Ross Lyon should coach Saints for 10 years - Westaway

[saintspremiers]

In which GT played a big part.

He did't sack himself.

BUT he was grossly incompetent when it came to nuturing new talent....we can see that now and we could see that in his final year in 2006, come on rodger, surely you can see that?

Sure, Lyon has continued on GT's mantra with a fair bit of "Topping up for the flag" mentatility and it obviously hasn't worked.

In the perfect world, RB would've been sent out of the club, GT would've stayed, but with lesser duties put upon him by a new board, and reportable to a Footy Manager.....and new fitness staff just like what we have now.....pretty much Footy First with GT as coach.

Also, GT would've had a lot less say in drafting/trading, and would've been placed on 400K a year not 500K+ - remember he's a "great St Kilda man".

Now this is "perfect world" and didn't happen and is great in hindsight to see it now. No doubt GT wouldn't have had a bar of such a demotion and it woudn't have ever got off the ground.......

[rodgerfox]

In which GT played a big part.

He did't sack himself.

BUT he was grossly incompetent when it came to nuturing new talent....we can see that now and we could see that in his final year in 2006, come on rodger, surely you can see that?

I posted my thoughts on this in the '2006 List' thread by SrR.

[starsign]

Obviously stability is what you need at a club, we all know that. What I want to know is why the players are not playing for him and how is he going to fix it.

Spot on That's the crux of it
Couldn't agree more

[st_Trav_ofWA]

well its a welcome change to the norm at stkilda we would normally just sack the coach but putting faith in RL to be able to rebuild the team is fair assesment

i think alot of us are thinking RL was going to come in and be GT but better but the fact is the GT style is much like GT .... gone and just like when GT took over from Blighty he was given time

much of our list is still in the GT frame of mind and as much as i hate to admit it Rogerfox was correct when GT got fired it will take us 3-5 years b4 RL can put enough of his own stamp on the team to be going for a full tilt assult on the flag

1st year is assessing what he has on offer and cutting away the previous coaches Projects -pretty much the same team as the previous coach
2nd year build up the areas we have previously been lacking and test the players inherited to see who fits - slight changes to the list but still pretty much the same core of players from the previous coach
3rd year build the team around the core players and assess the teams weakness and strengths - ovehauled list with only the players in the futre core group left from the previous coach
4th year adapt game style to suit the strengths and address the weekness
with the young guys from the first year becoming the majority of the core group - list almost compleatly differant to the previous coaches with only the best players from that era still playing
5th year game style perfected and put in place team all under the control of the coach all looking at a serious tilt at the flag

[degruch]

to all the rossy lyon baggers--- He is staying for a while! so stop bitching and whinging about him and support your team!

I think half you supporters lose you way half the time! your supposed to barrack for st kilda, not bag them

Amen bro...hopefully all this I hate RL hot air can be channelled into some constructive banter. Honestly, I'm not sure 'Chris Judd' is the only troll on here half the time...some of 'em have been mascarading as Saints supporters for years and don't even know it!

The long term strength of this team is coming, the softc@@ks are going, the seasons not even half over and I'd doubt very highly that it's gonna be worse than the last. I'll be keen to see how the team shapes up for this weekend.

[congorozides]

unconditional backing form the president?
definitely means he be fired then.

[The Fireman]

Oh dear...stability at the cost of keeping a very ordinary coach

[The Fireman]

to all the rossy lyon baggers--- He is staying for a while! so stop bitching and whinging about him and support your team!

I think half you supporters lose you way half the time! your supposed to barrack for st kilda, not bag them

I do support my team , have probably done it longer than you but to say you can't bag the club or individual for not performing is a bit rich, it's like saying "be happy with losing"
I used to have rose coloured glasses like you..then I grew up.

[JeffDunne]

I reckon Greg was mis-quoted.

I find it hard to believe he could string that many sentences together without punctuating at least one with "right?".

[gooner]

Stability is the cornerstone of premierships and its good to hear Westaway say this. On reflection though do you guys really think that by saying this he is actually guaranteeing Ross the job for 10 years?
Could it be that a football club president backs the coach in public and then later gets rid of him? Surely not! (That was sarcasm for the less subtle members of the board.)
Westaway says the right things in public. Good.
Do I think for a second he would stick to this if we don't make finals this year and start badly next year? No.
Does Ross Lyon think his job is secure because of these comments? No.
Remember, its just stuff for the papers to write.

[bergsone]

Dont think you can back anyone for 10 years Surely that is just trying to get afeel of stabilityaround the club,not a supporter of RL from what i have seen so far.Wonder what will be said if the downward trend continues IMO Westaway and board should have come out and said we support RL for remainder of contract and beyond depending on PERFORMANCE

[saint patrick]

While I have actively supported Ross Lyon being given a reasonable chance to achieve success at St.Kilda Football Club I think Westaways comment re ten years was illadvised and is likely to come back to haunt him.

Understand he is aguing for stability but a full support for his contract statment could've have achieved that.The reality is that things can change drastically in 12 months so there is no real value in putting a time frame on it.10years is far fetched to say the least.

Ross must take responsibilty for and achieve the desired results in 08/09 which in my opinion would have to be finals at a minimum.

2 years of no finals would put severe strain on the boards longterm commitment and make Westaways comments look niave at best.

What is clear is that the board is falling in strongly behind Ross Lyon for the term of his contract[18 months] so expect some serious action re the playing list in the next trading period.

As a longtime member of the St.Kilda Football Club I will fully support Ross lyon until he has every chance to get the nucleous of this player group the level of sustained success we all desperately want to see for this football club.

[GrumpyOne]

The absolute best thing for Westaway to say. We should have faith in the most diligent coaching appointment process in our history. The man does not need to be looking over his shoulder for the knives coming whilst he builds a competitive team for the next decade and beyond. I am old enough to remember the same things said about Kevin Sheedy's first couple of years that are said about Lyon at this time.

I only hope that he actually means it. The public backing of the coach by a president in the past has been usually accompanied by the sound of an axe being sharpened in the background.

[The Fireman]

Stability is the cornerstone of premierships and its good to hear Westaway say this. On reflection though do you guys really think that by saying this he is actually guaranteeing Ross the job for 10 years?
Could it be that a football club president backs the coach in public and then later gets rid of him? Surely not! (That was sarcasm for the less subtle members of the board.)
Westaway says the right things in public. Good.
Do I think for a second he would stick to this if we don't make finals this year and start badly next year? No.
Does Ross Lyon think his job is secure because of these comments? No.
Remember, its just stuff for the papers to write.

That makes sense and I just hope you are right but still an odd thing to say. 10 years???
Players and coaches are on performance based contracts, Westaway is saying that Lyons isn't.
Maybe our Pres and Hawthorns Pres could get some media bodyguards.

[krabb]

The current players do not respond to him. We need to cross our fingers and hope that young guys coming into the club might.

What choice is there? We've been hamstrung horribly by severe mismanagement and imcompetence.

Bingo...give this poster a prize.

It goes way back to the old board and GT and anyone else down there that had an input...complete imcompetence.

Ross Lyon is now paying that price...and of course we need stability down there...we would be the laughing stock of the league if he was sacked.

He came out and said it as he saw it...good on him.

He needs to get harder and drop the one's that arent putting in...regardless of the names.

If players arent playing for the Coach then i seriously think thats more a slur on their character than his.

Players have nowhere to hide on a football field..some are just there going through the motions...and im tired of it.

We need to seriously look at trading a couple of big names at the end of this year who would be worth something and try to get low draft picks for them....next year the two new sides will be getting priority picks...and its going to be harder to pick up classy kids.

Now is not a good time to be drifting down the bottom....some hard decisions need to be made regardless of how the fans like it..

Good to see some stability come out of the place for a change...

[bigcarl]

only thing westaway could say.

trouble is that football, being the cut-throat and competitive business that it is, will not allow a 10-year tenure without results and a degree of success.

without results the cry from the outer becomes so loud that presidents and boards are forced to act.

[The Peanut]

Obviously stability is what you need at a club, we all know that. What I want to know is why the players are not playing for him and how is he going to fix it.

Spot on That's the crux of it
Couldn't agree more

I never thought that GW was ever going to be good at the public speaking thing - you just needed to see him sit at the AGM to see that.

I was hoping that Burkie would have stood beside him and do the talking for him - Burkie is a far better speaker and already has the respect of the flock ... and the media.

It was however a little refreshing to see the President throw his support behind the coach, even if it was so over the top many may see it as empty words.

What I want to know is:
• What are the club going to do about the 'bottom line'? - winning games and seeing our players being held up by the media as super-hero's and not being probed for their perceived inadequacies when they don't have the power to make structual changes.
• What is RL and co going to do about the apparent turmoil within the team that arguably has been caused by the coach's "Sydney style" game plan training?
• What is the board going to do about winning a Premiership for banger? We as supporters 'might' be able to survive another year because we are immune to the excuses - Robert Harvey, Max and the other players who are giving their all unreservedly deserve much more.

[JeffDunne]

We should have faith in the most diligent coaching appointment process in our history.

[The Fireman]

If players arent playing for the Coach then i seriously think thats more a slur on their character than his.

With all due respect Krabb I think you are underestimating the value of coaches to be able to motivate.

[The Fireman]

[/b] We as supporters 'might' be able to survive another year because we are immune to the excuses - Robert Harvey, Max and the other players who are giving their all unreservedly deserve much more.

You sir are no peanut.

[GrumpyOne]

We should have faith in the most diligent coaching appointment process in our history.

Are you just going to take pot shots from the peanut gallery or are you going to argue the truth in that statement?

That's whats wrong with this club...... too many d1ckhead supporters.

I'd rather have 5,000 dedicated supporters than another 30,000 like you Jeff.

Go barrack for the filth.

[St DAC]

• What is the board going to do about winning a Premiership for banger? We as supporters 'might' be able to survive another year because we are immune to the excuses - Robert Harvey, Max and the other players who are giving their all unreservedly deserve much more.

With all due respect we shouldn't be trying to win a flag for Banger. As much as I'd love to see him with a premiership medallion, and absolutely no doubt he deserves one, we should be trying to win a flag for the club and supporters, not any individual player no matter how deserving.

Of course, if Banger happens to play in a premiership side (sadly looking pretty unlikely IMO) I'll be cheering as loudly as anyone else!

[The Fireman]

The absolute best thing for Westaway to say. We should have faith in the most diligent coaching appointment process in our history.

Tim Watson, Blight,

The man does not need to be looking over his shoulder for the knives coming whilst he builds a competitive team for the next decade and beyond.

oh yes he does, as do all coaches and players, would you get the sack in your workplace if you were a habitual under achiever?
Keeping on a dud for the sake of stability doesn't make any sense but having said that I am willing to give Lyons until the end of this season as per my thread referring to just that.
10 years?? Come on Grumpy, you must admit it was a silly thing to say.

[NoMore]

If anyone heard the SEN interview, how funny was it when Billy ask Westaway about how our kids were going in this Building Phase.

He had no idea. Ross isn't playing kids he is playing old hacks.

IMO all Westaway did today was make a fool of himself in speaking without talking to the board.

Butress here we come

[JeffDunne]

Grumpy, I'm touched.

It's a privilege that we’re graced here on Saintsational with some of the club’s greatest ever supporters. We truly are fortunate.

Even more fortunate is that they take the time out to lecture us lesser supporters on how we should be supporting the club.

I’m sure it’s only a matter of time before the club recognise your outstanding contribution.