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Thomas needs to give himself time
By Dermott Brereton
March 01 2003
In these days of critical media assessment, it is unusual to see anybody in the footballing world wilfully bring public pressure upon themselves. Why bother? The media will get around to it sooner or later. Yet, that is exactly the course of action St Kilda coach Grant Thomas has decided to take.
In his endeavour to be transparent to the members of St Kilda, he said that unless there was improvement this year in the club's end-of-season ladder position, he questioned whether he was the right man to continue in the job.
The rebuilding that the club has endured must show some results. But it would be folly to expect those results too soon.
Led by Thomas and Rod Butterss, the club has shown strength of character in leadership by a willingness to accept some pain while a true phase of rebuilding has been implemented.
The thing that I can't understand about Thomas, though, is why place pressure on yourself by scrutinising your merit in terms of wins and losses in this year. It is clear that the club has prepared for football's tomorrow at the expense of today. It has taken a brave recruiting stance.
It now has an array of brilliantly talented kids. Nick Riewoldt is the envy of the league. And through this, Thomas has at the very least bought himself the right to coach these talented youngsters again in 2004 regardless of what happens this year. Thomas deserves the extra time. It is my opinion that the Saints will have a lean season again. But they are doing everything right in the meantime. Their preparation for football's tomorrow is first class.
But in the present time, no matter how talented the young early draft choice players from the recent selections are, they are not hard-core, matchwinning professionals yet. That battle-hardened aspect comes into vogue after the best part of 50 league games.
Take Riewoldt, for example. He is an extraordinary talent. The best so-called junior to come along since perhaps Wayne Carey in 1989. But as good as he is going to be, as exciting as he is right now, he has not played 50 games and under certain circumstances the immaturity in his body is evident. No matter how unbelievably good this kid is going to be, right now he is unable to physically impose himself upon a game when everything is running against him. When his experience matches his talent, look out.
Thomas has all these talented kids at his disposal, yet they are not hardened matchwinners yet. Luke Ball is 50 games away from the half-century milestone that determines the arrival of a hard-core, matchwinning league footballer.
It is this simple; they will get beaten many times this year by more-experienced, yet less-talented, opposition.
Thomas is the right man to coach St Kilda in 2004 barring any unforeseen catastrophe within his playing group this season.
Saints members should be excited about this season, but not about an unrealistic target of making the top four, or some unobtainable win-loss ratio. They should be excited about seeing the development of the most talented batch of young players that the club has had since the abolition of the old recruiting zones.
Be patient and watch for shades of Nicky Winmar's old skills in Xavier Clarke. Or Ball's ability to find the footy as regularly as an 18-year-old Rob Harvey. Or Nick dal Santo's ability to evade tackles on pure instinct. The future is exciting, but success more often than failure is still just around the corner.
It does not matter who is coach of this list this season. They are not going to be world-beaters.
What does matter is that they know only Grant Thomas as a league coach and they find a stability in him that they will need to fall back on during their formative times of becoming a hard-core, matchwinning league football team. They need to know that he will see it through with them beyond this year and into success.
By Dermott Brereton
March 01 2003
In these days of critical media assessment, it is unusual to see anybody in the footballing world wilfully bring public pressure upon themselves. Why bother? The media will get around to it sooner or later. Yet, that is exactly the course of action St Kilda coach Grant Thomas has decided to take.
In his endeavour to be transparent to the members of St Kilda, he said that unless there was improvement this year in the club's end-of-season ladder position, he questioned whether he was the right man to continue in the job.
The rebuilding that the club has endured must show some results. But it would be folly to expect those results too soon.
Led by Thomas and Rod Butterss, the club has shown strength of character in leadership by a willingness to accept some pain while a true phase of rebuilding has been implemented.
The thing that I can't understand about Thomas, though, is why place pressure on yourself by scrutinising your merit in terms of wins and losses in this year. It is clear that the club has prepared for football's tomorrow at the expense of today. It has taken a brave recruiting stance.
It now has an array of brilliantly talented kids. Nick Riewoldt is the envy of the league. And through this, Thomas has at the very least bought himself the right to coach these talented youngsters again in 2004 regardless of what happens this year. Thomas deserves the extra time. It is my opinion that the Saints will have a lean season again. But they are doing everything right in the meantime. Their preparation for football's tomorrow is first class.
But in the present time, no matter how talented the young early draft choice players from the recent selections are, they are not hard-core, matchwinning professionals yet. That battle-hardened aspect comes into vogue after the best part of 50 league games.
Take Riewoldt, for example. He is an extraordinary talent. The best so-called junior to come along since perhaps Wayne Carey in 1989. But as good as he is going to be, as exciting as he is right now, he has not played 50 games and under certain circumstances the immaturity in his body is evident. No matter how unbelievably good this kid is going to be, right now he is unable to physically impose himself upon a game when everything is running against him. When his experience matches his talent, look out.
Thomas has all these talented kids at his disposal, yet they are not hardened matchwinners yet. Luke Ball is 50 games away from the half-century milestone that determines the arrival of a hard-core, matchwinning league footballer.
It is this simple; they will get beaten many times this year by more-experienced, yet less-talented, opposition.
Thomas is the right man to coach St Kilda in 2004 barring any unforeseen catastrophe within his playing group this season.
Saints members should be excited about this season, but not about an unrealistic target of making the top four, or some unobtainable win-loss ratio. They should be excited about seeing the development of the most talented batch of young players that the club has had since the abolition of the old recruiting zones.
Be patient and watch for shades of Nicky Winmar's old skills in Xavier Clarke. Or Ball's ability to find the footy as regularly as an 18-year-old Rob Harvey. Or Nick dal Santo's ability to evade tackles on pure instinct. The future is exciting, but success more often than failure is still just around the corner.
It does not matter who is coach of this list this season. They are not going to be world-beaters.
What does matter is that they know only Grant Thomas as a league coach and they find a stability in him that they will need to fall back on during their formative times of becoming a hard-core, matchwinning league football team. They need to know that he will see it through with them beyond this year and into success.
