The Saints were tough under Thomas

[Fehring]

Say what you like about Thommo but he created a tough, disciplined outfit. There were days when we were off our game of course, but generally we were a very hard team to overcome – our continually underrated defence being a case in point. To be at the game last Friday to see the Saints physically smash the Dees in the first half was a sight to behold. I was grateful for Mick Malthouse pointing that out in the Oz this morning. Like most Saints fans, Malthouse was no Thomas acolyte but – like most of us – Malthouse felt that Thommo had improved as a coach and seemed to finally be getting the hang of it.

That doesn’t necessarily make this the wrong decision, though. Butterss got the Blight decision right and he may have got this one right too because it wasn’t about onfield results. It was about a bloke who seemed to hog a little too much power, possibly to the detriment of the club. Whether Butterss has indeed got this right, however, only time will tell.

[The Punter]

Re: Butterss decision, he initally made the wrong decision to hire Blight in the first place over Chris Connolly. I'm not sure about this decision, as I can see the comparisons between this and 1998 when we sacked Stan Alves.

In my opinion, Sheldon & Alves were both needlessly sacked. We have now sacked the last three coached to take us to finals, all within 12 months of that occuring and the last two within days. Watson was a disaster, primarily because of that Hawthorn game - took us four years to get over that one.

[Fehring]

In my opinion, Sheldon & Alves were both needlessly sacked.

I love Stan but whenever I think of his sacking, I think of him making the boys sing the theme song after we lost the qualifying final against Sydney. We went out the next week and got assaulted by Melbourne. I'm not saying that he deserved to be sacked, but that was ultra wierd.