- Richo on AFL facebook and follow up media

[saintbrat]

for those who can join in and ask the questions

AFL ‏@AFL , @stkildafc’s @AlanRichardson will be in the Q&A hot seat tomorrow at 9:30am on our Facebook page!

maybe some one can take questions from here...

[saintbrat]

seems like he may use that time to make some announcements

The full seven-man leadership group will be announced Tuesday, February 10.

Members Email 9.2.15
http://view.tmclient.ticketmaster.com/? ... 191294&r=0

[matrix]

I don't do Facebook so if anyone wants to ask how young Eli is traveling it would be appreciated.
How's the arm?
How's he found pre season? Got a bit more in the tank ?
Pushing for starting 22?

[Scoop]

I don't do Facebook so if anyone wants to ask how young Eli is traveling it would be appreciated.
How's the arm?
How's he found pre season? Got a bit more in the tank ?
Pushing for starting 22?

Going very well from all reports....

[matrix]

cool
i havent heard a thing
future start right there imo

[matrix]

looks like he will play more on the wing this year

[saintbrat]

Peter Sammut Jason Holmes to make an appearance this season how are his skills coming along
AFL Jason is a real chance to play initially in the NAB Challenge, as a rookie he needs a long-term injury to be elevated to the primary list for the season proper, but I couldn't be more pleased with his progress. His marking and kicking is certainly coming along, he's definitely heading in the right direction.

Joey Marguglio What will Eli Templeton's roll be this year ?
AFL Eli played predominantly as a small/negating forward in his six games last year, and was very impressive. Our plan is for Eli to play much more on the wing in 2015, going really well after what was a very bad broken arm.

Josh Garlick Hi there Alan, is there any chance that Ahmed Saad and Paddy Mcartin are going to play round 1?
AFL Yes. Depending on their physical preparation, their form and their understanding of their role. There is a chance that our front half will have a significantly different look with those players, plus Membrey, possibly one of the rucks putting their hand up to play forward, Jack Lonie is another that has been impressive as a small, crumbing forward at this early stage.

Josh Garlick Hi Allan, Will Jack Billings move more into the midfield this year?
AFL Yes. Jack has worked very hard on his running capacity and has been impressive at this early stage in his midfield training. Will still be used, not unlike last year, as a forward. But I would hope that he would be able to add about 25% more game time through the midfield.

Luke Williams Which youngsters are most likely to play early in the year?
AFL To be honest, all our young players from this year's draft are all going really well. It'll depend on their lead-up in the preparation stage, but certainly our fans have not seen a lot of Blake Acres drafted last year, and my expectation is that he'll play significant footy early on in the year.

Beau Van Hey Al!!
I would just like to know what your vision is for the next 4 years?
Also how will you utilise Riewoldt? More up the ground and leave the 50 for membrey and Lee?
AFL Our list build strategy should see us challenging at the end of that four-year period. So clearly we need to progress accordingly until that period. We will become more aggressive in the free agency/trade space over that period. Not unlike this year, Roo will play as our higher forward, allowing for the growth of players like Lee, White, Membrey, McCartin.

Daniel Dimech G'day Alan!!
What's the best piece of advice you have to a young coach like myself on coaching under 18s?!?
AFL To formulate a simple but stimulating gameplan with clear and accountable non-negotiables/team rules. To be organised at training and remember that your role as a coach at junior level is to ensure that they grow, that they enjoy and that they come back the following year.

Ebony Davies Hi richo! As a proud saints member I am extremely happy with everything since you have arrived at the saints on and off the field, I would as thousands of other saints members/fans would love to see you here for a very very long time is this something you would take on board? Silly question but just wanted to let you know we are all behind you and the boys! #fortiusquofidelius
AFL Thanks for such a positive message. Really enjoying the challenge, proud of the strong decisions/direction our club has taken, and look forward to being here until we win one.

Luke Thow How has Spencer White and Tom Lee put in the pre season? Obviously they are 2 important players that we need improvement from, and do u need a runner for the 2015 season? as I'm available
AFL Both Tom and Spencer have had good pre-seasons. Tom in particular has finally had some luck with his body and barely missed a session, so I'm really looking forward to seeing how he performs in the NAB Challenge. Spencer still has another level to find with respect to his running capacity, but he also is heading in the right direction. Thanks for the offer, but at this stage we're ok on the runner front!

Nathan Richardson He mate, how is Hugh Goddard going? Any chance of him lining up round 1?
AFL Hugh's going very well. He's a very competitive and ambitious young man. It certainly won't be through lack of want or commitment that he won't be there early. He's in a part of the ground where we have a bit of experience (Fisher, Delaney, Dempster, Gilbert etc) so that makes it a little tougher, but long term he has the potential to be a very good player.

David Cooper How much time is young Paddy spending with Roo and who else is he learning from?
AFL He's spending a lot of time with Roo. Roo has just joined in training, so now there is a lot of explicit forward line conversation and education happening. Prior to that, the conversation was around preparation and what's required to be an elite AFL player. He is doing a lot of work with our forward line coach Aaron Hamill.

Scott Davis Hi Richo, is there room in the 22 to play both Longer and Hicks or does that make us to top heavy with Paddy and Roo up forward?
AFL Very good question. Time will tell. At this stage comfortable with both boys' ability in the ruck, but clearly need to put their hand up as a forward. Always a challenge to put on pressure in the front half if too tall. But if catching the ball, that's not an issue.

[LTN16]

Thanks for that saintbrat

[Jacks Back]

Thanks for that saintbrat.

Richo sounds so level headed and not at all like most of the other coaches. I hope we support him and give him a chance to coach once the boys mature.

[saintbrat]

http://www.afl.com.au/news/2015-02-10/s ... says-richo
The Saints ranked No.1 in the AFL for moving the ball via the boundary line last year, taking the safest route out of their backline 57.1 per cent of the time, according to Champion Data.

As a result, they were among the slowest teams when turning rebound 50s into forward entries (16th) and in the bottom two for back-half kicks into the corridor (14.9 per cent).

Richardson said the Saints had focused heavily on their ball movement this pre-season and his players would be encouraged to take aggressive options in 2015.

"When we can, we want to be brave and we want to look to move the ball back through the middle of the ground," Richardson told AFL.com.au.


http://www.afl.com.au/video/2015-02-10/ ... artin-back

[philtee]

Big tick to the Saints media department - plenty of good Saints stories buzzing around this week.