Watters issues ‘the challenge' to Saints

[magnifisaint]

Now this guy is a good coach and understands the fundamentals of success

http://www.news.com.au/sport/afl/watter ... 6537193188

[st.byron]

Great article. Liking Watters a lot. Love the way he's re-shaping the culture in the club. I particularlly like his comments about their being significant competition for spots and that the hungriest and hardest working will be first in line.
Without taking a swipe at Lyon he also said that the list, 'hadn't been developed for a while". Reckon he's doing a great job. Go Sainters!

[supersaints]

There's a lot to like about Watters. Love his competitive edge within the group. IMO He is right about too many players almost guaranteed a game in the past. Looking at the list changes, we now have more competition for spots and with the evolving of his game plan and his own expected improvement (as he gains more experience) I actually expect us to improve on last years form and not slide down the ladder.
Must say I am looking forward to the 2013 season
Disclaimer: Mods please delete if the world ends on 21/12/12

[sainter#4]

Not since 09' have i felt like we provided a competition for places among the 22 that ran out.

allen, dawson,gwilt,mcqualter, ray, mcevoy etc all provided competition and bettered us - we all saw the out come

If watters can get the same desire and the result from this group, whilst also maintaining the output of lenny and roo and giving dal, monty and fish the platform to increase there outputs back to those 09-10 levels.

ANYTHING is possible.

[BigMart]

Article for the fans and prospective members...to give optimism....... Could be an article from any coach..

Real proof will be in performance

[mr six o'clock]

' The challenge '
It sounds like another one of those scientologist books !

[AccidentallyTim]

The thing I like about this is that power clubs are in the media all the time, they have a brand and sell it well.

For the first time it seems like we have very smart, confident people behind the scenes setting all this up.

It very well may just be a generic opinion piece that any coach could spit out but that's just my point, they (the other 17 clubs) haven't got their coach in this story.

The Saints do.

Keep getting the message out there and build the brand, more positive media stories than our rivals would have to be a key factor in obtaining any kind of long term, big $$ sponsorship/partnership.

Who would want to put their coin and brand on a club with less or no media exposure?

As a side note:

Cats have a long term deal with Ford, who conveniently share colour scheme.

No prizes naming Fords nemesis who also shares the great St Kilda colours

[magnifisaint]

Article for the fans and prospective members...to give optimism....... Could be an article from any coach..

Real proof will be in performance

Really? Gives some insight into how Watters operates. I don't see the same from say McCartney

[paddy]

lol.... "Jason Cripps"

[AccidentallyTim]

lol.... "Jason Cripps"

Didn't pick that up at first

But funny stuff righ there

[dragit]

'The sandwich' couldn't crack a mention, poor bugger...


In their place came Gold Coast ruckman Tom Hickey, former Fremantle defender Dylan Roberton, WAFL key forward Tom Lee and five young national draft selections.

[St Ick]

I think Sanderson was the pick, but I reckon Watters is in front of Neald and McCartney.... of the coaches available last year. Even though we were late to the party that to Lyon, that may have been a blessing.

[Dave McNamara]

The thing I like about this is that power clubs are in the media all the time, they have a brand and sell it well.

For the first time it seems like we have very smart, confident people behind the scenes setting all this up.

It very well may just be a generic opinion piece that any coach could spit out but that's just my point, they (the other 17 clubs) haven't got their coach in this story.

The Saints do.

Keep getting the message out there and build the brand, more positive media stories than our rivals would have to be a key factor in obtaining any kind of long term, big $$ sponsorship/partnership.

Who would want to put their coin and brand on a club with less or no media exposure?

As a side note:

Cats have a long term deal with Ford, who conveniently share colour scheme.

No prizes naming Fords nemesis who also shares the great St Kilda colours

Great post Tim!

You clearly 'get it'..., and it's looking more and more like our club 'gets it'.



PS: I like your 'side note'... plenty to work with... colours match, V8 Commodore the car of choice amongst the youth of Frangas and Seaford (some have even paid for their's... ), maybe we could do a low-altitude training camp at Lang Lang...?

[AnythingsPossibleSaints]

Really enjoyed that article and what Watters had to say. I've got to say I quite like Jon Ralph, too.

Many have written us off and reckon we are the slide in a big way (if you want any proof just have a look at the "projected ladder for 2013" thread, on BF, where almost everyone who doesn't follow us has us finishing anywhere from 12th to 14th/15th, next year, plus the betting markets have us 12th in line for the flag), so it would be easy for the club to just take the easy way out and say, "hey we gave it a shot and came up short, so we're just going to quietly get out of the way and rebuild" and not continually push to move up the ladder and play finals and I applaud the club for that.

They still feel that the team can make an impact and that there is more to gain from remaining highly competitive and potentially playing finals footy and gradually working the younger ones into that relatively strong team, rather than taking a big dive down the ladder and becoming uncompetitive and pretty much starting again from scratch, effectively throwing away the winning culture that the club/team has worked hard to achieve over the past 10 years (where we haven't had a single year where we've lost more games than we won- the only club in the comp to be able to claim that) and I'm perfectly fine with that.

This way we hopefully don't piss away the last good years from the likes of Riewoldt, Hayes, Milne, Dal Santo, Montagna, Fisher, Dempster and co. and who knows, we may even be able to pull off a surprise like Sydney did this year, or like Geelong did the year before, when they were supposed to be on the way out, in the next couple of years.

Melbourne have shown that tanking/rebuilding doesn't necessarily guarantee you anything (except for probably losses and uncompetitiveness), while Sydney have shown that remaining highly competitive year after year can eventually pay off in the long run, if you play your cards right and trade and draft well, so I'm happy for us to seemingly be on a similar path.

[clarky449]

Most coaches say it every year. Nothing huge! But yet we will take the words and make Scott the Messiah.

[saintspremiers]

I find it funny the delusional "maybe a flag" talk spouted by some on this thread.

Why not get optimistic about maybe making the finals?

That would be a good achievement for next year if your glass half realistic.

[joffaboy]

I find it funny the delusional "maybe a flag" talk spouted by some on this thread.

Why not get optimistic about maybe making the finals?

That would be a good achievement for next year if your glass half realistic.

What would you know?

Goodbye Mr Cricket - pfft

[AnythingsPossibleSaints]

I find it funny the delusional "maybe a flag" talk spouted by some on this thread.

Why not get optimistic about maybe making the finals?

That would be a good achievement for next year if your glass half realistic.

Maybe making the finals? You do realise that we were only 4 wins off a top 4 spot this year and that we lost 4 games by 8 points or less (including Adelaide in Adelaide and Collingwood on the MCG), another game by 12 points and another game in which we were only 4 points down inside the last 4 minutes (against the team that won the premiership, on their home ground), don't you?

And that we were the 4th highest scoring team for the year and have added to our potential scoring power for next year in the offseason and that we also had the 5th best % of any team in the comp, reflective of the fact that we were both highly competitive in most games and also that we demolished the lower ranked (and some of the higher ranked) teams, a sign of a team that is still very capable and still has the "wood" on many teams?

And all that in Watters first year of coaching an AFL side, after we had a horrible lead-in to the season (our NAB Cup was dreadful, hardly ideal for a team learning a new game plan), had less than half our usual backline for much of the first 10 rounds, had no "recognised ruckman" for a big chunk of games and despite the fact that we pissed a few games away with our terrible conversion in front of goal (like the Richmond game that we lost by 8 points, after we dominated much of the 3rd quarter, yet kicked 1 goal 8 behinds in it, or the Freo game we lost by 12 points, where we kicked 1 goal 6 in I think the 3rd quarter). If we improve our conversion alone that could make us a 1-2 goal better side next year.

Sure we lost Goddard, who came 4th in the B&F, but the fact that he came 4th in the B&F, despite hardly setting the world on fire, suggests that there were plenty of others in the side who had below average years (either due to form, or injury cutting their games), so if those that weren't great this year get back to their best and/or play more games in 2013, then we can cover for his loss, as we did when he didn't play against Essendon- yet we smashed them by 70 points (when they were still in the top 4) and the week after against Brisbane in Brisbane. As for Gram, he also was nowhere near his best for the majority of it, so I don't doubt that if someone like Farren Ray plays more games next year he could play to the level Grammy did this year.

I'll be happy if the club is at least aiming to win a final/finals. I certainly believe it's reasonable for us to aim higher than "maybe making the finals", after how close we were this year. I realise we'll have to improve significantly to do so, as other teams will also improve (although some may also drop back), and I realise that we could tumble badly if things don't go our way, but I have no doubt that we can, just as we did in 2008, Lyon's second year, after we'd dropped out of the finals the previous year.

And we've all seen what this club can do when we get on a roll.

[Middo]

Most coaches say it every year. Nothing huge! But yet we will take the words and make Scott the Messiah.

Why even bother to post....FFS

[whiskers3614]

Most coaches say it every year. Nothing huge! But yet we will take the words and make Scott the Messiah.

got big shoes to fill as a Messiah.
Hasn't perfected the walk or the smirk yet, doesn't even know what a defensive forward is, let alon a "role player".
Seriously Clarky why don't you move West to be closer to your idol.

[Dr Spaceman]

Most coaches say it every year. Nothing huge! But yet we will take the words and make Scott the Messiah.

“Take a long line, Take a long line, Take a long line, Reel em in”

[clarky449]

Most coaches say it every year. Nothing huge! But yet we will take the words and make Scott the Messiah.

Why even bother to post....FFS

Thats just mean. Why do you think you have the right to say that. I dont appreciate this bullying.

[clarky449]

Most coaches say it every year. Nothing huge! But yet we will take the words and make Scott the Messiah.

“Take a long line, Take a long line, Take a long line, Reel em in”

Thanks Doc, you are a funny bloke.

[Dave McNamara]

Most coaches say it every year. Nothing huge! But yet we will take the words and make Scott the Messiah.

...

“All of our times and weights and skinfolds are about a month ahead of where they were last year so it is quite positive at this point.”
http://au.news.yahoo.com/thewest/sport/ ... -altitude/

Hi Clarky, of course what you've written is true.

The part that I find exciting though... Tim's post memberlist.php?mode=viewprofile&u=19048 is looking towards the bigger picture behind these interviews... maybe have a read/another read of Tim's post and see what you think Clarky?

I'm also with the APS school thought memberlist.php?mode=viewprofile&u=18515 We aren't that far off, and will get better.

Everyone is writing us off for 2013... well, big surprise coming up... top 8 almost for sure..., top 4, just needs a bit of luck going our way...

Go you Saintas!!!


(And the opposition, well for starters...,
David King has called the Tuggers as top 4... so that rules them out.
Adelaide won't slip under the raider again, and have lost the Kurt.
Effn'dum are too mentally soft.
Carlscum are too mentally soft, and chief brown paper bag boy is clearly slowing.
E-girls top players (Cox, Glass, Kerr, et) are aging, injury-prone, and so are unlikely to have another luckily injury free year... and yes I do know that the team had quite a few injuries, but not so much to those key older blokes.
Don't be surprised if the Skids Marks slip a bit... the whole footy world got to watch what happens when their vaunted run and carry left footers actually have to earn a kick...
Nuff Nuff - seem to have lost more than they've gained with this year's recruiting... regardless are too reliant on Petrie who is no spring chicken.
Shockers are too reliant on Pav who is not spring chicken... and they wear purple. )


So come on all you worriers, we aren't going to be as bad as you fear, and the competition ain't as awesome as some may make out...

[st.byron]

Most coaches say it every year. Nothing huge! But yet we will take the words and make Scott the Messiah.

What you and Mart are missing is that Watters is clearly articulating a vision for the club's culture into the future. It's not just a generic 'pre-season tyre pump'. Anybody can do that. But it looks to me that Watters is actually going about delivering on what he's saying.
Re-building the list and genuinely developing a healthy attitude within every player on the list. And if you're not willing to subscribe to it, then you're not welcome. It's more than just the generic pocket pissing you're seeing.