As the title says, the Saints are in the worst position of any club in the league.
They might be equal with Gold Coast, though that isn’t an achievement considering they consider themselves as one of the big Victorian clubs. This was evidenced by St Kilda CEO Matt Finnis stating that they could be as big as Richmond, who were the first team to reach 100,000 members last year.
The Saints have done so many things poorly, basically since the last time they played finals football, which is heading towards ten years now. Although, none of that really matters. We all know the reasons why the Saints are where they are now, countless bad decisions.
I won’t elaborate about the former regime at St Kilda. Led by former CEO Peter Summers, former director of football Chris Pelchen and former senior coaches in Ross Lyon and then Scott Watters. Even though this has played a role in the club’s downward spiral since last playing finals in 2011, the current regime has had enough time to start correcting the path, and they haven’t.
CEO Matt Finnis and senior coach Alan Richardson have had enough time to build something that they can at least say is progressive at the club, but they haven’t. St Kilda won the wooden spoon the year Richardson took over, and their finishing positions since then have been 14th, 9th, 11th and then 16th last year.
There has been no improvement, in fact, they have basically got worse as a football team, considering they only finished above two of the worst teams we have ever seen in the league in Carlton and Gold Coast.
It comes down to many things, and they all interrelate. Whether it be a lack of leadership on and off the field, bad recruiting, bad drafting, bad football department decisions or bad financial decisions. When all of those things aren’t going well, you get to where St Kilda are now.
Whether it be drafting or development, none of the young players have come on at all. St Kilda had six first-round picks between 2013 and 2016. The players being Jack Billings, Luke Dunstan, Blake Acres, Patrick McCartin, Hugh Goddard and Jade Gresham.
One of those players isn’t at the club anymore, and besides Jade Gresham, none of those players have even gone close to being A graders in this competition and most of them haven’t even been close to B graders.
(Photo by Cameron Spencer/Getty Images)
For all the hype Jack Billings gets, the most disposals he has ever averaged over the course of a season is 23. Dunstan’s is 21, and he kicks it like a mule. Acres has played fewer games than them and showed a bit in his 12 games last year; next year needs to be his break out year and Patrick McCartin has played 35 games in four years due to concussion issues and diabetes problems (which was an issue pre-draft).
Their recruiting from other clubs has been pretty similar. Shane Savage, Logan Austin, Billy Longer and Tom Hickey weren’t good recruits and haven’t given good service to the club. Dylan Roberton, Tim Membrey and Josh Bruce have given the club good service, but none have been stars.
The only player that has been brilliant for them since coming is ex-Bomber Jake Carlisle, and even he couldn’t play for half of the first year due to an off-field scandal.
It isn’t just up to the development staff to get the most out of these players and develop them, the head coach has to still do a majority of that, and Alan Richardson just hasn’t done it. His in-game coaching seemingly leaves a lot to be desired as well.
He just can’t seem to stop the flow of scoring when another team gets on top of them, evident by the number of heavy defeats they received last year.
Financially, the club has regressed. They are now in a debt of over ten million dollars. The club still didn’t make money last year, even with their return to Moorabbin, and better stadium deal now that the AFL owns Etihad Stadium. CEO Matt Finnis made bold claims that they were a big Melbourne club and that they were going to slowly get themselves out of debt, but that hasn’t happened either.
This whole St Kilda administration has failed on its promises to their supporters and to the promises they gave to the AFL. The bad news is, it isn’t going to get any better for the faithful. It’s not like the Saints are going to all of a sudden make finals with the list they currently have, and if they don’t, Alan Richardson will be sacked and maybe Matt Finnis too.
The one move in the offseason that sums up this current St Kilda is the signing of Daniel Hannebery. A player that everyone knows is past his best, and that his body is failing him. They signed him on a five-year deal worth $700,000 per year. It’s the sign of a club so bereft of talent and leadership, that they were desperate to get a big name.
Well done Saints, you got one.
In totality, the above reasons are why St Kilda are in the worst position of any club maybe barring the Gold Coast. In debt, a bad list and no leadership to count on. That premiership wait isn’t ending anytime soon, Saints fans.
James Styles
Guest
Time to get the St. Kilda Football Club to form a 50-50 Joint-Venture with the North Melbourne Football Club while keeping their Second Tier Sides Seperate.
Dave
Guest
This article is aging well
Mike
Roar Rookie
Well informed
Marius Smith
Roar Rookie
I'm not sure that William's article has managed to get the balance quite right - it seems he came in with a preconceived view and wasn't minded to challenge it. There's a lot of focus on the negatives without a focus on the positives. A more balanced analysis of the Saints would have mentioned the following players: - Ben Long looks like an emerging star for the Saints. Injury limited him to a handful of games in 2019 but he showed why he's so highly regarded when he got on the park. - Jack Steele was 3rd in the B&F and at at 23 looks ready to take the next step in 2019, particularly as his second half of last year was very impressive. - Josh Battle is a seriously talented tall forward with white line fever who has been switched to defence this offseason and has potential to give huge headaches to opposition teams. Regarding players that he did mention: - Gresham has been brilliant as a small forward but showed his real talent with amazing impact in the centre square from very little opportunity in 2018 (his centre clearance rate was phenomenal). As a full-time mid, he could really change the shape of the team this year. AA in 2019 is not beyond him. Throw him in with Steven, Steele, Ross and Hannebery and things in the centre square look OK. - Hunter Clark is not vanilla. He has genuine star quality. Just amazing that anyone would call him a "safe choice". - Hannebery was brought in to address the Saints' leadership gap and has already had a huge influence in that area. The real question for the Saints in 2019 is whether 2018 was a one-off dip after three years of consistent improvement prior to that, or whether we're really that bad. Will our young players who had a bad year last year resume their upward career trajectories? Acres, Dunstan, Seb Ross, Billings, Newnes, Sinclair and Membrey all fall into this boat. If even half of them improve, we're looking a lot better. And will the glut of players who played little to no footy in 2018 get on the park regularly this year. That would include Dylan Roberton, Paddy McCartin, Josh Bruce, Jimmy Webster and Billy Longer. And will the addition of some well respected assistants in Brendon Lade, Brett Ratten and Billy Slater (in a leadership role) help the club as well? I'm not saying we'll win the flag this year, but a more balanced article would have considered at least some of these points.
Nick
Guest
You miss the mark on whole heap of stuff in this article - no idea re the Hannebery trade , the Carlisle situation , little clue about the players and about the current climate.
Tyler
Roar Guru
Dylan Roberton not a star has to be a joke? Made the 2017 all Australian squad in 2017 with the 3rd most kicks and rebound 50s in the competition. Averaged 23 disposals; if it wasn’t for a horrifically unfortunate injury in 2018, the Saints season could have been very different.
Peter
Guest
They are a minnow club. Zero superstars, and maybe 3-5 players who would make the best 22 of the top 4 teams last year.
IAP
Guest
Big fan base? No way.
IAP
Guest
Yep, no doubt the Aints are terrible. They should be the next target for a merge.
OK John!
Roar Rookie
History would suggest this club has never been able to get it together, and more importantly, keep it together...
Cat
Roar Guru
Very accurate assessment of the 'Aints. One thing you left out is they seem to be excessively risk adverse when drafting. For example, in 2017 the 'Aints had picks 7 and 8. They could have packaged those picks and went after one of the players projected to be stars. Instead they picked Clark and Coffield. That's not to say either one won't be decent players but they were 'safe' picks that lack the flash and turnstile turning qualities that the 'Aints are sorely lacking.
Pelican
Roar Rookie
The rot started when they sacked Stan Alves as coach after the grand final loss. Then conman Rod Butters started throwing his influence about. They hired and sacked Malcolm Blight for a cool million. They then replaced him with a non coach in Grant Thomas who wasted the most talented list in history by not getting a flag. And then there was Ross Lyon who rode the list into the ground like Slim Pickins in Dr Strangelove.
Aligee
Roar Rookie
Big fan base if they ever get it together, will no doubt struggle along as they only have one premiership in 150 years so they have probably had worse times and that was against Collingwood in 1966 by one point who as per usual managed to snatch defeat out of the jaws of victory!! Not going anywhere I would have thought, Lyon got them humming along but seriously it was a game style that about the worst I have seen - didn’t seem to bother Saints fans at the time though.
William Cornwill
Roar Guru
The saints are actually one of my better liked teams. Do you honestly think this Saints list has the same talent as the Dogs and Pies did?
Mac
Guest
This 'story' sounds like someone really doesn't like the Saints. When McCartney left the Dogs along with Cooney, Higgins and Griffen the general commentary from the ignorant was that they would take a decade to get out of the mess they were in. 2 years later a flag. Buckley had his head on the chopping block according to the ignorant and they came within a kick of a flag. Still people don't learn...