I cant stand the woman but I hope she’s right,

[saintbob]

Caroline Wilson has just said that there are discussions happening at the AFL that WE along with the Suns and Blues will get a priority pick!!

[Enrico_Misso]

Are there any first round injury prone diabetic prospects?

[Dave McNamara]

They are welcome to 'em if they want. (Though just not before our first pick!)

I understand where you're coming from here Bob, but, personally, I never want a wooden spoon or priority pick ever again.

[Moods]

Caroline Wilson has just said that there are discussions happening at the AFL that WE along with the Suns and Blues will get a priority pick!!

Heard the same thing from Damian Barratt this arvo on mmm, so probably has legs. Apparently the AFL as worried about the saints as any club in the competition. This has probably come from Lethlean to Gill. A tad concerning to be honest. New guy comes in and probably can't believe what he's seeing.

It'll be between the 1st and 2nd rounds

[saintbob]

They are welcome to 'em if they want. (Though just not before our first pick!)

I understand where you're coming from here Bob, but, personally, I never want a wooden spoon or priority pick ever again.

Dave,

If the AFL choose to give us a priority pick as Caro has said they’re thinking about, then I’m all for it.

Our list is an absolute mess, our coach is struggling big time and we’re $12 million in debt, these were apparently some of the reasons why the AFL are looking at it.

[Waltzing St Kilda]

Take it if given. Sydney thrives on all its concessions.

Massive embarrassment to those responsible for the "rebuild" though.

[desertsaint]

and it'll come with some catches no doubt. book your tickets to china.

[Saintmatt]

and it'll come with some catches no doubt. book your tickets to china.

If that’s the catch - then I don’t mind that. Who cares? It’s not like we’ve beaten Port at Adelaide Oval anytime in recent history.

Bring it on.

[Saintmatt]

Caroline Wilson has just said that there are discussions happening at the AFL that WE along with the Suns and Blues will get a priority pick!!

Heard the same thing from Damian Barratt this arvo on mmm, so probably has legs. Apparently the AFL as worried about the saints as any club in the competition. This has probably come from Lethlean to Gill. A tad concerning to be honest. New guy comes in and probably can't believe what he's seeing.

It'll be between the 1st and 2nd rounds

The part about Lethlean speaking to Gill is entirely correct. I can’t emphasise enough how lucky we are right now to have him in our midst.

The more interesting part of Caro’s piece last night was that Finnis is now under pressure. I can’t imagine how a new board - also mentioned by her - would view Finnis’s recommending an 2 yr extension to a lame duck coach that favourably.

[SaintPav]

Caroline Wilson has just said that there are discussions happening at the AFL that WE along with the Suns and Blues will get a priority pick!!

Heard the same thing from Damian Barratt this arvo on mmm, so probably has legs. Apparently the AFL as worried about the saints as any club in the competition. This has probably come from Lethlean to Gill. A tad concerning to be honest. New guy comes in and probably can't believe what he's seeing.

It'll be between the 1st and 2nd rounds

The part about Lethlean speaking to Gill is entirely correct. I can’t emphasise enough how lucky we are right now to have him in our midst.

The more interesting part of Caro’s piece last night was that Finnis is now under pressure. I can’t imagine how a new board - also mentioned by her - would view Finnis’s recommending an 2 yr extension to a lame duck coach that favourably.

The board dropped the ball on this as well.

Incompetent and negligent.

[saintspremiers]

A PP, new president and new CEO

Surely no AR for 2019 and I’ll be happy!

[fugazi]

We need all the help we can get.
Much of our strife is if course self inflicted, but the concessions to the new clubs and years of compromised drafts hasnt helped.
Most of all we need change at the top.
Our list is not as awful as they are playing... but we are bereft of confidence and we have an outdated gameplan that sucks the life out of the players.
Richo has to go....even if it means step down to a different role if we're that worried about his salary.
Ratten could start to turn this group around.

[rodgerfox]

Don't forget that the AFL give Essendon and Collingwood ANZAC Day, Richmond and Melbourne ANZAC Day eve, Melbourne and Collingwood Queens Birthday, Richmond and Carlton the season opener, Sydney had COLA, so did Brisbane, GWS had 900 first round picks, Adelaide had an entire state for over a decade, ditto West Coast etc. etc.

This whole 'the poor clubs don't deserve handouts and welfare' is utter s***.

It's akin to Gina Rinehart wanting wages reduced and welfare scrapped for battlers whilst putting her hand out for tax cuts!


The AFL wants an even comp, and due to their trickle down economics approach, they have no choice but to try to even it up somehow.

The 'big clubs' are big clubs because the AFL made them big. Or more accurately, they leveraged off their 'bigness' and made them huge - which created a huge comp that can support 18 clubs.

But of course in doing so, they've also created a huge gap.

So there's absolutely no issue with getting handouts. I'd much prefer the handouts that Collingwood get!!

[Whiskey]

I can't see our situation improving even with a priority pick. I reckon its not the draftees its their development going backwards. Until we change the coach and persons responsible for this lack of development i think we are destined for more of this

[Teflon]

Caroline Wilson has just said that there are discussions happening at the AFL that WE along with the Suns and Blues will get a priority pick!!

Heard the same thing from Damian Barratt this arvo on mmm, so probably has legs. Apparently the AFL as worried about the saints as any club in the competition. This has probably come from Lethlean to Gill. A tad concerning to be honest. New guy comes in and probably can't believe what he's seeing.

It'll be between the 1st and 2nd rounds

The part about Lethlean speaking to Gill is entirely correct. I can’t emphasise enough how lucky we are right now to have him in our midst.

The more interesting part of Caro’s piece last night was that Finnis is now under pressure. I can’t imagine how a new board - also mentioned by her - would view Finnis’s recommending an 2 yr extension to a lame duck coach that favourably.

The board dropped the ball on this as well.

Incompetent and negligent.

I think it puts to rest any notion that Lethlean only answers to Finnis....and that conversations won’t go beyond him in terms or reviews or clubs needs

Lethlean will run to Gill at every opportunity for 2 reasons:

1. He’s ambitious and needs to reinvent himself
2. The clubs a basket case and needs AFL intervention and he now knows it...

[freely]

She also said Richo only really contracted for one year, not two - and that that would mean he's much more likely to want to recruit top-up players at the end of this season - that is, next season he'll be coaching for his career so he'll be trying to win games at all costs (even moreso than posters here have been accusing him of this year).

[freely]

BTW - I wish this thread could be retitled "hope caro's right". Do we need the gratuitous insults? smacks of misogyny methinks.

[Moods]

BTW - I wish this thread could be retitled "hope caro's right". Do we need the gratuitous insults? smacks of misogyny methinks.

The irony is that she's almost always right. Bottom line is that she knows more about footy politics than any other journo going around.

Cue all the wankers telling me the time she got it wrong (in their eyes)
Yes I know the St kilda school girl thing.

[saynta]

She also said Richo only really contracted for one year, not two - and that that would mean he's much more likely to want to recruit top-up players at the end of this season - that is, next season he'll be coaching for his career so he'll be trying to win games at all costs (even moreso than posters here have been accusing him of this year).

I think there is a trigger clause. Like he has to get 13 /14 wins and a top eight position to get the extra year.

Interesting stat on tellie last night that 12 players had nil tackles after the dons hit the lead in the second quarter.

Disgraceful on the part of the players imho.

[SydneySainter]

I actually don't think we "deserve" a priority pick.

Why should we be rewarded for bad management?

But, do we "need" one? Bloody oath we do!

[Saintmatt]

Caroline Wilson has just said that there are discussions happening at the AFL that WE along with the Suns and Blues will get a priority pick!!

Heard the same thing from Damian Barratt this arvo on mmm, so probably has legs. Apparently the AFL as worried about the saints as any club in the competition. This has probably come from Lethlean to Gill. A tad concerning to be honest. New guy comes in and probably can't believe what he's seeing.

It'll be between the 1st and 2nd rounds

The part about Lethlean speaking to Gill is entirely correct. I can’t emphasise enough how lucky we are right now to have him in our midst.

The more interesting part of Caro’s piece last night was that Finnis is now under pressure. I can’t imagine how a new board - also mentioned by her - would view Finnis’s recommending an 2 yr extension to a lame duck coach that favourably.

The board dropped the ball on this as well.

Incompetent and negligent.

Entirely. Although Boards (in corporate life anyway) are generally loathed not to take the CEO's recommendation on appointing their key managers - they are still entitled/bound to undertake their own due diligence and quite frankly, extending the tenure of a coach who'd not made finals in 4 years and who's winning % was 37%-ish and importantly - was never going to be poached by another club - is just utter madness. Our board should rightly be pilloried for accepting that recommendation from Finnis.

[Saintmatt]

I actually don't think we "deserve" a priority pick.

Why should we be rewarded for bad management?

But, do we "need" one? Bloody oath we do!

Exactly. However, you could make the same call against GCS and Carlton too - Carlton traded away lots of talent and drafted a lot of spuds before they settled on their recent 'raid GWS' strategy and as for GCS - they'll one day be a case study in the Sports Management unit of an MBA course in how not to set-up a new franchise in an outpost.

All 3 clubs are examples of poor management yet, nonetheless are requiring of a priority pick. It's the only way the AFL can fix this mess - in a socialist society (ie the AFL) money does nothing; it's only ever more resources that aids growth.

[Moods]

I actually don't think we "deserve" a priority pick.

Why should we be rewarded for bad management?

But, do we "need" one? Bloody oath we do!

Exactly. However, you could make the same call against GCS and Carlton too - Carlton traded away lots of talent and drafted a lot of spuds before they settled on their recent 'raid GWS' strategy and as for GCS - they'll one day be a case study in the Sports Management unit of an MBA course in how not to set-up a new franchise in an outpost.

All 3 clubs are examples of poor management yet, nonetheless are requiring of a priority pick. It's the only way the AFL can fix this mess - in a socialist society (ie the AFL) money does nothing; it's only ever more resources that aids growth.

Of course we need the priority pick. I don't think a club in the history of the game has received one when they haven't stuffed things up royally. The reason clubs resist (like Carlton) is because they don't want to have to admit that they have stuffed the whole thing up. But they have and so have we if we're being honest. We overated our youngsters (McCartin and Billings) and completely underated the importance of Roo. Let's face it, I can't recall a game in the past 10 years where we played really well and Roo wasn't out on the park. He was ALWAYS the glue to this team. The only decent thing to come out of all this, is that Roo is finally getting recognition, internally and externally, that he deserves. Many will argue that they always rated Roo, but I doubt they realised how important he was to the team. He was the reason the team played crap in the back half of 2017. Why? Because he was completely ineffective - it made the team rudderless. In 2010 when he did his hammy - the team had stars in BJ and Lenny and Dal and Fish. We had to scrap and fight our way to victory often scoring under 70 points a game. Once he returned and returned to full fitness suddenly we were a premiership threat. No other player in our team could have that influence. It's why I rate him with plugger as our greatest ever Saint. He had held this team together for nearly 7 years. Now we are rudderless again

[DJ Higgins]

hard to argue as we will finish bottom three and haven't played finals for a long time. We should be in the discussion at least and if we get a priority pick i am expecting to to be around 20. I.e. end of round 1 or start of round 2 whatever way you want to look at it. Very few clubs would argue with that as we are that bad at present.

[Ajantis]

This will help " live trade " options for struggling clubs.