ur view

[Saints_Rock]

"I WANT YOUR VIEWS PPL"

it seems to me that grant thomas makes his descisions to late in the game.in the way of team structures and rotating the bench a lot faster. a few examples of this is the pt adelaide game and also the freo game just passed.

 

[Kildonan]

When Grant Thomas took over coaching, he had a lot to learn.
He was exceptional at motivating the players and in team preparation during the week. He developed a playing style that was fast paced, attacking, and highly skilled. Players would be set tasks and match ups made early and they would spend the week going over what he wanted them to do.
The team was dependent on just a few leaders and if these leaders were unable to play, the whole team morale would drop. Grant decided to fast track leadership and he de-emphasised the individual, placing focus on the team. Hence the rotating Captaincy policy that he has been heavily criticised for.
Eventually St Kilda improved to be a team that could win when one or more of their "stars" were sidelined. This was as much to do with psychology as it was on leadership from others. Grant learned while doing the job and developed a better approach to rotating midfielders off the bench, which he has further developed into "resting" on the ground, often in the forward line.
His match day player movements were often reactionary rather than proactive, and often perceived as too late. Much of this was his confidence in his players to perform the role he asked. He has also developed the players to search for alternatives themselves. He wants them to make the courageous decisions like moving to a neutral position if their opponent is dominating, drawing them out of the heavy play zones. He has gone from being reactionary to proactive in these last two years. He is actively moving players around to avoid tags or undesired match ups. He manoevres key opposition defensive players out of their comfort zone to help our forwards out. He is persistent and makes the opposition coach work hard to keep on top of his moves.

Unfortunately, without a full list, Grant has one arm tied behind his back when it comes to the tactical battle. The inclusion of Justin Koschitzke is really good news here, as he regains full fitness, he will become the most valuable player on our list, not just for his playing ability, but due mainly to his outstanding versatility. He becomes the dangerous forward, the menacing ruck, the rock in defence, the mobile tall link man and all the time he is serving two roles, his own game and that of drawing a player or players from the opposition allowing a better match up on our other talls.

I don't have a problem with Grant's match day skills. Most who criticise them don't have a clue what they're talking about. In fact I doubt anyone who criticises Grant Thomas has any real football nous at all.