It breaks my heart

[PADDLEPOP1001]

I understand where everyone is coming from on
this topic because it is obviously breaking everyone’s hearts,I think 5 years is enough for a coach to show us his wares,at this stage it just seems that our game plan(whatever that is) is not good enough & the coaching moves on game day are stagnant or don’t make sense (Ross to full forward last night had me scratching my head)there for 10 mins than off the ground.Its time for our board to make a statement & the one made during the week by our president was piss poor so if we don’t change I’m not sure where we go .I think the supporters at least deserve an honest explanation because if you look at the fixture we could be 13/1 and surely things will get ugly if we get to that stage .Leadership is needed NOW from all across the club but most of all we should start using Warne,Banna,Fox,Maxwell people who are successful & passionate to help the club out of this rut!

[fugazi]

We are a bottom 3 team....and I don't see any real prospect of that changing any time soon.

[spert]

Thinking back to standing in the outer at Moorabbin in the '70s and '80s and coming away after watching loss after loss- felt like I would never see the Saints in the finals again. That's how it's feeling again. Things got better when Doc was coach and the playing group got revitalised, just a pity Doc's health was bad. Kenny Sheldon had some good things happening too and there was a bit of a buzz around the club. If you reckon that coaches don't make much of a difference then you're dreaming. We cant' go round living in hope, and that the young blokes will all come good- there needs to be much greater direction for the group. Right now the team is playing undisciplined, directionless football.

[parkeysainter]

I just don't understand how a side that was slowly on the up for the past 5 years that scored 12 wins in 2016 and 11 wins in 2017 and also just misses out on the finals both years....is then reduced to 1-1-7 and look completely shot. We are now a bottom 4-6 side.

Please explain someone. Please...

Thanks for the update T74. I'm sure everyone is busting a nut at the club and won't give up. We just aren't good enough as a collective right now and our execution is appalling. More like horrid. Collingwood are crap but at least they look organised and had a plan in place during the game.

[iwantmeseats]

It’s ugly already mate!! 13-1??? It’s bad enough now.
It’s time to ACT NOW!
It ain’t getting any better this year !

[PADDLEPOP1001]

Agree!

[The Craw]

I have been a saints supporter for almost 50 years and thought I had seen the absolute worst of it, but even then there was hope. There was a shining light. Something to look forward to. A Trevor Barker .... A Tony Lockett ....... A Robert Havery ..... there was something to go and watch and enjoy even through the losses.

Right now I see nothing ..... no hope .... no spark, I don't enjoy watching this team.

I left at 3 qtr time last night.

The North game was the most putrid game I have ever witnessed by a St Kilda team .... and that is saying something.

Not sure if I will bother going again. Probably will if the kids nag me to go.

One thing I am sure about is if the Saints end up last this season I am done.

I will not renew my membership and reserved seats and will give up on the team altogether.

If the club think that coming last is acceptable, then it is a club I no longer want to be associated with. I could not give a rats clacker about draft picks, I give a rats clacker about what the Saints want to stand for and right now it stands for nothing.

A souless, passionless, pathetic, club.

The club stands for nothing ..... take the FQF off the chest of the jumpers .... the players don't deserve to wear it.

I have never been more disheartened with the club than I am right now.

[iwantmeseats]

Well said Craw
This club has been driven nose first into the ground
No care. No responsibility. No talent. No interest.
We are now a insignificant steaming pile of crap.
The media can’t even be bothered giving us the bake we so richly deserve.
What there is no doubt about is that this is going to cost members and match attendance.
The hierarchy are just sitting back and doing nothing. And I don’t buy the stuff coming from the supposed ITK’s on this forum. ANY other club would not be putting up with this s***.

[Cordz2]

Summers seems to me to be a weak, bureaucratic president skilled at politics and self preservation.
I think we need to start there.

[The Craw]

And I couldn't give a stuff about winning premierships, it not why I started supporting the Saints, if it was about that I probalbly would have ended up supporting Richmond or Hawthorn which where the clubs zoned to the area where I lived and were constantly up the top end of the ladder when I was a youngster.

It was about this rouge ragamuffin club, full of character. Sure it was disfunctional and full of flaws, but it had heart, it had personality, it had passion. It had that special something that I think, all Saints supporters could affiliate with.

It was a club like that quirky uncle we all have that smokes and drinks and stuffs up in life but geez he has a heart of gold, can laugh at himeself and loves life and deals with whatever comes his way.

That was St Kilda, a rollercoaster of emotion, passion, excitment, soul and at the same time it would break your heart.

What is St Kilda now, what does it stand for, who is St Kilda..... answer me this.

Because right now it is nothing, it is a ghost of its former self and has lost its way.

And it is sure as hell, losing the very fabric I loved about it and more than likely losing the very foundation of who St Kilda is by disconnecting with supporters like myself.

[skeptic]

I just don't understand how a side that was slowly on the up for the past 5 years that scored 12 wins in 2016 and 11 wins in 2017 and also just misses out on the finals both years....is then reduced to 1-1-7 and look completely shot. We are now a bottom 4-6 side.

In a nutshell, the retirements of our last 2 greats from the previous era has emphasised both how much they really contributed and the lack of leadership around the place.

But on a greater level there have been several glaring problems that have been around for several years that Richo has simply failed to address and its coming back to bite him now...

4 rucks on the list, not one that would be the primary ruck at another club

Complete psychological fragility and lack of resistance

A lack of integrity in the selection process that equates to some players getting a free pass whilst others are on a one strike policy

A general insistence on playing guys that are either injured or lacking match fitness resulting in both said players being worse off and the players working their butts off for a game dropping the shoulders

Simple denial about where many of our players are at... not referring specifically to last night but guys like Steven, Armo, Weller, Savage, Gilbert, Ross... they’re not in the team to be finding their way in AFL footy. All of these guys are there to be consistently our best players and only Steven consistently performs with Ross the next closest.

Finally... there’s just too many instances of bad coaching onfield... lack of structure, players kicking short to contests, playing on with no idea what’s in front of them, bombing forward under pressure often to no forwards, opposition kicking over our defenders to a spare man at the back that runs into an open goal.
It really feels as though we’re poorly coached onfield

[suss]

I just don't understand how a side that was slowly on the up for the past 5 years that scored 12 wins in 2016 and 11 wins in 2017 and also just misses out on the finals both years....is then reduced to 1-1-7 and look completely shot. We are now a bottom 4-6 side.

In a nutshell, the retirements of our last 2 greats from the previous era has emphasised both how much they really contributed and the lack of leadership around the place.

But on a greater level there have been several glaring problems that have been around for several years that Richo has simply failed to address and its coming back to bite him now...

4 rucks on the list, not one that would be the primary ruck at another club

Complete psychological fragility and lack of resistance

A lack of integrity in the selection process that equates to some players getting a free pass whilst others are on a one strike policy

A general insistence on playing guys that are either injured or lacking match fitness resulting in both said players being worse off and the players working their butts off for a game dropping the shoulders

Simple denial about where many of our players are at... not referring specifically to last night but guys like Steven, Armo, Weller, Savage, Gilbert, Ross... they’re not in the team to be finding their way in AFL footy. All of these guys are there to be consistently our best players and only Steven consistently performs with Ross the next closest.

Finally... there’s just too many instances of bad coaching onfield... lack of structure, players kicking short to contests, playing on with no idea what’s in front of them, bombing forward under pressure often to no forwards, opposition kicking over our defenders to a spare man at the back that runs into an open goal.
It really feels as though we’re poorly coached onfield

Not just two greats in Riewoldt and Montanga but Dempster too - he was the general of the backline.

I also think many of the trading and drafting errors are coming back to bite.

The decision to convert picks 12 and 13 in 2012 into Hickey, Spencer White, Tom Lee and Nathan Wright is an example. He could have had Brody Grundie and Aiden Corr instead we decided to convert two top end picks into a bunch of ordinary players. This was monumentally stupid and called out by many posters at the time.

In terms of drafting, we haven't had too many really high picks and those we have had haven't been used on the right type of player. We needed a midfielder in 2013 and instead we chose a half-forwarded flanker in Billings.

We needed a midfielder again in 2014 and we chose Paddy. I want the kid to come good but he wasn't what we needed. Petracca, Brayshaw and DeGoey all went top 5 - all would have been better selections for us than a full forward with health issues.

It's these decisions that are coming back to hurt us. I'm not sure whether these mistakes can be sheeted home to AR.

Add to that our development, goal kicking and a raft of other performance based problems, and we find ourselves at the bottom of the ladder yet again.

I've been critical of Richo this season but not all of our current problems are his fault and replacing him might gloss over all of the other inadequacies we have in our coaching, trading, drafting, development personnel.

[Stephen Theodore]

I have been a saints supporter for almost 50 years and thought I had seen the absolute worst of it, but even then there was hope. There was a shining light. Something to look forward to. A Trevor Barker .... A Tony Lockett ....... A Robert Havery ..... there was something to go and watch and enjoy even through the losses.

Right now I see nothing ..... no hope .... no spark, I don't enjoy watching this team.

I left at 3 qtr time last night.

The North game was the most putrid game I have ever witnessed by a St Kilda team .... and that is saying something.

Not sure if I will bother going again. Probably will if the kids nag me to go.

One thing I am sure about is if the Saints end up last this season I am done.

I will not renew my membership and reserved seats and will give up on the team altogether.

If the club think that coming last is acceptable, then it is a club I no longer want to be associated with. I could not give a rats clacker about draft picks, I give a rats clacker about what the Saints want to stand for and right now it stands for nothing.

A souless, passionless, pathetic, club.

The club stands for nothing ..... take the FQF off the chest of the jumpers .... the players don't deserve to wear it.

I have never been more disheartened with the club than I am right now.

Nailed it, sadly. I also go back 50+ years and agree on the Good Friday game.

[desertsaint]

we have decent young players but due to poor development, poor coaching, and resultant loss of confidence, they are not where they should be. going into post and preseason we want them to at least regain that confidence - so wallowing in the current mire isn't a good idea. We need to be sounding out good coaches now and look at bringing them in as soon as possible.
our core going forward i think we can trust to be part of a finals quality side (with the proviso of good mentoring and coaching is:
carlisle, webster, roberton (if), dunstan, sinclair, acres, ross, steven, membrey (yips are temporary), billings, clark, coffield, steele, gresham.
Some will only become depth players but i see them as worth believing in.
Hopefully hickey, bruce, long, rice, white, marshall, philips, and battle will join them, but either haven't seen enough to know or haven't shown enough consistency yet. For now i can't include any of them. Same with those yet to debut.

We need to add a lot of quality players to the list. Two classy, pacy mids, one good forward target, a good chf is paramount. If robo doesn't come back we need two class rebounding defenders. And we need to find a reliable replacement for brown. Most of those replacements will not come through trading but through drafting. This will take a few years. We shot ourselves in the foot for this years draft unless Clavarino and Austin turn very good.
Past trading of high picks should have taught us a lesson - don't trade away unless for proven stars like kelly.
Get experienced twilight players to plug gaps in the short term if cheap - like lewis, mitchell, and brown. Young players need onfield mentors.
It'll be a few more years in the wilderness - we would have been better not to have the false dawn of 2016 and 17 costing us picks, but that false dawn also revealed we have some decent youngsters - but we cannot head into the post season with the same coach.

[loris]

And I couldn't give a stuff about winning premierships, it not why I started supporting the Saints, if it was about that I probalbly would have ended up supporting Richmond or Hawthorn which where the clubs zoned to the area where I lived and were constantly up the top end of the ladder when I was a youngster.

It was about this rouge ragamuffin club, full of character. Sure it was disfunctional and full of flaws, but it had heart, it had personality, it had passion. It had that special something that I think, all Saints supporters could affiliate with.

It was a club like that quirky uncle we all have that smokes and drinks and stuffs up in life but geez he has a heart of gold, can laugh at himeself and loves life and deals with whatever comes his way.

That was St Kilda, a rollercoaster of emotion, passion, excitment, soul and at the same time it would break your heart.

What is St Kilda now, what does it stand for, who is St Kilda..... answer me this.

Because right now it is nothing, it is a ghost of its former self and has lost its way.

And it is sure as hell, losing the very fabric I loved about it and more than likely losing the very foundation of who St Kilda is by disconnecting with supporters like myself.

Oh Craw, that strikes a note with my emotions at the present

[BringBackMadDog]

Give it a rest.
You treat fans like morons and dumbos.

The joke is well and truly on you. You arent at all bright and the people working at the club are nowhere near as smart as they think they are and you think they are. Most of them are downright thick.

Time you woke up to it.

It is transparent what you are doing now - trying to shift blame on to the players and off the coaching staff.

Rats on the Titanic.

Poor form tony. Poor form.

Just f*** off you stupid arrogant areshole

[asiu]

cruel but fair

[Trev from the Bush]

No one is giving up.

A few fans have

I've never seen a match day thread go for just 3 pages. Saints supporters totally losing interest in the team. We are sick of excuses. If the heirachy doesn't make some statements soon, there will be members/sponsors and supporters losing hope and losing faith.

It is obvious that the decisions in the last 4 years have failed. We need a culture of accountability and we need a new coach now

Bingo!
I think the match day thread may be more to do with the forum outage than anything else...

[saynta]

Give it a rest.
You treat fans like morons and dumbos.

The joke is well and truly on you. You arent at all bright and the people working at the club are nowhere near as smart as they think they are and you think they are. Most of them are downright thick.

Time you woke up to it.

It is transparent what you are doing now - trying to shift blame on to the players and off the coaching staff.

Rats on the Titanic.

Poor form tony. Poor form.

You are the one who should give it a rest mate.

Poor form? Yeah from you.

[st.byron]

OK, I’ll lay it on the line right from the start. I’ve been St.Kilda my life and as somebody who is within the four walls ( so to speak) I can talk with knowledge, experience and inner sanctum know all. But this spiel is passion. Don’t ever any of you suggest that this team and club is not playing for the coach, the club or it’s supporters. I witness them not on tv, not on the seats but raw. I know what they give. I know the energy, enthusiasm, the will to succeed.
What they have not is the skill/ confidence to execute. Whether they will come in time I as much as anyone cannot answer that.
But don’t ever, ever think that this team is not giving everything for their supporters and coaches. They are bleeding and so am I.
Apologies for the rawness. I love this club and so do all the representatives that front every day and every week. There’s very few clubs in the world with the longevity of St.Kilda F.C. No one is giving up.

Trying is good Tony, but I’ve seen you come on here weeks on end without a scintilla of responsibility being laid at the door of the coaches. In your view it’s all about the players and their lack of skill / confidence. After five years at the helm under the current coach, just who is responsible for that confidence and skill level? Being in the inner sanctum gives the gift of inside knowledge, but it also can lead to not seeing the woods for the trees. Don’t doubt your passion, do question the ongoing avoidance of responsibility being laid where it should - starting with A.Richardson. You can’t possibly tell me with a straight face that the players are on board with Richo, coz it’s clear on the field that they’re not.

[Teflon]

As bad as it is and its bad - we all know its back to Watson days BEFORE the dawning of the Riewoldt era kicked in but we will hold fast we have to thats what we do but like those days its time for renew, time for some boldness and cunning from our Admin/Football area NOT more yes men corporate shyte.

I think Summers has to go - he's lame and aspiration needs to start from prez down.
Coaching panels - ALL gone
Recruitment - GONE (probably our biggest culprits here we have stuffed it especially last few drafts)
DONT just go for 'good old saints people' as replacements be determined and get the best
IF we could throw a truckload at Clarkson, offer his a long term deal id back it

Oh and I dont give a RATS ARSE about tanking - GET THE NO 1 pick this year a must
we are not in this draft to any great degree and we simply have to be
BIG names also have to be traded
Billings et al put them up - admit we dont need a soft outside opportunist what we need is some pace/size with footskills

[spert]

One thing for sure is that St Kilda is an ideal case study from say 2010, of how a sports club can fall from the highest peaks to rock bottom within 8 years.

Prior to that we reached finals under the Butters regime until it went pear shaped, then again into grand finals under Westaway's group which then saw the wheels get wobbly, but under Sumner's reign it has all totally fallen apart.

What a total disappointment for us Saints fans, and I feel for the players who are a ship without a rudder.

[The Fireman]

It may be my fault peoples....my intense hatred Of the Skunks has come back to bite me..2010 and now an ex Skunk player coaching and dismantling my club... Apologies.

[Sainter_Dad]

One thing for sure is that St Kilda is an ideal case study from say 2010, of how a sports club can fall from the highest peaks to rock bottom within 8 years.

Prior to that we reached finals under the Butters regime until it went pear shaped, then again into grand finals under Westaway's group which then saw the wheels get wobbly, but under Sumner's reign it has all totally fallen apart.

What a total disappointment for us Saints fans, and I feel for the players who are a ship without a rudder.

I think Freo 2016 is a better example of this!

[tony74]

Give it a rest.
You treat fans like morons and dumbos.

The joke is well and truly on you. You arent at all bright and the people working at the club are nowhere near as smart as they think they are and you think they are. Most of them are downright thick.

Time you woke up to it.

It is transparent what you are doing now - trying to shift blame on to the players and off the coaching staff.

Rats on the Titanic.

Poor form tony. Poor form.

That’s quite an unbelievable response. I presume with a username like yours you have been a Saint for a hell of a long time. I hope you remain one . I’m certainly not shifting the blame from anyone. We’re all part of the problem and all of us are part of the solution. Believe it or not we’re all trying to fix it. All of us

<warning for demeaning a poster / club officials>