Time for Action

[Sanctorum]

With a season record of 1.5 wins after 8 rounds, and Collingwood, Richmond, West Coast Eagles (away), Sydney, Gold Coast Suns (away) to come before the mid-year bye, there is every likelihood that St Kilda will be 1.5 wins from 13 games, and be a certain cellar dweller at season's end. So much for the Master Plan forecast to be in contention for Top Four in 2018!

Clearly this represents massive failure by the football department, in particular the coaching panel led by Alan Richardson, and long-suffering veteran supporters like myself feel aggrieved to see the team we love perform so poorly, when we all had such high hopes that 2018 would see us progress up the ladder.

I am now of the view that something has to be done to break the impasse, and it is not satisfactory to let things roll along until the end of the season.

In the past this state of affairs would usually lead to the mid-season sacking of the senior coach, but I believe that another course of action would be more responsible.

My proposal is to ask Saintsational to initiate a members petition to take to the Club Board, requesting an immediate review of the Football Department. This review should be wide-ranging, encompassing every aspect including recruitment, player development and conditioning, and to ensure that this process is completely impartial should be led by an experienced and respected AFL identity (retired senior coach e.g. Mick Malthouse).

The reason for requesting this petition is to give Saints supporters a real sense that something constructive is going to eventuate, and that a major review will lead to positive outcomes.

It is all very well for us to let off steam and vent our fury at the deplorable performance of our team, but all that does is generate hot air that evaporates to nothing in the atmosphere. I have considered writing to the club and the Board to express my displeasure and dismay, but it is doubtful that any of these messages from individuals will actually be viewed by the Club Directors. So we need to present a submission from the membership at large, and Saintsational is the only entity able to do this.

I watch a lot of footy on Fox and sit there and wonder how other teams not only play better but develop their young talent so well - vide Geelong, Richmond, Hawthorn, Sydney, Port Adelaide, Adelaide, West Coast, even Melbourne for God's sake! And if you want a clincher, how about the way North Melbourne have come back as a real force this year. Alan

Richardson is in his 5th year at the helm of our footy club and has had a lot of young early draft picks to lead our team into the Promised Land. But you can't tell me that the likes of Billings, Acres, Dunstan, Newnes, Sinclair, Weller, Membrey, are in such poor form that they would struggle to be top 22 in any other team. Our coach has often said that the players are going through a rough patch in terms of form, but fails to acknowledge that it is his job to get them in form, or to tell supporters what they are doing to turn this around, and this includes appalling kicking for goal - St Kilda are 16th on the ladder right now, with the lowest "point for" and percentage.

So it is over to you Moderators, would you please get together and prepare a supporters petition to the St Kilda FC Directors - the time for action is NOW!!