I hate Richo now

[saintspremiers]

First he was a nice guy that needed time to prove himself, then he lost his way a bit and gradually got out of touch with reality. But all the time he was a nice guy, albeit misguided.

Now he’s lost the plot and is a lose cannon. A desperado. A headless chook.

Slams one of our veteran and top players in Jackey Boy Steven who bleeds R,W & B.

Tonight he drops Freeman and leaves his favourite boy Newnes in.

Squibs and bullshytes on AFL360 for weeks and sounds utterly incompetent compared to Scott on the other side of the table.

I’ve had a gutful of Richo. I’m beginning to hate his guts and despise the man.

He’s not only dragging himself down the drain, but taking the club we all love with him on that journey.

The day he walks out of Linton St for the last time will be the day we can finally move on to something that is positive. In the real meaning of that word.

/end of rant

[bigcarl]

No doubt he's a good fella with great values etc and has done his best. It's to the stage now where I'm feeling sorry for him and the entire club.

[shanegrambeau]

Richo knocked back our initial offer, said he would stay with Port, who steaming along at full steam ahead, then someone or something got him - and I suppose it is just the common human narrative, you have one chance in life, so take it, and he did. He came to a team in desperate straits. We were bleeding badly in those last Lyon weeks. After and during Watters we were a broken bones (externally that is, I have no clue about the real guts of the story - does anyone?). When Richo came, and we went over to Perth, the journos remarked at the pluck of our players. Could it be that Richos long stint as an Assistant played into the phone politically correct symbolism our media pedaled? Anyway, he was up against a hiding to nothing in my opinion. A late decision to come, without friends surrounding him, but the legacy of Roo and co. , the last soldiers of the Thommo-Lyons who I imagine must have been a challenge. Our ‘Vanilla’ admin, the politically correct tenor of the TV/media/social media. I feel like I am making a sayonara speech, but Richo will be judged kindly in retrospect.

[Bernard Shakey]

Hate is a word that should not be used loosely!

[Scollop]

But it's not his fault. It's like hanging shyte on Mav or Newnes or Lonie for getting selected. It's like blaming Paddy McCartin because we took him at number 1

It's the incompetent people that made the decision to appoint him head coach and to extend his tenure last year that are to blame for the predicament we are in. At the time that Richo was hired, Jaxons posted that we didn't go through proper processes. Richo didn't want to put his hand up for the job. If I recall correctly, Jaxons had posted that Richo was hired based on his formal interviews around the time that Watters was appointed.

I do not like his weakness. I do not agree with some very important decisions made over the last 4-5 years but I don't hate him. Obviously he has done the wrong thing by a few players but he is a dead man walking and I have a feeling he doesn't really care what he says anymore. It is quite embarrassing for him the way things have panned out and he is under a lot of pressure. Richo has come out swinging and expressed his frustration at some of the people who perhaps have expressed their concerns and frustrations with his coaching

[Waltzing St Kilda]

Don't hate him but he's clearly not much of a motivator as the team more often than
not looks listless. Whenever we have a rare patch of form it's followed by weeks of
drubbings. "Well-drilled" and "highly skilled" are two terms you never hear in relation
to the Saints -- and that's a poor reflection on the coach. Our best game in the last two
years was Maddie's Match 2017, when the team was playing for Roo, not the coach. And
it was followed by weeks of capitulation.

[saintsRrising]

I don't hate him, but it is not capable of doing the job.

Also I tend to think he was white-anted from the start as they had shackles on him as they were worried that they might get another Watters or GT running out of control at the club.

I went to a club briefing early on after he started and was struck then how he had a caveat on many aspects in that others at the club at to rubber stamp things.se

I think the club neutered him in a psychological sense when he join us and that is a big reason why he has lacked presence. That plus they hired a "nice" bloke that they can control. End result is that we have had non-football people running our football department for the last 5 years and that is why we are where we are at now.

It is also why I am less than convinced with our latest two hirings into our football department of two business focused and experienced people rather that "football"smart people.

If we end up with good trades and FAs this trade period I think it will be more through luck than applied football knowledge.

[Tommyj]

The man has to go simple

[Yorkeys]

It looks like it has got ugly, nasty and personal with no winners. The dislike for AR may turn to pity when the inevitable sacking happens. It can't be long now and its becoming excruciating to watch it unfold. A good management would never have let this situation develop - they are terribly reactionary and even then too late in regards to on field stuff.

[Saintmatt]

I don't hate him, but it is not capable of doing the job.

Also I tend to think he was white-anted from the start as they had shackles on him as they were worried that they might get another Watters or GT running out of control at the club.

I went to a club briefing early on after he started and was struck then how he had a caveat on many aspects in that others at the club at to rubber stamp things.se

I think the club neutered him in a psychological sense when he join us and that is a big reason why he has lacked presence. That plus they hired a "nice" bloke that they can control. End result is that we have had non-football people running our football department for the last 5 years and that is why we are where we are at now.

It is also why I am less than convinced with our latest two hirings into our football department of two business focused and experienced people rather that "football"smart people.

If we end up with good trades and FAs this trade period I think it will be more through luck than applied football knowledge.

+1. Many good points.

Your point on "non-football people running our football department" is true in an operational sense but an absolute blight on Finnis (as the CEO who hired Cox into a role he'd not performed before not any experience in) and more importantly, Andrew Thompson who is the Board member responsible for football. They're entirely culpable.

As for being "less than convinced with our latest two hirings into our football department of two business focused and experienced people rather that "football"smart people" I understand but, I have a different view as there's a significant difference now.

Lethlean is presently our angel. He's the fresh set of eyes that unblinkered, has been able to sort this rabble (to date). Summers, his Board and Finnis are all complicit in creating the debacle we now find ourselves in and hence, have a vested interest in not addressing/fixing what they've royally f$%ked up. Lethlean has no ties to that history nor the decisions and hence, can cut through. To say that he's not a "football smart person" is, with respect - manifestly incorrect. 40 games for the Hawks ressies; 5 Premierships as a player and 2 as a coach at Old Xavs makes for solid football person in my book (not too dissimilar a record to G Thomas btw). That, combined with being responsible for every club's football programs - with visibility into each club - whilst @ the AFL makes him a very rounded football person.

As for James Gallagher - he's a list manager. His remit is very clear - to work WITH the recruiting team. His role is managing TPP and forecasting requirements and costings of the list (contract management). Those skills require financial; not so much footy. That he played with the Crows for a period shows he understands footy but I'm actually thankful he's been a senior banker for a long time post that. It's also the reasons why the rumours surrounding getting Gubby Allan to St K are increasing - his role will be the pure football side of list management (to work with James & Chris Liberatore - Head of Recruiting). All reporting directly to Lethlean (not Finnis).

I actually think for the first time in a long time - we're getting the correctly qualified people in each discipline to do the roles they have skills in (as distinct from cricketer Cox being a Football Manager - wtf? and Ameet Bains being COO AND General Counsel AND List Manager - wtf?).

[kalsaint]

Richo knocked back our initial offer, said he would stay with Port, who steaming along at full steam ahead, then someone or something got him - and I suppose it is just the common human narrative, you have one chance in life, so take it, and he did. He came to a team in desperate straits. We were bleeding badly in those last Lyon weeks. After and during Watters we were a broken bones (externally that is, I have no clue about the real guts of the story - does anyone?). When Richo came, and we went over to Perth, the journos remarked at the pluck of our players. Could it be that Richos long stint as an Assistant played into the phone politically correct symbolism our media pedaled? Anyway, he was up against a hiding to nothing in my opinion. A late decision to come, without friends surrounding him, but the legacy of Roo and co. , the last soldiers of the Thommo-Lyons who I imagine must have been a challenge. Our ‘Vanilla’ admin, the politically correct tenor of the TV/media/social media. I feel like I am making a sayonara speech, but Richo will be judged kindly in retrospect.

I don't hate Richo and believe he has it tough. the list isn't what the President thought. The clubs focus at times seems to be wavering away from football. At lease Ross Lyon and GT, who were strong willed coaches, kept the playing group right when we had a list to be challengers despite the obvious lack of youth development at times.


Honestly our injuries haven't helped us but this has just shown our lack of depth and strength of leadership on the ground. How many times do things have to go wrong in a game before its corrected. In terms of timing the leaders should be all over issues within seconds to a few minutes. The coaches team focus is on 10minute to quarter blocks in terms of changes needed. I terms of the game the senior coach would manage most over quarters but would take moves based on assistants input to the strategy of the game. Our ground leadership is our key problem. Our player experience is essential to get the message across to youth to meet the plan. Our recruiting group is responsible for the teams age balance, game experience and elite player selections with input from coaches. 2018 was doomed after no change was made to cater for risks to key players who get injured regularly. Recruitment is not just about long term future elite picks.

[desertsaint]

He's our John Major - hate is just too much emotion to feel.

[freely]

I just read Dermy's piece in the herald sun and it made me think - it was Roo and the leadership group at that time who got rid of Watters and I remember thinking how disrespectful he was to them talking as if we needed to start from scratch when there were so many players still around who'd just been to the well three times in two years!

So then, when Richo came in, his main priority must have been to keep those difficult players on side. And he did it brilliantly - the exact opposite of Watters. He always made them feel that they were doing the most important job of all by nurturing the next group of leaders.

Except they did a lousy job of it, as it turns out.

[saintsRrising]

As for James Gallagher - he's a list manager. His remit is very clear - to work WITH the recruiting team.

Though this did not stop Bains meddling....though yes at least he does have more football knowledge than Bains did or does.

His role is managing TPP and forecasting requirements and costings of the list (contract management). Those skills require financial; not so much footy. That he played with the Crows for a period shows he understands footy but I'm actually thankful he's been a senior banker for a long time post that.

What makes you think he was a senior "banker"?

Yes he worked at a bank, but he was not a "banker".

He was a salesman with a fancy title...

As a Relationship Director, I am responsible for leading a sales team that manages existing clients and develops new business in the bank’s broader professional services markets – including architectural, engineering and consulting firms as well as our offering to the healthcare industry encompassing individual medical specialists, medical centres and private hospitals.

[saintsRrising]

I actually think for the first time in a long time - we're getting the correctly qualified people in each discipline to do the roles they have skills in (as distinct from cricketer Cox being a Football Manager - wtf? and Ameet Bains being COO AND General Counsel AND List Manager - wtf?).

Well I am wtf? with both as neither have worked in the role that they are both were hired for. So both have L-Plates on

Qualified? What have either done that have "qualified " them for the jobs they are doing? Both only have fringe experience, and not core experience.

Lethlean may or may not be good, BUT he is learning on the job. That we are going into probably our most critical draft/trade/FA period ever fills me with apprehension. I hope he does an amazing job as we need this now more than ever, BUT he has not track record in this field and will have to rely on the opinions of our recruiting team who have been under-performing.


Lethlean is also operating with shackles on as he only examines what the CEO has asked him to do and this has not included a proper review of:
-The Head Coach
- The Recruitment Team

[Scollop]

I just read Dermy's piece in the herald sun and it made me think - it was Roo and the leadership group at that time who got rid of Watters and I remember thinking how disrespectful he was to them talking as if we needed to start from scratch when there were so many players still around who'd just been to the well three times in two years!

So then, when Richo came in, his main priority must have been to keep those difficult players on side. And he did it brilliantly - the exact opposite of Watters. He always made them feel that they were doing the most important job of all by nurturing the next group of leaders.

Except they did a lousy job of it, as it turns out.

Good point

Watters realised once BJ and Dal were no longer at St Kilda that it was 'definitely' the end of an era. The senior players and especially Rooy were more interested in self preservation than they were in rebuilding the list to give the football club the best chance for premiership success. If you asked Brian Lake if he could have played on he would have said yes. If Clarko asked Sam Mitchell and Luke Hodge to keep signing on and stay with Hwathorn, they also probably would have. Problem is only poorly administered football clubs let the tail wag the dog

For the first time since Ross Lyon departed, Watters was thinking about succession planning for on field leaders. There were discussions about the possibility of a new captain or rotating the captaincy. There was a challenge to the pedestal that had been built for the senior players and the power struggles within the club at the time drove an even bigger wedge between the senior players and the younger guys than there already existed. This could not have been a good environment for our youngsters and I don't believe the senior players were remotely interested in nurturing anyone.

Once Watters was sacked, any talk of changing captains was quashed and empowering any future leaders was off the agenda. As you say, with Richo being appointed it was more about keeping the senior players on side rather than ruthlessly rebuilding and ruthlessly planning for future success. Compare Hawthorn and the way they move on their senior players and how they also changed their captains at a much faster rate than most other clubs. The Saints are more interested in hero worship and individuals rather than team success.

This theme continued right up until the end of last year and was symbolised by Roo and the fact that he lined up at full forward in his final year and hobbled on one leg while our number 1 draft pick desperately crashed and bashed his way in the VFL to try and get a recall.

Roo did change his attitude towards the youth and embraced them in the final 2-3 years of his captaincy, but it was 5 years too late imo

[HarryM]

I’ve had a gutful of Richo. I’m beginning to hate his guts and despise the man.

Wow what a keyboard hero you are..

[To the top]

Do not under estimate James Gallagher's football pedigree.

The Gallagher family is a family of Legends at a Club that is in its 140th Year (and in a position to add to its 30 Premierships in 2018).

Well over 200 SANFL games, coming out of retirement to play in a Premiership side in 2012 then to Assistant Coach to Nathan Bassett and further premierships.

Then to the "real world" of business and commerce and Melbourne (it happens!!!).

And now St Kilda FC

[guitars4]

Don't hate him but he is not up to taking St.Kilda to the next level. I just saw interview & he is still in denial about were our list is at & that its pretty much white noise from the media & the club & supporters are on board & we will roll our sleeves up & get back on track ,train the house down & next year we will be pushing for a finals berth. I wouldn't hold my breath

[thejiggingsaint]

I don’t ( and can’t ) “ hate “ Richo. Why? Because of the results of a football team? REALLY? To be perfectly honest I don’t wish the guy anything but good luck. He NEEDS it! At the end of the day, he’s trying to do a job, we may not be happy with the results of his efforts, but “hate”...... don’t want a bar of it. If the bloke gets the arse, then I’ll be sorry, sorry that it didn’t work out for him, or us.

[skeptic]

The term ‘hate’here is interesting.

I hate Richo as a coach... I hate Weller as a player.

If i met them, I’d be genuinely nice. They seem like nice people.

In a football sense, I don’t think hate really means hate

[fugazi]

I want him to go, but it is hard to imagine for anyone not in his position, just how full on the pressure and disappointment would be.
He wasnt up to the role, and should never have been extended.
We are dysfunctional from the top down, and Richo stands at the centre of that.

I hate that we are so insipid, but I can't pin that on just one bloke.

[parkeysainter]

There is too much "hate" in this forum sometimes. Its just footy after all. If you "actually" lose sleep over the Saints then you have issues.

[Moods]

I just read Dermy's piece in the herald sun and it made me think - it was Roo and the leadership group at that time who got rid of Watters and I remember thinking how disrespectful he was to them talking as if we needed to start from scratch when there were so many players still around who'd just been to the well three times in two years!

So then, when Richo came in, his main priority must have been to keep those difficult players on side. And he did it brilliantly - the exact opposite of Watters. He always made them feel that they were doing the most important job of all by nurturing the next group of leaders.

Except they did a lousy job of it, as it turns out.

Good point

Watters realised once BJ and Dal were no longer at St Kilda that it was 'definitely' the end of an era. The senior players and especially Rooy were more interested in self preservation than they were in rebuilding the list to give the football club the best chance for premiership success. If you asked Brian Lake if he could have played on he would have said yes. If Clarko asked Sam Mitchell and Luke Hodge to keep signing on and stay with Hwathorn, they also probably would have. Problem is only poorly administered football clubs let the tail wag the dog

For the first time since Ross Lyon departed, Watters was thinking about succession planning for on field leaders. There were discussions about the possibility of a new captain or rotating the captaincy. There was a challenge to the pedestal that had been built for the senior players and the power struggles within the club at the time drove an even bigger wedge between the senior players and the younger guys than there already existed. This could not have been a good environment for our youngsters and I don't believe the senior players were remotely interested in nurturing anyone.

Once Watters was sacked, any talk of changing captains was quashed and empowering any future leaders was off the agenda. As you say, with Richo being appointed it was more about keeping the senior players on side rather than ruthlessly rebuilding and ruthlessly planning for future success. Compare Hawthorn and the way they move on their senior players and how they also changed their captains at a much faster rate than most other clubs. The Saints are more interested in hero worship and individuals rather than team success.

This theme continued right up until the end of last year and was symbolised by Roo and the fact that he lined up at full forward in his final year and hobbled on one leg while our number 1 draft pick desperately crashed and bashed his way in the VFL to try and get a recall.

Roo did change his attitude towards the youth and embraced them in the final 2-3 years of his captaincy, but it was 5 years too late imo

Oh. So all this is Roo's fault????

Interesting take on everything. Not sure I agree with one thing you have written. Our younger players have been ordinary to say the least. The pathetic excuses I hear for McCartin make me want to throw up. No-one gets handed anything in AFL footy - (unless you're Newnes or Weller) you have to fight your way into the team. You have to earn your stripes. The bottom line is that Paddy hasn't dome that. He's shown tiny glimpses here and there, but certainly nothing to suggest he was ready to take the mantle of Key fwd off Roo.

Roo wanted to play up the ground - it was Richo that kept putting him back. Why do you think? Because Roo is /was always our best option.

Look at the leadership void left by Roo. That's not his fault. That's an indictment of the playing group. He set a wonderful example and our best player in Jack Steven just couldn't take the responsibility. So it was given to a good trier in Geary. The Hawks have had a successful era and have leaders everywhere on the ground. You put your best leader as leader. You ask the up and comer to take the mantle by displaying leadership. I'm confident Roo would have relinquished captaincy earlier if only someone would stand up!

Imagine if they'd sacked Roo earlier than he retired - we could have started our rebuild 3 years earlier and had these same conversations then

[st.byron]

Hate is a strong word...I don’t hate Richo, just think he’s not up to the task. His ‘coach speak’ and excuses are really pissing me off.