How much good fotune did we have with our appointment of RL?

[lazy]

While I loved the innovation of GT I can't help but be thankful for the selection panel that appointed RL.

To me the timing of the sacking of GT and the subsequent coaches that we had to choose from as a replacement was a stroke of good fortune that has turned our club into a formidable outfit this year. At the time there were no other clubs as far as I recall that were on the market for a coach. As a consequence we were so lucky that we could choose from the best available across the AFL at the time. I doubt that it was planned this way but for me the timing has proved impeccable. I posted last year about my strong feeling of support for RL and my wife who always seems to be far more intuitive than me (unfortunately she supports the maggies) told me in no uncertain terms that last year would be one of consolidation and this year would be when we shine.

I have a strong belief that this or next year will be our Yang year (after the bad luck and probably more realistically the bad management of our recent Ying years - sorry for any Chinese ancestry Saints supporters who probably know far more about this than me as the son of a white immigrant).

In my view the appointment of Dave Misson has provided the impetus for something special over the next year or three (anyone had a look at the Sydney injury list recently).

Yours in Sainthood - Darwin Lazy

[The Fireman]

Counting our chickens?... I'd like a bit more time to assess Ross.

[Otiman]

We would be in good hands under either Ross Lyon, John Longmire, or Chris Bond.

[Teflon]

I feel the same Lazy.

It isnt winning streaks or anything like that to tell me Lyon and the timing was right its his immediate ability to hone in on the areas we were cr@p (fitness, depth, playing list gaps (rucks)) and DO SOMETHING.

I do thank Rod Butters and his Board for making the call when they did....many may have to thank them later if we win the big one this year.

[lazy]

Babaaack. Never was much good at Maths. I suppose if you are a GT supporter you might feel that this is premature. For the sake of our club I hope you are wrong and I am right.

[The Fireman]

Babaaack. Never was much good at Maths. I suppose if you are a GT supporter you might feel that this is premature. For the sake of our club I hope you are wrong and I am right.

Why would I have to be a GT supporter to want to wait to see how Lyons goes before i started blowing wind up his arse???

What would I be wrong about ?? Is it getting a bit late at night or is it me not getting this?

[lazy]

Fireman. Apologies if I have misunderstood. Late in the evning and a few red wines always make things less clear.

[The Fireman]

Fireman. Apologies if I have misunderstood. Late in the evning and a few red wines always make things less clear.

haha, had to ask because I've had a few too.
Yeah I wasn't trying to be negative just wanna see a bit more of his coaching acumen before I believe all that happened was worth it, mind you, couldn't be happier about our depth atm, looking forward to a good year on our player list alone.

[Armoooo]

Regardless of eventual results you have to admit that everything is being done just about perfectly right now, we are fixing weaknesses and strengthening the club. So full credit to RL and the people in charge (including the former board for getting the ball rolling).

I'm not too sure how good RL is game day tactics wise because I've never been the best at recognising game plans and being able to tell what is the coach's doing and what is the players but I have enough faith in him just on his general footy philosophies...

[Oh When the Saints]

Good fortune?

We followed process.

We searched far and wide and came up with a list of every candidate in Australia.

We interviewed many of these candidates. Twice, three and four times. Submitted them to rounds of psychological testing. Consulted experts. Looked at their resume. Put them in pressure situations. Tested them with scenarios.


Ross Lyon was the best candidate.


Get the process right and you will get the outcome right.


Too early to pass judgment on either, but it's looking good ...

[riccardo]

I admit I weas concerned at first because RL was flying under the radar, and his first speech to the media was.................less than friendly, shall we say. I said at the time I would have prefered Longmire.

But Lyon is doing more than fine at the moment, no complaints from me.

[rodgerfox]

was a stroke of good fortune that has turned our club into a formidable outfit this year.

Huh?

[saintly]

Counting our chickens?... I'd like a bit more time to assess Ross.

me too

[GrumpyOne]

Good fortune?

We followed process.

We searched far and wide and came up with a list of every candidate in Australia.

We interviewed many of these candidates. Twice, three and four times. Submitted them to rounds of psychological testing. Consulted experts. Looked at their resume. Put them in pressure situations. Tested them with scenarios.


Ross Lyon was the best candidate.


Get the process right and you will get the outcome right.


Too early to pass judgment on either, but it's looking good ...

Spot on OWTS.

[evertonfc]

Ernie Merrick once told me that you're only ever three games away from getting the sack....he should know.

Far too early to make a call on Ross.

It's been a great pre-season though. There's been no injuries.

However, not to open a can of worms, but I don't doubt GT would have loved to have had the cash to splash on a bloke of Misson's quality, instead of trying to save the $$ at every turn.

We could have done with Hamill in that 2004 Prelim...

[saint66au]

Ernie Merrick once told me that you're only ever three games away from getting the sack....he should know.

Ahh yes..who could forget the infamous "F*** off Merrick" banner confiscated from the Blue and White Brigade during the last game of the Victory's first season.

[st.byron]

Good fortune?

We followed process.
We searched far and wide and came up with a list of every candidate in Australia.
We interviewed many of these candidates. Twice, three and four times. Submitted them to rounds of psychological testing. Consulted experts. Looked at their resume. Put them in pressure situations. Tested them with scenarios.
Ross Lyon was the best candidate.
Get the process right and you will get the outcome right.
Too early to pass judgment on either, but it's looking good ...

Yep exactly OWTS. It was Butterss and his board that had the balls to get rid of Thomas that set the process in motion. At last the club has set about solving the structural issues that were holding us back. Have to say am very happy with the way the pre-season has been conducted. Only a couple of minor injury hiccups and a very firm focus on the main event to come. I'm loving seeing two big genuine ruckmen in St.Kilda jumpers out amongst it, we've recruited brilliantly and developed on-ball depth. Am very happy with RL thus far.

[riccardo]

Ernie Merrick once told me that you're only ever three games away from getting the sack....he should know.

Ahh yes..who could forget the infamous "F*** off Merrick" banner confiscated from the Blue and White Brigade during the last game of the Victory's first season.

Thats the one!

From villain to hero to villain again. Lets hope it switches back tomorrow night!

[saintsRrising]

, but I don't doubt GT would have loved to have had the cash to splash on a bloke of Misson's quality, instead of trying to save the $$ at every turn.

...

???? GT was offered Drain as a full time football manager. But refused.

So just remember that cash alone is not the reason for the lack of the right people at the Saints.


GT was given the cash to hire Starch....but never got Starch to move to Melb. Starch's wife won the tug of war.

Remember too that GT justified his $500K salary in part by having mutliple roles.

We could have paid him $300K to just be the football coach... $100K for a conditioning guy, and $100K on more physios etc.....and as mentioned above the Club had the money to pay for Drain.

[saintsRrising]

Good fortune?

We followed process.

We searched far and wide and came up with a list of every candidate in Australia.

We interviewed many of these candidates. Twice, three and four times. Submitted them to rounds of psychological testing. Consulted experts. Looked at their resume. Put them in pressure situations. Tested them with scenarios.


Ross Lyon was the best candidate.


Get the process right and you will get the outcome right.


Too early to pass judgment on either, but it's looking good ...

"Get the process right and you will get the outcome right' = indeed...and if it does not work out at least you can be said to have tried your best.

Resurrection of the Saints
Not so long ago an AFL basket case, it has taken more than priority draft picks to reinvent St Kilda. Caroline Wilson charts the decisions that turned around a club. It was in the spring of 1999 that the two close friends decided to take over their old football club. Grant Thomas reportedly delivered the decision to Rob Butterss, the former St Kilda reserves player-turned-IT multimillionaire, with typical frankness. He called Butterss and told him that he planned to move onto the Saints board as football director. "And you," he told Butterss, "will be president." The deal that could one day prove among the most significant in the club's history, took place in another telephone call at the start of the spring racing carnival between Thomas and then-club president Andrew Plympton.
The Article - TheAge - 01May04


Unfortunately later, after Blight quite rightly being shown the door, due process was not followed and a sham of interviews were held despite GT having already been given the job. This has been acknowledged by both parties since.

One wonders how much giving a mate a job, or returning the favour....rather than seeking to obtain the best possible candidate...was at play.

That both parties willingly went along with the sham and did not seek the best possible candidate reflects badly on each.

[rodgerfox]

Good fortune?

We followed process.

We searched far and wide and came up with a list of every candidate in Australia.

We interviewed many of these candidates. Twice, three and four times. Submitted them to rounds of psychological testing. Consulted experts. Looked at their resume. Put them in pressure situations. Tested them with scenarios.


Ross Lyon was the best candidate.


Get the process right and you will get the outcome right.


Too early to pass judgment on either, but it's looking good ...

The process??!

We sacked a coach for personal reasons without a replacement.

We went into trade week with no coach.

We started the pre-season without a coach.

We had a football manager putting trades on the table without a coach appointed.


Great process!!!!

Bloody hell.

We were lucky we got Lyon. Full stop. Very lucky indeed. At one point, it looked as though Rod Butterss was going to have to coach us last year.

[Oh When the Saints]

The process??!

We sacked a coach for personal reasons without a replacement.

We went into trade week with no coach.

We started the pre-season without a coach.

We had a football manager putting trades on the table without a coach appointed.


Great process!!!!

Bloody hell.

We were lucky we got Lyon. Full stop. Very lucky indeed. At one point, it looked as though Rod Butterss was going to have to coach us last year.

That doesn't make sense.

I was referring to the appointment process. The process for choosing a coach.

The circumstances in which that process arose were - as you rightly allude to - a mess, and things were all over the place.

But the process to which I refer was great.

[rodgerfox]

The process??!

We sacked a coach for personal reasons without a replacement.

We went into trade week with no coach.

We started the pre-season without a coach.

We had a football manager putting trades on the table without a coach appointed.


Great process!!!!

Bloody hell.

We were lucky we got Lyon. Full stop. Very lucky indeed. At one point, it looked as though Rod Butterss was going to have to coach us last year.

That doesn't make sense.

I was referring to the appointment process. The process for choosing a coach.

The circumstances in which that process arose were - as you rightly allude to - a mess, and things were all over the place.

But the process to which I refer was great.

Anything with Robert Walls' finger prints on it, cannot be great.

We were unbelievably lucky that a guy and coach as good as Lyon happened to be on the market, when we got ourselves into the shiit we did.

My understanding is also, that Lyon actually fell through the cracks of our 'process' anyway. He wasn't in the short list originally which our 'process' came up with.

[Oh When the Saints]

Anything with Robert Walls' finger prints on it, cannot be great.

We were unbelievably lucky that a guy and coach as good as Lyon happened to be on the market, when we got ourselves into the shiit we did.

My understanding is also, that Lyon actually fell through the cracks of our 'process' anyway. He wasn't in the short list originally which our 'process' came up with.

Subjective opinion Walls. I'm not as critical as most.

However, if your last comment is true then we are indeed lucky (if RL measures up to the expectations he's created thus far this pre-season).

[meher baba]

Aren't we perhaps jumping the gun just a tad??

Last season Lyon looked unconfident, inflexible tactically and also to be a poor and uncertain communicator. Sure, the pre-season looked a bit better: he used a somewhat more attacking style and he seemed much to be much more confident. (I could also add that I thought that many of our players put in an excellent effort in the pre-season, but that would be detracting from the shared wisdom on this forum that it's all about the coach).

So we looked good in four pretty meaningless pre-season games played under ridiculous rules and including a GF played in a furnace. So suddenly RL is a supercoach. OK, whatever you say......

And as for M Drain: GT's alleged failure to accept him thousands of years ago or whenever it was has of course now been proven to be a monumental failure even greater than those involving Messrs Brooks, Watts, etc... And why, I hear you ask? Because Mr Drain has now shown that he, and he alone can deliver.........? and ............? and..........? (can someone please remind me what he has done exactly?)