Sir Robert
All Australian
Sorry if this has already been posted. Great article tho... And very accurate:
http://www.realfooty.com.au/news/ne...-for-one/2008/04/17/1208025381163.html?page=2
ANY high-performing team will always have its element of pure class — the guns, the game-breakers, the stars who have that ability to rip a game apart.
We all recognise the importance of "having the right cattle" in the pursuit of a premiership, but a group of individuals who come together for a common goal does not automatically constitute a strong and effective team.
It runs much deeper than that.
St Kilda has the right cattle this year, but they do not work together as a team. They are a group of individuals who are together by name and jumper, but they do not work together for a common purpose.
They do not support one another and do not share mutual accountability or responsibility for team results.
That is now.
But these are the only "skills" missing, and all that are required for the Saints to take the next step and forge a genuine premiership bid.
It's not foot speed and it's not skill level, as has been widely reported. It's merely intent. Great teams are willing to look out for one another. To cover for a teammate until they are able to resume their role. They have players who swallow their own ego and perform a role for the team, even though they think they may be too good for that role.
Great teams have players who have the ability to not only perform their role but to help others achieve their goals. To think outside of themselves. To not only do this when they are playing well but when they are below their best.
Great teams have players that ensure team rules are followed and that the style of game they want to play is encouraged and supported. By everyone.
And they have a group of men who accept mutual accountability for the result of the team.
Great teams share the glory or the pain irrespective of personal performance because their emotions are directly linked to team results.
This is difficult to achieve because with high achievers and high performers, there will always be strong individual ambitions, goals, wants and needs.
But at times it's about submitting your ego to the team cause. Accepting a role for the good of the team, and appreciating others who do likewise.
Too many St Kilda players want to be the star. Not enough want to be the player who contributes the most to the team cause and has the most influence on the team result.
Shaun Hart was the benchmark of this for me at the Brisbane Lions. Despite pressure and fatigue, his decisions were always what was in the best interest of the team.
Underrated in the public arena but pure gold within the inner sanctum and respected enormously by their peers, he was the ultimate support player. The worker-bee.
Geelong, as individually brilliant as it was last year, had its worker-bees — captain Tom Harley, Cameron Ling and Corey Enright.
Other recent premiership sides North Melbourne, Essendon, Port Adelaide, Sydney and West Coast have had that same characteristic. And it is one that St Kilda needs to find quickly.
Sydney is a team full of support and responsibility. Last Saturday night, we saw yet another excellent example when Kieren Jack did a magnificent job on West Coast's Daniel Kerr. In typical Swans fashion, whenever Jack got "lost", someone else would pick up the assignment. It didn't matter who — it was a team priority and a team result.
In 2004, I suspected Port was ready to win a flag when I saw Warren Tredrea, the star of the team, fill an un-star-like role in the finals when he dragged Geelong opponent Matthew Scarlett away from the play for the greater good.
Fraser Gehrig tried to play a role for St Kilda against Geelong last week when used as a decoy for one of the first times in his career. And he was slaughtered for a bad game.
For me, it isn't that Gehrig, Nick Riewoldt and Justin Koschitzke can't be in the same forward line. It's just their apparent reluctance to work together to get the same result or accept that the result was due to them all. Not just "Frase".
I sense the St Kilda leaders do not take enough ownership for the performance of the team. That nobody is willing to stand up and say, "Hey, as a group we are not doing this well enough and if I need to play a different role or support another player, then I will put aside my own ego and do it".
Such comments will inevitably bring a rebuttal. The natural reaction is to defend. To say it isn't true. But now is not a time for talk. It is about taking responsibility for the fact that not enough St Kilda players are taking responsibility for the team and supporting their teammates.
When they do, they might become a real premiership contender rather than a bunch of talented individuals who could have been anything.
Underrated in the public arena but pure gold within the inner sanctum and respected enormously by their peers, he was the ultimate support player. The worker-bee.
Geelong, as individually brilliant as it was last year, had its worker-bees — captain Tom Harley, Cameron Ling and Corey Enright.
Other recent premiership sides North Melbourne, Essendon, Port Adelaide, Sydney and West Coast have had that same characteristic. And it is one that St Kilda needs to find quickly.
Sydney is a team full of support and responsibility. Last Saturday night, we saw yet another excellent example when Kieren Jack did a magnificent job on West Coast's Daniel Kerr. In typical Swans fashion, whenever Jack got "lost", someone else would pick up the assignment. It didn't matter who — it was a team priority and a team result.
In 2004, I suspected Port was ready to win a flag when I saw Warren Tredrea, the star of the team, fill an un-star-like role in the finals when he dragged Geelong opponent Matthew Scarlett away from the play for the greater good.
Fraser Gehrig tried to play a role for St Kilda against Geelong last week when used as a decoy for one of the first times in his career. And he was slaughtered for a bad game.
For me, it isn't that Gehrig, Nick Riewoldt and Justin Koschitzke can't be in the same forward line. It's just their apparent reluctance to work together to get the same result or accept that the result was due to them all. Not just "Frase".
I sense the St Kilda leaders do not take enough ownership for the performance of the team. That nobody is willing to stand up and say, "Hey, as a group we are not doing this well enough and if I need to play a different role or support another player, then I will put aside my own ego and do it".
Such comments will inevitably bring a rebuttal. The natural reaction is to defend. To say it isn't true. But now is not a time for talk. It is about taking responsibility for the fact that not enough St Kilda players are taking responsibility for the team and supporting their teammates.
When they do, they might become a real premiership contender rather than a bunch of talented individuals who could have been anything.
http://www.realfooty.com.au/news/ne...-for-one/2008/04/17/1208025381163.html?page=2
ANY high-performing team will always have its element of pure class — the guns, the game-breakers, the stars who have that ability to rip a game apart.
We all recognise the importance of "having the right cattle" in the pursuit of a premiership, but a group of individuals who come together for a common goal does not automatically constitute a strong and effective team.
It runs much deeper than that.
St Kilda has the right cattle this year, but they do not work together as a team. They are a group of individuals who are together by name and jumper, but they do not work together for a common purpose.
They do not support one another and do not share mutual accountability or responsibility for team results.
That is now.
But these are the only "skills" missing, and all that are required for the Saints to take the next step and forge a genuine premiership bid.
It's not foot speed and it's not skill level, as has been widely reported. It's merely intent. Great teams are willing to look out for one another. To cover for a teammate until they are able to resume their role. They have players who swallow their own ego and perform a role for the team, even though they think they may be too good for that role.
Great teams have players who have the ability to not only perform their role but to help others achieve their goals. To think outside of themselves. To not only do this when they are playing well but when they are below their best.
Great teams have players that ensure team rules are followed and that the style of game they want to play is encouraged and supported. By everyone.
And they have a group of men who accept mutual accountability for the result of the team.
Great teams share the glory or the pain irrespective of personal performance because their emotions are directly linked to team results.
This is difficult to achieve because with high achievers and high performers, there will always be strong individual ambitions, goals, wants and needs.
But at times it's about submitting your ego to the team cause. Accepting a role for the good of the team, and appreciating others who do likewise.
Too many St Kilda players want to be the star. Not enough want to be the player who contributes the most to the team cause and has the most influence on the team result.
Shaun Hart was the benchmark of this for me at the Brisbane Lions. Despite pressure and fatigue, his decisions were always what was in the best interest of the team.
Underrated in the public arena but pure gold within the inner sanctum and respected enormously by their peers, he was the ultimate support player. The worker-bee.
Geelong, as individually brilliant as it was last year, had its worker-bees — captain Tom Harley, Cameron Ling and Corey Enright.
Other recent premiership sides North Melbourne, Essendon, Port Adelaide, Sydney and West Coast have had that same characteristic. And it is one that St Kilda needs to find quickly.
Sydney is a team full of support and responsibility. Last Saturday night, we saw yet another excellent example when Kieren Jack did a magnificent job on West Coast's Daniel Kerr. In typical Swans fashion, whenever Jack got "lost", someone else would pick up the assignment. It didn't matter who — it was a team priority and a team result.
In 2004, I suspected Port was ready to win a flag when I saw Warren Tredrea, the star of the team, fill an un-star-like role in the finals when he dragged Geelong opponent Matthew Scarlett away from the play for the greater good.
Fraser Gehrig tried to play a role for St Kilda against Geelong last week when used as a decoy for one of the first times in his career. And he was slaughtered for a bad game.
For me, it isn't that Gehrig, Nick Riewoldt and Justin Koschitzke can't be in the same forward line. It's just their apparent reluctance to work together to get the same result or accept that the result was due to them all. Not just "Frase".
I sense the St Kilda leaders do not take enough ownership for the performance of the team. That nobody is willing to stand up and say, "Hey, as a group we are not doing this well enough and if I need to play a different role or support another player, then I will put aside my own ego and do it".
Such comments will inevitably bring a rebuttal. The natural reaction is to defend. To say it isn't true. But now is not a time for talk. It is about taking responsibility for the fact that not enough St Kilda players are taking responsibility for the team and supporting their teammates.
When they do, they might become a real premiership contender rather than a bunch of talented individuals who could have been anything.
Underrated in the public arena but pure gold within the inner sanctum and respected enormously by their peers, he was the ultimate support player. The worker-bee.
Geelong, as individually brilliant as it was last year, had its worker-bees — captain Tom Harley, Cameron Ling and Corey Enright.
Other recent premiership sides North Melbourne, Essendon, Port Adelaide, Sydney and West Coast have had that same characteristic. And it is one that St Kilda needs to find quickly.
Sydney is a team full of support and responsibility. Last Saturday night, we saw yet another excellent example when Kieren Jack did a magnificent job on West Coast's Daniel Kerr. In typical Swans fashion, whenever Jack got "lost", someone else would pick up the assignment. It didn't matter who — it was a team priority and a team result.
In 2004, I suspected Port was ready to win a flag when I saw Warren Tredrea, the star of the team, fill an un-star-like role in the finals when he dragged Geelong opponent Matthew Scarlett away from the play for the greater good.
Fraser Gehrig tried to play a role for St Kilda against Geelong last week when used as a decoy for one of the first times in his career. And he was slaughtered for a bad game.
For me, it isn't that Gehrig, Nick Riewoldt and Justin Koschitzke can't be in the same forward line. It's just their apparent reluctance to work together to get the same result or accept that the result was due to them all. Not just "Frase".
I sense the St Kilda leaders do not take enough ownership for the performance of the team. That nobody is willing to stand up and say, "Hey, as a group we are not doing this well enough and if I need to play a different role or support another player, then I will put aside my own ego and do it".
Such comments will inevitably bring a rebuttal. The natural reaction is to defend. To say it isn't true. But now is not a time for talk. It is about taking responsibility for the fact that not enough St Kilda players are taking responsibility for the team and supporting their teammates.
When they do, they might become a real premiership contender rather than a bunch of talented individuals who could have been anything.
