Inside Football

[Langi]

I dont necessarily like jim main but he wrote an excellent article on Stkilda, thommo and Ross Lyon, I would urge fellow forumites to read the following as I beleive it sums up where we are now and where ( hopefully ) we are heading.
Interested to get some sainters thoughts !!!

I also wrote that St Kilda would be a serious challenger to Geelong, as long as the Saints did not implode.
The Saints had just won the NAB Cup and I guess I was not alone in getting carried away with their form.
It now appears that everyone and his dog is claiming they overestimated the Saints and even many diehard St Kilda fans are asking questions about coach Ross Lyon’s game plan.
For heaven’s sake, I have even had emails suggesting the Saints should sack him because he has his side playing such negative, boring football.
Even former coach Grant Thomas has bought into the argument, stating that he is entitled to his opinion as a member of the football media.
Fair enough, but Thomas had his chance as coach — and blew it.
Remember when the Saints were flying a few years back and were undefeated well into the season? The Saints were due to play Sydney at the SCG and, instead of keeping noses to the grindstone, Grant sent his players to the movies. Guess which team was no longer undefeated?
Then there was the St Kilda-Sydney preliminary final in 2005? The Saints led at the final change and their supporters were giving each other high-fives.
I didn’t know it at the time but, on watching the replay a couple of days later, I realised those in the St Kilda coaching box appeared to be just as pleased with themselves as their prematurely gloating supporters. Guess who went on to win, and then take the flag?
The simple and inescapable fact is that the Saints blew their chances under Thomas and he should be the last to be critical of his replacement coach.
Besides, I recall exactly what Lyon said as Sydney assistant coach in 2005 when the Swans’ game plan was ridiculed by AFL boss Andrew Demetriou.
He stood up at a Swan function after Sydney had just notched a win at the SCG and declared: “We know what is required to win a flag.â€

[Moccha]

I like your assessment. Well done

[saintsRrising]

Good article.....though unlikely to find as much support as it should on this forum at present.

Many want the Saints to just play like they did in the Streak.....oblivious completely that good opposition teams worked out how to shut us down then with that gameplan...and would do so still today....and more easily as players are more practised at it.

[saintbrat]

here's the online link
http://insidefootballonline.com/main.html

saints comments about half way down

[saintbrat]

other insider football articles of note
Holsmby- on Bil Stewart- the forgotten St kidla state representative in 1908

http://insidefootballonline.com/holmesby.html

Burkey on the term Champion and Stae of Origin- Hall of fame-
[quote]You don’t get to play in this game without being a great player. There are no easy rides, being in the right place at the right time or “blooding of youngstersâ€

[Teflon]

A fantastic article - a must read.

Its simplistic to suggest we are Sydney (we are not and I and others have said this ad nauseum). What we are - what the article suggests - is a side attempting to become more balanced between all out attack and truly accountable football. We havent got it right yet.

I too have been to games (Essendon in 2nd qtr) and seen sides with no one in their fwd half and everyone in ours!!! yet we got the "saints flooded" cr@p. Hawthorn last year were notorius for it - and got off the label scott free FFS!! (NOW THEY FLOOD THE MIDFIELD).

BUT there is no question (and what the article doesnt say) is that we need to move the ball forward with more urgency - it makes our fwd line much more dangerous. When we do this AND combine it with a game of great pressure and tackling we look awesome. Weve only achieved this under Lyon in the past year and a bit on a few occasions. We HAVE to get this occuring with a lot more frequency BOTH players AND coach need to resolve this quickly.

[mbogo]

Well it makes perfect sense - if only we can start to string a few together and get the confidence building in the plan ....

[saintsRrising]

Well it makes perfect sense - if only we can start to string a few together and get the confidence building in the plan ....

Well that is the bit that RL has to get on top of course.....that is his challenge.

I know he has his vision of how he wants the Saints to play....he needs to achieve it.

[satchmo]

Inside Football's just hot air.

[kalsaint]

I like your assessment. Well done

As a general rule Jim has some valid points but lets not forget team selection in the prelim aginst Shitney was based on quality players who were not fit in some cases. Grant had some input here.

I for one was not gloating at 3/4 time as I could see the writing on the wall as I witnessed only a few weeks earlier against the Dockers.

This occurred when Kosi, Goose and Luke Penny all got injured. The side lost a good mid third quarter lead (30 + points) as the defense crumbled, interchanging became problematic and Peckett got caught in the last seconds of the game by Farmer. The resulting Longmuir goal was Freo's best moment ever.

Player management for injury played a big part in 2005 and 2006. Dont underestimate this. Again this is true for 2007 but not so for 2008 until very recently.

[bobmurray]

I haven't read Inside Football for 10 years or more,i used to be a regular reader but i lost interest in it back when Andy Maher was one of the main writers.I just thought it was shite by then and i couldn't stand the phrase...

"Our Great Game"that all the writers must have been told to incorporate into their stories........

I dont miss it at all.....

[stinger]

main's an arsehole who basically hates st klilda but loves anything remotely connected with the swans.......our coach included...hardly an unbiased opinion piece....

[Scoop]

main's an arsehole who basically hates st klilda but loves anything remotely connected with the swans.......our coach included...hardly an unbiased opinion piece....

Spot on stinger.

[matrix]

its simple........
he has till 2009 seasons end.

[meher baba]

main's an arsehole who basically hates st klilda but loves anything remotely connected with the swans.......our coach included...hardly an unbiased opinion piece....

You say that he loves the Swans, but I find it peculiar that - rather than praise them for their efforts in beating us in Rd 11 in 2004 (when they played well, albeit with a fair degree of help from the maggots) and in the last quarter of the 2005 PF (when they undoubtedly played extremely well) - the Swans were apparently extremely lucky to win and presumably would have lost if GT hadn't been so complacent.

Really, what a load of bollocks. We are also asked to accept that the Swans don't actually flood, on the basis of one moment when the Kangas had all their players back.

By the way, if Ross is changing us from a team that wilts under pressure into something else, then what was the second half against the Doggiess all about?
Those on here who have jumped in to say that it is all true simply reveal themselves to be imbeciles with an anti-GT agenda.

[st.byron]

Those on here who have jumped in to say that it is all true simply reveal themselves to be imbeciles with an anti-GT agenda.

Oh FFS, you're as bad as B4E and bloody Nexus crapping on and on about Thomas. Give it a rest.

[saint66au]

By the way, if Ross is changing us from a team that wilts under pressure into something else, then what was the second half against the Doggiess all about?

Being beaten fair and square by a better side on the night maybe??

I'm not saying we were great by any means, but the lack of recognition for others sides abilities on here is frightening sometimes

[meher baba]

Those on here who have jumped in to say that it is all true simply reveal themselves to be imbeciles with an anti-GT agenda.

Oh FFS, you're as bad as B4E and bloody Nexus crapping on and on about Thomas. Give it a rest.

You are correct that, like yourself, I should refrain from hurling abuse at other posters.

As for the endless "crapping on" about Thomas as you call it, I wish as much as you do that Thomas was no longer relevant to our club. However, until our on-field performance starts to show any signs of vindicating the decision to get rid of him in 2006 (and you must agree that it is currently a long way short of achieving that), there will be no hope of exorcising his ghost from the club.

Hence the way that the Inside Football article has about 2 sentences about the club in 2008 and then the rest of it is all about GT.

When we won the NAB cup, it looked as if we could finally put the events of 2006 behind us. But - other than perhaps in the first quarter against the Dogs (and I recall them hitting the post on 3-4 occasions, so the scores might have been a lot closer), we have played a brand of football ranging from crap to mediocre. Until we start to go better, posters are going to keep bringing up GT: either to blame his legacy for our current failings, or to suggest that we might have done better if we'd kept him.

A strong performance over the next 7 or so rounds would wipe all this away. I'm sure that, like me, you would wish for nothing less.

[rodgerfox]

What a ridiculous and uneducated article.


We were beaten in 05 cause our coaches were cocky??

Ross Lyon knew in 05 'what it took to win a flag'??

Thomas has no right to comment on St Kilda - even though he's paid to do so??


The only thing he is right about, is that Lyon needs to be given time. All new coaches do.

The other thing he is right about, is that we have the talent.

[rodgerfox]

The other thing that irks me about that article, and the football world's perception of 'that' prelim, is that 'Saints supporters were giving each other high fives'.

WTF???

With Roo, Dal, Ball, Gehrig, Ackland, Max and Goose all injured, and with 6 key players missing - I can assure you that no one near me was high fiving at all.

We were under the pump heavily, and I was amazed that we were still in the game at 3/4 time.

No Saints fans I know of were confident that night, and certainly weren't confident at 3/4 time.


I'm still disappointed that as a club, we didn't give our team the credit it deserved that night. It was an unbelievably brave effort.

[stinger]

The other thing that irks me about that article, and the football world's perception of 'that' prelim, is that 'Saints supporters were giving each other high fives'.

WTF???

With Roo, Dal, Ball, Gehrig, Ackland, Max and Goose all injured, and with 6 key players missing - I can assure you that no one near me was high fiving at all.

We were under the pump heavily, and I was amazed that we were still in the game at 3/4 time.

No Saints fans I know of were confident that night, and certainly weren't confident at 3/4 time.


I'm still disappointed that as a club, we didn't give our team the credit it deserved that night. It was an unbelievably brave effort.

your recollections accord with mine......and that flower guerra was a dead loss all night .....appeared to have a bad case of the sulks.......so we actually only had 21 players to start with...


you could actually tell at 3/4 time that the tide had changed against us....so i don't know what that turd main is on about..........

[evertonfc]

I'm surprised Inside Football remains in circulation given the blanket coverage of cheaper/free media.

They must run it on the threads of a shoestring.

I mean, I'd buy it if they broke stories or offered me something the other media didn't...what exactly is their point of difference though?

[Teflon]

Those on here who have jumped in to say that it is all true simply reveal themselves to be imbeciles with an anti-GT agenda.

Oh FFS, you're as bad as B4E and bloody Nexus crapping on and on about Thomas. Give it a rest.

Hear Hear.

I LAUGH at the hypocrits that point the finger at Barks and anyone else such as MB yet engage in exactly the same boorish, non informative "live in the past" behaviour.

Why don you just move on, find a new angle MB and contribute something other than Grant Thomas??

[n1ck]

Inside Football is not worthy to wipe my arse with.

Id rather go the skidmark than go anywhere near that 'magazine'.


*No offence to Burkey.