saint64 wrote: ↑Mon 04 Jun 2018 9:52am
Outrage is putting it a bit strong, but the frustration and disillusionment is because we long time supporters have seen and heard it all before from a club that we love but that lets us down far more than it rewards us. Many of us naively bought in to this idea sold to us by our club that we would be a top 4 team this year. The really successful clubs don’t seem to have to go through 5 or 10 year rebuilds (or whatever the magic number is) like we seem to have to.
The issue I have is still being at the beginning stages of the rebuild after 5 years.
I've heard every excuse including blaming Roo and Joey. Enough!
We completely stuffed up the drafting from 2010 onwards and have sort of gotten as few good a few ok players.
There is no reason to be 5 years deep into a celebrated rebuild and be 1 win from 11 rounds. Its pathetic. There's nothing positive about it. Playing better than pathetic isnt a bonus, I'm not delighted.
We can't still be rebuilding unless we are restarting the rebuild at which juncture we must rid ourselves of the coaching staff and management especially recruiters who failed over 5 years to provide a team capable of more than 1 win.
I'm not being negative it's just real. The truth without Richos garbage lies to prop up fake membership numbers.
I don't know whether the club was straight out bullshitting, or simply got it wrong - but the 'top 4 by 2018' thing was never going to happen.
I've even bumped many threads that called this out way back in the pre-season last year.
All clubs are full of s***. They're not 'your' club - they're a business. Their business model revolves around entertainment, and hope. Frankly, if you don't know that by now - you only have yourself to blame.
So personally, I'd straight out ignore the people at the club and rubbish they speak. It's all about selling you hope, and entertaining you. If the team is playing well, it'll be entertainment they focus on. When they're struggling, it'll be hope they turn their attention to.
That's not just the Saints either. That's modern sport, it is what it is.
I must admit, 'celebrating' a 13 point loss is a bit over the top - as much as the meltdowns about the team's current ability is over the top.
Some perspective is really all that is required. Somewhere in between the outrage about how s*** we are, and how awesome a 13 point loss was is probably the correct stance on our current plight.
We played in a Grand Final only 8 years ago. We played finals in 1992, then 1997 and 1998. We then made it back to the finals in 2004, and only missed twice since then up until 2012 (both misses we finished 9th). We've been Grand Finalists 3 times in 20 years.
I think the 'woe is us' thing about the Saints is grossly overstated. St Kilda was a very poor VFL club, but has been a pretty decent AFL club really.
So I don't know about this 'the successful clubs' don't have to go through 5-10 year rebuilds like us thing. Unless you poach stars from other clubs, all clubs that were starting their builds during the 'compromised draft' period have taken time.
It just is what it is.