Grant Thomas

[scottydeewah]

It wasnt all one way traffic. Similar to when Ben Graham left the cats, most supporters think he just got up and walked, it wasnt actually quiet that black and white.

 

[Kildonan]

Grant Thomas is interviewed on Sport 927 on the Luke Ball Captaincy, Kosi, The NAB Cup squad and the coaching staff

Link

 

[Kurtis G]

Re: Thomas under pressure

Talking to a well connected bloke the other day who believes Grant Thomas has been told to deliver this year or will be given marching orders.
WHat do people think of this, by all reports the bloke is a great motivator but not much of a coach.
I for one have never been a fan, and no several people that will not be members agian until he is gone.
Does any one rate him? I think we would have seen sucsess with some one like Eade at the helm.
The other rumour was he has somthing pretty big over rod butters, so possibly the answer would be them both going? How long can we wait with the current list before we no longer have the ablility to achieve the ultimate?

You absolute idiot.

Coaches are talked about in that regard when their side has been down the bottom of the ladder for a while and they just "arent deliveing" such as Danny Frawley was and now Chris Connoly who is struggling to take the next step with Freo. If a club sacked a coach because the side kept finishing 3rd every year they would be total morons and the laughing stock of the AFL. Even if you dont win a flag in ten years, if you are consistantly at the top end of the ;adder, your hardly going to lose your job.

You sir, are an ungrateful d*ick.

Personally I like the look of the Saints list. I backed them to win the flag last year and I think they once again threaten this year, the year after and the year after. They are a strong side all round and are recruiting youth at the same time which is important. On the verge of something great. Even if Richmond cant win the flag at the moment, id rather it back in Victoria where it belongs!

 

[della]

my memory must be wrong but my recollection was u guys were just torn by the injuries during Blights stint, i remember a game against the pies at the G and u were in front all day but were over run late dure to injuries.

All i can say is if u go to so much effort to get someone of Blights talent at least see what happens until his contract runs out.

He may not of turned things around but i'll say this, if he was coaching in any of the previous 2 years he win u guys a flag and i don't care what u say, yes he was different and unorthatdox but he was always like that, just look at his record and how he did things

did many a strange thing at geelong, called players pathetic, walked around the boundary early etc etc but he had a great record

did thomas make that much of a diff and develop the list quicker, highly unlikely from where i am standing but each to there own and this game would be boring if we all agreed on everything.

1 thing most of us would agree is barring major injuries u guys should win it this year handsdown

 

[Kildonan]

Bla bla bla Blight bla bla

did thomas make that much of a diff and develop the list quicker

St Kilda is recognised as one of the most highly skilled teams in the competition.
This is not something Blight would have been capable of equalling from the 17th green at Royal Melbourne.

Whether you like it or not, Grant Thomas has done an exemplary job in developing the young hopefuls into highly skilled players (including several all-Australians). Most of the kids at Thomas's disposal were recruited after the batch of kids at Geelong. The Saints came from considerably behind Geelong in skill, to go past them. I credit Thomas with this feat.

 

[della]

I doubt that youre kids have come from behind geelong and r now in front, both teams have played in finals the last 2 yrs and haven't achieved anything at all.

U guys had top draft picks everywhere and we have had very little top 10 picks so i don't know what u r saying. Bomber took over a club with an ageing list going knowhere but some good smart recuiting efforts have helped us out,

In terms of blight not sure how u compare his records with thomas but Blight was a great coach for sure and sure he did a few thing diff but overall he had the runs on the board.

I just feel that if u had another experienced coach esp Eade then u would of won a flag, u guys can say all u want but Thomas is just an average coach and if u need proof of that get in contact with N.Burke or Daniher and get them to explain a fe things, Burke wasn't at all impressed with Thomas.

hey if thomas is the best coach for u good luck but speaking to most Saints fans theres always that though in the back of there minds of what could of been with someone else at the helm, theres no doubt he will be gone if he doesn't get a flag this year regardless of contracts etc, that u can be sure of.

 

[Molky Saint]

What has Eade won? As for Burkey it's amazing how opposition supporters divine things out of thin air (you got ESP ) If you had've listened to the 3AW pre-match programme before our first NAB cup game, you would find Nathan and GT are great friends. They chatted freely and with great affection. I would just worry about Gee-long if I were you

 

[della]

it's working with the list u have not always records, if Matthews had won 1 flag at or even 2 he would of underachieved.

I do worry about Geelong don't u worry, our tall forward line is my biggest worry i promise u.

With u guys and the list u have something is wrong in u guys not at least making a grand final the last 2 seasons i don't care what u say, Thomas is a good peoples person no doubt but lacks footy smarts, maybe the additin of mcGuane which i think is the best thing to happen to that club in a decade may help u out as i rate him very highly and have seen him close up in the country.

What i would be ********ed of as a saints fan is afterl ast years prem loss, i was there, walking out of the ground not to many supporters seemed that upset, maybe its a cultural thing i don't know,

u won't have a better chance then now and u guys need to win it whilst that monster of a thing, the "G" Train is still there, i doubt u wil win it once he goes, just my thoughts and i am not biased when it comes to my team or any team in the league, i just call it as i see it and if u read my views on my club u would know that.

 

[mad-saint-guy]

What i would be ********ed of as a saints fan is afterl ast years prem loss, i was there, walking out of the ground not to many supporters seemed that upset, maybe its a cultural thing i don't know,

Not many people would've seemed that upset because we simply weren't good enough.

I 2004, we were by far the best team on the day (prelim against Port), and every saints fan was absolutely devastated.

Last year, I was extremely dissapointed, but we had our chance and blew it. In 2004 we made the most our chance, but a combination of home-ground umpiring, injuries, bad goal-kicking, and the famous oval-invasion when we had all the momentum was too much for us to overcome. We deserved to win in 2004, but we weren't good enough in 2005.

 

[della]

Yeah fair call about 2004, i was there in Adel with my girlfriend who is a saints fan and u guys looked the more dangerous side all night but youre backline let u down, really should of been a cats vs Saints Grand Final that year.

i hope its that case this year.

 

[Cudaman]

Come on - it is a coincidence St.Kilda has gone from basket case to successful AFL team with a huge supporter base turning a very nice profit, since he and Buttress took over power - without winning a premiership?

The man played AFL - roughly the same amount of games as Jeans and Hafey - and represented Victoria. Is the problem that was a successful business man, has connected friends, and dares to think and act differently?

Thomas has changed the entire thinking of AFL coaching;

- empowering his staff (and giving credit) - just look at the look at the recruitment manager's ability to attract great players who are not in the magical top ten of the draft. Just look at the staff turnover at the old fashioned despots....
- rotating captaincy - which actually means expanding the leadership group, as every club has copied in the past 3 years. Look at the debate over Cousins...what will they do without their leader...he is still their spiritual leader blah blah blah. Thomas has moved the focus from the individual to the team.
- You don't do it all yourself - Thomas looks after Leadership - Rendell looks after tactics - Mifsud and McGuane will look after the spirit.
- Overseas trips and expanding horizons - enough said - they all do that now!

Of course St.Kilda has a great list and we all expect the moon. But just take one step back and ask how did we get such a great list, keep them together, and keep turning a very tidy profit! But like all high profile jobs...he is a premiership away from being a genius or another preliminary final away from being an unfulfilled new thinking wannabe!

At the end of the day in 2006, I will put my money on Thomas to deliver.

 

[panthers]

Great post Cudaman

 

[Kurtis G]

theres no doubt he will be gone if he doesn't get a flag this year regardless of contracts etc, that u can be sure of.

Worst call ever.

 

[Kildonan]

Saints coach dreams of dynasty
The Age March 6, 2006 - 3:17PM

St Kilda has no more divine right to win the 2006 AFL flag than any other side, but coach Grant Thomas is thinking about a dynasty even though he has not sipped from a premiership cup.

Coming up to 40 years since the club won its sole flag, many believe the stars might be poised to align again in the Saints' favour, especially given that the core of a silky side which reached successive preliminary finals is still intact.

The detractors say St Kilda must strike while the iron is steaming, as the battered bodies of forwards Fraser Gehrig and Aaron Hamill and onballer Robert Harvey won't be around forever.

Thomas is confident St Kilda will still succeed beyond its older stars, as young guns Nick Riewoldt, Luke Ball, Nick Dal Santo, Justin Koschitzke, Matt Maguire and Lenny Hayes (old in that group, having just turned 26) are entering their footballing prime.

Favouritism did not sit well initially with the Saints last year, as they were in the red and only just in the eight at the halfway point of the season.

Injuries - notably to the key-position players Riewoldt and Koschitzke and Hamill, still the heart of the side - hurt, which Thomas uses to claim the Saints over-achieved in 2005.

Historically, St Kilda finishing third is a great result for the club.

With this playing list though, another preliminary final defeat might not be good enough to quench the long-held thirst of supporters for a premiership or a grand final appearance.

"If that means we have to play in finals for the next 10 years and we finally win one somewhere along the line, well, that's a s***load better than we've been in the past 100 years," Thomas says.

St Kilda's journey from laughing stock in 2000 to contender began left-field, as the club built up its playing stocks via early draft picks (the rewards for mediocrity) and appointed Thomas from a more managerial background than a coaching one.

Thomas believes many observers are willing St Kilda to fail because of its unorthodox rise and his philosophical personality, and he believes the theory the same naysayers spruik - that it's now or never time - is borne from ignorance.

"It's possibly earned disrespect from the fact that we've never been able to deliver in the past, apart from one game by one point (the 1966 grand final win over Collingwood)," he says.

"In history we have a very meagre record and because of that we're entitled to cop criticism ... (but) people don't have an internal appreciation of where we're at and don't understand where we're heading.

"There's that old footy mentality of a time clock, which doesn't exist here and no one's been able to give me a logical reason to why it should exist.

"If you want to apply a time clock on it, OK, I heard (Western Bulldogs coach) Rodney Eade say that 29 of his players on his list are under 24. Well, we've got 31. So does that make us better than them? No.

"All it means is we've got some older players - Harvey at 34 - but we've got a truckload of young guys who are in the prime of their careers at 60, 70, 80, 90 games and that was always the model that we wanted to build."

St Kilda's obvious riches are in attack, as Gehrig's 78 goals and Stephen Milne's 61 helped the Saints crack the 100 points 14 times in 2005, most at home sweet home Telstra Dome.

The midfield is a formidable combination of talent, pace, depth and grunt, while in Cain Ackland and Koschitzke the ruck stocks are much healthier than from a couple of years ago.

The premature retirements of Luke Penny and Austinn Jones leave the biggest challenge finding a settled defence.

Aaron Fiora and Xavier Clarke are two candidates to grow into Jones' old role as a sweeping half-back, while the pressure is on Sam Fisher to become a long-term key defender after a breakthrough season.

Off field, former Collingwood premiership players Mick McGuane and Craig Starcevich are useful additions, the former given his reputed tactical nous and the latter as a proven fitness coach (ex-Brisbane), who might solve the Saints' scourge of soft tissue injuries.

Thomas is adamant favouritism won't hamper his players, and admits anyway, there's no point running.

"You can't ignore it because it's everywhere you go," he said.

"The media will ramp up and do whatever and if we have a poor couple of weeks they'll smash us with it, if we have a good couple of weeks they'll probably more so smash us with it."

 

[Kildonan]

AFL follows Grant Thomas' ideas
Mark Stevens
Herald-Sun Superfooty
Feb 02 2008 12am

GLENN Manton was brave enough in his playing days to question the herd-mentality of coaches. "You can't be a sheep, you can't follow the pack," Manton mused, openly attacking some coaches' training methods.

Manton was a sheep of the black variety.

Grant Thomas has no body-piercing that we know of, but in many ways he was the Manton of coaching game.

The former St Kilda coach has been silent over summer, but is no doubt sitting back having a private chuckle.

Clubs are making headlines for putting their players through confronting, public polls to elect their leadership groups.

Collingwood has been at the South African university town Potchefstroom finetuning at high-altitude.

From Monday, clubs start to embark on what the AFL now strongly brands "Community Camps".

Could've sworn we've seen it all before.

Anyone who closely follows the Saints knows what I'm getting at. Thomas, never one to follow the sheep, can lay claim to all three concepts.

While other clubs were simply letting us know who was skipper and who was vice, Thomas in his early days at Moorabbin openly spoke about the club's leadership program.

The Saints, as far back as four years ago, asked their players to rank every peer on the list from 1 to 38.

Final results were there for all to see. A bit like the tennis rankings. If you were on the slide you copped a wake-up call.

It was Thomas that pushed the term "leadership group" like never before.

Now, endless stories are written about the make-up of leadership groups. Clubs put out press-releases about it. Heaven forbid, it even becomes a media event these days.

At the same time as Melbourne is making headlines for a 5-4-3-2-1 leadership vote, players are spread all over South Africa.

Newspapers are full of photos of players mingling with under-privileged kids. Then there's the obligatory training shots in the heat. The standard clinics.

Yet again, the Saints were there first. Thomas, with the help of friend, Olympic decathlon champion Daley Thompson, put the club through a training camp at "Potch" in late 2004.

Thomas drove the idea. It was about life-experiences as well as fitness.

And how about the community camps? Another major media event this month.

Thomas started that, too. He took the entire Saints team to Warrnambool in November, 2001.

At the time, it was a major shift in thinking. There were no SAS guys, just lawn bowls, sand-castle building and of course hospital visits. Thomas' plan was simple. Training in the morning; community visits in the afternoon.

Caught on didn't it.

Whatever you thought of Thomas the coach, the guy deserves credit for breaking from the herd.

 

[Joffaboy]

I wonder if sue your former club for a quarter of a mill is going to innovative and followed by all coaches in future?

 

[JeffDunne]

He's not the first to do it JB and he won't be the last.

 

[NeXus_Helen]

Nothing against Lyon but GRANT THOMAS should still be coaching the Saints. He is the best coach St.kilda have ever had, (in my life time). It is because of him that St.kilda are now out of danger from folding, merging or relocation. It is because of him that we have so many leaders at the club.

The only thing he failed at (and ultimately it cost him his job), was injury prevention. If he had've got that right the Saints would have won at least 2 premierships since 2004.

 

[bubblegoose]

Nothing against Lyon but GRANT THOMAS should still be coaching the Saints. He is the best coach St.kilda have ever had, (in my life time). It is because of him that St.kilda are now out of danger from folding, merging or relocation. It is because of him that we have so many leaders at the club.

The only thing he failed at (and ultimately it cost him his job), was injury prevention. If he had've got that right the Saints would have won at least 2 premierships since 2004.

Our best coach was our premiership coach, Allen Jeans.

Thomas certainly took us from a dark & scary place to being competitive & ready to take the next step. He had some great concepts and is definitely one of our great coaches.

Imo, if we still had Thomas as coach I wouldn't be confident of winning a premiership. I have confidence that Lyon can give us the best crack at winning a premiership.

 

[superfreak]

Nothing against Lyon but GRANT THOMAS should still be coaching the Saints. He is the best coach St.kilda have ever had, (in my life time). It is because of him that St.kilda are now out of danger from folding, merging or relocation. It is because of him that we have so many leaders at the club.

The only thing he failed at (and ultimately it cost him his job), was injury prevention. If he had've got that right the Saints would have won at least 2 premierships since 2004.

well now we know your under 7 years old.

he failed at many things, not all of which were publicly known.

it is because of rob butterss and the board that we are out of danger from folding, merging or relocation, not grant thomas.

 

[FredNurks]

well now we know your under 7 years old.

he failed at many things, not all of which were publicly known.

it is because of rob butterss and the board that we are out of danger from folding, merging or relocation, not grant thomas.

My thoughts exactly

While Thomas was undoubtedly innovative he was severely lacking in the tactical area. a point in fact was that he just couldnt counter flooding in any way and only seemed to have the single game plan which when countered left him high and dry.

Thomas couldve worked harder on the injury front but chose not to. i dont think he had much faith in it

to state that we wouldve one a couple of grannies is just looking at the world through rose coloured glasses

His time has passed please Nexus move on RL is there now and he is looking the goods

 

[bubblegoose]

to state that we wouldve one a couple of grannies is just looking at the world through rose coloured glasses

f*! That my friend is bloody funny & i almost fell off my seat!

 

[hotdish]

Thomas couldve worked harder on the injury front but chose not to. i dont think he had much faith in it

Care to elaborate. That is a strong assertion...

 

[FredNurks]

f*! That my friend is bloody funny & i almost fell off my seat!

Yeah i couldnt help myself

 

[FredNurks]

Care to elaborate. That is a strong assertion...

GT had a very tight reign over most things in his time at St Kilda but the spending in this area couldve and sholudve been a lot more. IMO i think this was partly due to GT's business background and possibly RB's fiscal policies