John Newman

[Lenny]

Idiot or On The Money?

He went hard on Thommo today, searching for a crack on every wall of fortress GT and came up empty handed!

Personally I think there is a Melbourne wave of Tall Poppy stuff going on, people desperate to write the media friendly obituary of the St K.F.C.

Saints have been hanging in there during the toughest of times and to be where you are now with the injuries that you have endured is a great effort.

The media loves Saints when in form, they see you as the saviour against dour footy, when the side finds confidence and winning form, watch the doomsdayers turn like wind socks.

Back to "Sam", well at times I find him funny, but mostly, his contribution to footy since his retirement from playing, is a negative. He talks is down, maybe he wants it down somewhere close to the gutter where he resides mentally!

 

[Powerstufff]

That session was interesting. Newman did the questioning well (though it was an ambush) and his curious mix of humour, politeness and aggressiveness managed to get a lot of what people are saying out in the open.
Thomas came off really well. He was confident and plausible, up tothe point about whether he is a good game day coach. Of course that can only be answered one way, and that's by close and important winning games like last year's PF.

 

[Otiman]

I think sam just wanted to get what the public has been saying said directly to GT's face in the eyes/ears of the media. Just to make him accountable or at least give him a chance to prove something to the media rather than having a go at him.

 

[butchy]

even if a little weird, i thought it was great.
sam asked the questions everyone in the footy world wants to know, but are too gutless to ask.
he was straight to the point with his questions, no beating around the bush, and to thomas' credit, he answered them as well as i could have imagined.
it is clear he is confident in himself, and his playing group and his honesty really stood out.
i applaud sam for having the balls to go and ask the questions, and grant for being good enough to answer them like he did.

 

[Sedat!]

Thought that Sam and Thomas came out of it very well, but the rest of the silent fools in the pressbox, well that's another story.

 

[bozza1980]

The thing I liked about it, was how well GT handled it.

Sammy basically asked him to respond to the thoughts that most of the media and public have thought.

All in all I thought it was good and it actually increased my regard for GT.

 

[veryevilmike]

I will admit to having been quite critical of GT in the past and prior to yesterday had a very low opinion of the man. Congrats to Newman for asking the hard questions and I think that GT handled himself very well.

My opinion of him is a fair bit higher than it was before but, for all his skills in dealing with the media, GT still needs to walk the walk reasonably soon.

 

[bigfootball]

I couldn't agree more. GT prooved himself to many in the footy world the way he stood up to the confrontational questions sam asked, which were very good mind you.

I gained alot more respect for him

 

[Terry Tan]

It is irrelevant how Sam asked questions and how GT responded to them. They were predictable, typical, and well rehearsed answers from GT. It was very obvious GT is under intense pressure. I have never seen a media turn on anybody this bad before - it has been hostile all week since there were only 2 games to report from last week.

The bottom line is about winning games, finals and GF's. That's how history will judge any coach and team.

 

[Kildonan]

I couldn't agree more. GT prooved himself to many in the footy world the way he stood up to the confrontational questions sam asked, which were very good mind you.

I gained alot more respect for him

You and many others. Eddies plan backfired.

Most Sainters will tell you that GT handled the interview with his usual aplomb.

Newman sounded sober, but his attempts at cutting GT off with his next question, lost him a few credibility points.

 

[Terry Tan]

I bet The Footy Show would never do that to Mick Malthouse. That was a pure ambush to try to embarrash and discredit GT and Eddie sent his henchman Sam. Sam always does Eddie's dirty work.

 

[R Man]

That is precisely right!!! Terry Tan!!!

How often do we see Sam doing Eddie's dirty work?! You only have to watch the Footy Show for 15 mins to see it. Whenever something edgy comes up or a perhaps a sensitive issue.. you will always have Eddie prodding and poking Sam for something quotable - always

 

[della]

Agree with most that g.Thomas handled himself well, but so should he, they were questions that needed to be asked and answered and both parties did themselves proud, we all know how great G.Thomas people skills r etc, but the question still lingers on whether he can coach at this level and take on such a profile a the Saints with all the work he does

 

[garth p]

Idiot or On The Money?

He went hard on Thommo today, searching for a crack on every wall of fortress GT and came up empty handed!

Personally I think there is a Melbourne wave of Tall Poppy stuff going on, people desperate to write the media friendly obituary of the St K.F.C.

Saints have been hanging in there during the toughest of times and to be where you are now with the injuries that you have endured is a great effort.

The media loves Saints when in form, they see you as the saviour against dour footy, when the side finds confidence and winning form, watch the doomsdayers turn like wind socks.

Back to "Sam", well at times I find him funny, but mostly, his contribution to footy since his retirement from playing, is a negative. He talks is down, maybe he wants it down somewhere close to the gutter where he resides mentally!

Good post, Lenny. you are on the money there.

 

[Powerstufff]

Thought that Sam and Thomas came out of it very well, but the rest of the silent fools in the pressbox, well that's another story.

The interview as presnted was discontinuous as it had been edited down by Channel 9 to just show Thomas/Newman. I doubt they had thought people would think only Sam spoke to Thomas. I'm sure others did.
The other thing is the forum was not that of Thomas defending himself, but of a weekly St Kilda briefing. Eddie and Sam acknowledged they had hijacked that event with Thomas having refused other requests for this sort of roasting. Other reporters would have been a little uneasy at what went on. Even Sam was a fair bit embarrased.