st mal on talking footy

[StrengthThroughLoyalty]

malcolm looked very relaxed and clearly is enjoying his stint with the club at the moment.

why bruce, usc and walls kept harping on about leaving adelaide is beyond me. who gives a rats why he left adelaide, that is ancient history, who wouldn't be happy leaving adelaide and coming to melbourne to live anyway. i wanted to hear about the saints and how he could improve the players as a team and the culture of the club, not what crows pres bob hammond said.

i can already see signs that we are just about to turn the corner on the field and with a good mixture of youth and experience malcolm has plenty to work with.

the administration have to make sure that malcolm coaches for more than his contracted two years.

 

[sainter]

I agree with you on both points STL,

They asked Nathan Burke more St Kilda related questions in a 10 minute segment on The Footy Show than they asked Malcolm Blight in a 45 minute appearance on Talking Footy.

Blight's history suggests that he won't be our coach for a long period of time. He seems to be relishing the challenge and I'm hopeful he will stick around for an extended period of time.

Like you said, I agree that we are heading in the right direction. Despite having a disappointing 2/5 win/loss ratio, there is a marked improvement in the way we are playing.

Unfortunately injuries are killing us. To have so many soft tissue injuries is quite remarkable. The number of players pulling up injured at training, with Hall and Hudghton being the latest two, is very disappointing. The positive to this issue is that we have blooded a lot of youngsters and they look to be all capable of making the transation to regular senior players.

A win would put us in a reasonable position considering the injuries and time needed for the team to adjust to the change in game plan and personnel. A loss, particularly in Burkey's 300th, would be very hard to take.

 

[Shinboners]

Don't forget that Blight's philosophy is to try and get his players peaking at the right time, that is, September. If you look at 1998, the Crows wearn't in the 8 until about round 17 or so, so as long as the Saints are within touching distance of the 8 (if they're not in there), he'll be content to build up his players skills and belief, and throw them around the field to see what they can and cannot do. There is no doubt that should St.Kilda make the finals, he'll be able to get the Saints to believe that the ultimate is achievable.

As for the injury situation, he had similar problems at Adelaide, but again in 1998, he had his men fit (or at least ignoring the pain) when the business end of the season started.

The only doubt I have about Blight being able to take the Saints all the way is that St.Kilda don't have a Jarman or McLeod, that is, the type of creative player that can create attacks and cause havoc in opposition defences. But then again, he does have Everitt and Gehrig, two mobile bigmen who could cause plenty of damage to the opposition if they're on song.

In the meantime, he's promised your guys the ride of their lives. I'd enjoy it and see what happens.

 

[sainter]

I'm hoping that will be the case Shinners.

We were always going to start a little slowly this year with all of the new recruits and Blight has been a master in getting teams to peak at the right end of the season. The injury situation is far from ideal but providing we can get the bulk of our best 22 into the side fairly soon, it may not be too late to launch an attack on the finals.

As for not having a McLeod or Jarman type, that is a fair comment. It's probably no coincidence that one of Blight's first comments was that he wants Robert Harvey to score more goals.

I believe we have the talent in our forward line and our midfield has the potential to become a strength of ours, although that will depend on how quickly the likes of Hayes, Beetham, Moyle, Knowles and Baker can contribute as consistently as the Harvey, Thompson and Burke's out of the middle. The backline does not have a lot of depth but Gehrig has started to look comfortable as a Centre Half Back.

There have been some good signs so far. I suppose coming off a 2 win/22 loss season, it is hard not to wonder if the events of last year might happen again.

 

[Shinboners]

Originally posted by sainter
As for not having a McLeod or Jarman type, that is a fair comment. It's probably no coincidence that one of Blight's first comments was that he wants Robert Harvey to score more goals.

After watching most of the Crows vs "Ninth Spot is Ours!" last night, I came to the conclusion that no other side has a McLeod/Jarman combination, so you can feel that you're not alone in that regard!

Incidentally, I was at the Saints vs Swans game the other week and was very impressed with that kid in the #44 (?) jumper. He looked like one of the Little League players that stayed on the ground for far too long but he had plenty of spark about him. He really made Aussie Jones look old and tired in comparison.

 

[Darky]

********, Shinners, don't get Sainter started on Milne (#44).....

 

[sainter]

Shinners, I have been going on a little too much about Stephen Milne in the chat room. He's a real favorite of mine and should definitely have been promoted to the senior list last year when the side was struggling so badly last year.

I think Darky is right, I should shut up and not go on about him.