A letter from the president

[saynta]

https://www.saints.com.au/news/1140820/ ... son-update

[Life Long Saint]

This is the equivalent one from last season, for comparative purposes.

After the game on Saturday, I felt compelled to reach out to you, not to provide excuses, but to acknowledge the frustration you are no doubt feeling. Losing by over 50 points for the fourth time this season in the space of 10 games is not just disappointing, but unacceptable. This is not where any of us want our club to be.

We started this year with plenty of optimism after enjoying our first finals win in nine years. Our supporter base united in facing down the challenges of COVID-19 to retain the highest percentage of members across the league, which has now grown to beyond 55,000.

We were excited by the opportunity to reward our members for this loyalty through a competitive and successful year on-field and another, hopefully deeper, finals campaign.

Disappointingly and embarrassingly, we have failed to meet those expectations so far, with the results speaking for themselves. It is not just the win-loss margin that is of concern, but the manner in which some of these losses have occurred.

At the end of 2020, we seemed much closer to that elusive second flag than we do right now, and I completely understand your disappointment as a loyal member.

To be 14th on the ladder with the second-lowest percentage is a stark reminder that there is still a lot of work to be done.

No matter the role, be it coach, player or staff member, I know we have built an organisation of people who are committed to ensuring these issues are addressed, solutions are implemented and most importantly, our competitive edge returns.

Our key priority is making you proud and bringing on-field success to the club we all love.

Again, I am not here to make excuses, but in the spirit of transparency, I want to outline a few of my observations from the year so far.

There was always a gap we needed to fill to compete for a top-four place
Reflecting now, we can appreciate that the circumstances of the previous season impacted us favourably. We had a good run with injury until later in the year and adapted to hub life better than some others. We knew that with our list profile we would need to be patient to be competitive every week against the better sides and that our genuine window would more likely start in 2022 than 2021.

However, we knew that last year would count for nothing if we didn’t back it up. And our overall performance to date has been worse than our most pessimistic expectations.

Injuries do have an impact but…
We can’t ignore that we have been cruelled by injury. Gresham, Marshall, Ryder, Jones, Hannebery, Paton and Geary have been key absentees for some or all of the games and it was always going to be harder for us with so many critical players missing. However, all sides have injuries and unavailability of some players should mean opportunities for others. No number of injuries excuse a loss of the magnitude we had on Saturday.

We can’t pick and choose
Words mean little if our hunger and endeavour to improve does not align both on and off the field. While the players and coaches will review the ins and outs of the game, I too have spent the last couple of sleepless nights reflecting on my own contribution. Have I been doing absolutely everything I could to ensure our success? The honest answer is that I can do more and that is what I intend to do going forward. I am hopeful that many at the club can also find a new level.

Whether it is the privilege to pull on the jumper, work in our football department, or other off-field roles including board positions, we don’t get to pick and choose when we will bring everything required of our role to the table if we are to win the respect of the competition and, ultimately, our second flag.

Rather, every time we turn up, it must be understood that not only do we put our own reputations on the line, but also that of our club. And that responsibility must be expected, embraced and delivered upon.

Working harder AND smarter
We are capable of playing strong, hard, contested football. However, the gap between our best and worst has been too great. We need to be able to turn it around when things are not going our way and our backs are against the wall. We need to find a way to address this, both with short-term solutions and a long-term plan.

We are under no illusions that we need to work harder and smarter if we are to get where we want to. One flag in 148 years tells us that they are not easy to win. We want to assure you that as a club, this remains our primary goal, which we are all working towards.

We are in this together
While we are all disappointed by what has transpired so far this season, I can assure you that our commitment to striving for success has not wavered. I maintain my confidence in the people we have at our football club having witnessed their approach firsthand in the hub last year, but also right now as we work as one to find a way to deliver for our members.

Your loyalty and patience deserves far better than what we are delivering, but I implore you to stick with us. The tide will turn, the wins will come, and I hope that you are by our side when that happens.

Fortius Quo Fidelius.
Andrew Bassat

[WellardSaint]

This man has assembled a truly wonderful collection of talented administrators and coaches.
Except for Lethlean, who was parachuted into the club earlier.
But overall, Bassatt is going to get us that elusive 2nd one,sooner rather than later.
His words, and the passion behind them, fill me with confidence that he's gonna be Moses leading us to the Land of Milk and Honey

[saynta]

This man has assembled a truly wonderful collection of talented administrators and coaches.
Except for Lethlean, who was parachuted into the club earlier.
But overall, Bassatt is going to get us that elusive 2nd one,sooner rather than later.
His words, and the passion behind them, fill me with confidence that he's gonna be Moses leading us to the Land of Milk and Honey

I f****** hope so. Don't have many more years waiting in hope.

[WellardSaint]

As an outsider with no knowledge of the inner workings of AFL clubs, I make a few comments:
Some club presidents have appeared to dabble a bit too much in the day-to-day stuff, rather than let the staff work their magic. Interfering, if you will.

-Eddie Maguire is a prime example of a controlling narcissist.
Succession plan for Buckley, which alienated Malthouse.
The King Kong and Adam Goodes connection, which had him stumbling and creating a fake narrative.
- Jeff Kennett doing what Jeff does best. Sure, the Hawks got flags, but he's still a turd of a boofhead.
I remember him as Vic Premier years ago, after 10 years of Labor, when he took the first $100 from our council rates to pay off debt, as punishment for voters keeping the Libs in the wilderness. But I digress.


OK.
Bassat.
He so far appears to be a leader who can set goals, targets, benchmarks, etc- can identify those with the skills and drive to achieve the above.
He then lets them do their jobs.

He has acknowledged the Cairns debacle and isn't shying away from it. OK, he agrees with Ratts that the ground wasn't the 'key' reason for the loss.
That's very important. He's admitting it's contributed to the loss, but won't accept it as an excuse. Don't look for a scapegoat. Work with what you've been given, and change what you can control.

He and his brother founded seek.com.au, which I think is better than indeed.com.au for employment seekers and employers. He has said he became complacement and let others steal some market share (maybe 'indeed' and 'LinkedIn' ?) so he took steps to change things up.
To me, it's being accountable, recognizing his own errors and looking for improvement, being ambitious, being driven to lead the market.

Tony74 has said on here (about assistant coaches etc) that Bassatt doesn't tolerate mediocrity.

Basically- I am sure Bassatt is great at running an elite business in the right way, recruiting the right people, reviewing performance properly, and letting them do their thing.

Sorry for the rambling rant but it's my first day off in 9 days and my brain is unwinding while watching Netflix

[ace]

As an outsider with no knowledge of the inner workings of AFL clubs, I make a few comments:
Some club presidents have appeared to dabble a bit too much in the day-to-day stuff, rather than let the staff work their magic. Interfering, if you will.

-Eddie Maguire is a prime example of a controlling narcissist.
Succession plan for Buckley, which alienated Malthouse.
The King Kong and Adam Goodes connection, which had him stumbling and creating a fake narrative.
- Jeff Kennett doing what Jeff does best. Sure, the Hawks got flags, but he's still a turd of a boofhead.
I remember him as Vic Premier years ago, after 10 years of Labor, when he took the first $100 from our council rates to pay off debt, as punishment for voters keeping the Libs in the wilderness. But I digress.


OK.
Bassat.
He so far appears to be a leader who can set goals, targets, benchmarks, etc- can identify those with the skills and drive to achieve the above.
He then lets them do their jobs.

He has acknowledged the Cairns debacle and isn't shying away from it. OK, he agrees with Ratts that the ground wasn't the 'key' reason for the loss.
That's very important. He's admitting it's contributed to the loss, but won't accept it as an excuse. Don't look for a scapegoat. Work with what you've been given, and change what you can control.

He and his brother founded seek.com.au, which I think is better than indeed.com.au for employment seekers and employers. He has said he became complacement and let others steal some market share (maybe 'indeed' and 'LinkedIn' ?) so he took steps to change things up.
To me, it's being accountable, recognizing his own errors and looking for improvement, being ambitious, being driven to lead the market.

Tony74 has said on here (about assistant coaches etc) that Bassatt doesn't tolerate mediocrity.

Basically- I am sure Bassatt is great at running an elite business in the right way, recruiting the right people, reviewing performance properly, and letting them do their thing.

Sorry for the rambling rant but it's my first day off in 9 days and my brain is unwinding while watching Netflix

Get back to work you bludger.
You should be at work 24/365.
Someone has to work in our utopia.

[WellardSaint]