Is Alan Richardson Actually Up to Snuff?

[rodgerfox]

Maybe one of "richo's" KPI's be that he ensures that the assistant coaches develop a good game plan and the various strategies that go with it. Could that be it? Where would "lethers" look then?
So what happens if the assistants are made redundant? what then Rodger? Would the new assistant coaches have KPI's? Nothing that would win games mind you but something, anything. Maybe win a "best dressed " award twice a year which is common on a corporate Friday now or....... front up to a team meeting with a funky hairstyle.

So who is accountable for defence to forward transition? Adam Kingsley is highly regarded isnt he? What about our "enry" he has a good record as well and coming from Sydney no less. Then there were 5 .....so who goes then?

Not sure why you're asking me? I've said all along that I'm on the fence regarding the 'sack the coach' debate. I simply don't know, from afar, who is to blame.


Richardson must go though - unless the coaching structure doesn't allow him as much power and control as people think it does. I personally don't think it does, as modern coaching departments don't operate the way they used to. I think it's a myth that coaches run the show. Those that try to run the show, either get reigned in like Clarkson and Thompson, or they get sacked like Neeld and Watters.


Regardless of what Richardson is bringing to the table, if he is accountable for the game plan then he shouldn't be coaching an AFL club. If he isn't, but there is evidence that he is good at leading the players to carry out whatever the strategy is - then he should stay and those accountable for the design and implementation of the game plan should go.

[samoht]

The players might not be capable of carrying out a game plan - whatever game plan - because we don’t have enough skilful players, enough outside midfielders,and we’ve had too many injuries and too many out of form players. We’ve also had the retirement of onfield leaders.

When Freo was 0-10 did we think that RL couldn’t coach?

The only thing I can definitely criticise AR on is - Phillips and Dunstan being dropped for no good reason, and his reluctance to debut and get games into players such as Rice, Phillips, Austin, Battle.
Connellan and Joyce deserve a go too.

[asiu]

shouldnt the 'game plan' first and foremost
centre around the skillset available

i'm thinking the irish boy who by reports can outrun the wind .... ok ... play a empty forward line and turn those
bombed entries into a footrace

its a bit pagans paddock i know
but the point i'm tryn to make is
its about utilising the available talent in its correct / most productive manner

we've got the hares
(even lonie could excell)
so set em loose

why do we have to play the game like everyone else ?

[asiu]

we're breaking down on the half forward line as it is
ok
bypass it

[Linton Lodger]

shouldnt the 'game plan' first and foremost
centre around the skillset available

i'm thinking the irish boy who by reports can outrun the wind .... ok ... play a empty forward line and turn those
bombed entries into a footrace

its a bit pagans paddock i know
but the point i'm tryn to make is
its about utilising the available talent in its correct / most productive manner

we've got the hares
(even lonie could excell)
so set em loose

why do we have to play the game like everyone else ?

The gameplan should centre around the strength/weaknesses of your List. Richmond are the prime example of this. They were light on key forwards, their one key forward been on the smallish side, but they had players that were quick and could tackle. They built their gameplan around that, out of necessity, and had great success. For how long remains to be seen.

We all know that our gameplan has been poor, so poor that it cannot be identified. I suspected that they'd got the gameplan wrong in preseason and now its difficult to overhaul mid-season and we've been pushing the proverbial up hill ever since. If you listen to the audio of the recent Q & A with 40 year plus members, Richo clearly infers that in one of his answers.

That is on the Coach/Coaches. The question is, do you sack him or them for that one (albeit big) miscalculation? Its certainly not an uncommon mistake and one Clubs don't advertise. Clarkson did it last year, Lyon & Hardwick in 2016 and I would suggest Beveridge this year.

I think we need to work out why Sydney have consistently touched us up over the last few years, therein lay the answers.

[SaintPav]

Seen a lot of managers, execs as well as coaches in my time, who have a good rapport with those under them, but ultimately are not doing the job for the organisation or club etc. Sometimes it's a formula for under-achieving.

Agreed. And it's not like there's a lot of players at Saints who've been players at successful organisations. They almost have to trust in what they've got. They don't know any better.
Armo, Steven & Gilbo are the only players who've played in a decent team. And two of them were just kids.
I think the problem at St Kilda is almost nobody there knows what best practice even looks like let alone know how to implement it.

Kingsley played in a flag. And Playfair was at Sydney in 2012 as an Assistant. And McGlynn was at Sydney in 2012 too.

But aside from that, the club isn't dripping with premiership experience.

One flag in 145 years.

Chicken and egg.

I don't understand the relevance of that to be honest.

What happened in a little Mickey Mouse sporting comp 100 years ago has literally zero relevance to how football franchises are structured these days in the entertainment industry that is the AFL.

The same people work at the same places, and simply shuffle around year to year. Players are effectively leased from the AFL, coaches are shuffled from club to club on a yearly basis and administrators are prepared by the AFL and then appointed at clubs on almost a rotation.

What makes a club win a flag? The stars aligning in terms of getting good people that work well together, at a club at the same time. Then add a sprinkle of luck on top.

I really don't buy this whole 'St Kilda have won one flag in 150 years so that explains why they're playing s*** footy right now' thing. It's like believing in Santa Claus or god. It's just fairytale stuff.


Who is at the club now that was there 100 years ago? Who is at the club now that was there 20 years ago! There's only a handful that were even there 10 years ago FFS!

The club is based at Seaford, plays home games at Docklands, is called St Kilda but hasn't been based there for about 60 years, wears a different jumper every week, has 9 full-time coaches of whom only 1 has ever played for St Kilda (and he also played at another club anyway), and in the last game there were 8 players in the team that came from other clubs. The CEO and the head of footy or whatever he is called came from the AFL and have had literally zero to do with St Kilda.

And we're supposed to believe that what is happening today in an organisation that is run by the AFL, is somehow linked to what happened to a club that joined the VFL as a junior club about 140 years ago? St Kilda is not even in the VFL anymore.


I just don't get it.

I understand what you are saying but it's not really what I meant. In a perfect world, I would agree with you but I think our history is a psychological barrier or at the very least, it doesn't help. Then there is the Matthew effect: 'for to all those who have, more will be given ect..."

What I meant is it's like the "you can't get a job without experience, and you can't get experience without a job." principle which is circular reasoning. If we had won a recent flag, we obviously would probably have a few more personnel at the club with premiership experience. We have three assistants with premiership experience. How many do you need? Is there an industry benchmark? It shouldn't matter anyway according to your theory.

[Saintmatt]

shouldnt the 'game plan' first and foremost
centre around the skillset available

i'm thinking the irish boy who by reports can outrun the wind .... ok ... play a empty forward line and turn those
bombed entries into a footrace

its a bit pagans paddock i know
but the point i'm tryn to make is
its about utilising the available talent in its correct / most productive manner

we've got the hares
(even lonie could excell)
so set em loose

why do we have to play the game like everyone else ?

The gameplan should centre around the strength/weaknesses of your List. Richmond are the prime example of this. They were light on key forwards, their one key forward been on the smallish side, but they had players that were quick and could tackle. They built their gameplan around that, out of necessity, and had great success. For how long remains to be seen.

We all know that our gameplan has been poor, so poor that it cannot be identified. I suspected that they'd got the gameplan wrong in preseason and now its difficult to overhaul mid-season and we've been pushing the proverbial up hill ever since. If you listen to the audio of the recent Q & A with 40 year plus members, Richo clearly infers that in one of his answers.

That is on the Coach/Coaches. The question is, do you sack him or them for that one (albeit big) miscalculation? Its certainly not an uncommon mistake and one Clubs don't advertise. Clarkson did it last year, Lyon & Hardwick in 2016 and I would suggest Beveridge this year.

I think we need to work out why Sydney have consistently touched us up over the last few years, therein lay the answers.

Sydney beat us regularly because they have players who've been developed better (i.e. have skills they can execute under pressure) and a game plan that they all know inside out as they are drilled on that via their academy and own NEAFL team from the day they walk into the place. They are also well coached, organised and have some very naturally talented players (i.e. Buddy, Kennedy, Hannebury etc) who most teams struggle to counter - let alone one as poorly organised as ours.

Funnily enough - Clarkson, Hardwick and Bevo all tinkered with their gameplan/style AFTER a period of absolute or relative success. We've not even made the finals yet keep tinkering. Last year - I could say that in the previous 2 years, we'd been all about pressure on the ball carrier and the ball. I couldn't tell you what we are in 2018, apart from (and I'm not trying to be funny) - 1) continually bombing it long to an outnumbered tall forward; 2) win the contest but then butcher it all over the ground and hence, cede possession; 3) a poor tackling team; 4) poor goalkicking team; and 5) generally poorly skilled team (especially under pressure).

I think our coaches have severely overrated our team's capabilities. We have a game plan that is unidentifiable and that's solely a crime of coaching. How they could ever construct a gameplan in the 2018 pre-season that moves away from pressure to one that involves retaining possession of the ball when they continue to play, Geary, Gilbert, Weller and Newnes (all with terrible disposal) is beyond me. That's an epic fail by any measure.

Whomever is ultimately responsible for that is the person(s) that needs to be marched (whether that's Richo, Sexton, Kingsley et al).

[Con Gorozidis]

The fact Richo celebrated a two point win over the Suns like it was a grand final victory shows exactly what kind of joke he is.

[David-Lee]

It's all moot my friends, Richo has won 3 games now....hes a genius and the board is fully vindicated!

[samoht]

Our players are finally following the game plan, which was never to bomb the ball in ... either that or it was Melbourne “turn”
The Dees did the bomb to aplomb.

That’s what happens when you’re put under pressure -and it was laughable how many times 2 or 3 of their tall forwards kept flying for the mark and spoiling each other.
Our key forwards had better separation and worked well together and more efficiently (than Melbourne’s), and then there’s Gresham.

[saynta]

It's all moot my friends, Richo has won 3 games now....hes a genius and the board is fully vindicated!

Amen brother, amen

[Linton Lodger]

If we turn in that sort of footy for the rest of the year, he's up to snuff.

[Linton Lodger]

The fact Richo celebrated a two point win over the Suns like it was a grand final victory shows exactly what kind of joke he is.

After a 2 week holiday and a few months after you asked moderators to shut you down, you return today with a stream of 'insightful' comments.

10 minutes into the first quarter you made your last post to date, which is the post above.

After 10 minutes the Saints got going our forwards (McCartin included) leading the Melb defence on a merry dance. We bashed them up on the inside and probably outed Oliver as a faux hard man, whilst destroying them on the outside. Their List Managers completely forgot about the outside (Roos doesn't care for it) and their best outside player is their ruckman.

How about their Coaches? More of them than players, they need a grand stand to fit them all in. Coached off the park! The lot of them.

How about Petracca? What a fat squib and barely a GOP. If we had invested pick 1 in that lump we would have been insane, the pre draft pysch testing was spot on. Give me big Paddy any day. Don't know if you were at the game, it was hilarious hearing Melbourne supporters say, "##&k we should have taken DeGoey instead of Petracca!" As you'd say Con LOL, LOL, LOL. (Petracca isn't in the same league as DeGoey and Brayshaw, probably never will be). Petracca plays the same role as Jack Billings, except in comparison he's fat and unskilled.

Not a peep from you during all that or since.

[iwantmeseats]

No absolutely not. Not even close.

[bigcarl]

How about Petracca? What a fat squib and barely a GOP. If we had invested pick 1 in that lump we would have been insane, the pre draft pysch testing was spot on. Give me big Paddy any day. Don't know if you were at the game, it was hilarious hearing Melbourne supporters say, "##&k we should have taken DeGoey instead of Petracca!" As you'd say Con LOL, LOL, LOL. (Petracca isn't in the same league as DeGoey and Brayshaw, probably never will be). Petracca plays the same role as Jack Billings, except in comparison he's fat and unskilled.


Love it

[saynta]

How about Petracca? What a fat squib and barely a GOP. If we had invested pick 1 in that lump we would have been insane, the pre draft pysch testing was spot on. Give me big Paddy any day. Don't know if you were at the game, it was hilarious hearing Melbourne supporters say, "##&k we should have taken DeGoey instead of Petracca!" As you'd say Con LOL, LOL, LOL. (Petracca isn't in the same league as DeGoey and Brayshaw, probably never will be). Petracca plays the same role as Jack Billings, except in comparison he's fat and unskilled.


Love it

Me too. We got the pick right after all.

[chico2001]

haha...Listen to you lot.....like kids....with kids comments. Will you call Petracca a squib to his face ? Let the forum know when you do, love to here the result.

[saynta]

haha...Listen to you lot.....like kids....with kids comments. Will you call Petracca a squib to his face ? Let the forum know when you do, love to here the result.

[SaintPav]

I know it’s been a horrid season but Richo looking pretty subdued in his press conferences.

Wonder if anything is up and if he knows something.