St Kilda’s review into their football department has found the Saints have not been set up properly to support a winning AFL culture.
The club’s board wants to “sharpen its focus” on football in a bid to end St Kilda’s painful 56-year wait to win a second premiership.
The review findings were released on Friday, almost three weeks after St Kilda confirmed Ross Lyon would be returning for a second stint as coach.
Lyon’s appointment came 10 days after the brutal sacking of Brett Ratten, who was let go just three months after he signed a two-year contract extension.
“The review found that we did not have the platform needed to support a sustainable winning culture and that significant change was needed in the football department, and more broadly in the club,” St Kilda president Andrew Bassat wrote.
“In our football program, we had seen encouraging signs of improvement through 2020, an injury-cruelled 2021 season and the first half of the 2022 season.
“But our performances post the bye this year made it much harder to make the case that we were making sufficient progress in our football journey.”
Bassat said the club had opted to forego financial incentives and will not sell off a game interstate next year to give the Saints a better shot at winning.
Saints coach Ross Lyon talks with Stephen Milne during a St Kilda training session in 2009. (Photo by Robert Cianflone/Getty Images)
St Kilda’s loss to Port Adelaide in Cairns in round seven, ultimately proved costly, with the Saints missing finals by just one game and percentage.
“We have decided not to sell a home game in 2023 and to apply a strong football lens to any cause games we consider undertaking,” Bassat wrote.
The review committee, which included former North Melbourne coach David Noble, said St Kilda needed to recruit an experienced football boss, improve “leadership and capacity” of the coaching group and give players more leadership and development opportunities.
The Saints opted to hire former Collingwood and North Melbourne boss Geoff Walsh, while former St Kilda greats Robert Harvey, Lenny Hayes and Brendon Goddard have joined the coaching staff.
© AAP
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