10 Moments that ultimately cost us

[spert]

Reason we didn't win a flag in 2004 and dropped down the ladder each year since - GT

[Oh When the Saints]

Absolutely sensational post vacuous space.

Should be compulsory reading.


Terrific stuff.

[JeffDunne]

I liked this post more.

Jesus Christ, get his dick' out of your mouth would you!

[saintsRrising]

There isn't a team in the league we haven't beaten over the last two seasons. At our best, there isn't anybody we can't beat. To blame our disppointment on recruiting and development is missing the point I think. I think the list we have now is capable of so much more, and I won't let them off on account of a few mistakes at the draft table. We could have made finals with the list we have. We should have made finals. Here's a few reasons why I think we didn't.

Fitness: This year more than any other in recent memory we struggled to run out games. To this point we've won 6 out of 21 fourth quarters. RL implemented a game plan which required more running, but we didn't have the fitness base to excecute it. As games wore on, our basic skills got worse, we won fewer contests, kicked fewer goals and allowed our opposition to run over us. We need to get our players to a point where they can do what RL wants consistently for four quarters of football.

Injuries: Maguire and Hayes had big question marks over them coming back from bad injuries. Several players, including Max and Roo, had interrupted preseasons. Ball has been an ongoing management issue for some time now. Hamill and Gardiner never touched the field. Raph and X had ongoing troubles with fitness and form. We lost Goaddard in R7. We've had four guys who have played every game. That makes it a lot tougher to find consistently good form. Injury management is an ongoing concern with too many preventable soft tissue injuries. We need to get as much of our best 22 onto the field for as much of 08 as possible.

Skills: If RL had his time again, he'd probably have spent more time working on ball movement. I expect it to be a huge focus before the start of the 08 season. Our skills were attrocious for much of 07. The main culprits aren't the fringe guys who barely touched the ball, but the guys who saw a lot of ball and used it poorly. Some of this can be put down to fitness. Some of it was a result of poor decisions. But too often there was just an absence of the application of even the most basic skills. I expect a significant improement in this area in 08.

Anyone who watched us regularly could tell that there was a difference between what the coach was after and we actually got. Hopefully, with a year of experience, RL can now go away and correctly identify the problems which affected this club in 07 and take the necessary measures to ensure that, in 08, St. Kilda returns to where it should be - among the contenders for the flag.

I actually agree with much of that...but not that we have adequately developed the players that we have...and for example skills that was highlighted by VS is clearly part of poor player development.

EVERY player has weaknesses...some more than others......

Gram is a great runner for example...but his spoiling is not so good.

Kosi is a great running mark and contested mark......but his tap worl and body positioning is not ofa high standrad (though he has said that he has learnt a lot from M Clarke....


Roo receahed new heights this year...improved an already impressive game to new heights....but remains a poor kick on goal on the run (so much so that he seems to avoid it by laying off the ball instead)



Armo....from reports has to inparticular have his fiteness developed as it was below whata first year recruit would normally be...

Van Reehan....young and raw........lets hoe that M Clarke (or someone similar ) can develop for him to come on line ina year or two...

etc etc etc



And one last point on struggling to run out games...lack of fitness yes.....but another factor is that we area runner or two short in our rotations and that hursts us too.

[mischa]

1. Sacking Grant Thomas

Yep.