StrengthThroughLoyalty
18 May 2002, 00:02
St Kilda turn to a new kid to rid them of their blight
By Patrick Smith
May 16, 2002
WHEN Rod Butterss boldly claimed that his club had mortgaged its future with the rash recruitment of Malcolm Blight as coach in 2001, he should have bitten his tongue. He merely blew $1 million and 15 games.
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But if the St Kilda president bit his tongue as often as history proved he should have, he would never lick another stamp in his life. He wouldn't have the equipment.
For all that, St Kilda and Butterss still have a future even if it is not pinned to big names like Blight. Nor is it reliant on the likes of the club's famous sons Robert Harvey, Nathan Burke or Peter Everitt.
The future that the club thought they could buy for $1m actually rests with a group of kids who have cost them nothing more than the standard draft salaries.
The sacking of Blight – St Kilda were not ready for the coach and the coach was totally unprepared for what he found at St Kilda – has squeezed the window of opportunity for the club to survive in the AFL. Thankfully, it is still there but the financial clock ticks on.
St Kilda are considering making one of the more stunning selections tonight in AFL history when they select Luke Ball to play against Essendon on Sunday at Colonial Stadium. Ball, the No. 2 pick in last year's draft, is 17 years old and is still at Xavier College.
He has not played football with St Kilda's VFL side and has not been a regular at training because school commitments and injury have come first. He played his first game for Xavier last weekend and had more than 50 touches.
Xavier have a bye this weekend and St Kilda are unlikely to pass up the opportunity to play him. A decision will be made this morning.
The coach, Cornflakes Thomas, wants him to play and only the sternest warnings from the medical staff that he is underdone will defer his debut.
Ball's selection – it would be a gamble but a wonderful one – is emphatic proof that St Kilda's renewal as an AFL force will be driven by youth.
He would join a group of the most promising kids in the competition. Nearly all of them have been named AFL Rising Stars or will be – Nick Riewoldt, Xavier Clarke, Nick Del Santo, Matt Maguire, Justin Koschitzke, Leigh Montagna, James Begley and Troy Schwarze.
The coach considered the impact of pulling Ball straight into the side would have on the playing group. It is no easy matter, for egos in football are as fragile as hamstrings. Other players who may have been in line for Ball's position could feel their hard work has been overlooked.
The young players already in the side have shown the middle layer of players at St Kilda to be inadequate.
After the Saints nearly pinched the game against Melbourne last week, Thomas tore his more senior men apart for their inept performances around the drop of the ball. They were belted in centre clearances and lost by just three points.
St Kilda and Thomas are faced with a delicate balancing act. If the group of kids they own now can stay injury-free and develop into prominent senior footballers as their first forays into AFL suggest, then the Saints will be a devil of a team in three years.
But Thomas cannot rush them to the point of unravelling them physically or mentally. It is a fact of life that kids are brittle in body and brain when confronted with the physical brutality of senior football. It is a tough business. It has frazzled Corey McKernan and he is 28.
Nor can he nurse them to the point where they are not accountable. As gallant as the kids were in the draw with Sydney and the loss to Melbourne, Thomas emphasised that getting close was actually getting nowhere in AFL football.
Thomas will push his youth policy but for it to work and be sustainable he must demand and get performances from his senior group that they have been unable or unwilling to give regularly over the past four years.
Aaron Hamill played well against Melbourne but it needed a savaging from the coach for the forward to produce his best. Hamill was faster and harder at the ball but it was only commensurate with his substantial salary.
As Cornflakes embraces his youth policy so should the supporters and members. While Carlton are bogged down in a patchwork of mediocrity, St Kilda have a clear and exciting way forward. That is the province of Cornflakes.
But what Butterss and his chief executive Brian Waldron must ensure is that they give him and the club the life span to achieve their goals.
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it has been a long time since i have read a positive article about the club.
go saints.
By Patrick Smith
May 16, 2002
WHEN Rod Butterss boldly claimed that his club had mortgaged its future with the rash recruitment of Malcolm Blight as coach in 2001, he should have bitten his tongue. He merely blew $1 million and 15 games.
Advertisement
But if the St Kilda president bit his tongue as often as history proved he should have, he would never lick another stamp in his life. He wouldn't have the equipment.
For all that, St Kilda and Butterss still have a future even if it is not pinned to big names like Blight. Nor is it reliant on the likes of the club's famous sons Robert Harvey, Nathan Burke or Peter Everitt.
The future that the club thought they could buy for $1m actually rests with a group of kids who have cost them nothing more than the standard draft salaries.
The sacking of Blight – St Kilda were not ready for the coach and the coach was totally unprepared for what he found at St Kilda – has squeezed the window of opportunity for the club to survive in the AFL. Thankfully, it is still there but the financial clock ticks on.
St Kilda are considering making one of the more stunning selections tonight in AFL history when they select Luke Ball to play against Essendon on Sunday at Colonial Stadium. Ball, the No. 2 pick in last year's draft, is 17 years old and is still at Xavier College.
He has not played football with St Kilda's VFL side and has not been a regular at training because school commitments and injury have come first. He played his first game for Xavier last weekend and had more than 50 touches.
Xavier have a bye this weekend and St Kilda are unlikely to pass up the opportunity to play him. A decision will be made this morning.
The coach, Cornflakes Thomas, wants him to play and only the sternest warnings from the medical staff that he is underdone will defer his debut.
Ball's selection – it would be a gamble but a wonderful one – is emphatic proof that St Kilda's renewal as an AFL force will be driven by youth.
He would join a group of the most promising kids in the competition. Nearly all of them have been named AFL Rising Stars or will be – Nick Riewoldt, Xavier Clarke, Nick Del Santo, Matt Maguire, Justin Koschitzke, Leigh Montagna, James Begley and Troy Schwarze.
The coach considered the impact of pulling Ball straight into the side would have on the playing group. It is no easy matter, for egos in football are as fragile as hamstrings. Other players who may have been in line for Ball's position could feel their hard work has been overlooked.
The young players already in the side have shown the middle layer of players at St Kilda to be inadequate.
After the Saints nearly pinched the game against Melbourne last week, Thomas tore his more senior men apart for their inept performances around the drop of the ball. They were belted in centre clearances and lost by just three points.
St Kilda and Thomas are faced with a delicate balancing act. If the group of kids they own now can stay injury-free and develop into prominent senior footballers as their first forays into AFL suggest, then the Saints will be a devil of a team in three years.
But Thomas cannot rush them to the point of unravelling them physically or mentally. It is a fact of life that kids are brittle in body and brain when confronted with the physical brutality of senior football. It is a tough business. It has frazzled Corey McKernan and he is 28.
Nor can he nurse them to the point where they are not accountable. As gallant as the kids were in the draw with Sydney and the loss to Melbourne, Thomas emphasised that getting close was actually getting nowhere in AFL football.
Thomas will push his youth policy but for it to work and be sustainable he must demand and get performances from his senior group that they have been unable or unwilling to give regularly over the past four years.
Aaron Hamill played well against Melbourne but it needed a savaging from the coach for the forward to produce his best. Hamill was faster and harder at the ball but it was only commensurate with his substantial salary.
As Cornflakes embraces his youth policy so should the supporters and members. While Carlton are bogged down in a patchwork of mediocrity, St Kilda have a clear and exciting way forward. That is the province of Cornflakes.
But what Butterss and his chief executive Brian Waldron must ensure is that they give him and the club the life span to achieve their goals.
----
it has been a long time since i have read a positive article about the club.
go saints.