unbelievably involved document. If it all goes belly up it's not all doom and gloom as the idea is to basically have a good spread of all players etc etc. it's just that his is so involved!!! But you know what sometimes that one extra detail makes the difference. ( yappers bounce ! )

Gee Tony it would be fairly amateurish if the board and upper management weren't across more than just a "certain degree" of the inner workings. Hopefully the board and upper management have pulled it apart completely and subjected it to much scrutiny, even some external/independent scrutiny and executed in a way that doesn't rely on any particular individual such as Pelchen for it to be a success. What I'm saying is, it appears Pelchen brings a lot of skill and expertise to his position and even a proven track record but hopefully he is just one part of a system and he himself is not the system. Hopefully the club owns the system.

They are all very aware and knowledgeable about the "system" but it is an extremely complicated document. And it's not owned by anyone as it's just one mans interpretation of a successful formula. Could be copied by anyone willing to put in the man hours. But it sure is complicated and he's hellbent on getting it and the Cup with it.

[Cairnsman]

I really, really hope there isn't enormous onus resting on Pelchen. If there is anything we have learnt then surely it is that the success of the organisation relies on the plan, processes, procedures and the personnel employed to work within them and not one single bloke with a spreadsheet.

I also hope that like all good blueprints, has been subjected to some type of independent scrutiny and/or peer group review.

Tony I have a question, if Chris Pelchen suddenly departs the club, is there somebody else that can immediately open up his spreadsheets and continue to execute the current plan without hopefully missing a beat or does he take his spreadsheet with him and we are left without a plan?

Coaching panel, board etc etc are right behind the spreadsheet and know to a certain degree the inner workings. It's an unbelievably involved document. If it all goes belly up it's not all doom and gloom as the idea is to basically have a good spread of all players etc etc. it's just that his is so involved!!! But you know what sometimes that one extra detail makes the difference. ( yappers bounce ! )

Gee Tony it would be fairly amateurish if the board and upper management weren't across more than just a "certain degree" of the inner workings. Hopefully the board and upper management have pulled it apart completely and subjected it to much scrutiny, even some external/independent scrutiny and executed in a way that doesn't rely on any particular individual such as Pelchen for it to be a success. What I'm saying is, it appears Pelchen brings a lot of skill and expertise to his position and even a proven track record but hopefully he is just one part of a system and he himself is not the system. Hopefully the club owns the system.

They are all very aware and knowledgeable about the "system" but it is an extremely complicated document. And it's not owned by anyone as it's just one mans interpretation of a successful formula. Could be copied by anyone willing to put in the man hours. But it sure is complicated and he's hellbent on getting it and the Cup with it.

Tony with the greatest of respect, I'm finding this last post hard to understand, seems to be too much contradiction for it to be logical.

[stinger]

great op mate

[Junction Oval]

Thanks for the interesting insight Tony from an "inside" perspective. It's nice to see that "everyone" internally seems to be on the same page - that's good.

However, I have never seen an XL spreadsheet produce results in itself. It's the people and the player decisions that are made and I am not sure that what I am currently seeing, warrants high future expectations. I hope that I am proven very, very wrong.

When it comes time, I hope that Mr Pelchen judges himself by the very high expectations that he has of his own ability.

[Bunk_Moreland]

Thanks for the interesting insight Tony from an "inside" perspective. It's nice to see that "everyone" internally seems to be on the same page - that's good.

However, I have never seen an XL spreadsheet produce results in itself. It's the people and the player decisions that are made and I am not sure that what I am currently seeing, warrants high future expectations. I hope that I am proven very, very wrong.

When it comes time, I hope that Mr Pelchen judges himself by the very high expectations that he has of his own ability.

Good point JO. When I read the highly positive OP, I knew the "spreadsheet" would be the focus of attention.

I wont talk for tony74, but I am sure this is one of the tools shown/ told about. Pelcan and the club would use this tool with a range of others for recruiting for our next tilt.

One thing is certain, a spreadsheet has never laid a tackle or kicked a goal and I am equally certain that the club knows that as well.

Pelchan gave the members an insight last year of his medium long term plans for recruiting. I am sure the spreadsheet is just part of the tools in his recruiting bag.

[3rd generation saint]

Good post Tony, it's good to hear there is a plan.
I remember talking to Rhys before the 2012 season at the first intra club practice match, told him he could be anything and still do. Just have this bad feeling if he had been recruited by Geelong or Hawthorn, he would be an elite player by now.
If Spencer White keeps putting in good performances at Sandringham, than he should get a crack at the seniors, even it is only for a week or two and I would be simply telling him to go out and get a feel for it with no expectations. The experience will be the most important thing for him.
As someone says, maybe we need a few more of these before seasons end.