Thank god Milne did not get sacked

[Batnoe]

it depends on what part of GT's game style you like

He was all for getting our players big and strong.. AKA Hamill, Guerra to smash the smaller players. We learnt that off Brisbane but game styles change as your personal needs to.

The style implemented in 04-05 was good enough to win the flag if we had the players on the park. The Lions were tough bodied players and we tried to do that as well.

The first thing Ross did was to make our players fit, losing weight. Their intnent is with their head, not their body on a strong tackle. They want to do it. jarryn Geary is skinny yet he can tackle and he is fit..... Our current game plan is fitter than GT's mob yet we are still ferocious. We used our bodies in 04, 05 (hence the injuries) not our heads and brains

[walski]

The first thing Ross did was to make our players fit, losing weight. Their intnent is with their head, not their body on a strong tackle. They want to do it. jarryn Geary is skinny yet he can tackle and he is fit..... Our current game plan is fitter than GT's mob yet we are still ferocious. We used our bodies in 04, 05 (hence the injuries) not our heads and brains

Well summed up ...

[plugger66]

These threads are a lot of use. I still think the person who started this thread thanks Rod Butterss for getting rid of Gt but fails to acknowledge he appointed him without a proper interview process. Anyway GT is very good on the TV show and was very good for fixing up the Saints culture.

[walski]

These threads are a lot of use. I still think the person who started this thread thanks Rod Butterss for getting rid of Gt but fails to acknowledge he appointed him without a proper interview process. Anyway GT is very good on the TV show and was very good for fixing up the Saints culture.

Yep and was very instrumental in the undermining of Malcolm Blight... a apointment that started and ended very dodgy.....

Butters did put us in a good state financially rebounding from the mid 90's SOS period. But other stuff well umm.

My criticism of the old board and GT comes from hindsight and hope the club doesn’t make the same mistakes again is my only motivation. Seeing the foundation left could build us in to perennial contenders year after year which the current board and coach is building upon.

[asiu]

walski

sorry

never was at you



passion and enthusiasm preceeds pencil pushers and technicians..it always has.

all makes the whole ......




lamingtons following a gob swabbler over a cliff





these clowns will keep bumping their gums , which keep their minds closed , and as we enter the next cycle , which we will , they will have learnt nothing


did you listen to eddie last night talking about intellectual property.....returning to ground zero when u sack a coach ....did u listen ...anyone think about st kilda and how we've done it

or just think


eddies a wanker

[stinger]

It was actually Ken Sheldon who took Milne off the trade table before RL was appointed. But that is only splitting hairs. I'm sure RL had a say.

As for GT, I actually think he is deliberately trying to fire Milney up. He doesn't want Milne in a comfort zone and as a supporter, wants him on the edge.

Same as Tim Watson coming out to fire up Gary Ablett. Watson's voice, Mark Thompson's words.

IMO.

spot on..anyway..thomas will have his place in the history books if we win the big one....

if you doubt me ask one of the players...not b4e....

[stinger]

Yep and was very instrumental in the undermining of Malcolm Blight... a apointment that started and ended very dodgy.....

crap.......thomas was the one who tried to fix things and get the arsewipe to turn up at moorabbin now and then ..instead of the golf course.....

[stinger]

I must be a nuff- nuff of the highest order because I like GT and I respect what he did with this band of players, I think his role in developing them has to be acknowledged. I like him on Footy Classified too although that show is in danger of disappearing up its own fundament.
However I agree with Barks - glad we've still got Milney and very glad we've got Ross Lyon at the helm.

good post....

[aussierules0k]

[rodgerfox]

Quite a sad reflection on a supporter base when we're 19-0, and people are starting bitter threads about a coach who hasn't been at the club for 3 years.

[saint66au]

Nope.... he said (or words to the effect) that he's doing well and maybe the penny has 'finally' dropped for him (roll roll), but he still hasn't really proven himself, and only after performing well on GF day will he ring him to congratulate him....

IM making that one word bold because unless I'm very much mistaken he didnt say it.

My recollection is that he said he will be the first to ring him on Sept 28 to congratulate him if he plays well. He was then corrected on the date lol

I also wish people would quote him in context when he said he "didnt rate" ruckmen. Watch FC again. What he doesnt rate are lumbering giraffes who wander from stoppage to stoppage just taking hit outs and doing bugger-all else. (yes Trent Knobel I'm looking at you) He has said time and time agtain that ruckmen need to do more than that. Anyone want to argue with that logic?

[stinger]

I also wish people would quote him in context when he said he "didnt rate" ruckmen. Watch FC again. What he doesnt rate are lumbering giraffes who wander from stoppage to stoppage just taking hit outs and doing bugger-all else. (yes Trent Knobel I'm looking at you) He has said time and time agtain that ruckmen need to do more than that. Anyone want to argue with that logic?

and b4e's mate rix comes to mind in that context......he wouldn't even know what a football felt like to hold or kick....never got hold of one on a footy field long enough to ever find out either..........our worst ever footballer bar none.....

[markp]

My recollection is that he said he will be the first to ring him on Sept 28 to congratulate him if he plays well.

That's what he said... in the context of until then he is not convinced about Milne.... that's what the whole conversation was about.

[desertsaint]

Quite a sad reflection on a supporter base when we're 19-0, and people are starting bitter threads about a coach who hasn't been at the club for 3 years.

exactly!

[markp]

Quite a sad reflection on a supporter base when we're 19-0, and people are starting bitter threads about a coach who hasn't been at the club for 3 years.

It's not bitter it's funny.... and what's funnier is who comes out of their holes to take exception.

[asiu]

it's not funny it's malicious gossip and disrespect.... and what's funnier is who comes out of their holes to carry it on

[To the top]

I was one who could not reconcile the "2 goals a game" carry on because the hand in the air, standing behind his opponent looking for the cheap kick style aligned to a total lack of defensive work rate was costing us more goals at the other end - and costing us games.

That is why sides that flooded against us had such success - we did not pressure and Milne was one of the prime culprits.

The way to totally chop Milne out of a game was to put a bigger body on him - and that is why he struggled against top teams - and, by extension, in finals.

This year, as a 29 year old approaching the twilight of his career, he has embraced team play and does not have to have the ball in his hand to contribute to team success.

The fact that he did what he did on a bigger bodied player in Brown said it all - in previous years he would not have given a yelp on such a player.

Thomas is on the record as saying he was looking to de-list Milne.

But it was Lyon who dropped him.

Now what is required to be a contributor to a competative team seems to have been recognised by Milne - and we trust the work ethic continues.

I agree re Xavier Clarke because belting in off a wing and hitting the contest with an in and under effort was not his game.

It seemed Thomas challenged him to show his courage or whatever - and to his credit he did what he was (obviously) expected to do to the detriment of his game and his body.

His immense skills reside elsewhere - albeit that, as with every other player, he has to "go" when it is his turn - and there was no doubt he did "go" even before Thomas changed his game.

There was nothing wrong with his offensive game and his offensive flair and there was nothing wrong with his defensive game (he was able to play extremely well in defence) - so why he adopted a reckless, hairy chested approach to the contest is a question which should be asked.

There is a happy medium and Xavier Clarke had it in spades - and then changed.

We look for the correct balance to return in 2010 because he will further enhance this list.

[barks4eva]

it's not funny it's malicious gossip and disrespect

Fact last night Thomas again made mention of how he wanted to sack Milne but he got sacked first!

Malicious gossip, WTF are you talking about?

Disrespect is the shtye Thomas still goes on about in relation to Milne, even last night!

Every second he remained at our club we were going backwards, pissing it all up against a wall!

FAIR DINKUM

[plugger66]

it's not funny it's malicious gossip and disrespect

Fact last night Thomas again made mention of how he wanted to sack Milne but he got sacked first!

Malicious gossip, WTF are you talking about?

Disrespect is the shtye Thomas still goes on about in relation to Milne, even last night!

Every second he remained at our club we were going backwards, pissing it all up against a wall!

FAIR DINKUM

You really are boring.

[meher baba]

[Every second he remained at our club we were going backwards, pissing it all up against a wall!

Interesting take on a coaching career which commenced towards the end of a season in which we finished 15th, having finished 16th the year before, and which ended with us making the finals three years in a row.

There are several other clubs in the AFL who would have been delighted with this sort of "going backwards"!!

All of us are glad that Milne is still at the club, but his game does have its drawbacks and he is still yet to turn on any sort of significant performance in a big finals game.

I'd go so far as to say that we would be more or less where we currently are if Milne had been traded in 2006. Life would be a little less exciting, but IMO he is not an essential player like Riewoldt, BJ, Lenny, Sam Fisher, Joey, Dal or even Kosi, Gardi and Gilbert. Lately (and I can't believe I am saying this) I find Schneider and McQualter to be more complete packages in the forward line than Milne (they are certainly both more dependable kicks when they are trying to do the normal, less spectacular stuff).

On X, I agree that he has unnecessarily hurt himself by going in too hard on occasions, although I don't think his last couple of major injuries resulted from this particular fault.

But surely, Batnoe, you aren't seriously considering that Ross Lyon of all people would be happy to let X play unaccountable football out wide and let others do all the hard inside work on his behalf!!

[Mr Magic]

Immaterial of the posters' opinions and bias for/against GT/RL, it's pretty obvious htat the Milne we currently have playing for us now is a result of the coaching of RL.

Had GT not been sacked he would either be playing against us or not at all in the AFL.

It's a fact, not an opinion on the relative merits of one coach over the other.

[meher baba]

Immaterial of the posters' opinions and bias for/against GT/RL, it's pretty obvious htat the Milne we currently have playing for us now is a result of the coaching of RL.

Had GT not been sacked he would either be playing against us or not at all in the AFL.

It's a fact, not an opinion on the relative merits of one coach over the other.

Out of interest, do you know if Milne was definitely "gone" under GT, or just the subject of a proposed trade which - if it had fallen through - would have left him at the club?

[saint66au]

but his game does have its drawbacks and he is still yet to turn on any sort of significant performance in a big finals game.

Broke the game open in the final v the Pies last year withy 2 trademark goals, giving us a break the Pies never recovered from

[skeptic]

the only thing abiut this thread htta bugs me is that ppl don't acknowledge that maybe Milne himself has a bit of responsibility here.

i don't subscribe to this train of thought that GT was out to get Milne. He went along way towards helping him build his career... GT put a lot of time into his development

his impression was that Milne wasn't working hard enough... and he wasn't. he deserved every bit of criticism he got in GT's last year and there were plenty of forumites around that would willingly have traded him.

RL is a better coach and has gotten more out of him. That doesn't mean GT's criticims aren't warranted

[saintsRrising]

RL is a better coach and has gotten more out of him. That doesn't mean GT's criticims aren't warranted

Well summed up.


And it is the essence of why we are far better off with Lyon.

Milne
Ray
Schneider
Dawson

Anyone starting to spot a trend.....