Message from the President

[linz]

It's been a long time since I posted. This is my 50th year as a Saints member so I've seen the good times and the bad.
I'd be interested to hear from members what they think about our President's message. If you didn't get the message from the President
(ie you're not a member) please don't respond unless you can't afford to buy a membership that is.

For my part I saw it as a treading water, let's hold our bearings and our nerve. I suppose we can't do much else at least until season's end.

[magnifisaint]

I think you have to ask the question why did we entice 2 players out of retirement and 2 others that were delisted. What does that say about the current list. To me that smells of list mismanagement.

[Waltzing St Kilda]

Credit to the prez for at least addressing the problem.

But at the end of the day it's all just words, we know that.

[Ghost Like]

To be honest I don't know what to make of it, it's not a line in sand letter, as such. I don't know what he could have said, it's not as if he said anything that hasn't been said on here.

Only actions can foster any confidence now. He needs to show he's not going to accept that from the football department, the list management and the players,

[asiu]

haha

the sis just showed me that

i’m not interested in reading it i chirped

deleted then said she

delete , agreed me .


what can the poor bugger say
except ... hold the line

[Enrico_Misso]

A good and timely pep talk from the Pres who would be well aware of the huge levels of disappointment and disallusionment (if that is a real word!).

The people I would like to hear from are the players who are the ones running hot and cold.
The terrible four - Essendon, Port, Richmond and Bulldogs debacles need explaining.
They weren't losses like the Melb or Geel games where we played respectably.
Rather they were total capitulations where we seemed to offer little effort, desperation or remorse.

They are the matches that need explaining.
And only the players can explain it.

The complete lack of mental toughness in those games - the way we lost and the way we accepted it - makes me wonder if this player group will ever have the drive and self motivation to stand up in a big final.

[thefatdork]

Agree with the friendly Ghost - not sure what it means, except that he at least acknowledged that we’re very bad at the moment and that it’s hurting us all.
What will come from it is anyone’s guess.
At least he did come out and didn’t hide behind the club admin staff.

[one point]

I thought the Pres could have been more specific in relation to the actions he and the Board would take.

[SaintPav]

It’s well meaning but it rings a bit hollow.

This team has really lost my trust.

[Teflon]

Good he acknowledged it.
I’d have liked to have seen something to indicate we are “doing something “ even if that’s an independent football Dep review - non Saints person led reporting directly to the Board/Prez so it can’t be watered down.

We’ve now had 4 of these beltings I think it warrants a genuine acknowledgment that something needs fixing and we have started taking steps to do that.

[samuraisaint]

Anybody on here remember 1986? Some of our performances this season are highly reminiscent of it - except we win more games now.
Anyway, apparently in Round 12 we were playing Melbourne at Moorabbin and were winless up to that point, and stone motherless last.
The president apparently did the pre-match address to the players and it was a fire and brimstone job - with one clear message - You will win today. No matter what.

We won by 10 goals.

[skeptic]

I think you have to ask the question why did we entice 2 players out of retirement and 2 others that were delisted. What does that say about the current list. To me that smells of list mismanagement.

Well it was a top up wasn’t it. Recruit some ready made to cover a Carlisle or a Ryder to prevent what happened in the semi last year.

Obviously the club thought that it could have given the premiership a real shake this year... and to a degree I don’t mind the attempt because just about all of the players that came in as top ups are in a position to be shown the door at season’s end
Hunter
McKernan
Frawley
Wood

None of them are going to get stuck on the list and be a longer term problem like Hannebery has turned out to be... and nor were any of them brought in to be 20+ games a year types, again like Hannebery was.
The other point is that to a degree, this is what we did with Ryder which has worked out so it’s risk vs reward and the coaching team live and die by the results

The failure is on two fronts
1. The majority of the top ups are not good enough to play the roles for which they were selected. Hunter and McKernan are both disasters... IMO jury is still out on Frawley though he was terrible on Saturday but better the week before... Wood hasn’t shown any goods to date

2. We have seriously been exposed... even more than before for our lack of depth.

For all the criticism Ratts is getting... and he deserves a bit because his vision is very blurry in terms of structure... one has to remember the mess that he inherited.

You take the top 22 we had last year or there abouts... name the players outside of it that could come in and player to a clear top22 standard...
40 players on the list, the depth is Webster. Byrnes and Bytel to as players breaking into the team. THAT’S IT!

They brought Crouch and Highmore too.

The number of players on this list that aren’t up to scratch but were kept for years and years longer than they should have been or offered contracts longer than their deserved is INSANE.

We had to get rid of better players like Hind and Savage to keep guys like Kent or Dmac to a lesser degree who were under contract.


IMO it’s not as bleak as it seems... if we can bring in some key type of players ala a CHB, another good mid and decent young ruck... we’re in a position to bounce back quickly

The question is, is Ratten objective enough in his assessment of what’s is/isn’t working and ruthless enough to make some big calls

[freely]

You also have to remember that Ratten was up to his ears in creating the mess that he inherited!

[freely]

BTW - I'd forgotten Kent was even on the list!

[Teflon]

BTW - I'd forgotten Kent was even on the list!

Got Melb mates who laugh at me when I mentioned he’s on our list

Can’t kick they always say...

[Vazelos]

I think you have to ask the question why did we entice 2 players out of retirement and 2 others that were delisted. What does that say about the current list. To me that smells of list mismanagement.

Well it was a top up wasn’t it. Recruit some ready made to cover a Carlisle or a Ryder to prevent what happened in the semi last year.

Obviously the club thought that it could have given the premiership a real shake this year... and to a degree I don’t mind the attempt because just about all of the players that came in as top ups are in a position to be shown the door at season’s end
Hunter
McKernan
Frawley
Wood

None of them are going to get stuck on the list and be a longer term problem like Hannebery has turned out to be... and nor were any of them brought in to be 20+ games a year types, again like Hannebery was.
The other point is that to a degree, this is what we did with Ryder which has worked out so it’s risk vs reward and the coaching team live and die by the results

The failure is on two fronts
1. The majority of the top ups are not good enough to play the roles for which they were selected. Hunter and McKernan are both disasters... IMO jury is still out on Frawley though he was terrible on Saturday but better the week before... Wood hasn’t shown any goods to date

2. We have seriously been exposed... even more than before for our lack of depth.

For all the criticism Ratts is getting... and he deserves a bit because his vision is very blurry in terms of structure... one has to remember the mess that he inherited.

You take the top 22 we had last year or there abouts... name the players outside of it that could come in and player to a clear top22 standard...
40 players on the list, the depth is Webster. Byrnes and Bytel to as players breaking into the team. THAT’S IT!

They brought Crouch and Highmore too.

The number of players on this list that aren’t up to scratch but were kept for years and years longer than they should have been or offered contracts longer than their deserved is INSANE.

We had to get rid of better players like Hind and Savage to keep guys like Kent or Dmac to a lesser degree who were under contract.


IMO it’s not as bleak as it seems... if we can bring in some key type of players ala a CHB, another good mid and decent young ruck... we’re in a position to bounce back quickly

The question is, is Ratten objective enough in his assessment of what’s is/isn’t working and ruthless enough to make some big calls

Spot on mate once again a well balanced view of the situation...

[Wayne42]

I thought McKernan signed with the Saints because it was for 2 years, i hope i heard that wrong when they signed him.

If he has got 2 then the opportunity to delist him has slipped through their fingers.

[skeptic]

You also have to remember that Ratten was up to his ears in creating the mess that he inherited!

Yeah I agree to a point

Guys like Crouch, Ryder, Hill, Howard etc even if they’re out of form... they’re not the problem
Even out of form, I’d still back Hill in ahead of a lot of others on the list.

The challenge for Ratts... and personally what I find disconcerting about him is his willingness to persevere with what’s not working.

Ppl are jumping onto this ‘3 small forwards is bad’ idea now but I’ve been complaining about this for pushing 18 months.

Carlisle was out of the team for weeks in the 2/3 of last season... we were led to believe he was dropped.
Whether there’s some type of attitudinal thing or the injury concerns are bigger then the club has led on... he does us no good being on the list unable to play.
Why sign him for a year if you’re concerned about him

We’re 8 rounds into the year and we’re unclear as to what position Battle plays...
He lines up on a wing, as a forward and at CHB on any given day

Coffield and Long were absolute locks on a back flank 12months ago.
Long after being close to BOG in rd1 can’t get passed bring a sub and Coffield got 8 touches at Sandy

It takes a miracle for Jones and Hannebery to even get on the park and if they do...
you can bet that within 2 rounds their back on the LTI list

Lonie hasn’t played a passable game since rd1

And almost all of what I’ve described above here was/is incredibly predictable because we’ve seen it all at least a dozen times before

Gotta stop trying the same things over and again that we know are going to fail

[skeptic]

I thought McKernan signed with the Saints because it was for 2 years, i hope i heard that wrong when they signed him.

If he has got 2 then the opportunity to delist him has slipped through their fingers.

Serious?

Why would we sign a delisted player for 2 years? Unbelievable if true

[miskycat]

The Pres's message was a piece of junk.

'Work smarter, not harder' - why use this tired old business cliche?
I want them to work harder, don't care if they're smart.

Did nothing to reassure me.

The buck stops with him .

So sick of this s***.

[spert]

The Pres's message was a piece of junk.

'Work smarter, not harder' - why use this tired old business cliche?
I want them to work harder, don't care if they're smart.

Did nothing to reassure me.

The buck stops with him .

So sick of this s***.

Wishy washy poo from the top- just like the tripe we're serving up on the field.

[SteveStevens66]

You also have to remember that Ratten was up to his ears in creating the mess that he inherited!

This! When Ratten got the top job he was asked what he’d be changing from Richo’s approach and he said “very little.” So he was 2IC to the worst coach in our history and he wants to change “very little.” Well, he’s been true to his word. One assumes he said something similar to the search committee that interviewed him. How such an answer didn’t have them running in the opposite direction is beyond me.

[Yorkeys]

I smugly feel I am as cynical as any on this Forum, nevertheless found the message and its timing encouraging. President is empathising with us not the Club employees. I took it he feels there is a general failure of people doing their jobs and they are on notice. Yes looking at you CEO.

Hopefully self interest will kick in and there will be changes in personnel and working assumptions.

Unfortunately I also took it that its going to take a while to correct the current mess.

[WellardSaint]

The Pres's message was a piece of junk.

'Work smarter, not harder' - why use this tired old business cliche?
I want them to work harder, don't care if they're smart.

Did nothing to reassure me.

The buck stops with him .

So sick of this s***.

I got that all the time at an insurance company.

It means as much as 'sending thoughts and prayers' and a person who uses those 2 phrases is off with the bloody fairies and has their head up their date

[saynta]

You also have to remember that Ratten was up to his ears in creating the mess that he inherited!

This! When Ratten got the top job he was asked what he’d be changing from Richo’s approach and he said “very little.” So he was 2IC to the worst coach in our history and he wants to change “very little.” Well, he’s been true to his word. One assumes he said something similar to the search committee that interviewed him. How such an answer didn’t have them running in the opposite direction is beyond me.

Worst coach in our history? Hardly. I think. Watson, the dwarf or Blight all would have a better claim to that title.

Reading some of the comments on here, (this thread and others) one would think that certain posters think that they know more or could do a better job at running the club. So why don't they f****** apply for a job down at Moorabbin.

Makes me want to throw up.







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