Opinion Saints favourite life time coach/s.

[Impatient Saint]

Who are you favourite coaches over you time supporting St Kilda?

1. Stan Alves I absolutely loved this guys passion for the club. His motivational skills plus he is an exceptional individual.
2. Ross Lyon all but nearly brought us the holy trail twice. Has an aura and the players loved him.
3. Ken Sheldon thought he did a good job and was harshly dealt with by the club.
4. Grant Thomas had the players all playing for a cause, nearly got there if it wasn't for his own greed.
5. Darrel Baldock loved his harden up son attitude.
6. Ross Smith a great St Kilda person.
7. Alex Jesaulenko brought some excitement to the club when he came across.
8. Graeme Gellie a better coach than his history presents.
9. Tony Jewell the first GF winning coach at the Saints for years.
10. Allan Richardson good bloke, great heart but poor communicator and no imagination.
11. Tim Watson can't believe they sacked Alves to replace him with Watson.
12. Scott Watters was too early to be a senior coach, had no managerial skills.
13. Malcolm Blight a GF coach who didn't want the job, but took the money a nutty thief.

Obviously the all time great is Allan Jeans who coached 1961-1976, won our only premiership and had a win/loss ratio of nearly 60%. It's a shame I was only 2 at the time and didn't get to experience the win.

 

[Enclosed_Animal]

Interesting thought experiment this one.

I can only really talk from the late 80s onwards with any degree of personal insight (although I have read about and spoken to a number of previous coaches). Highly subjective of course. Across the last 30 years we have 9 coaches. For me, there is a clear top 4.

1. Grant Thomas (52%) - The guy knew how to develop young players and leaders. Innovative and built a gun team from the ground up. Underappreciated
2. Ross Lyon (64%) - Never warmed to the guy and had the advantage of inheriting a list ready to go. But was tactically brilliant and almost got us there twice
3. Stan Alves (48%) - Got us on one hell of a roll in 97. Replacing him with Timmy is still a headscratcher. Genuinely 50/50 with Ross for second place
4. Ken Sheldon (54%) - Took us out of the 80s mindset and back to finals. Although arguably could have done more given the talent he had in 93
Daylight
5. Daryl Baldock (29%) - Bought us from a very low point to something respectable, and established the foundations that others have built on. Best of the rest
6. Alan Richardson (35%) - By Rd 8 he becomes our second longest serving coach. Had more opportunity than anyone since Jeans yet never even made a final
7. Malcolm Blight (20%) - Guy was a flog, but his appointment bought us a recruiting boom. That alone puts him above the last two derps
8. Scott Watters (39%) - Out of his depth. Another in the line of Malthouse failures (at least he was better than Neeld). Panic appointment after Lyon left
9. Tim Watson (28%) - Just a baffling appointment and a terrible terrible coach

Similar to yours overall. I am just a bit younger and I think we have a slightly different emphasis on what we rate as success

 

[VDS66]

I still reckon Alves got the job by default once Barker passed away.

Trevor returned as reserves coach after a successful time at Sandy.

I recall Plympton saying they appointed Watson because his core values were reflective of Barkers... Cut from the same cloth.

I think the Club wanted Hudson gone and Sheldon said if he goes, I go.

Blight is the interesting one. Odd selection and he had a low opinion of the club historically.

Rumour was he wanted to shake up the list like he did at Adelaide and cut a few favourite sons, which the club didn't allow him to do.

Apparently only spoke to Loewe in match day.

Just wonder if he lost interest once he saw he wouldn't be able to do what he thought was required?

 

[jwikked]

I wonder what the team would look like today if Grant Thomas was installed as coach again at the time Scott Watters was made coach.

I quite liked GT, I get the feeling his methods weren't appreciated by some Saints fans. He definitely set the team up well. Ross Lyon was good tactically but his unwillingness to play certain players (or his stubbornness in selecting his favourites no matter what) hurt the team overall. I've said it a million times - we would have won in 2009 if Max Hudghton played. He was never going to play, but Ross had him warm up before each game regardless. The way he was sent out of the game was a disgrace.

Scott Watters was s**t.
Tim Watson was s**t, but to his credit he fully admits that he can't coach.
I was dumbstruck when Stan Alves was sacked. I still don't fully understand why. Malcolm Blight, what a disaster that was. That's St Kilda luck in a nutshell.

As for Richo, I was quite excited when we landed him. I was annoyed we never got Hinkley but to date I don't think much of either coach. I think Richo was lucky the board made a blunder in extending his contract.

As for coaches that we never landed.. I was really angry and upset that Danny Frawley coached the Tigers. I felt he was a traitor (I was a kid) and I was really mad... Until about 18 months later, then I realised we dodged a bullet.

 

[VDS66]

Stan was ahead of his time in terms of player empowerment. Ultimately I believe he was scapegoated like Shanners for the 97 loss.

His sacking on Brownlow day sums up our club IMO.

Jeans for obvious reasons. Unfortunately the rot set in with debt and zoning in the early 70's. We should have won in 71.

For me, Lyon stands head and shoulders above all. Always a great guy to talk to.

He was stubborn but he came from a successful club and was the mastermind behind their 2005 flag with his defensive tactics.

Anyone who read The Bubble will know the players would run through brick walls for him.

Yous he did inherit a good list but Thommo had some decent players to work with and in the end, he was his own worst enemy.

His sheer arrogance to notice stand down in place of a superior coach, believing he was the best available, sums him up perfectly.

 

[mightymalaka]

Stan was ahead of his time in terms of player empowerment. Ultimately I believe he was scapegoated like Shanners for the 97 loss.

His sacking on Brownlow day sums up our club IMO.

Jeans for obvious reasons. Unfortunately the rot set in with debt and zoning in the early 70's. We should have won in 71.

For me, Lyon stands head and shoulders above all. Always a great guy to talk to.

He was stubborn but he came from a successful club and was the mastermind behind their 2005 flag with his defensive tactics.

Anyone who read The Bubble will know the players would run through brick walls for him.

Yous he did inherit a good list but Thommo had some decent players to work with and in the end, he was his own worst enemy.

His sheer arrogance to notice stand down in place of a superior coach, believing he was the best available, sums him up perfectly.

Moooooooooo!

History is and will prove to be Lyon's enemy though, was a top coach but for all the frailties you associate with Thomas
You could quite easily apply to Lyon! My way or the highway stuff and ultimately proved to be too inflexible!
Alves did a mighty job for a while and again similar to your comments about Blight, tried to radically change the clubs culture from within
But the flaky powers that be of the time wouldn't back them! At least Stan loved and bled for the club, you can't quite say the same about the old Rats Tossbag!

One who has probably been forgotten over time is Baldock, had a fantastic record as both a capt and coach in Tassie and was in the process
of restoring our pride and developing a good young team when sadly fate stepped in and he had a stroke! Obviously he was never the same after!

 

[George]

Stan Alves was my favourite.

 

[Sab22]

Purely coaching and development.

Alves
GT
Lyon

 

[Drake Huggins]

George Sparrow. Coached us to our first Grand Final and "premiership" in 1913, but for the ridiculous "challenger" rule. Legend has it, he and the players were so convinced the replay was in the bag, they opened the champagne before the game! Little wonder they fell over near the end. Word has it the coach not only failed to stop them drinking before the game, but led the charge himself! So St. Kilda. He was an early trend setter in the club's ensuing culture. Had a 58.73% win rate. Better than all but Lyon. Got us into the 1929 finals as well. Coached us in 63 games spread over four seasons

The Yabbster second. I got to know him through his sons and work. Great bloke, but could be a bit dour at times. Great orator, which was his strength and got people to buy into his vision. The only legitimate flag seals his credentials.

A slightly different tack now. Who is responsible for our overall lack of success? Some on here love delving into the ancient past to assign blame, so I have a couple of scapegoats for you.

First, Allan Hird. Yes from the doper blood line. An early Trojan Horse sent to f*ck us up. It worked. Shocking record. 14.47% win rate from 38 games in 1946-7, which is more than recent enough to assign blame. We didn't recover until the 60's.

Eddie Drohan also has to take some blame. One of our first coaches, he has the worst win/loss ratio of those who coached more than one game. Just 11% in 1911. We're still feeling the after effects of his incompetence today.

The Doc, for saving us from extinction by turning us around in 1987. GT for restoring pride in the club, Lyon for going close and Blight for the wealth of bizarre personal anecdotes his behaviour provided. Only problem was the joke was on us!

 

[VDS66]

Moooooooooo!

History is and will prove to be Lyon's enemy though, was a top coach but for all the frailties you associate with Thomas
You could quite easily apply to Lyon! My way or the highway stuff and ultimately proved to be too inflexible!
Alves did a mighty job for a while and again similar to your comments about Blight, tried to radically change the clubs culture from within
But the flaky powers that be of the time wouldn't back them! At least Stan loved and bled for the club, you can't quite say the same about the old Rats Tossbag!

One who has probably been forgotten over time is Baldock, had a fantastic record as both a capt and coach in Tassie and was in the process
of restoring our pride and developing a good young team when sadly fate stepped in and he had a stroke! Obviously he was never the same after!

Yeah not sure that is correct t about Lyon.

His discipline got us to consecutive grand finals. In 2011 he got us back into finals despite an ageing list which was mentally shot from the year before. Then he left.

Where are exactly was he too inflexible?

I find that an odd comment given his record with us. It has nothing to do with his tenure at Fremantle IMO. You can't predict how he might have gone had he stayed. You can only judge on his evidence of work.

The club should have locked him away after 2010 IMO. In hindsight you can argue we dodged a bullet given his record at Fremantle.

But then look at our performance in the ensuing 8 years... Maybe we dodged a bullet but got hit by a nuke.

In all my conversations with Ross, he was all about the club and success.

I've made my views on GT quite openly.

He had his good points but ultimately wasted a good list IMO.

 

[King_Steele]

GT

VDS66 triggering bro

 

[Sir Skid]

George Sparrow. Coached us to our first Grand Final and "premiership" in 1913, but for the ridiculous "challenger" rule. Legend has it, he and the players were so convinced the replay was in the bag, they opened the champagne before the game! Little wonder they fell over near the end. Word has it the coach not only failed to stop them drinking before the game, but led the charge himself! So St. Kilda. He was an early trend setter in the club's ensuing culture. Had a 58.73% win rate. Better than all but Lyon. Got us into the 1929 finals as well. Coached us in 63 games spread over four seasons

The Yabbster second. I got to know him through his sons and work. Great bloke, but could be a bit dour at times. Great orator, which was his strength and got people to buy into his vision. The only legitimate flag seals his credentials.

A slightly different tack now. Who is responsible for our overall lack of success? Some on here love delving into the ancient past to assign blame, so I have a couple of scapegoats for you.

First, Allan Hird. Yes from the doper blood line. An early Trojan Horse sent to f*ck us up. It worked. Shocking record. 14.47% win rate from 38 games in 1946-7, which is more than recent enough to assign blame. We didn't recover until the 60's.

Eddie Drohan also has to take some blame. One of our first coaches, he has the worst win/loss ratio of those who coached more than one game. Just 11% in 1911. We're still feeling the after effects of his incompetence today.

The Doc, for saving us from extinction by turning us around in 1987. GT for restoring pride in the club, Lyon for going close and Blight for the wealth of bizarre personal anecdotes his behaviour provided. Only problem was the joke was on us!

GOLD Drake!
Champagne celebration before the Granny. Love it!

 

[borderbarry]

Has to be Yabby. One holy grail and two runners ups.

 

[MCG-Unit]

Graeme Gellie
Alan Davis