Managed to stay away from this thread completely until August. The weekend broke me and I decided to have a read, start to end.
Reading this through I realised that I can actually pinpoint the specific day I lost faith in the way this team was being coached, and more importantly, the way this list is being developed. North game - Round 2 this year. Lets park the fact that it was one of the most insipid performances by a St.Kilda team that I have ever seen (yes I went to Moorabbin too).
Round 2 this year I watched Richo start Hunter Clarke (our 18yo pick 7 mid) deep in the forward line as a defensive forward (fair enough). Hunter then spent the next quarter and a half rotating between the wing and high half forward, while pushing up into stoppages (a bit adventurous in game 2, but lets give him some exposure. Sure I get the logic). Then when we were 10 goals down (in the last quarter) he switched Hunter to play off half back where the ball was camped (unsurprisingly he and got caught holding the ball more than a couple of times). Then Clarke was dropped the following week (and it was cited that he didn't play his role sufficiently well). What the actual F**K!!
The kid is 18 and in his second game. Exposing him to that type of unpredictability goes against everything that master coaches like Clarkson or Bellamy say about introducing young players. They have a system, and any player who comes in (especially a young player) is given a clearly defined role and told to keep it simple.
For a coach who's strength is supposedly the development of young players, that was indefensible. If it were up to me, I would have sacked him on the spot. That decision just demonstrated that as soon as Richo is being outcoached (by Brad Scott no less), he is willing to throw anyone (including the most vulnerable player on our team) under a bus.
Can argue the treatment of players like Acres has been worse overall (see the above very good analysis), but to screw an 18yo like that was just appalling and for me that showed he is not the man to take us forward!