Did we still have a chance at a flag?

[plugger66]

Well if you listened to Terry Wallace ( whatever you think about him ), on SEN this arvo he reckons we have 2 years with a good chance.

Is he trying to get a job at the Saints...

I agree with Wallace, but like markp I reckon we are longer oddsnow that Ross has gone. But that could turn around again (as it has for the Cats this year). We'll know more after a few rounds in 2012.

Cats havent turned much around at all. We have to go from 12 wins to 16 to at least be a chance. Going to be very hard with some up and coming sides. A slight chance for top 4 but more likely botttom of the 8 or just miss the finals. Eagles give us some hope but most sides who drop down at the
age of our stars dont come back. One thing I do know is if we miss the
finals next year the run is over and it is a full rebuild.

Cats had to turn around losing both their coach and their star player. We don't necessarily have to win more than 12 games if we can make a show of it in the finals. With Lenny and Gwilt to come back in, we could be stronger by the finals than at the start of the season. And stronger still in 2013. After that, I agree, we'll need a few years to rebuild.

And I'm not saying we'll win or even be anything than an outside chance. But I think I can guarantee that, if we manage to finish 6th again or higher after the home and away, and barring any more diastrous injuries, we'll make a much better show in the finals than we did this year.

Please dont ell me you are another who thinks you can win it from outside the top 4 and with 12 wins. It is 1000 to one. so maybe we will win it in 3001. If we do can you give me a call. I will be very tired by then.

[meher baba]

plugger66: a team will win it from outside the top 4 one day and it will probably be within the next decade. Teams have won the flag after being forced to play in a semi- final (eg, the Swans in 2005), which is an almost comparable feat. Our draw is anything but even so there is no guarantee that the top 4 are the four best teams: eg, us in 2008, when wr made the top 4 but were basically crap.

Sure it's a hard row to hoe, but the odds are a lot better than 1000 to 1

[plugger66]

plugger66: a team will win it from outside the top 4 one day and it will probably be within the next decade. Teams have won the flag after being forced to play in a semi- final (eg, the Swans in 2005), which is an almost comparable feat. Our draw is anything but even so there is no guarantee that the top 4 are the four best teams: eg, us in 2008, when wr made the top 4 but were basically crap.

Sure it's a hard row to hoe, but the odds are a lot better than 1000 to 1

If you win 12 games in the year you have probably won 2 or 3 out of about 10 games against top 8 sides then all of a sudden you want to win 4 in a row against top 8 sides. Of course the odds are better than a 1000 to one but lets face it if we are hoping for that then we are backing a losing cause. We need to win 15-16 games next year in the home and away season to even have a chance for the flag.

[The Fireman]

This may just be the thing the club and players need to take the next step.

[bigcarl]

the guy was an a-hole. 4 blokes under 25 in our finals team.
massive indictment on the bloke as a player developer.

Agree. Why Walsh didn't get a chance towards the end of the season still puzzles me.

Riewoldt getting smashed by three opponents every time he goes for the ball and this kid (a strong bodied key forward) kicks six for Sandringham ... among other consistent performances ... and still can't get a look in.

A complete no brainer.

No imagination and no daring IMO.

[Scollop]

the guy was an a-hole. 4 blokes under 25 in our finals team.
massive indictment on the bloke as a player developer.

Agree. Why Walsh didn't get a chance towards the end of the season still puzzles me.

Riewoldt getting smashed by three opponents every time he goes for the ball and this kid (a strong bodied key forward) kicks six for Sandringham ... among other consistent performances ... and still can't get a look in.

A complete no brainer.

No imagination and no daring IMO.

This was my greatest criticism of Ross Lyon. Three or four years ago we all agreed and Lyon stated at the time that he'd try and get the Saints to kick more goals and we'd have more forward options. In the five years that the rat was at the helm he did not value development of talent on the forward line and we have not developed any 'new' forwards. A senior coach's job is to provide solutions.

It took us five years to realise that he was not planning for the ongoing development of talent on the Saints list. His player selection and recruiting and the playing list that lined up each week was conservative and risk free. Some of the players Lyon brought into the team had clearly been perceived to have weaknesses by other clubs.

Sure the mature age players will probably have a better chance of remaining injury free during the year, but if you lack flair and daring and only select average mature age 'average' footballers you will only get average serviceable performances. We failed in our GF efforts because Lyon's risk free selection policy failed.

After the disappointment of 3 attempts and listening to Ross's tiresome cliched empty messages, I don't believe our players were looking forward to busting their guts for the coach again at the start of this year. Geelong have given us a template to follow. We can definitely challenge again in 2012 with a favourable fixture, Lenny regaining full fitness, Roo and Kosi fit and firing, Chips, Gilbo and Jimmy Gwilt standing up in defence, and BJ, Dal, Joey, Armo and Jones working well together with Macca. The spark is going to be the youth. We'll see speed and daring on the field, but also the energy and enthusiasm that we know youngsters bring to the training track, and ofcoarse, it'll lift each player with more competition for spots on the team.

We can do it and we need the right coach and assistant coaches to be appointed to keep the guys focussed on the grand prize. We need leaders of men that have been there before in Grand Finals and people that have been part of winning cultures as players and as assistants. If we could get MM to lead the club next year it would be our best chance to reward this current playing group.

[Dr Spaceman]

This may just be the thing the club and players need to take the next step.

You know what? I think you may be right.

And the quicker those both inside and outside the club embrace that way of thinking, the better.

[borderbarry]

My family will tell you how frustrated I was that Walsh never got a game. Made no sense whatsoever. He has been with for two whole seasons now and we have no idea how good he will be at AFL level. And young Archer was thrown to the wolves early on for one game, and I did'nt think he did too bad, but never got another look in.