the difference between this saints team and those from recent years.

[saynta]

This team is full of fighters. They don't give up or drop their heads when things don't go their way. They fight back and are confident in their own abilities.

In previous years missed easy goals would be a downer and getting screwed over by the maggots would have seen them give up. Not this year or this team.

[Killa]

To my mind the difference from last Season to this is that we came into 2022 with only Hannebery and Coffield absent

From there injuries disrupted - and they just kept on coming

This year we have come in with injuries - hence more stable in terms of players on the park because we are not losing players each week

We have added Phillipou, Cordy and Stocker, then Caminiti (now suspended)

And have lost Ryder and Hannebery (of note)

Battle is into his second year as a key defender, Paton into year 2 from his broken leg, Owens and Windhager into year 2 and Number 25 - plus we have Clark on the park

These players are adding to our stability - along with Byrnes and Bytel

The next question is that we have 3 Top Ten Draft Picks sitting in the Stands, so with those credentials (and what they have shown in support) how do they get back into the side - because they will all return

Then you get to the second tall forward we have craved - so Caminiti

Instead of injuries disrupting, we are looking at players returning

What a difference a year makes

Fingers (and toes) crossed because this is St Kilda!!!

[mr six o'clock]

Well if we are to believe the muckraking scribes the difference is this year we're not half pissed !
Funny how this year we've gained red rooter and thirsty camel as sponsors, but the team aren't lining up for the sponsors freebies

[CQ SAINT]

To my mind the difference from last Season to this is that we came into 2022 with only Hannebery and Coffield absent

From there injuries disrupted - and they just kept on coming

This year we have come in with injuries - hence more stable in terms of players on the park because we are not losing players each week

We have added Phillipou, Cordy and Stocker, then Caminiti (now suspended)

And have lost Ryder and Hannebery (of note)

Battle is into his second year as a key defender, Paton into year 2 from his broken leg, Owens and Windhager into year 2 and Number 25 - plus we have Clark on the park

These players are adding to our stability - along with Byrnes and Bytel

The next question is that we have 3 Top Ten Draft Picks sitting in the Stands, so with those credentials (and what they have shown in support) how do they get back into the side - because they will all return

Then you get to the second tall forward we have craved - so Caminiti

Instead of injuries disrupting, we are looking at players returning

What a difference a year makes

Fingers (and toes) crossed because this is St Kilda!!!

Jarryn Geary, the ex-captain, being missed in your notes, speaks volumes in the difference in this team. There is clearly a leader in charge.

[SaintPav]

https://apple.news/A-cKfdnB3QNCqqZLJlCRtoA

[The Fireman]

Depth

[B.M]

At the same point in time last season 5-1

We are 1/4 of the way through the season, long way to go.

Ross would be reminding players not to drink their own bath water.

Hopefully we get to 8-3 as well this season and then hopefully we don’t fall in a heap again

[SaintPav]

We have a much better system than last year and we are not reliant on the same players kicking all the goals.

Teams will begin to work us out eventually as all game plans have a limited shelf life. I hope they have a plan b, c etc.

[Sainter_Dad]

https://apple.news/A-cKfdnB3QNCqqZLJlCRtoA

I said this to Sainter_Boy 10 minutes before reading this

BUY IN - complete and utter Buy in

But also don't discount having to look Boris, LenDog and Harvs in the eye after a game and say "I gave 100%" when you know you didn't

[Teflon]

What’s the difference??? Think this from Healy sums it up



LYON’S ST KILDA TAKEOVER IS A LESSON FOR US ALL ON LISTS, SYSTEM AND COACHING
BY GERARD HEALY 3 HOURS AGO


Well, what a remarkable story St Kilda has been so far this year.

Whether they play finals or not, it's a truly sensational football story in many ways and so educational if we sit back and analyse what happened.


There was muted acceptance, of course, that Ross Lyon was a very good coach out of work, but it wasn't universal.

It was said by his critics, and they weren't hard to find, that he was too defensive and couldn't coach a young list. Despite lots of evidence to the contrary.

He was available in 2022, yet a number of clubs balked at his appointment, prioritising the partially informed views of activists at board-level over those who wanted action on the ground and were bored of not playing finals.

Finally, sanity prevailed and the Saints moved swiftly in an all-up bet.

So, Lyon got appointed along with some high-profile co-coaches, but the prognostications that followed immediately were at best gloomy.

For no one rated the list.'The list, the list, the bloody list’, was all you heard about when talking about St Kilda.

It would be a handbrake on St Kilda’s progress under Lyon was a considered view.

No one had them making the eight, including those who appointed him who hedged their bets partially when talking about the upcoming season.

I didn't blame them, for there was no Paddy Ryder and no Jordan De Goey, and the Saints’ second half last year was appalling.

Then the injuries started, beginning with Max King, then Jack Billings, Nick Coffield and of course Tim Membrey.

The best anyone was hoping for was a foundation year under Ross Lyon until the new talent could be added through the draft.

It would take two to three years to turn over, ‘The list, the list, the bloody list’.

There it was again until finals could be expected with the new coach.

But here we are in Round 6 and the Saints, well, they're on top of the ladder having beaten some serious opposition.

With the focus on the list, no one spoke of the system, which is all you hear about now.

‘The system, the Lyon system, it's the system’, and he's extricating the very best from ‘The list, the list, the bloody list’, or what's left of it.

It’s a performance that no one saw coming, much like the impact Lyon has had on Anthony Caminiti, Mason Wood, Mattaes Phillipou and a myriad of reinvigorated senior players.

So, when Ross Lyon was considering the job, he wasn't anywhere near as focused on the list as the chattering class of onlookers.

He knew the club had a squadron of elite runners, something he admired so much about the premiership Tigers.

Talking to Ross over the previous few years about football, it was the running power of the Tigers that engrossed him the most.

Runners were what Ross saw when he had a cursory glance at the list and in his eyes, where there was run, there was fun.

Football was once about talent and work rate, tactics were the odd kick-out plan, a tag here and there and a positional move from fullback to full forward.

If you weren't winning, you weren't trying hard enough, was the simplistic view, even if you were.

But in a more sophisticated era, system has been added to the recipe.

With 100 per cent work rate from a limited list through injury, Ross Lyon has extracted a performance that borders on the extraordinary, given the preseason expectations of the entire football world.

It's an education for us all.

As we look to Anzac Day, last year’s St Kilda in Collingwood under the revolutionary Craig McRae system, with all guns a blazing despite a host of injuries, will take on Essendon, whose list has also been belittled by many.

But with a new system under Brad Scott, it's looking like a serious challenger.

So, ‘The list, the list, the bloody list’, is obviously important and it needs to marry up with, ‘The system, the system, the system’.

Perhaps the biggest lesson of them all though under Ross Lyon is the importance of, ‘The coach, the coach, the coach’.

ST KILDA
MORE IN AFL

[Jacks Back]

At the same point in time last season 5-1

We are 1/4 of the way through the season, long way to go.

Ross would be reminding players not to drink their own bath water.

Hopefully we get to 8-3 as well this season and then hopefully we don’t fall in a heap again

I think we were 104% last year at this time.

[Yorkeys]

What’s the difference??? Think this from Healy sums it up



LYON’S ST KILDA TAKEOVER IS A LESSON FOR US ALL ON LISTS, SYSTEM AND COACHING
BY GERARD HEALY 3 HOURS AGO


Well, what a remarkable story St Kilda has been so far this year.

Whether they play finals or not, it's a truly sensational football story in many ways and so educational if we sit back and analyse what happened.


There was muted acceptance, of course, that Ross Lyon was a very good coach out of work, but it wasn't universal.

It was said by his critics, and they weren't hard to find, that he was too defensive and couldn't coach a young list. Despite lots of evidence to the contrary.

He was available in 2022, yet a number of clubs balked at his appointment, prioritising the partially informed views of activists at board-level over those who wanted action on the ground and were bored of not playing finals.

Finally, sanity prevailed and the Saints moved swiftly in an all-up bet.

So, Lyon got appointed along with some high-profile co-coaches, but the prognostications that followed immediately were at best gloomy.

For no one rated the list.'The list, the list, the bloody list’, was all you heard about when talking about St Kilda.

It would be a handbrake on St Kilda’s progress under Lyon was a considered view.

No one had them making the eight, including those who appointed him who hedged their bets partially when talking about the upcoming season.

I didn't blame them, for there was no Paddy Ryder and no Jordan De Goey, and the Saints’ second half last year was appalling.

Then the injuries started, beginning with Max King, then Jack Billings, Nick Coffield and of course Tim Membrey.

The best anyone was hoping for was a foundation year under Ross Lyon until the new talent could be added through the draft.

It would take two to three years to turn over, ‘The list, the list, the bloody list’.

There it was again until finals could be expected with the new coach.

But here we are in Round 6 and the Saints, well, they're on top of the ladder having beaten some serious opposition.

With the focus on the list, no one spoke of the system, which is all you hear about now.

‘The system, the Lyon system, it's the system’, and he's extricating the very best from ‘The list, the list, the bloody list’, or what's left of it.

It’s a performance that no one saw coming, much like the impact Lyon has had on Anthony Caminiti, Mason Wood, Mattaes Phillipou and a myriad of reinvigorated senior players.

So, when Ross Lyon was considering the job, he wasn't anywhere near as focused on the list as the chattering class of onlookers.

He knew the club had a squadron of elite runners, something he admired so much about the premiership Tigers.

Talking to Ross over the previous few years about football, it was the running power of the Tigers that engrossed him the most.

Runners were what Ross saw when he had a cursory glance at the list and in his eyes, where there was run, there was fun.

Football was once about talent and work rate, tactics were the odd kick-out plan, a tag here and there and a positional move from fullback to full forward.

If you weren't winning, you weren't trying hard enough, was the simplistic view, even if you were.

But in a more sophisticated era, system has been added to the recipe.

With 100 per cent work rate from a limited list through injury, Ross Lyon has extracted a performance that borders on the extraordinary, given the preseason expectations of the entire football world.

It's an education for us all.

As we look to Anzac Day, last year’s St Kilda in Collingwood under the revolutionary Craig McRae system, with all guns a blazing despite a host of injuries, will take on Essendon, whose list has also been belittled by many.

But with a new system under Brad Scott, it's looking like a serious challenger.

So, ‘The list, the list, the bloody list’, is obviously important and it needs to marry up with, ‘The system, the system, the system’.

Perhaps the biggest lesson of them all though under Ross Lyon is the importance of, ‘The coach, the coach, the coach’.

ST KILDA
MORE IN AFL

Healy picked Freo as the absolute certainty in round 1. Now on the bandwagon. A Hindsight Harry. As Homer would say, D'Oh.

[Scollop]

The foundations with all pillars of the club on the same page might help a bit too

Ross is doing a fantastic job but 1 person alone is not going to lead St Kilda FC to the promised land

Quite a few people on the saintsational fan forum have commented that version II is different to RTB version 1 and I totally agree.

It isn't about whether he could coach a young group or not. I think he has grown and he listens and he has the recent history with young players at Fremantle, so of course you learn from that, but he's also learnt what works and what doesn't as far as tactics and strategies in the modern game.

The landscape with rule changes provides opportunities for a smart operator and his team to exploit. It's not often that a coaching group can start from scratch and come up with a fresh game plan

That's what they did as a collective prior to taking on this journey with this current list.

Obviously Ross and the assistants have also done a terrific job getting the buy in from all the playing group and that deserves recognition

The president said we could go backwards and Ross said it's an exploratory year so that mean NO short cuts. We're aiming to build a top 4 list

Will be a bloody amazing effort if we can get there and challenge Geelong/Brisbane/Melbourne and Collingwood in 2023

The recognition that we had to go to the draft and recruit elite talent started at the end of 2021 (and we nailed those picks with Windy, Owens and Wanganeen-Milera at pick 7)

The continuation of that strategy and the inclusion of another top 10 pick in Mattaes Phillipou along with some other hopefuls means we are taking the longer term approach

We finally have list management and coaching staff working collaboratively. The destination for this list is to bring home our second flag.

We have a senior coach and his assistants who get along with each other and all staff work well together and take direction from a strong leader

The magic dust is important, but the fundamentals with a competent and stable board, management, and football department are key.


Edit... Are we sure it's not Lenny who is the magician?

[SuperDuper]

A number of things have contributed,

Not only Ross but the coaching team
e.g. if Ross went to Carlton, he would not have had Enright, Hayes and Harvey as assistants, yet he attributes the game plan to them

Another thing is our top 5 players so far have been:
1. Sinclair
2. Wilkie
3. Wood
4. Crouch
5. Owens

In current form, Wood and Owens are genuine top line players who are impacting outcomes of games.
Neither had that ability previously (noting the one exception was Wood in the final game of the year when he was great... meaning it is now 7 games in a row for him.. but before that he was pretty average last year)

So adding 2 new top liners helps a lot... lets hope they maintain their form..

further, NWM and Byrnes have both improved a lot, and Stoker has been solid.. also Clark has got into some form
So there has been quite a bit of movement on the playing front, as well as the coaching (of course good coaching brings out the best in players,, but some is natural progression)

[SuperDuper]

A number of things have contributed,

Not only Ross but the coaching team
e.g. if Ross went to Carlton, he would not have had Enright, Hayes and Harvey as assistants, yet he attributes the game plan to them

Another thing is our top 5 players so far have been:
1. Sinclair
2. Wilkie
3. Wood
4. Crouch
5. Owens

In current form, Wood and Owens are genuine top line players who are impacting outcomes of games.
Neither had that ability previously (noting the one exception was Wood in the final game of the year when he was great... meaning it is now 7 games in a row for him.. but before that he was pretty average last year)

So adding 2 new top liners helps a lot... lets hope they maintain their form..

further, NWM and Byrnes have both improved a lot, and Stoker has been solid.. also Clark has got into some form
So there has been quite a bit of movement on the playing front, as well as the coaching (of course good coaching brings out the best in players,, but some is natural progression)

[Scollop]

Sincs, Wood and Cal Wilkie are on track to make AA team... shiTT sorry...don't want to jinx them

[samoht]

It's the form of our players, as much as anything (probably more than anything), and the addition and improvement of young talent. Byrnes, Owens are an example of that.
Wood and Hill on the wing where they should have been played all their career is paying dividends.
We are a team of endurance athletes and runners. This is our strength.

Collingwood outcoached us by stopping a couple of our important runners - Lyon relied on his system too much and forgot about Naicos, altogether - which was a mistake.
Lesson learned, and in the memory bank for next time, hopefully.

[Otiman]

3 things stand out.

Team performance over individual
No downhill skiiers
If a player is having a poor game or is tagged, another of their type steps up

[samoht]

Our star-studded 2009 team didn't have the running ability of our current team (Essendon highlighted that) - put it this way. Big statement, I know.

[asiu]

Lyon relied on his system too much and forgot about Naicos, altogether - which was a mistake.

not what i heard said in the presser

there was no 'forgetting about anything'

[samoht]

That's my opinion ... Collingwood stopped a couple of our important runners, but we forgot about their no. 1 runner or didn't use the right tactics.

[meher baba]

That's my opinion ... Collingwood stopped a couple of our important runners, but we forgot about their no. 1 runner or didn't use the right tactics.

Our whole game plan is based on not being too preoccupied on preventing our opponents from running the ball out of their backline and instead focusing on pressuring them all the way back to our defensive 50. Putting a tagger on N Daicos would have represented a significant shift in that strategy, so I don't blame Lyon at all for choosing not to do it. There is also the question of whether tagging a running defender is a good idea anyway: the genuine footy experts differ on this.

I suspect his comment that suggested that he might use a tagger on Daicos next time might even have been a bit of deliberate disinformation. Lyon plays a very long game.

[The Fireman]

That's my opinion ... Collingwood stopped a couple of our important runners, but we forgot about their no. 1 runner or didn't use the right tactics.

Our whole game plan is based on not being too preoccupied on preventing our opponents from running the ball out of their backline and instead focusing on pressuring them all the way back to our defensive 50. Putting a tagger on N Daicos would have represented a significant shift in that strategy, so I don't blame Lyon at all for choosing not to do it. There is also the question of whether tagging a running defender is a good idea anyway: the genuine footy experts differ on this.

I suspect his comment that suggested that he might use a tagger on Daicos next time might even have been a bit of deliberate disinformation. Lyon plays a very long game.

the other coaches know he is a Wiley fox

[samoht]

When it comes to Naicos, I'm hoping it wasn't disinformation ... and that Lyon has a long memory to go with his long game.

40 easy possessions to Naicos can sink game plans ... we have empirical evidence of that, now.

Clean and quick delivery to Mihocek is something that we'd need to (or need to try better to) prevent, next time.

[SaintPav]

Where’s Netters?