Tim Watson era of coaching

[skeptic]

Hi everyone.

I was thinking a bit about this gloomy time in our history with all the criticism of Richo’s coaching, talk about worst of all time etc.

Now for some context... I was about 14-16 over this period of time so whilst I remember reasonably vividly, obviously my peak understanding of football, recollections etc occurs/ed later (allegedly). And for the life of me, I’m struggling.

What was so bad about Tim Watson as coach..?

From where I sit, Timid TIm made the cardinal sin that coaches don’t recover from and he compounded with his second mistake...
He overrated a downward trending list as a legitimate finals contender and topped up with the nail in his coffin being that his recycled recruits in Fred Campbell, Sean Charles, Damian Monkhorst etc were all extremely terrible.

If you make that mistake, you seldom ever get to recover, unless you do the Brad Scott, realise it right away and immediately take steps to rectify it.

But what else?

Was Timid such a horrible match day coach?
WHat did he do that was so bad?

Was he the guy that tried Hall in the backline?

I really can’t remember

The one thing that stands out for me... and I still have the article at home (kept a scrap book at the time) was that after he resigned, the Herald Sun wrote this list up of our needed turnover. Players that were young with potential and should be kept, players that were unable to perform and needed to be cut (the Saints who sin), and those treading thin ice.
All of those in the middle category were guys that had played at least 60-100 games and were really inconsistent... none of this, he’s played 4 games in three years crap.

Thoughts?

[desertsaint]

seemed to going okay. even good. then came that hawks game and we never recovered.

[older saint]

Biggest mistake was had no experience coaching , even Assistant coaching - straight from media.

Lacked experience to handle situations (post Hawthorn game ) and from there it snowballed.

[SaintPav]

Blight got rid of the Wanklen twins and put Hall down back. It worked for about 2 weeks.

Blight had NFI.

Tim might have been a better coach if he took a long term view and served an apprenticeship but he was very naive.

Plympton stuffed up.

[shanegrambeau]

I remember the Hawthorn game and subsequent, “boarding house pudding” comment, and, I remember Tim saying he didn’t realize, “being an a-hole” was part of a coache’s remit. That’s about all. I was so shocked at the Stan Alves firing, the disappointment of ‘97 and the Sydney loss in ‘98, when the honeymoon finished after that Hawthorn game, I smelt the heavy rain in the horizon and checked out. Patchy supporter - guilty!

[SaintPav]

I remember the Hawthorn game and subsequent, “boarding house pudding” comment, and, I remember Tim saying he didn’t realize, “being an a-hole” was part of a coache’s remit. That’s about all. I was so shocked at the Stan Alves firing, the disappointment of ‘97 and the Sydney loss in ‘98, when the honeymoon finished after that Hawthorn game, I smelt the heavy rain in the horizon and checked out. Patchy supporter - guilty!

Smart and who would can really blame you!

[skeptic]

I have this strange feeling in that whilst I’ve always considered Tim the worst coach of my time (Blight doesn’t count because he outright didn’t care)... I’m struggling to find the reasons as to why beyond results.

Richo on the other hand... how long do you have!!?? Let me get a pencil

[Waltzing St Kilda]

The Hawks game.

Spida Everitt gave away three successive 50m penalties (and a goal, obviously) and Watson dragged him

As he was coming off the ground, Everitt glared defiantly at the coaching box.

Watson was too timid to nip such impudence in the bud. The cancer metastasized very quickly.

Watson disapproved of Sheedy's tough-love style and wanted to believe that footballers are smart enough to be treated as equals.

They're not.

[one point]

He told me prior to his second season that he believed in attacking football. ‘The team that scores the most wins’,he said in a thoughtful review of his football philosophy. When I suggested that many successful teams develop a core effective defensive unit he dismissed that as being unnecessary if you focus on attack

[SaintPav]

He told me prior to his second season that he believed in attacking football. ‘The team that scores the most wins’,he said in a thoughtful review of his football philosophy. When I suggested that many successful teams develop a core effective defensive unit he dismissed that as being unnecessary if you focus on attack

Seems like Tim was really up with where the game was going.

[degruch]

Geez...and we consider Richo a lousy game day coach! Poor ol' Timmy, loved him as a player, and so did our admin...they took their adoration a bit too far.

[wally]

Tim had a game plan/vision unfortunately didn't have the cattle to execute that that style.
I think it relied on foot skills which we lacked, plus lack of experience managing people.

[Scollop]

Tim had a game plan/vision unfortunately didn't have the cattle to execute that that style.
I think it relied on foot skills which we lacked, plus lack of experience managing people.

So he blamed the players too did he?

He was unprepared and unsuitable for the task of head coach

[SaintPav]

Tim had a game plan/vision unfortunately didn't have the cattle to execute that that style.
I think it relied on foot skills which we lacked, plus lack of experience managing people.

So he blamed the players too did he?

He was unprepared and unsuitable for the task of head coach

According to Plymo, Tim "lost his way". He said the same thing about Stan.

[spert]

Tim had a game plan/vision unfortunately didn't have the cattle to execute that that style.
I think it relied on foot skills which we lacked, plus lack of experience managing people.

So he blamed the players too did he?

He was unprepared and unsuitable for the task of head coach

According to Plymo, Tim "lost his way". He said the same thing about Stan.

I think Plymo might have lost his way too..

[SaintPav]

Tim had a game plan/vision unfortunately didn't have the cattle to execute that that style.
I think it relied on foot skills which we lacked, plus lack of experience managing people.

So he blamed the players too did he?

He was unprepared and unsuitable for the task of head coach

According to Plymo, Tim "lost his way". He said the same thing about Stan.

I think Plymo might have lost his way too..

Everyone loses their way eventually, one way or another, but yes, it appears so.

[jonesy]

That Hawthorn game wasn't the first of those second half fade outs and us not being able to stop the onslaught. There were a couple of games leading up to this where it was too late for the opposition but it was raining goals. One was against Melbourne only a few weeks before, for memory they kicked about 8 goals in the last 15 minutes. We were up by about 90.... But the warnings signs were there. There were other games similarly in the lead up to that Hawthorn game. I'd have to go back and check to refresh the memory.

The thing about Tim is he admitted he was no good and left. This current train wreck, who in my opinion is a top 3 worst coach of any club in my lifetime, really needs to walk if he has any decency

Edit- my memory is shot, Melbourne game was round 2....

[shanegrambeau]

Honest, you are right, now I remember we were sliding. One thing I now recall-and I could be wrong- didn’t Watson seem to suddenly want. Nathan Burke to become a stay-at-home backpocket defender instead of pack-borer he was renowned for? - and Burkey was sorely exposed in that role?

[sunsaint]

Honest, you are right, now I remember we were sliding. One thing I now recall-and I could be wrong- didn’t Watson seem to suddenly want. Nathan Burke to become a stay-at-home backpocket defender instead of pack-borer he was renowned for? - and Burkey was sorely exposed in that role?

now if my memory serves me correctly wasnt N Burkes move to the back pocket roll in conjunction with his helmet due to repeated head whacks in the middle?

[Saintmatt]

One of Tim's big issues was his complete mistrust in the younger parts of our list. Instead of re-generating Stan's team with the younger guys that Stan's era had recruited - he much preferred to bring in older, experienced hacks (Fred Campbell, Gavin Mitchell, Tony Francis, Sean Charles, Tony Delaney et al).

Sounds somewhat like someone else currently in the seat (Mav, Gilbert, Geary etc)

[degruch]

One of Tim's big issues was his complete mistrust in the younger parts of our list. Instead of re-generating Stan's team with the younger guys that Stan's era had recruited - he much preferred to bring in older, experienced hacks (Fred Campbell, Gavin Mitchell, Tony Francis, Sean Charles, Tony Delaney et al).

Sounds somewhat like someone else currently in the seat (Mav, Gilbert, Geary etc)

Also sounds like Lyon and Watters.

[Dave McNamara]

From memory, we started well under Timmy. Then, everyone else worked out what he was doing. (Switching play to loose blokes lined up on the other side of the ground.)

Tim had no plan B...



However, to Tim's credit, plan C was a good one.

I'm hoping Richo' also adopts Tim's plan C at the end of this season.

[shanegrambeau]

Honest, you are right, now I remember we were sliding. One thing I now recall-and I could be wrong- didn’t Watson seem to suddenly want. Nathan Burke to become a stay-at-home backpocket defender instead of pack-borer he was renowned for? - and Burkey was sorely exposed in that role?

now if my memory serves me correctly wasnt N Burkes move to the back pocket roll in conjunction with his helmet due to repeated head whacks in the middle?

I think Burkey donned the helmet way before Watson arrived but I just saw that he won the best-and-fairest in '99, so I guess the backpocket thing didn't last