Malcolm Blight interview

[giantroo]

Hey Guys,

Thought I'd share this while it is fresh - If you haven't seen it/ missed it or don't have foxtel, thought it would be good to share it with you guys considering he is your only afl premiership coach - has some parts about his time at Adelaide.

Enjoy

 

[ltdamn]

I thought Sheahan was fascinated with Blighty's time at North, Geelong, and St. Kilda, but he really paid lip-service to his time with us, and really only the 2 grand finals and how he left to eventually go to St. Kilda. No questions about Modra, mentioned McLeod only when Malcolm did, and didn't ask him anything about what he said during the breaks in either GF, or writing '18' on the whiteboard after losing the first Showdown.

 

[Stiffy_18]

I always love watching Blighty talk footy. There is no doubt he is wired differently but in a good way!

 

[Dirty Bird]

or writing '18' on the whiteboard after losing the first Showdown.

What's that?
What's the significance of it?

fwiw - We had an 18 point turnaround to the next showdown. Turning it from an 11 point loss to a 7 point win.

 

[Elder van Berlo]

What's that?
What's the significance of it?

fwiw - We had an 18 point turnaround to the next showdown. Turning it from an 11 point loss to a 7 point win.

Reportedly in the rooms after the first Showdown, Blighty wrote the number 18 on a whiteboard. Reminding the players that there were 18 more games in the season. And it was a valid point, the first Showdown was built up like a Grand Final, and considering we had played in 3 finals in 6 years in the competition, and none in the preceding 3 years, the players probably treated it like a Grand Final.

I watched the episode of Open Mike specifically for any insight into Blight's time in Adelaide and was disappointed, it got all of about 2 minutes.

 

[ltdamn]

What's that?
What's the significance of it?

fwiw - We had an 18 point turnaround to the next showdown. Turning it from an 11 point loss to a 7 point win.

Reportedly in the rooms after the first Showdown, Blighty wrote the number 18 on a whiteboard. Reminding the players that there were 18 more games in the season. And it was a valid point, the first Showdown was built up like a Grand Final, and considering we had played in 3 finals in 6 years in the competition, and none in the preceding 3 years, the players probably treated it like a Grand Final.

I watched the episode of Open Mike specifically for any insight into Blight's time in Adelaide and was disappointed, it got all of about 2 minutes.

As above, 18 games to go in the season. Stories differ, but most have it down as a significant moment that changed the mindset of the team after what was a pretty disastrous start to the year and looked like being a train wreck. As it was, that loss and Blight's supposed reaction when everyone expected him to go berserk was probably one of the major turning points in our history.

Not that you'd know it if you watched even the extended version of Open Mike. After Sheahan pretty much phoned in the Riccuito episode by asking him 20 questions from his autobiography, you'd think he would have actually made an effort this time.

 

[moogerfooger]

thanks to giantroo for the upload but really - anyone wanting to learn more about Blighty and what went on behind the scenes, especially at the Crows, can do no better than grabbing the Tim Watson book. probably the most interesting footy book I've read.

 

[FAITH]

thanks to giantroo for the upload but really - anyone wanting to learn more about Blighty and what went on behind the scenes, especially at the Crows, can do no better than grabbing the Tim Watson book. probably the most interesting footy book I've read.

 

[Interceptor]

I thought Sheahan was fascinated with Blighty's time at North, Geelong, and St. Kilda, but he really paid lip-service to his time with us, and really only the 2 grand finals and how he left to eventually go to St. Kilda. No questions about Modra, mentioned McLeod only when Malcolm did, and didn't ask him anything about what he said during the breaks in either GF, or writing '18' on the whiteboard after losing the first Showdown.

Sheahan is a snob who has always had little respect for non-Victorian football, even in the AFL era.
It's time for the dinosaur to give all media away, the greater footy public deserve better.

 

[radiojake]

Sheahan is a snob who has always had little respect for non-Victorian football, even in the AFL era.
It's time for the dinosaur to give all media away, the greater footy public deserve better.

The look of genuine suprise from Sheehan when Blight mentions in his interview that in the 70s the SANFL was the most important league in Adelaide and no one took that much notice of the VFL says it all really -

 

[alex_is_on_fire]

I enjoyed it. Didn't gain any new information regarding Malcolm Blight however, it was still very enjoyable. He is a very interesting cat.

Enjoyed the discussion regarding Butress, Thomas and the St Kilda football club sacking him and appointing Grant Thomas.

However, if you watch these types of interview hoping to gain any new information about the club you support, you're not following the club that closely in the first place.

 

[Sanders]

There’s an interesting profile on Blighty in the paper and it contains the first thing I recall him saying about St Kilda

It’s relevant because it’s become a bit of a false narrative that somehow STK were right to sack him

Pretty clear what he thinks of those incompetent cowboys now:

https://www.heraldsun.com.au/sport/...h/news-story/8eb2586f8f2c01fde769e1e67f96f573

“
ST KILDA (2001). “I had a year off and St Kilda came with the chocolates while I needed to be wanted — and they made an offer that was financially handsome,” Blight said.

“But after 15 weeks, the men running a club that had won just two games the year before felt they knew more about coaching than I had learned in 15 years. And after all the innuendo that followed, today we know how dysfunctional that St Kilda board was. Danny Frawley, who is St Kilda through and through, says that board should hang its head in disgust. (Former Saints captain) Nick Riewoldt notes successful clubs have every part of the club right — and that was not the case with that board.”

 

[Red mist]

I always love watching Blighty talk footy. There is no doubt he is wired differently but in a good way!

97,98 was transitioning in the way coaching was very heavily reliant on the head coach and then started being sourced out with line coaches and more sharing of responsibilities. He cooked himself pretty hard.

 

[Thegibbsgamble]

We had alot of injuries in the first showdown. We were never winning that game

It wasnt the 18 that turned as around. It was the inclusions the next week against footscray.

Sean Rehn had alot to do with it. His knees is what cost Robert Shaw his job

Mods and fud run amok that day. Mods was killing them so blight uses him as a a decoy to cut footscray up. Where studley would let mod star.

Came down to blights ego.

Either way we would win because a rampant modra was unstoppable

 

[marvin]

There’s an interesting profile on Blighty in the paper and it contains the first thing I recall him saying about St Kilda

It’s relevant because it’s become a bit of a false narrative that somehow STK were right to sack him

Pretty clear what he thinks of those incompetent cowboys now:

https://www.heraldsun.com.au/sport/...h/news-story/8eb2586f8f2c01fde769e1e67f96f573

“
ST KILDA (2001). “I had a year off and St Kilda came with the chocolates while I needed to be wanted — and they made an offer that was financially handsome,” Blight said.

“But after 15 weeks, the men running a club that had won just two games the year before felt they knew more about coaching than I had learned in 15 years. And after all the innuendo that followed, today we know how dysfunctional that St Kilda board was. Danny Frawley, who is St Kilda through and through, says that board should hang its head in disgust. (Former Saints captain) Nick Riewoldt notes successful clubs have every part of the club right — and that was not the case with that board.”

I'm pretty sure Frawley also had a run in with Nathan Burke and Andrew Thompson when they got on to a ticket to topple the Butterss board. I don't think Danny likes change.....

Even if you take the rumours of excessive golfing and spending too much time in Qld rather than Moorabbin as having some truth, it was a spectacular stuff up from the St Kilda board. The fact that they lost Jonas and Hinkley as assistant coaches and had to go with Nathan Burke and Robert Harvey as stand in assistants (both being injured) suggests that they didn't think through what was going to happen. If they knew what they were getting, they shouldn't have been surprised when Blight was a loose cannon at times - and if they didn't know, they hadn't done even the simplest research.

 

[Sanders]

I'm pretty sure Frawley also had a run in with Nathan Burke and Andrew Thompson when they got on to a ticket to topple the Butterss board. I don't think Danny likes change.....

Even if you take the rumours of excessive golfing and spending too much time in Qld rather than Moorabbin as having some truth, it was a spectacular stuff up from the St Kilda board. The fact that they lost Jonas and Hinkley as assistant coaches and had to go with Nathan Burke and Robert Harvey as stand in assistants (both being injured) suggests that they didn't think through what was going to happen. If they knew what they were getting, they shouldn't have been surprised when Blight was a loose cannon at times - and if they didn't know, they hadn't done even the simplest research.

I think the point Blight makes though stands, what the hell do those guys know about anything?

They come to me because they need me, and then 5 mins later think they know best

And let’s be honest, time has not been kind to Butterss and his regime

 

[Sanders]

We had alot of injuries in the first showdown. We were never winning that game

It wasnt the 18 that turned as around. It was the inclusions the next week against footscray.

Sean Rehn had alot to do with it. His knees is what cost Robert Shaw his job

Mods and fud run amok that day. Mods was killing them so blight uses him as a a decoy to cut footscray up. Where studley would let mod star.

Came down to blights ego.

Either way we would win because a rampant modra was unstoppable

Enough with the asinine graffiti

 

[marvin]

I think the point Blight makes though stands, what the hell do those guys know about anything?

They come to me because they need me, and then 5 mins later think they know best

And let’s be honest, time has not been kind to Butterss and his regime

I don’t know if you’ve been listening to that season 1993 podcast. I listened to the Graham Cornes episode tonight. Cornes talked about his sacking and clearly still holds Bob Hammond and your namesake in high regard, but made comments about the competency of other (unnamed) directors to make a football decision.

 

[chazwazza]

The look of genuine suprise from Sheehan when Blight mentions in his interview that in the 70s the SANFL was the most important league in Adelaide and no one took that much notice of the VFL says it all really -

Watch the Phil Carman interview then, Sheahan as usual isn’t interested in anything that’s not VFL and refuses to discuss let alone ask much about his time in the SANFL. When he asks Phil about his greatest or happiest achievement Phil says his first win while coaching Sturt. Sheahan almost chokes and moves on very quickly.
What a c***.

 

[Crowked]

The reluctance to acknowledge the SANFL relationships of these champions is largely due to the fact that acknowledging the standard of the SANFL and WAFL competitions of that era, would expose the farce that is a national competition that includes the whole VFL while excluding history rich clubs like Sturt and Norwood. A national competition that truely reflected the merits of all Australian Rules Football history would have no more than 6 Victorian clubs and would include at least both of Sturt and Norwood from the SANFL, as well as several real and historic WAFL clubs.

 

[chazwazza]

The reluctance to acknowledge the SANFL relationships of these champions is largely due to the fact that acknowledging the standard of the SANFL and WAFL competitions of that era, would expose the farce that is a national competition that includes the whole VFL while excluding history rich clubs like Sturt and Norwood. A national competition that truely reflected the merits of all Australian Rules Football history would have no more than 6 Victorian clubs and would include at least both of Sturt and Norwood from the SANFL, as well as several real and historic WAFL clubs.

Agree. All the more reason to help support the SANFL clubs as compared to some who actively wish or plot their demise.