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Brownlow Medallist
Coach gets Lyon's share of creditFont Size: Decrease Increase Print Page: Print Stephen Rielly | September 17, 2008
ST KILDA's loss to Melbourne in the 2006 second elimination final was understandably seen as the end of a fascinating period in the club's history. Certainly it was the end for coach Grant Thomas, who was sacked days later.
At the time, there existed an undeniable sense of opportunity lost. The club had risen under the svengali-like Thomas to reach the 2004 and 2005 preliminary finals but appeared to be falling again by the time of the early exit.
The premiership window, opened by the arrival of Nick Riewoldt, Justin Koschitzke, Luke Ball, Brendon Goddard, Nick Dal Santo, Matt Maguire, Leigh Montagna and the Clarke brothers, Xavier and Raphael, looked to have closed and the question as to whether another long-haul, draft-led rebuild was required was being asked.
However, Thomas's successor, Ross Lyon, arrived with the conviction that oblivion, with its rich draft rewards, wasn't necessary. He saw evolution, rather than revolution.
When the Saints narrowly missed the finals last year, it looked far from certain that he was correct but as Lyon and the team prepare for what is the club's third preliminary final in five years, his understated way appears to have been vindicated.
St Kilda is back in the top four. Moreover, with a substantially different side to the one which last made it into the third week of September, in 2005, when it succumbed to a seven-goal final quarter by Sydney.
It was a side that contained Austinn Jones, Stephen Powell, Brett Voss, Cain Ackland, Andrew Thompson, Fraser Gehrig and, of course, the ageless Robert Harvey.
By contrast, the St Kilda team that defeated Collingwood in last Saturday night's semi-final contained seven players who had played fewer than 40 matches, only two of whom is older than 22.
Three of them, Sam Gilbert, Clint Jones and Raphael Clarke, who played his 40th and best game in red, black and white against the Magpies, comprised half of the St Kilda defence in the injury-enforced absences of Steven Baker, Maguire and Sean Dempster.
"I think at the start of the year, if you thought we were going to be playing in a prelim then you would have thought names like Baker, Maguire and Dempster, those sorts of guys, would be in the team," Riewoldt said yesterday.
"It's been really exciting and a real plus for the footy club, and something for our supporters to take real heart from, that we've been able to grow and develop some young players."
In fact, only 11 of the 22 who played in the 2005 preliminary final ran around against the Magpies.
Ball, Maguire and Baker were injured; Gehrig, Jones, Powell, Voss and Thompson retired; Brent Guerra and Ackland are playing elsewhere and Aaron Fiora was not selected.
In their place were Sam Fisher, Jason Gram, Gilbert, Andrew McQualter, Koschitzke, Steven King, Adam Schneider, David Armitage, Robert Eddy, Jones and Jarryd Allen, who injured a hip early in the match and may be replaced by Ball or Shane Birss on Saturday night against Hawthorn.
Lyon turned to youth mid-season, and dropped Dal Santo and Stephen Milne to do so, in part to slap down a complacency he saw as the root of the side's mediocrity to that point. In the space of a fortnight Eddy, McQualter, Ben McEvoy and Allen got their starts.
Lyon said yesterday that it was a mixture of change by design, injuries and form good and bad that sees almost a third of his side in AFL nappies and poised to improve next year.
"Ultimately, players pick themselves. Young players need to put performances on the board," Lyon said.
"And then some injuries and lack of form opened up those opportunities. But it's probably something that's been missed, from the weekend.
"There's been a lot of focus on our leaders but (having) six players under 30 or so games was significant for St Kilda, I thought.
"It's something that has flown under the radar. We were aware of that. We wanted to inject some youth.
"Fortunately, it's happened although the exact reasons ... sometimes it's circumstances."
ST KILDA's loss to Melbourne in the 2006 second elimination final was understandably seen as the end of a fascinating period in the club's history. Certainly it was the end for coach Grant Thomas, who was sacked days later.
At the time, there existed an undeniable sense of opportunity lost. The club had risen under the svengali-like Thomas to reach the 2004 and 2005 preliminary finals but appeared to be falling again by the time of the early exit.
The premiership window, opened by the arrival of Nick Riewoldt, Justin Koschitzke, Luke Ball, Brendon Goddard, Nick Dal Santo, Matt Maguire, Leigh Montagna and the Clarke brothers, Xavier and Raphael, looked to have closed and the question as to whether another long-haul, draft-led rebuild was required was being asked.
However, Thomas's successor, Ross Lyon, arrived with the conviction that oblivion, with its rich draft rewards, wasn't necessary. He saw evolution, rather than revolution.
When the Saints narrowly missed the finals last year, it looked far from certain that he was correct but as Lyon and the team prepare for what is the club's third preliminary final in five years, his understated way appears to have been vindicated.
St Kilda is back in the top four. Moreover, with a substantially different side to the one which last made it into the third week of September, in 2005, when it succumbed to a seven-goal final quarter by Sydney.
It was a side that contained Austinn Jones, Stephen Powell, Brett Voss, Cain Ackland, Andrew Thompson, Fraser Gehrig and, of course, the ageless Robert Harvey.
By contrast, the St Kilda team that defeated Collingwood in last Saturday night's semi-final contained seven players who had played fewer than 40 matches, only two of whom is older than 22.
Three of them, Sam Gilbert, Clint Jones and Raphael Clarke, who played his 40th and best game in red, black and white against the Magpies, comprised half of the St Kilda defence in the injury-enforced absences of Steven Baker, Maguire and Sean Dempster.
"I think at the start of the year, if you thought we were going to be playing in a prelim then you would have thought names like Baker, Maguire and Dempster, those sorts of guys, would be in the team," Riewoldt said yesterday.
"It's been really exciting and a real plus for the footy club, and something for our supporters to take real heart from, that we've been able to grow and develop some young players."
In fact, only 11 of the 22 who played in the 2005 preliminary final ran around against the Magpies.
Ball, Maguire and Baker were injured; Gehrig, Jones, Powell, Voss and Thompson retired; Brent Guerra and Ackland are playing elsewhere and Aaron Fiora was not selected.
In their place were Sam Fisher, Jason Gram, Gilbert, Andrew McQualter, Koschitzke, Steven King, Adam Schneider, David Armitage, Robert Eddy, Jones and Jarryd Allen, who injured a hip early in the match and may be replaced by Ball or Shane Birss on Saturday night against Hawthorn.
Lyon turned to youth mid-season, and dropped Dal Santo and Stephen Milne to do so, in part to slap down a complacency he saw as the root of the side's mediocrity to that point. In the space of a fortnight Eddy, McQualter, Ben McEvoy and Allen got their starts.
Lyon said yesterday that it was a mixture of change by design, injuries and form good and bad that sees almost a third of his side in AFL nappies and poised to improve next year.
"Ultimately, players pick themselves. Young players need to put performances on the board," Lyon said.
"And then some injuries and lack of form opened up those opportunities. But it's probably something that's been missed, from the weekend.
"There's been a lot of focus on our leaders but (having) six players under 30 or so games was significant for St Kilda, I thought.
"It's something that has flown under the radar. We were aware of that. We wanted to inject some youth.
"Fortunately, it's happened although the exact reasons ... sometimes it's circumstances."
