We need Grant Thomas back

[biscay]

There is no evidence , but i think a team and a coach can evolve together (brisbane lions & leigh matthews, geelong & bomber thompsom).

Yes we evolved into a finals side under GT,now we have evolved into a very average side under RL.Facts are facts

 

[jackmac7]

No, no no.. Once again, GT achieved nothing in 5 years. And you want to reward that?? Injuries or not, we got to 2 prelims and couldnt finish them off. THIS IS THE WHOLE PROBLEM WITH THIS CLUB, if anyone does something that remotely resembles success, we try and give them everything. Lyon is fine, for once we need to look at the list and not the management

Grant Thomas took us to 2 pre-lims with an injury hit team. Compare that to Neil Craig at Adelaide who took the crows to 2 pre-lims in 05 and 06. Craig wasn't sacked so why did we need to sack Thomo.

I'll tell you why. Because Butterss let his Ego get in the way of St Kilda and now look where we are.

Craig is no better than Thomo IMO.

My question to you is are we in a better position now then when we were under Thomo.

 

[jackmac7]

Butterss dropped the hand grenade on St Kilda and with 2 new teams coming in we will be pedalling backwards for some years before we can start moving forward again.

I can't see RL lasting that long going on our clubs history with coaches.

We are desperately seeking that elusive 2nd flag and we are facing reality of rebuilding once again because right now that pact that dal santo, Clake, Ball, Goose, Roo, Kosi, Goddard etc made to win a premiership together might have to hold off until they are in their early 30's if they are still around.

Roo must be eyeing the GC more seriously now when looking into the bleak future for St kilda in the coming years if he wants to strut his stuff on Grabd Final day. Maybe a top 5 pick would be worth the trade.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v3QPg5nHQDs

When the players played for the jumper. Miss you Thomo.

 

[HoldenMCaulfield]

We played some great footy under Grant Thomas.

We did not win a premiership under Grant Thomas.

We are not in a good position at the moment.

Things need to change for us to improve from that position.

Grant Thomas will not be part of that change.

 

[Squizz]

Don't you realise Grant Thomas is the cause of many of our problems? We recruited King and Gardiner to try to fill in the hole that Thomas made. We have next to no kids in the 21-23 age bracket because of mistakes made on his and Butterss's watch.

People have been glamourising his abilities because we made the preliminaries during his reign and because of the slide afterwards, but he simply wasn't a good coach. He was given a list coming into its prime, a good mix of young talent and hard bodies but tactically he was a muppet. He got along with the players well, but that's just about all he had going for him

Yep

 

[NeXus_Helen]

Grant thomas could not get the job done.
Ross will, in time!
The problem is not in the coach but the ever- underacheiving recruiting department. To recruite so many pea hearted punces (fiora) to top up a so called premiership team is a joke.
Time to build a sructure around a solid tight knit team who play for one another with passion and not fashion for what it has become.

You a such a moron just a line monkey. Read my lips....

St kilda will never play finals under Ross Lyon. Butthead's decision to sack Thomas has destroyed us. When I first posted this almost 1 and a half years ago I was abused and banned from SAINTSATIONAL. I was red carded here on BIGFOOTY. Funnily enough people are starting to to say the same thing now.

I'm not neccesarily blaming RL, although his game plan is not good, it is Rod Butters who has caused all this. We will probably finish 11th this year, 12th at worst. Next year we will be bottom 4 with a maximum of 6 wins.

Note, Fiora was not recruited by choice, we got him because Black left so it was either Fiora or nothing.

 

[just a line monkey]

You a such a moron just a line monkey. Read my lips....

St kilda will never play finals under Ross Lyon. Butthead's decision to sack Thomas has destroyed us. When I first posted this almost 1 and a half years ago I was abused and banned from SAINTSATIONAL. I was red carded here on BIGFOOTY. Funnily enough people are starting to to say the same thing now.

I'm not neccesarily blaming RL, although his game plan is not good, it is Rod Butters who has caused all this. We will probably finish 11th this year, 12th at worst. Next year we will be bottom 4 with a maximum of 6 wins.

Note, Fiora was not recruited by choice, we got him because Black left so it was either Fiora or nothing.

No need to call me a moron was just stating my opinion. No wonder you were abused and banned if you go around making personal comments about someone.
AFL is a cycle if you dont capatalise when you have the chance then you have to wait a few years to the window opens up again.

 

[holllywood]

would want hardwicke in the hope he brings hawks type of play to saints as RL did from sydney.

would be hot

 

[sauce_head]

You a such a moron just a line monkey. Read my lips....

St kilda will never play finals under Ross Lyon. Butthead's decision to sack Thomas has destroyed us. When I first posted this almost 1 and a half years ago I was abused and banned from SAINTSATIONAL. I was red carded here on BIGFOOTY. Funnily enough people are starting to to say the same thing now.

I'm not neccesarily blaming RL, although his game plan is not good, it is Rod Butters who has caused all this. We will probably finish 11th this year, 12th at worst. Next year we will be bottom 4 with a maximum of 6 wins.

Note, Fiora was not recruited by choice, we got him because Black left so it was either Fiora or nothing.

Butress saved our club financially, you absolute fing muppet. this admin has done nothing to help except waste money chasing faries.

They have endoresed Llyon so they are now to blame if GT is not there, not the previous admin.

You were banned because you made everything about this.

 

[cartwright]

Don't you realise Grant Thomas is the cause of many of our problems? We recruited King and Gardiner to try to fill in the hole that Thomas made. We have next to no kids in the 21-23 age bracket because of mistakes made on his and Butterss's watch.

People have been glamourising his abilities because we made the preliminaries during his reign and because of the slide afterwards, but he simply wasn't a good coach. He was given a list coming into its prime, a good mix of young talent and hard bodies but tactically he was a muppet. He got along with the players well, but that's just about all he had going for him

This is exactly our problem. In reality, our problems are a result of decisions 3 or so years ago. (resulting in our 21-23 yr old vacuum)

No ruck, no plan for a ruck .... no kids played....

You a such a moron just a line monkey. Read my lips....

St kilda will never play finals under Ross Lyon. Butthead's decision to sack Thomas has destroyed us. When I first posted this almost 1 and a half years ago I was abused and banned from SAINTSATIONAL. I was red carded here on BIGFOOTY. Funnily enough people are starting to to say the same thing now.

I'm not neccesarily blaming RL, although his game plan is not good, it is Rod Butters who has caused all this. We will probably finish 11th this year, 12th at worst. Next year we will be bottom 4 with a maximum of 6 wins.

Note, Fiora was not recruited by choice, we got him because Black left so it was either Fiora or nothing.

Are you still banging on about this?
Maybe you should just accept that Thomas will never, ever be back at St Kilda.
Seriously, it is bordering on ridiculous.

 

[BigAl3001]

My best mate's a St.Kilda supporter and it pains him to say that he reckons the club and RL should part ways at season's end. He think he can't coach. He fails to put players in there best positions, fails to get match-ups right, is reactive and fails to empower his players to take the game on. Who I am too dispute this as results don't lie.

Given the history of your club and the way it churns through coaches this should not be a deterrant in getting rid of RL. It was a bad choice, one not made by the current board and therefore can be rectified.

The playing list must be culled. You must trade Kosi for a first round pick while he still has currency. Even Luke Ball with his dodgy OP could go. The following players should be off-loaded for whatever you can get for them. Blake, Raph Clarke, MaGuire, Jones, Milne, Gardiner (both of them), McQualter, Dempster, Schnieder, Attard, Fiora the list just goes on....basically 80% of it is dispensable. You have to get low picks in this draft before GC17 arrives because by then it will be too late. I think list wise your best 5-10 players can go with any team in the comp, it's just after that the saints fall away badly.

Hope I haven't offended anyone but sometimes you need to read it from an impartial, non-emotive viewpoint. BTW - I really liked GT and the way he went about it. Unfortunately as in life you've got to keep the boss happy.

 

[goodie23]

There's culling, then there's crippling our list. Your suggestions go beyond the former and into the latter. We'd end up like Melbourne this year if we followed all your suggestions

 

[NeXus_Helen]

My best mate's a St.Kilda supporter and it pains him to say that he reckons the club and RL should part ways at season's end. He think he can't coach. He fails to put players in there best positions, fails to get match-ups right, is reactive and fails to empower his players to take the game on. Who I am too dispute this as results don't lie.

Given the history of your club and the way it churns through coaches this should not be a deterrant in getting rid of RL. It was a bad choice, one not made by the current board and therefore can be rectified.

The playing list must be culled. You must trade Kosi for a first round pick while he still has currency. Even Luke Ball with his dodgy OP could go. The following players should be off-loaded for whatever you can get for them. Blake, Raph Clarke, MaGuire, Jones, Milne, Gardiner (both of them), McQualter, Dempster, Schnieder, Attard, Fiora the list just goes on....basically 80% of it is dispensable. You have to get low picks in this draft before GC17 arrives because by then it will be too late. I think list wise your best 5-10 players can go with any team in the comp, it's just after that the saints fall away badly.

Hope I haven't offended anyone but sometimes you need to read it from an impartial, non-emotive viewpoint. BTW - I really liked GT and the way he went about it. Unfortunately as in life you've got to keep the boss happy.

In essence I agree with you but not Kosi, Maguire, Ball or Schneider. The rest of your list is spot on.

 

[Jimthegreat]

No, no no.. Once again, GT achieved nothing in 5 years. And you want to reward that?? Injuries or not, we got to 2 prelims and couldnt finish them off. THIS IS THE WHOLE PROBLEM WITH THIS CLUB, if anyone does something that remotely resembles success, we try and give them everything. Lyon is fine, for once we need to look at the list and not the management

Saints had best their shot in 2005. They won a qualifying final in Adelaide with quite a few out. The mistake was bringing them all back for the PF against the Swans lacking match fitness. They led well but inevitably got run over in the last qtr. That was their premiership right there. 2004 you lost to the side by 6 points in Adelaide that went on to win the flag by 40. Rightfully a bit stiff there.

 

[NeXus_Helen]

This is exactly our problem. In reality, our problems are a result of decisions 3 or so years ago. (resulting in our 21-23 yr old vacuum)

No ruck, no plan for a ruck .... no kids played....



Are you still banging on about this?
Maybe you should just accept that Thomas will never, ever be back at St Kilda.
Seriously, it is bordering on ridiculous.

I'll tell you what is bordering on ridiculous, St kilda finding itself in this situation so soon after we were such a great side under Grant Thomas. It's people like you with their head in the sand that is the reason why we ars so crap!!!!!!

 

[NeXus_Helen]

No need to call me a moron was just stating my opinion. No wonder you were abused and banned if you go around making personal comments about someone.
AFL is a cycle if you dont capatalise when you have the chance then you have to wait a few years to the window opens up again.

Sorry.

 

[Sir Robert]

Grant Thomas... Pffft.

A group of monkeys could have coached us to 2 pre-lims in those years.

Would love to be able to go back and prove it

 

[St DAC]

I'll tell you what is bordering on ridiculous, St kilda finding itself in this situation so soon after we were such a great side under Grant Thomas. It's people like you with their head in the sand that is the reason why we ars so crap!!!!!!

Things change quickly in the football world. However, some remain the same.

You were, are, and always will be a stupid fool and a troll of the lowest order.

 

[kitchendweller]

Grant Thomas... Pffft.

A group of monkeys could have coached us to 2 pre-lims in those years.

Would love to be able to go back and prove it

While I disagree about the monkeys, I don't think GT could have done much more. Having said that, he won't be back.

Is it just me, or is everyone avoiding the possibility that Ross was never meant to be a senior coach?

I hope not but hey.

 

[SaintsSeptember]

Something that jumped into my mind is the performance of West Coast this year.
Take away Judd and Cousins and they are Gutted.
The thing is there are other players who could have been taken away and it would not have caused much damage.

It seems to me team dynamics can be very fickle. In the Saints the vibe is just wrong.
We need someone who knows how to make it right.

 

[SaintsSeptember]

While I disagree about the monkeys, I don't think GT could have done much more. Having said that, he won't be back.

Is it just me, or is everyone avoiding the possibility that Ross was never meant to be a senior coach?

I hope not but hey.

Lyon has a fair bit riding on the Saints. If the team continues its slide into oblivion an he is eventually sacked. I wouldn't fancy his chances of getting a job coaching the little league.
So he should be trying as hard as he can to sort the team out. But has he got the ability?

 

[goodie23]

I'll tell you what is bordering on ridiculous, St kilda finding itself in this situation so soon after we were such a great side under Grant Thomas. It's people like you with their head in the sand that is the reason why we ars so crap!!!!!!

Don't you get it? One of the main reasons we are where we are is because of moves during Thomas's reign. We have next to no kids 21-23, the years when he was at the helm.

Even if we hadn't have sacked Thomas, we would be in a similar position.

 

[varcoe]

u guys havent the list at the moment like u did 2-4yrs ago, why would u want a coach who stuffed u up bigtime not delievering a flag when he should of, Thomas was the biggest joke of a coach ever he had no idea only the nature of such a good list made him look half decent but anyone who saw Thomas coach against Syd in that prem final understands he was the worst caoch of all time, people need to move on, don't worry about thomas why did u sack Blighty after 16rnds when he only had a squad of 25 to choose from most of the year due to injuries, Thomas geez i have heard it all now!

 

[Squizz]

u guys havent the list at the moment like u did 2-4yrs ago, why would u want a coach who stuffed u up bigtime not delievering a flag when he should of, Thomas was the biggest joke of a coach ever he had no idea only the nature of such a good list made him look half decent but anyone who saw Thomas coach against Syd in that prem final understands he was the worst caoch of all time, people need to move on, don't worry about thomas why did u sack Blighty after 16rnds when he only had a squad of 25 to choose from most of the year due to injuries, Thomas geez i have heard it all now!

I think that was pretty obvious to those who were observing.

 

[Saint4Life]

Tonight is going to be an exciting loss... we will NOT finish in the top 8.

Forget it, Ross is not the future of this club. Done. Sooner we reliase, the better.

I cant take his weak attempts at the players week after week. Do something about it, rather than come up with poor excuse's.

I've given Ross the benefit of the doubt, it was his first year last year and this year has been just as worse! Whats his excuse this time?

We are playing like a bunch of drilled defensive baby's. We have lost the plot completely. We have no structual game plan or style. He has totally turned us from a powerhouse to a team that has no emotion, desire or intent of winning. The players are running around, doing a training drill with no belief or interest in the style of play.

We do not attack like we use to. We dont not have a forward line structure. All we do is flood and guard space, when we should simply just go man on man. Accountability anyone?

I dont care if Ross denies that we dont flood, I see it week in, week out. Cut the bullshite. The gamestyle he has placed on this team shows how to stuff up a quality side and not be able to even kick 100 points a game.

A few supporters should wake up and get rid of your ego's.
"No, no no.. Once again, GT achieved nothing in 5 years"
The above quote is total rubbish.

Grant took us to the finals, 2004, 2005, 2006.
Whether half of you think he could coach or not, the stats are there, the evidence is there, and it will always be there.

We use to play a style of football that was...
A. Entertaining
B. Attacking
C. Accountable
D. Pressure
E. A working forward line
F. A winning team

Grant had the worst run of injuries that you could imagine. Ross Lyon on the other hand, has had barely any injuries and so much luck its ridiculous. We won the preseason cup because two or three of the games we played in we won by under a goal. That is not the way you want to win. The way you win is like Grant did in 2004 against Geelong, thats a win, not Ross with a lucky free to Armitage.

In fact, Ross has a better team than Grant ever had, yet Ross can not even get this team playing quality football, its a joke. Ross took over a club that was a winning side with quality players, all he had to do was put the icing on the cake, but he hasnt. The whole reason we got him was because we wanted to win a grand final. We wont even finish in the finals.

So, comparing Ross to Grant, so far, Ross is miles behind. They both had the majority of the same team, in fact if anything, Ross has a more experienced/mature/better team, yet has shown nothing.

Ross has not address our forward line stucture, so much so, that G-Train cops the crap, Kosi cops it, and anyone who plays Full Forward cops it.

I've seen F.Gehrig flood into the middle of the ground, then have to run back and try to make a lead. What kind of gamestyle is that? Under Grant, we actually kicked to the fat side of the ground, and more importantly the forward's took turns in leading, and actually ran in opposite directions, opening up space. Today, we kick to a standing pack mark, well... Jason Gram just does a long bomb to whoever.

Im sick and tired of people bagging GT and giving Ross praise. Any normal person would have chosen an 04,05,06 season to an 07, and a dismal 08 season so far. The way we play makes me not want to go to the game, not because we are loosing, because this coach has torn a quality side appart and playing ordinary football that has no intent of winning.

You cannot say that the side/players is the problem. This is a side that has shown its a real contender. The majority of the side played finals. I remember beating Adelaide over there to go straight to the prelim in 05, but no one said Grant was a good coach? What we won by luck did we? You dont make finals like he did and be a poor coach. Fact.

I purely blame our current situation on Rod Butters and his ego. His conflict of interest should have never been allowed to make such a decision to sack a quality coach. Infact, you dont go sacking coaches that make finals three years in a row, and thats the difference between St.Kilda and other clubs.

You look at Geelong, you look at Port Adelaide, these clubs were all close to finals, but never made it, but they persisted and they got their flag. What do we have? Nothing.

We have a coach with no emotional connection with the players. A coach that the players do not believe in. A coach that has a gamestyle that does not work. A coach that is not aware of mental toughness. This season is going to be real enjoyable