How to keep winning....

[Finna]

Winning is not about the personnel within a football club. It is about how that personnel functions as a unit, as a combined force.

Having high profile players and coaches means nothing if the football club as a whole is not unified and moving in motion together toward a focused goal or intention.

It is the same in in all of life.
Why would football be different?

If you have a clear and focused intention you cannot be stopped from achieving your vision. You build enormous momentum and its almost as if you are pulled to the chosen outcome without much effort or skill required.

In 2007 Geelong built this momentum and rode it all the way to a premiership.

And last year it was the Hawks.

In 2005 and 2006 Sydney were seen as having a heap of no-name players
but won a premiership and lost by a point in the following year.

It wasn't their 'stars players ' and it wasn't their game plan it was their complete commitment to the cause and the vision put before them by the coach.

Once the teams understand about commitment and focus the players as individuals become irreleveant and it becomes about what the individual can do to assist the club to achieve its clear goal.

If you went to Melbourne and Richmond and asked each member of club what the vision for the club is I bet you would have a heap of different answers.

If you asked every person at Geelong in 2007 they would have all had the same vision.

This is the Key.

When the vision is aligned player names become unimportant as selection becomes about the role that the individual can play within the team and how that person performs his role within that team

I see this happening at the Saints this year and I have no doubt Ross Lyon understands this. He does not base selection on 'name' players. He looks at each player on the list and says: Are you willing to play the game?

If its a YES and you make the team you will stay in no matter who is outside the team. If you stay committed to the vision and you do your job then you're in.

This rates players on a completely different scale to the old theory of select the 'better' player. Its not about pereived talent its about commitment to the cause.

Thats why we see the players that we see in the team every week and it makes players outside the team say ' If I dont get on board I wont get a game'.

I have never seen Steven Milne as I have this year. He is so focused and sure of his role within the St. Kilda machine. It's no longer me, me me.

So whats the key to us keeping on winning?

If St. kilda can maintain the same level of focus and commitment we have seen so far this year then we will be unstoppable. It wont matter who we play it will just be a matter of following the team systems and the win will be a natural outcome. We just do our thing.

Any team that does this (and Geelong currently are too) will only be beaten by a more committed and focused team

Further: Our commitment during matches (forwards, mids and backs) from each member of our team to stop our opponents from scoring is our greatest strength. It frustrates and deflates the opposition and also allows our players to feel like they have more control of the game.

We have controlled games this year!
We have completely dominated our opposition.

I dont care for comments about the quality of our opposition it is the way we have dominated our opponents that impresses me.

We will only lose if any team member loses sight of their role and the team vision.

We have a history of sabotage when in this position. Only to lose sight of the vision when we have been about to realise it. So far it feels a bit different this time and for me its definitely about the commitment from each and every player in a saints jumper. If we maintain the commitment to the cause of each player we will be very hard to stop.

And this is the coaches job as the leader....To keep the vision clear and completely aligned at all times.

GO SAINTS!

[Devilhead]

You had me at "Winning"

Hell where do I sign??

How much are your courses??

[Finna]

Hadn't though about courses, hey that could be a good idea. i'l get back to you.

[StSteven]

Necessary but not sufficient attributes. Firstly you have to be able to play footy better than the other buggers!

[Finna]

How many St Kilda teams have been able to play better footy than the 'other buggers?' Too many but not too many premierships.

Yes you need good players, but there aren't many players in the AFL that aren't good. Fiora was a first round pick. It was not a lack of ability but a lack of commitment.

I'd rather a team of fully aligned and committed players than a group of players who can play better than the 'other buggers' but without an aligned vision.

[Sainter_Dad]

Believe that it is your ball and you want it back!
Have a bigger score on the board at the end of the game - nothing else matters! Particularly on the last day in September (Hawthorn anyone).

Just dont let it be Saints v Blues on Sept 26th (our 11th wedding)

lol

[The Saintsational Man]

Simple answer.....

Keep scoring more than the other team!!!

[saintsRrising]

This is why we hired Lyon..and has been his vision all along.

It has just taken a while for him to get all the "individuals" on board.


Remember Roo's impassioned plee to ALL his team-mates at the Best and fairest at the end of 2007, to "get on the bus"???

It took many till the dropping of Dal and Milne to take heed...and some like Fiora never did (or at least just not each and every week).