Grant Thomas

[Ghost Like]

Keep

Marshall
Steele
Gresham
Sinclair
Howard
King
Highmore
Clark
Coff
Membry
Milera
Winhanger
Paton
Wilkie
Hayes
Sharman
Heath

The rest are expendable

Owens is a bit unlucky. If he had not played last week he'd be an unexpendable also.

[Scollop]

They picked Kent, because they didn't want to risk Long.

That is crap. Seriously…talk about making stuff up! Jake Batchelor has rated Long in the reserves practice game. He laments the fact that his team mates don’t get the ball to Long often enough.

Long is a naturally gifted player, but he’s more than that. Long is one of the best uses of the ball by foot. He is hardly ever selfish and when he takes the game on, he can turn momentum for us. It is the reason he was chosen as a back flanker in the only year that St Kilda has made finals in the last

This is Ben long we’re talking about yeah? Not Michael long?

Sorry but Ben is a great trier and really applies good pressure but a great user of the ball? You must be watching a different game to everyone else. He shanks the ball and makes terrible decisions with it.

When he played backline he was undisciplined giving away needless free kicks. I like him better in the forward line, applied good forward pressure which created a few goals

Do you actually watch our players or do you spend more time at the bar and the tuck shop rather than watching the play? Have a look at Ben’s Disposal Efficiency stats versus Brad Hill. From this evidence I reckon I have a good argument to say the coach would have been better off telling his players to get the ball into Ben’s hands rather than Brads

https://www.footywire.com/afl/footy/ft_ ... fopt2=2021

I watch young players closely and I noticed what Ben was doing on the field from the time he first started with us. Sometimes there are players right under a coaches nose and it takes guts and it takes skill to be able to utilise the talent that you have on your list.

Why do you think Brett Ratten chose Ben Long to play the role that Hill and Sinclair play off half back? Do you think he’d choose someone who as you say ‘ shanks the ball and makes terrible decisions ‘

Is that why Jeremy Howe and Scott Pendlebury play off half back? Is that why Christian Salem is a half back flanker…because he shanks it!?

The following is the comparison of Long in 2020 versus Sinclair 2021. Ben’s Disposal Efficiency is elite. His team mates should be looking for him. Jake Batchelor (who I rate as a good coach) has said that Ben should be used more and his team mates need to kick the footy to him.

https://www.footywire.com/afl/footy/ft_ ... fopt2=2021

This is what s***!s me about some of the posts on this website. I generally like your input Moods, but you’ve got this one wrong

People pretend that they watch and rate each player, but sometimes I think most fans are just caught up in the emotion of the game and the scoreboard. Either that, or they are lazy, and they idolise and cheer on their favourites and that’s about it. They make sweeping statements and give their opinion which is ok, but the evidence and the statistics are miles away from their perceptions

Bens disposal usually opens up scoring chains (that's why Ratts gave him the opportunity at half back). He generally makes very good decisions. His kicking is usually to his team mates advantage - the stats don’t lie and he is as good as our best distributors.

In the Saints 2019 highlights video that they produced for Ben Long there is one particular long kick to advantage that Ben kicked to Josh Bruce that I loved. If he had the chance to do this on more occasions, and if his team mates trusted him more with the footy he would also give Max King and our other forwards the same chance to take more marks inside 50.

Maybe Hawthorn should have done the same with James Sicily…you know…cut back his AFL senior games and drop him from the firsts because of his occosional discipline issues

If there are leaders at the St Kilda football club who are afraid of losing their spot in the firsts to Ben, I can understand why they’d be keen for him not to play in the seniors and I understand how they and the fans want to use Ben’s discipline issues as an excuse for leaving him out of the starting 22.

[Scollop]

Keep

Marshall
Steele
Gresham
Sinclair
Howard
King
Highmore
Clark
Coff
Membry
Milera
Winhanger
Paton
Wilkie
Hayes
Sharman
Heath

The rest are expendable

Owens is a bit unlucky. If he had not played last week he'd be an unexpendable also.

That’s a really good point. People are so quick to write players off.

[Sanctorum]

Have a look at the Collingwood side and compare the number of their highly rated players to what St Kilda put on the park:

Taylor Adams
Jordan De Goey
Brodie Grundy
Jeremy Howe
Steele Sidebottom
Scott Pendlebury
Brody Mihocek
Jamie Elliott
Darcy Moore
Nick Daicos - only his 1st game but a blueblood if ever there was one, scored 102 points in Supercoach!

All first class A graders, you have to ask why the bookies had Saints as favourites, and much as I hate to say it, with good coaching will play finals this year.

In reality, St Kilda did alright to grab the lead in the last quarter, especially as they were severely outplayed by a much better team and the final margin belies the Magpies' absolute domination for 3/4 of the game.

It's just the first game in a long season and it's a bit soon to write the Saints off, it all depends on how the players respond to this loss, but if the losses continue the pressure on the football department and coaches will be massive and could well lead to Ratten getting tapped on the shoulder sooner rather than later.....and Grant Thomas will get a lot of support from the club's coterie for major changes, he still wields considerable influence.

[SunnyErnie]

I know he is controversial. You either love him or you hate him. I know its only 1 round but unfortunately it looks like he was spot on. If we finish bottom 4 this year I want him to come in and tear our list apart and start the rebuild again from scratch.

Does anyone else agree or am I jumping the gun?

We won't be finishing bottom 4 but we desperately need GT to overthrow the current board.

[Teflon]

I know he is controversial. You either love him or you hate him. I know its only 1 round but unfortunately it looks like he was spot on. If we finish bottom 4 this year I want him to come in and tear our list apart and start the rebuild again from scratch.

Does anyone else agree or am I jumping the gun?

We won't be finishing bottom 4 but we desperately need GT to overthrow the current board.

Oh dear god please no….
Go to bed Ernie

[SunnyErnie]

I know he is controversial. You either love him or you hate him. I know its only 1 round but unfortunately it looks like he was spot on. If we finish bottom 4 this year I want him to come in and tear our list apart and start the rebuild again from scratch.

Does anyone else agree or am I jumping the gun?

We won't be finishing bottom 4 but we desperately need GT to overthrow the current board.

Oh dear god please no….
Go to bed Ernie

I can't go to bed thanks to that pathetic performance. I need to drink a few more whiskies first.

[Wayne42]

Imagine if GT did take over the club, teffers might consider harming himself, or his neighbour.

[Teflon]

I feel dirty saying this…
But if a GT coup brought Clarkson and stopped signing Ratten I think I’m in …
3 more years of watching Dan Butler fail to crumb and a rabble of entry into F50??
Can’t do it

[meher baba]

I decided to wait until this morning and look at the meltdown on here. I’d rate it 9.5 out of 10. Sack the coach, sack the board, sack most of the players…

I reckon the players will come our again next week and have a crack. But it looks like the so-called supporters on SS won’t.

Or maybe Sharman will play. Did you hear, he’s the next Wayne Carey and Nick Riewoldt wrapped into one player? He kicks a “clutch” goal and then goes into hibernation. But it’s a special sort of goal which means we win every time.

FFS

Seriously, we were dreadful. And the coaching was bad. Essendon played just how I expected: nothing to lose, showing lots of daring, handballs into space hoping someone would run onto them and they usually did, etc. on paper, they looked like a fringe finals side and last night they played like it.

We were far too attacking early on: we should have focussed on locking them down. We looked over-confident.
Then we did really well to come back after half-time and then list the plot again. I think all of our opponents have worked out that if they can stop Hill and Sinclair, they’re going to get plenty of chances to win the ball back and attack us.

[meher baba]

I decided to wait until this morning and look at the meltdown on here. I’d rate it 9.5 out of 10. Sack the coach, sack the board, sack most of the players. Bring back GT FFS! Even I don’t want that!

I reckon the players will come out again next week and have a crack. But it looks like the so-called supporters on SS won’t.

Or maybe Sharman will play. Did you hear, he’s the next Wayne Carey and Nick Riewoldt wrapped into one player? He kicks a “clutch” goal and then goes into hibernation. But it’s a special sort of goal which means we win every time.

FFS

Seriously, we were dreadful. And the coaching was bad. Essendon played just how I expected: nothing to lose, showing lots of daring, handballs into space hoping someone would run onto them and they usually did, etc. on paper, they looked like a fringe finals side and last night they played like it.

We were far too attacking early on: we should have focussed on locking them down. We looked over-confident.
Then we did really well to come back after half-time and then lost the plot again. I think all of our opponents have worked out that if they can stop Hill and Sinclair, they’re going to get plenty of chances to win the ball back and push us backwards.

[SydneySainter]

I feel dirty saying this…
But if a GT coup brought Clarkson and stopped signing Ratten I think I’m in …
3 more years of watching Dan Butler fail to crumb and a rabble of entry into F50??
Can’t do it

And if Clarko was sacked after 1 season, would GT step in as “caretaker” coach?

The club set an alarming precedent by backing in Richo for almost 6 seasons. Things would have to continue to go terribly awry to give Ratts the push now.

[Teflon]

I feel dirty saying this…
But if a GT coup brought Clarkson and stopped signing Ratten I think I’m in …
3 more years of watching Dan Butler fail to crumb and a rabble of entry into F50??
Can’t do it

And if Clarko was sacked after 1 season, would GT step in as “caretaker” coach?

The club set an alarming precedent by backing in Richo for almost 6 seasons. Things would have to continue to go terribly awry to give Ratts the push now.

Shouldn’t have been promised a contract already !!!
Poor clubs do that

[Teflon]

I decided to wait until this morning and look at the meltdown on here. I’d rate it 9.5 out of 10. Sack the coach, sack the board, sack most of the players. Bring back GT FFS! Even I don’t want that!

I reckon the players will come out again next week and have a crack. But it looks like the so-called supporters on SS won’t.

Or maybe Sharman will play. Did you hear, he’s the next Wayne Carey and Nick Riewoldt wrapped into one player? He kicks a “clutch” goal and then goes into hibernation. But it’s a special sort of goal which means we win every time.

FFS

Seriously, we were dreadful. And the coaching was bad. Essendon played just how I expected: nothing to lose, showing lots of daring, handballs into space hoping someone would run onto them and they usually did, etc. on paper, they looked like a fringe finals side and last night they played like it.

We were far too attacking early on: we should have focussed on locking them down. We looked over-confident.
Then we did really well to come back after half-time and then lost the plot again. I think all of our opponents have worked out that if they can stop Hill and Sinclair, they’re going to get plenty of chances to win the ball back and push us backwards.

Irrelevant, inane nonsense papering over cracks
Do you even read what you type?????

[SydneySainter]

I feel dirty saying this…
But if a GT coup brought Clarkson and stopped signing Ratten I think I’m in …
3 more years of watching Dan Butler fail to crumb and a rabble of entry into F50??
Can’t do it

And if Clarko was sacked after 1 season, would GT step in as “caretaker” coach?

The club set an alarming precedent by backing in Richo for almost 6 seasons. Things would have to continue to go terribly awry to give Ratts the push now.

Shouldn’t have been promised a contract already !!!
Poor clubs do that

Agreed. Just like how Richo was given an extension when he still had a year to run on his existing contract.

[meher baba]

Aww Teffers, and I thought you’d be happy I said I didn’t want GT back.

[wally]

Essendon were supposed to come out last week and have a go but didn't.
We were supposed to come out last night and wipe the floor with them but didn't.
Reality check for everyone ,after last year I thought we were going ok, not the best team in the comp,
but better than what was dished up last night.

Were we crap or did they make us look like crap?

[older saint]

Grant hasn’t been at the club for 16 years so this would be going backwards. The club needs to keep evolving and moving forwards.

I’m a Grant Thomas agnostic. He did some good things at the club and he made a few mistakes too.

I’m not saying he wouldn’t have anything to contribute as he’s obviously a successful business person but he could start with keeping his trap shut.

Agree Malcolm Turnbull of the AFL. All about him and like you say did some good thigs but overshadowed by the need he has to talk about himself and bring others down so he can provide his solution.

[Yorkeys]

I decided to wait until this morning and look at the meltdown on here. I’d rate it 9.5 out of 10. Sack the coach, sack the board, sack most of the players…

I reckon the players will come our again next week and have a crack. But it looks like the so-called supporters on SS won’t.

Or maybe Sharman will play. Did you hear, he’s the next Wayne Carey and Nick Riewoldt wrapped into one player? He kicks a “clutch” goal and then goes into hibernation. But it’s a special sort of goal which means we win every time.

FFS

Seriously, we were dreadful. And the coaching was bad. Essendon played just how I expected: nothing to lose, showing lots of daring, handballs into space hoping someone would run onto them and they usually did, etc. on paper, they looked like a fringe finals side and last night they played like it.

We were far too attacking early on: we should have focussed on locking them down. We looked over-confident.
Then we did really well to come back after half-time and then list the plot again. I think all of our opponents have worked out that if they can stop Hill and Sinclair, they’re going to get plenty of chances to win the ball back and attack us.

meha baba, may I respond. Its by way of mental health therapy, if you can kindly indulge me.
Meltdown: yes but surely justified. We were given to expect a profession effort. What was dished up was rubbish. Essendon may be a better team than us but we played dumb, self indulgent football, in several key moments so inept as to be personally embarrassing for the players concerned, no team work, very few 1%s. We pay well for our membership/attendance, it was a cold Friday night, buses replaced trains on Williamstown/Werribee lines so it takes two hours to get home while being spoken too harshly by accents I can barely understand and forced cheek by jowl into spaces full of Essendon supporters (the players get a pat down and warm car rides home to a cup of sympathy and there theres. I think a meltdown is in order. Its not the first time this group has shown it is selective in putting in a professional effort on important occasions.

Have a crack next week: that is reassuring, I feel much better now. I think most SS supporters will be on here as well still urging them on too.

Sharman: bit of verballing here? No one has suggested he is a second/third coming of Cary or Nick. No where near it. It's just that he consistently takes marks and kicks goals when give the rare opportunity to play and it is excruciating watching the coaches waste Max's talents and see Butler and Higgins playing like drunken millionaires with our precious attacking chances, week after week after week. If there is a better immediate option lets hear it.

Far too attacking early on? Did you see Gresham do his impersonation of Aeon's headless chook when we had gold plated early chances - he chose attempted party tricks over attack and it lifted the Dons - gifted their first goal. And put Jones in that bracket as well. Bull in a china shop stuff, no poise just red line fever often for negative results.

Badly coached: yep. Doesn't have much to work with but doesn't seem to be able to get them up consistently unless they are in the mood. Indulges Gresham & Butler & Jones, doesn't seem to want to make tactical positional changes - perhaps the list precludes that. However as you say coaches do seem to allow oppositions to have their way with Hill and Sinclair expecting them to work through it, but they don't. Injuries have cut the effectiveness of the list terribly exposing how we rely on so few.

Thanks for that. Like your posts.

[skeptic]

I’m as pro-GT as it gets and whilst one can make an argument as to whether or not he should have been sacked… now his time is past.

There is nothing more St.Kilda than recruiting someone that had success long ago in the hope that they bring back some magic.
The problem is what worked 15 years ago won’t anymore because everyone has moved on and is doing stuff better.

A challenge for GT was plying nice with others… especially other coaches and other staff. I see no evidence whatsoever that that has changed.

I’ll argue to the death that I reckon sacking him was the costliest mistake we ever made. Wouldn’t have him back now though

[Bruce G McAbee]

While I am all for someone to take the reins of the club and drag this club into a successful era like Costa did for Geelong and Kennett did for Hawthorn, I just don't see GT as the person who could do it.

[Vortex]

GT says we should grab De Goey.

Best things he's said ever.

Get the deal done St Kilda

[Teflon]

GT says we should grab De Goey.

Best things he's said ever.

Get the deal done St Kilda

Thanks Grant.

[happy feet]

At the time I was a big GT fan and his sacking was a monumental blunder. But that was then and this is now and GT is not the person we need running the Club.

[WellardSaint]

While I am all for someone to take the reins of the club and drag this club into a successful era like Costa did for Geelong and Kennett did for Hawthorn, I just don't see GT as the person who could do it.

GT was the right man at the time.
Club was a bit of a mess.

Bassat has created a very strong business- the seek brand- and Gerry Ryan- Jayco billionaire- is on his team.
These 2 guys know how to create success.
I trust them to get it right.
GT will simply bring Round-Up to the garden and kill everything to start afresh.