Fiora admits to being too soft....kudos....

[aussiejones]

Contrast his career with Rob Harvey.

Harves traines his ass off ......Fiora seemed to think once he was a high pick he had made it somehow.

Good luck to him

But it does show the club never got to the bottom of his situation ....he also didnt seek out assistance.

[Eastern]

Let's look for a positive out of this !!

The Fiora situation might have played a small part in Armitage "Pulling his finger out" over the summer !!

[saintsRrising]

But it does show the club never got to the bottom of his situation ....he also didnt seek out assistance.

Yes he perhaps did not seek enough assistance..

BUT that is where the club (and the Tigers too) need to show leadership.

We should not expect players to make it for themselves....though yes they need to put in hugely.

Even the great Banger admits that he trained too hard..and if he had not taken on the advice and guidance of others that he would not have played as long as he did.

As a long time Saints supporter I am concerned that we seem to have had too many wasted talents (though as St Mart has well argued Fior with 10 years has achieved more than most players have).


Part of achieving ultimate succes is to make the most of what you have.

Over the last decade I am not sure that the saints can say that they have made enough out of the raw talent that has been avaialble.

[BAM! (shhhh)]

Contrast his career with Rob Harvey.

Harves traines his ass off ......Fiora seemed to think once he was a high pick he had made it somehow.

Good luck to him

But it does show the club never got to the bottom of his situation ....he also didnt seek out assistance.

What I took from the article was that Fiora never really figured out how to get the most from himself, not that he always thought he had it made - his words would seem to imply the reverse, that Frawley prohesised his career, he would have liked to ahve changed it's path, but never clued in on how. The number of players who could live up to a Harvey regimen and survive it is very short (it nearly ended Harvey's career years early - he wasn't one for following the club prescribed regime for much more than 9 years), the message of the article was Fiora's problem was consistency - not being soft, not poor training... consistency. His problem was between the ears.

In hindsight, regardless of Fiora the man (and it's a cautionary tale more than an individual one; it's happened before an will happen again) it's the club that really lost out. They got a player with plenty of talent, and couldn't get he most out of it. The decision to delist comes when you can only accept that tapping the talent in question is a hard ask. If we're specific about Aaron Fiora, as he himself says, he should have sought more help from those he wanted to join in the upper echelon of the game, and he didn't. For whatever reason, that's now his cross to bear. Whetever lessons he learns, we'll likely never know - it's what the club continues to learn that dictates whether there's anything to Fiora's delisting other than the end of another career.

While it's not the club's job to babysit, it is their job to get the most out of players... so if babysitting does that, lets call the babysitters club. If we're more focused on the St Kilda football club getting the most out of players and making sure we learn from our side of the cautionary tale, then we should be hoping Lyon is asking himself what more he could have done and what he'd do differently next time.

Mentoring? (i.e. spot the problem and instruct a Fiora to spend more time with a Robert Harvey, knowing that the Fiora-type may not do so off his own back)
Intervention? (Geelong's rough assessment of Gary Ablett Jr after '06 created a superstar, some it will help, some it will hinder)
More controlled roles? (like hard tags where the first and only job is stopping an opponent).
Less controlled roles? (ala Goodes at his best, go where the action is and turn it your teams way)

You go through a process, until the point where investing more time becomes a lower percentage play than drafting a new kid with a low pick and starting over. Fiora had reached that point for Ross Lyon... but for the sake of his own improvement, Lyon should never indulge himself by solely blaming Fiora, or it's no different to Fiora having consistency problems and not seeking help.

It's all about continued improvment.

[brown-coat]

He seemed fit enough to me.

His weakness was all those amazing squibs throughout his career. You could almost make a DVD of Fioras greatest Squibs.

All those critical moments in games when the entire stkilda/richmond crowd was relying on fiora to take a knock for team.....and then...woh...squibs at the last minute...ball is lost...goal to the opposition.

[plugger66]

He seemed fit enough to me.

His weakness was all those amazing squibs throughout his career. You could almost make a DVD of Fioras greatest Squibs.

All those critical moments in games when the entire stkilda/richmond crowd was relying on fiora to take a knock for team.....and then...woh...squibs at the last minute...ball is lost...goal to the opposition.

At least you are renowned for your courage when you approach him and tell him he is a squib. Squibs do not play 5 games of AFL let alone 140.

[markp]

How people can call someone who played 140 games at the elite level soft or weak (or worse) is beyond me... it all looks so easy when you're scoffing pies and drinking beer in the stands eh?

[Bernard Shakey]

He seemed fit enough to me.

His weakness was all those amazing squibs throughout his career. You could almost make a DVD of Fioras greatest Squibs.

All those critical moments in games when the entire stkilda/richmond crowd was relying on fiora to take a knock for team.....and then...woh...squibs at the last minute...ball is lost...goal to the opposition.

What amazing squibs?

I can only remember one head duck in his time at St Kilda.

Anyone that takes the field in AFL is no squib.

Maybe brown-coat is a dreamer, but should really be called brown-pants!

[Saints Premiers 2008]

He seemed fit enough to me.

His weakness was all those amazing squibs throughout his career. You could almost make a DVD of Fioras greatest Squibs.

All those critical moments in games when the entire stkilda/richmond crowd was relying on fiora to take a knock for team.....and then...woh...squibs at the last minute...ball is lost...goal to the opposition.

What amazing squibs?

I can only remember one head duck in his time at St Kilda.

Anyone that takes the field in AFL is no squib.

Maybe brown-coat is a dreamer, but should really be called brown-pants!

no offence but calling him brown-pants is so incredibly lame

[RBnW]

I was happy to have him go even if it cost the club to do this a year early....But i have this question
If Fiona was coming into the system now today with everything that players get these days and we got him early from the draft, do you think he would have made it to a 200 plus game player for us.....I just have the feeling he would have, if he was drafted in 2008.....but in 2008 he wouldnt have made the first round....I think he is a modern day player, but landed here 8 years too early...

[InkerSaint]

Still remember him being by far the most verbose and thoughtful Player Chat guest

A pity that thoughtfulness couldn't have translated into self-analysis.

Did the club drop the ball on analysis/mentoring? Fizz was 25 or 26 when Lyon got him to lift his game in '07. Next year, he starts coasting again... starts getting dropped from matches. A player his age, having been in the system as long as he was, should have taken matters into his own hands.

He had a solid career and probably made a packet out of it. Did he help the Saints' cause? Not in my little black book. The best that I can say for him is that he didn't hold anyone back. This year he might have. Good call, footy department.

[fingers]

Interestingly I used this article on Monday with a the Australian Kendo team that are going to the World Championships in Brazil in August.

Lot's in there about lost opportunity, complacency and not drawing on all available resources.

[yipper]

Why would we feel sorry for him....he had a successful league career.....would he feel sorry for us for never playing a game.....

I am not sure he wants our sympathy.....just that we should understand that he knows he did not make the most of his god-given talent (which in itself is a load of shyte)....yes genes play a part.....but work ethic, courage, discipline etc do the rest.....

I am not sure he failed......he was no champion.....but he played 10 seasons in the AFL......whats the percentage of player that make that grade....


Please DO NOT compare Mansfield to AFL footy......if you do you highlight the fact you haven't played or are not sure of much.....

Players who play high quality footy will tell you with every jump in grade, there is a lift in intensity, speed and the magnitude of the hits increases....hits by fit fast strong people hurt more than a suburbian bloke who trains twice a week foor an hour.....or a country bloke who smokes...

I felt the difference moving back from the EFL to the SFL....the game was not as quick, and the physicality was less....

Seriously....Barry Hall, Mark Riccutio, Jonathon Brown, Fevola, Cam Mooney, Luke Hodge, Archer, Nietz, Primus, Gehrig, Hamill, Grant.....not too many guys running around their size and speed in the local leagues....if one of those guys cleaned up a less than elite level fit bloke he might actually kill him......

these are the guys Fiora played against.....

He was not a hard man, but he ran around on the same ground as many a hard-man.....and did it for a while....I respect that alone

Totally agree bigmart. Fiora played at the elite level for 10 years and anyone who thinks that playing at that level is similar to Mansfield??? is just plain crazy. The speed of the game alone is enough to test anyone, the hits are coming from much bigger, hardened bodies at high speed. Nothing like local burbs footy or country leagues!!! Fiora didn't reach his full potential for sure - but gee he can be proud nonetheless that he went the distance as an AFL player and held his own.

[saintsRrising]

I think too that it must be realised that MOST footballers actually do not reach their FULL potential.

Many reach ok levels...but only a few get near their potential on a regular basis over many years.

No disgrace in that though as we are talking about being the elite of the elite of the elite..