Training Pre season training

[Ricmel]

Was Richmond star studded? Martin was a star but a part timer. Cotchin was an A grader. Prestia and Edwards very good.

I'd call it pretty good. Two brownlow medalists, Edwards was way underrated (and an All Australian), Prestia in their best in two GFs and Bolton pinch hitting.

 

[stfan]

Was Richmond star studded? Martin was a star but a part timer. Cotchin was an A grader. Prestia and Edwards very good.

Very good top end group of players. And a team totally committed to their game plan with a very good workrate.

Plus the great fortune to be at their peak when when there were no great teams.

 

[Saints43]

Richo was all about telling players that they weren't very good so try to take others down to your level. You'd listen to him and want to give up. He was like some dour religious cult leader that encouraged self flagellation. Imagine being lead by a negative voice, having minimal staff and low energy training.

We drafted badly but the ones that might have needed early guidance to meet expectation got neglected at exactly the wrong time. I still think we were focussed on a very specific type of excessively nice type of kid too.

Imagine achieving your lifelong goal of playing top level football and getting this for your trouble...

 

[pebblesofsand]

Not his fault he got picked at #3..over 170+ games is a fair effort

Its better than a fair effort.

Its actually 40 games more than the average number of games for Pick 3.

 

[gringo2011]

I'd call it pretty good. Two brownlow medalists, Edwards was way underrated (and an All Australian), Prestia in their best in two GFs and Bolton pinch hitting.

Edwards was very good but probably around Jack Steele level. Brownlows are a consistency award and Cotch was a real leader, he was also runner up to Jobe Watson though. Dusty was a forward/mid rather than a pure on baller. Still think it was a pretty solid rather than brilliant set up.

Bulldogs premiership midfield lined up with Hunter, Bont, Picken across the centre, Dalhouse, Libba and Jordan Roughead as followers.
Interchange of McLean, Roberts and Dunkley and Macrae off CHF. Most of those star players were still kids.

 

[tomjoad]

That bit of imagery you came up with at the end suggests , IT IS YOU, Not Him.

Of course it's me...
It's ALWAYS me.

 

[tomjoad]

The Elshau years, when choir boys were priorities

Damage control in a hamstrung environment. We were in a bad way economically and just couldn't afford to be good, or make bold decisions.
The media still perceives us in this light. To them nothing has changed since 2013.
We are still being promoted as the leagues basket case...even though the environment has changed significantly.

 

[hayes]

Have to agree. We see it time and again...master premiership coach goes from flag winning team to struggle town and all of a sudden they are no longer master premiership coach.

Not a huge Brereton fan but sometimes he says things that absolutely make sense. It is list, list, list, list, list .....coach. If you go back over the last 25 years it is very rare for a team without a star studded midfield to go all the way. Someone said Eagles in 2018 and probably a fair call but there are not many others.

RTB's appointment is not going to make or break the club and very unlikely to be reason for success or otherwise.

I feel like most people who say that about the Eagles midfield didn’t really watch much of them because they were all the way over there. Shuey and Yeo were stars, Shuey won a Norm Smith for crying out loud and Yeo had multiple years of averaging 12+ contested possessions per game which not a lot of players do. And while Sheed hadn’t quite established himself before the finals they were his coming out party as a player and was a very high level mid from then on. I wish we had a midfield that “ordinary”.

 

[Parkysp]

Damage control in a hamstrung environment. We were in a bad way economically and just couldn't afford to be good, or make bold decisions.
The media still perceives us in this light. To them nothing has changed since 2013.
We are still being promoted as the leagues basket case...even though the environment has changed significantly.

Yep we have improved but I've just finished booking flights and accommodation for round 1 and Gather Round. I wanted to do round 4 and stay the week but my better senses kicked in because I've got other places I want to holiday before Adelaide as I've been there a lot over the years.

It was a reminder though with looking at all the travel what a f*ing brutal opening to the season it is. Come the end of the season it's not going to be given any allowance by anyone if we make or miss finals. My contempt for the AFL and its media gloryhole practioners knows no end...

 

[SaintsSeptember]

Damage control in a hamstrung environment. We were in a bad way economically and just couldn't afford to be good, or make bold decisions.
The media still perceives us in this light. To them nothing has changed since 2013.
We are still being promoted as the leagues basket case...even though the environment has changed significantly.

No. If Petracca and Bontempelli had knocked on Elshaug's front door he would have mistaken them for Mormons and sicked his dog onto them.
I believe that Trout was totally incompetent, and should never have been in recruiting.

 

[Dr Spaceman]

I believe that Trout was totally incompetent, and should never have been in recruiting.

 

[Murraj1966]

Imagine achieving your lifelong goal of playing top level football and getting this for your trouble...

Me and my mates have never stopped quoting "You bloody beauty" for the stupidest shit. Richo was a walking joke.

 

[tomjoad]

No. If Petracca and Bontempelli had knocked on Elshaug's front door he would have mistaken them for Mormons and sicked his dog onto them.
I believe that Trout was totally incompetent, and should never have been in recruiting.

Imagine his dog though...it would be some lovely little gerbil sized piece of cotton wool with no teeth big enough for Elshaug's man purse.
Adorable, and oh so polite, obedient, and very very nice.

 

[seasonedsainter]

Thank you V66 - absolutely on the money!

We are now professional, driven, have a focus on development, a clear game plan (run & more run) & draft accordingly. Clearly if you are not up to standard as a player or off field and/or haven’t bought in to the plan you are gone.

The plan also includes Boris as RTBs successor - like it. I can foresee RTB continuing in a more managerial Football Director role.

This is the pathway to improvement and success plus a little bit of luck (injuries, fixture, tribunal & bounce of the ball!).

As we all know improvement isn’t linear but I am really positive about the trend over the next few years.

Agree with these sentiments! Wondering though, has the Enright succession plan ever been discussed formally by the Club? Personally I think it’s fairly plain to witness, and I’m 100% all for it. Sydney/Melbourne mould.

 

[seasonedsainter]

All good, but Lyon needs to get the team into the finals in 2025 and at least win a final- if he can't achieve that in his third year, then we need to question his appointment in the first place. Boris would be a great choice for head coach, but I know Geelong are extremely keen to get him back in the fold.

Are they really? Screw them honestly. He seems comfy with us I’d say, but I also think he’d be the one guy closest to the RTB coal face, so I hope he has the personality to handle that.

 

[seasonedsainter]

He's definitely under pressure to perform next year. If he just misses out or has excuses he can probably justify another year but the bells will start to toll if he has drop off.

I think with the significant list overhaul, even if we miss 2025 he’ll be totally fine internally. 2026 would become quite pressurised in this scenario though, it’s only natural. Ideally we get some injury luck this year and if so I can see us returning to September. Worst case scenario is no injuries this year and miss, injuries in ‘26 and miss. That’s a lot of hypotheticals but would also present a massive conundrum for the Club.

In the above scenario I think a lot would depend on general morale, if players are staying and how we’re playing on-field, style -wise and cohesion. Personally I think Lyon coaches through to the end of 2027 no matter what and I’d be happy for us to stick to that.

Just give us some injury luck please god and I think things we’ll be better than OK, think we could surprise many. The arrogant pricks. Love how we’re universally written off.

 

[seasonedsainter]

Me and my mates have never stopped quoting "You bloody beauty" for the stupidest shit. Richo was a walking joke.

They working in temporary accommodation in that first clip, was that Seaford? Fmd

 

[seasonedsainter]

I still think we were focussed on a very specific type of excessively nice type of kid too.

That 100% happened imo it was plain as day

 

[sammm]

No. If Petracca and Bontempelli had knocked on Elshaug's front door he would have mistaken them for Mormons and sicked his dog onto them.
I believe that Trout was totally incompetent, and should never have been in recruiting.

wasnt it Ross that kept Elshaug on?

 

[gringo2011]

Damage control in a hamstrung environment. We were in a bad way economically and just couldn't afford to be good, or make bold decisions.
The media still perceives us in this light. To them nothing has changed since 2013.
We are still being promoted as the leagues basket case...even though the environment has changed significantly.

We could afford shit that no-one wanted. We sunk a heap into being in the first lot of women's teams to get a licence when we couldn't afford basic footy department staff. Had inclusivity officers and staff that had FA to do.

 

[gringo2011]

I think with the significant list overhaul, even if we miss 2025 he’ll be totally fine internally. 2026 would become quite pressurised in this scenario though, it’s only natural. Ideally we get some injury luck this year and if so I can see us returning to September. Worst case scenario is no injuries this year and miss, injuries in ‘26 and miss. That’s a lot of hypotheticals but would also present a massive conundrum for the Club.

In the above scenario I think a lot would depend on general morale, if players are staying and how we’re playing on-field, style -wise and cohesion. Personally I think Lyon coaches through to the end of 2027 no matter what and I’d be happy for us to stick to that.

Just give us some injury luck please god and I think things we’ll be better than OK, think we could surprise many. The arrogant pricks. Love how we’re universally written off.

The media will go hard if he misses again. Clubs usually fold when that happens. They go for a circuit breaker.

 

[tomjoad]

We could afford shit that no-one wanted. We sunk a heap into being in the first lot of women's teams to get a licence when we couldn't afford basic footy department staff. Had inclusivity officers and staff that had FA to do.

That's a good point, and one that I missed. Matt Finnis loved to tick those boxes. I know it was for publicity, which would have made some sort of sense if we were in anyway relevant to begin with...but the endless games highlighting some cause, when we were so average and poor to watch, was as deflating as it was nauseating.

 

[Broski]

Watching those two videos from the Richo era makes me embarrassed, because as a teenager I genuinely believed we could play finals and eventually win a flag with the players and administration we had.

Just look at the players sitting there, along with the coaches. We were kidding ourselves and I am glad we had the balls to rehire Ross a couple of years ago. Yes, he might not lead us to a flag, but we at least we resemble a professional team.

I currently sit in the boat of 2025 being a mixed year of highs and lows that ultimately results in us missing finals. I hope we have a good year injury wise, and our young core get to develop more heading into 2026.

Sadly, with the evenness of the competition, I think we will need a lot to go our way. However, I can see a world where we sneak into the back-end of the eight. As mentioned, that is all dependent of how quickly the young core comes on.

 

[SaintsSeptember]

wasnt it Ross that kept Elshaug on?

Maybe, and i sometimes have concerns about Lyon's "jobs for my mates " attitude.

I just busted Trout bullshitting on his Linkedin profile lining up the dates as if he never left the club.
My memory, and Wikipedia have him quitting coaching partway through 2010 season for personal reasons.

Found it.
Start of 2011.
"Senior Coach Ross Lyon said, ‘We are extremely excited to appoint Tony as Recruiting Manager. He has outstanding experience within the football environment, where many young players have prospered under his leadership and direction.”

 

[SteeleSaints]

I imagine it's been state - but when are the boys back at training?