footy is a funny old game

[Beej]

this time last year we were ahead of the cats

we made the finals, they missed out

both clubs were in crisis off the field

we sacked grant

cats kept faith with their man

12 months on, they've won a flag

we've missed out on finals

makes you wonder what could've been if butterss had the ability to put aside personal differences for the good of the club

[battye]

We'd probably have a second GF win under our belts...

[Saints Premiers 2008]

this time last year we were ahead of the cats

we made the finals, they missed out

both clubs were in crisis off the field

we sacked grant

cats kept faith with their man

12 months on, they've won a flag

we've missed out on finals

makes you wonder what could've been if butterss had the ability to put aside personal differences for the good of the club

comparisons between the two clubs and the explanations are wearing a little thin...

behind closed doors do you really think geelong cared how we were progressing??

two different clubs, lists, coaches, positives, negatives...the whole shabang

so why bother trying to compare??

[Beej]

this time last year we were ahead of the cats

we made the finals, they missed out

both clubs were in crisis off the field

we sacked grant

cats kept faith with their man

12 months on, they've won a flag

we've missed out on finals

makes you wonder what could've been if butterss had the ability to put aside personal differences for the good of the club

comparisons between the two clubs and the explanations are wearing a little thin...

behind closed doors do you really think geelong cared how we were progressing??

two different clubs, lists, coaches, positives, negatives...the whole shabang

so why bother trying to compare??

no they couldn't care less how we were progressing. they are obviously miles ahead of us... in a different stratosphere.

i'm just making a point that this time last year we were in a much better position.

they've turned it right around and we've gone backwards.

[LaUrEnCe]

*sigh..

i could easily imagine that today it was all of our boys celebrating .... blah

[saintsRrising]

makes you wonder what could've been if butterss had the ability to put aside personal differences for the good of the club

If you mean had he not sacked GT.....then not me.....GT was devaluing what was gifted him....best list since 66 frittered away with a failure to keep developing new talent...

RB made a mistake in appointing a mate as coach...but no mistake in removing him.

[Iratedebate]

If you mean had he not sacked GT.....then not me.....GT was devaluing what was gifted him....best list since 66 frittered away with a failure to keep developing new talent...

RB made a mistake in appointing a mate as coach...but no mistake in removing him.

Its aways great to read a post from someone with sense

[bigcarl]

bummer thompson's young team learned a bit from the poundings gt's team of boys handed out in 2004-2005.

it was all on show yesterday: aggressive, comitted football; quick and direct ball movement; players backing themselves and each other; the courage and confidence to take risks.

ahhh memories.

for only the second time in our history a coach has us playing finals three years running. so the board sacks him.

WTF?

then the board wonders why it is in trouble.

if we'd stuck with the "process" that grant had in place it could quite easily have been us. unfortunately the haters won out and we get to watch geelong take the glory.

good luck to the cats, i say. they stuck to their guns and deserve their success. but i do find it interesting that they didn't really blossom until their bogeyman, GT, was out of the way.

it's no use crying over spilt milk, but it's the reason, imo, why RB must go.

the best we can hope for is that RB's departure reunites the club and that RL can somehow get our list playing the type of football we know deep down inside that they are capable of.

enough of the chipalotto and "numbers behind the ball"

we need to hit the ground running from the very start of 2008 and establish ourselves from the outset as premiership contenders

[mischa]

We keep on imploding-Stan Alves and Grant Thomas being the two most recent glaring examples and on it goes...

[carn_sainter]

There’s nothing funny about footy at all

Geelong do all the obvious things:
They support their staff
They keep out of the media
They get fit
They execute the fundamentals
They stay on the park

Have we done this?
Supporting staff? We’ve had big turnover of staff, not just footy department and on the surface have been much less united as a whole club.
Media? No, we’ve been all over it and never for the right reasons.
Fit? Nope…barely played 4 quarters once in 07.
Fundamentals? Our skills were wretchedly poor all year long…our best passage of play was a Sam Fisher spoil to an X Clarke crumb with a dash through the centre square and hitting a leading G-train…we did that once this year…Geelong do it twice a quarter…
Stay on the park? Nope, we still can’t get that injury dilemma together.


They are a benchmark that we are miles off at the moment...good news is, we are a tweak here and there away from it...we know what we have to do, so now just to get it done...

I have faith, we are (can be) good enough

[Q5]

There’s nothing funny about footy at all

Geelong do all the obvious things:
They support their staff
They keep out of the media
They get fit
They execute the fundamentals
They stay on the park

Have we done this?
Supporting staff? We’ve had big turnover of staff, not just footy department and on the surface have been much less united as a whole club.
Media? No, we’ve been all over it and never for the right reasons.
Fit? Nope…barely played 4 quarters once in 07.
Fundamentals? Our skills were wretchedly poor all year long…our best passage of play was a Sam Fisher spoil to an X Clarke crumb with a dash through the centre square and hitting a leading G-train…we did that once this year…Geelong do it twice a quarter…
Stay on the park? Nope, we still can’t get that injury dilemma together.


They are a benchmark that we are miles off at the moment...good news is, we are a tweak here and there away from it...we know what we have to do, so now just to get it done...

I have faith, we are (can be) good enough

I concur completely cs! Thought it was interesting when Cam Mooney was asked at what point he knew they had the game won - his reply 'before the start of the game' - they went in with a belief - not hope or thoughts of being good enough, but belief - in their own abilities, faith in their coaching staff, and the support of the Club as a WHOLE.

[Beej]

for only the second time in our history a coach has us playing finals three years running. so the board sacks him.

WTF?

Tell me about it. St Kilda people of all people should know how hard success is to come by and when we have the opportunity to build on something that was obviously working on the field, our president hits the self-destruct button.

He puts his ego first and lets a personal spat with his coach destroy everything we have built and we are forced to start from scratch with Lyon.

if we'd stuck with the "process" that grant had in place it could quite easily have been us. unfortunately the haters won out and we get to watch geelong take the glory.

The Port board realised that the club came first. This, after three consecutive years of "choking" in finals.

Frank Costa and Brian Cook kept faith with Bomber Thompson and now the Cats have won their flag.

Before this year, Mark Thompson had made the finals three times (2000, 2004, 2005), winning two finals from six. Evidently that was deemed good enough for Thompson to keep his job.

Thompson's 'extra responsibilities' were cited as a reason for their failures so he assumed more of a 'teaching' role and relinquished the unofficial 'head of football' title.

Goes to show what can happen with a board who make decisions in the best interests of their club, and not upon the best interests of themselves.

[barks4eva]

if we'd stuck with the "process" that grant had in place it could quite easily have been us.

i do find it interesting that they didn't really blossom until their bogeyman, GT, was out of the way.

I havn't laughed so hard for awhile, thanks for that

after having regained my composure, seriously it's scary and I do mean very scary how much of a fricken numbnut you really are

[St.Kenny]

I'm sure Geelong learnt a lot from the St.Kilda teams that handed them out a couple of good woppings over the last few years under GT !

[barks4eva]

this time last year we were ahead of the cats

we made the finals, they missed out

both clubs were in crisis off the field

we sacked grant

cats kept faith with their man

12 months on, they've won a flag

we've missed out on finals

makes you wonder what could've been if butterss had the ability to put aside personal differences for the good of the club

FAIR DINKUM you're a fair dinkum GT doll worshipper if ever there was one

Recruiting and poor list management stuffed our chances and Thomas was responsible for that

Not only that

Thomas and Rendell NOT JB made the calls on Ackland, Guerra, Brooks and Thomas alone on McGough

Thomas ran the football department like a chook raffle

We were in decline and finished 8th due solely to poor recruiting and poor list development

Geelong had continued to recruit well but had other issues to combat


If Grant Thomas was still coaching us we would have not made the finals

It would not have mattered if Leigh Matthews was channelling Norm Smith it would not have made one iota of difference

I've read some delusional posts on here before, but you OLB take the cake

Does OLB stand for one lobotomised buffoon?

[Saints Premiers 2008]

this time last year we were ahead of the cats

we made the finals, they missed out

both clubs were in crisis off the field

we sacked grant

cats kept faith with their man

12 months on, they've won a flag

we've missed out on finals

makes you wonder what could've been if butterss had the ability to put aside personal differences for the good of the club

FAIR DINKUM you're a fair dinkum GT doll worshipper if ever there was one

Recruiting and poor list management stuffed our chances and Thomas was responsible for that

Not only that

Thomas and Rendell NOT JB made the calls on Ackland, Guerra, Brooks and Thomas alone on McGough

Thomas ran the football department like a chook raffle

We were in decline and finished 8th due solely to poor recruiting and poor list development

Geelong had continued to recruit well but had other issues to combat


If Grant Thomas was still coaching us we would have not made the finals

It would not have mattered if Leigh Matthews was channelling Norm Smith it would not have made one iota of difference

I've read some delusional posts on here before, but you OLB take the cake

Does OLB stand for one lobotomised buffoon?

same answer...do you have the same set of answers for every debate you partake in???

just wondering...

or do you mix and match your long boring tirade's of general shiite so they might seem a little different???

nope

thought not

[Oh When the Saints]

Thompson's 'extra responsibilities' were cited as a reason for their failures so he assumed more of a 'teaching' role and relinquished the unofficial 'head of football' title.

In fairness, Thomas refused to accept a football operations manager and development coaches (has said so himself). Our football department could not continue to run the way it had (so far behind other clubs).

Bomber Thompson had the humility to accept a change in management structure and relinquish some control. Look at the results.


Nor was Bomber Thompson stupid enough to borrow a million bucks from a guy who happened to be his boss and with whom he allowed a relationship to disintegrate.

Decisions like that are not ideal ways to ensure you keep your position and that the club's interests are put first.


People who lay 100% blame with the board for GT's sacking are mistaken ... his own decisions contributed to his downfall.

[Beej]

FAIR DINKUM you're a fair dinkum GT doll worshipper if ever there was one

Not a GT worshipper, just a massive fan of a St Kilda side challenging for Premierships.

Recruiting and poor list management stuffed our chances and Thomas was responsible for that

Rah, rah, rah. Do you have a post saved on your computer which you just cut and paste onto Saintsational repeatedly? It's boring, mate.

Thomas ran the football department like a chook raffle

If running a football department like a chook raffle means being involved in September then maybe a chook raffle is the way forward, no?

If Grant Thomas was still coaching us we would have not made the finals

I guess we'll never know but lets just deal with what we know, shall we?

Our second longest run of consecutive finals appearances was achieved with Thomas in charge. It ended the very next year following Thomas' dismissal.

What does that tell you?

And I may be a "lobotomised buffoon" but coming from an attention seeker who drops pages of ruck stats into coaches boxes thinking that their opinion actually matters to people like GT, I don't think I'm overly worried. You're insignificant, mate. The sooner you realise that the better off you'll be.

Were you on Australia's Greatest Footy Fan the other night with Collingwood's Joffa and the rest of those muppets? Because you bring new meaning to the words "feral supporter" and having you following this club brings it down no end imo.

[saintdooley]

We'd probably have a second GF win under our belts...

what have you been smoking? because i want some!

[Oh When the Saints]

"sycophantic pr1ck" and "fricken numbnut" are terms of abuse and clearly designed to bait another poster.

barks4eva, use that language again and you will be banned.

This thread is locked.