Preview Round 4, 2023: St.Kilda v Gold Coast - Marvel Stadium, Saturday 8th April, 7:30PM AEST

[austinnn]

In 2022, we played one quarter of decent footy each game, then fell to peices if we were challenged;

This year its 3.5 quarters of good footy with a 15 minute lull to recharge and give the oppo false hope, before snatching that hope away.

The results speak for themselves

 

[saintsmania]

AFL

St Kilda

St Kilda’s 150th anniversary: Lindsay Fox recalls how bankrupt club was saved in 1980s

One of Australia’s most prominent businessmen played a key role in St Kilda’s 150-year history. Lindsay Fox chats to DANIEL CHERNY about his time as a president and player at the Saints.

[https://news-networkeditorial]Daniel Cherny

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@danielcherny

2 min read

March 31, 2023 - 12:00PM

[https://content]

Lindsay Fox has played a key role in St Kilda’s 150-year history. Picture: Aaron Francis/The Australian

Lindsay Fox says he has no regrets over implementing the controversial scheme of arrangement that bailed out St Kilda four decades ago, but accepts he was wrong about last year’s call to reappoint Ross Lyon as coach.

Trucking magnate Fox, one of Australia’s wealthiest people, has a long history with St Kilda. The 85-year-old played 20 games with the club between 1959 and 1961 before a five-year stint as president from 1979.

The Saints were financially imperilled during Fox’s time at the helm, with the club avoiding going under by initiating a scheme of arrangement in 1984 whereby many players and premiership coach Allan Jeans accepted a deal to take just 22.5 per cent in the dollar of debts owed, and non-football creditors received only 7.5 cents in the dollar.

The matter has remained a sore point with some ex-players since.

Speaking ahead of the club’s 150th anniversary celebration game against Essendon at the MCG on Saturday night, Fox said he would do the same thing if he had his time again.

[https://content]

St Kilda president Lindsay Fox and playing coach Alex Jesaulenko in 1980. Picture: News Corp Australia

“St Kilda were bankrupt when I took over, and I helped manage to keep the blood running through their veins,” Fox said.

“The scheme of arrangement was set up not by me, but by the accountants. Two of the leading accountants at the time worked for KPMG, and they came up with the scheme of arrangement.

“I’d never been involved in a scheme of arrangement before.

“Would I do it again? Every day of the week. If somebody’s run out of blood, and you can’t put blood back in the body, they’re dead. St Kilda as a club was dead. It had no financial credibility. The banks wouldn’t support them, there were no relationships.”

Fox would only say of his brief career as a VFL ruckman that “I had a good right hand”, but he wishes he had set the club up better on-field as president.

“I suppose you could say 149 years have been a waste of time,” Fox says sardonically of the Saints’ one premiership across a century and a half.

“I was part of the negativity, because I went there for six years as president, and while I got them out of their financial problems, we weren’t successful on the field.

“We weren’t successful on the field, I thought we would have done better.”

[https://content]

Fox soaks up the disappointment of a grand final loss in 2009. Picture: News Corp Australia

While Fox says he has very little involvement in the club these days, his 85th birthday celebration cruise last year was reportedly the scene of early discussions about replacing coach Brett Ratten

Brett Ratten

Age

53

Ht

184cm

Wt

88kg

Pos.

Mid

Career

Season

Last 5

D

22.4

5star

K

12.1

4star

HB

10.3

5star

M

2.9

3star

T

3.0

5star

No current season stats available

D

26.4

5star

K

13.8

5star

HB

12.6

5star

M

3.4

4star

T

1.6

4star

.

Fox says he wasn’t actually a fan of the idea to bring back Lyon, who led the club to consecutive grand finals in 2009 and 2010. But after two stirring wins to start 2023, Fox thinks he was wrong about Lyon, and wants to tell the man himself.

“I probably wouldn’t have appointed him, but he’s put so much fight into the club. It’s a pleasure to see, and I intend ringing him up and telling him what I’ve just told you,” Fox said.

More Coverage

How Lyon’s return brought back Hill’s love of footy

“To have the team playing, like (former Saints coach) Alan Killigrew said years ago, ‘I don’t want a team of champions, I want a champion team’. He appears at this stage to have carried those instructions of Killigrew.

“I didn’t think he was a good choice. I am now eating my words, and I want to ring him up and tell him.”

[https://news-networkeditorial]

Daniel ChernyStaff writer





On CPH2305 using BigFooty.com mobile app

 

[Remboy]

Is there a record of the stat 'time in front'? I thought that there used to be such a thing, but I can't find it.
Anyhoe, I was wondering what that would look like for the Saints after round 3

It’s on the AFL app. We lead the last two from the start but the Freo game stuffEd things up.

 

[OxSaint]

Ideally and ordinarily I would agree with that, he’s a better fit for Touk, but if Bytel plays- as I think he has to- he’s going to almost certainly be playing a run-with role, and Touk is the one to shut down this week, and we’re not going to play two guys in shut-down roles in the same midfield. If we were, one of them would almost certainly be Seb.

So for that reason it makes sense to me to have Windy join Hill and Byrnes in the wing/high-HF rotation for the time being, with Bytel to do the midfield run-with roles.

Windy could also be an ideal option to go with Nick or even Josh Daicos, the following week.

I would be sending him to Rowell to try to kill it at the source. If we can match them at stoppage I feel the rest of the game plan will get the job done.

 

[Diehard Saint]

Another great insight. Listen to the players speak about Ross. Pretty sure each one has mentioned how simple easy and the amount of clarity he has given them about their roles.

The man is a deadset genius then considering the the circuitous manner of his speech in his pressers and interviews etc.
He really seems to get the players as individuals - and man management is as important as the coaching side of things.
I love him. Always makes me laugh.

 

[stavro#4]

The man is a deadset genius then considering the the circuitous manner of his speech in his pressers and interviews etc.

I love him. Always makes me laugh.

Cmon mate. He takes the piss saying he is cuddly Ross and some of the boys have said he has given some good sprays already.

He walked through the door and had their respect. Otherwise we don’t have how ever many setting new PBs in preseason. (Think it was 22)

So to earn respect you have to be good at something. Obviously he is a ****ing genius at getting buy in.


Otherwise how do we explain 3-0 with the likes of stocker Cordy Phillipou Caminiti Byrnes all playing significant roles.

And King Membrey Billings Jones Hayes Dmac Coffield all having player none.

 

[Diehard Saint]

Cmon mate. He takes the piss saying he is cuddly Ross and some of the boys have said he has given some good sprays already.

He walked through the door and had their respect. Otherwise we don’t have how ever many setting new PBs in preseason. (Think it was 22)

So to earn respect you have to be good at something. Obviously he is a ******* genius at getting buy in.


Otherwise how do we explain 3-0 with the likes of stocker Cordy Phillipou Caminiti Byrnes all playing significant roles.

And King Membrey Billings Jones Hayes Dmac Coffield all having player none.

Hey, I’m agreeing with you. It’s not a criticism, I said he was a genius. I love his offbeat character - so far from the last two bland coaches as you could get.

Love that although he appears to be all over the place in his pressers, starting a new sentence before finishing another, he is obviously totally different with the players.

From what he has said about them during the pressers he appears to be an excellent man manager too - he really seems to get them, individually as well.

 

[sammm]

Can't wait to go Saturday and watch the Boys do their stuff

I'm going this week. My first for the year.

 

[Barrels]

Will be my first game at Marvel in quite a while… since before COVID… be really good to see the people we’ve been sitting with for 15-odd years…

 

[AFLOnline]

Wood might play????

 

[Hayes4PM]

It reminds me of this geezer.

There’s all sorts of effin’ and Jeffin’ in this

 

[moirae42]

GC played very, very well against the Cats.
Rowell is a contested monster.

 

[Sab22]

GC played very, very well against the Cats.
Rowell is a contested monster.

We have Windy.

 

[Premium]

We have Windy.

We actually have a guy that fly's under the radar in Crouch , he was our best contested possession winner last year and he is again this year.

The guy that worries me at the Suns is Touk Miller , great endurance and fast - it will be interesting who plays on him , because he will have to be tagged.

 

[Hubnester]

I love the romantic idea of bringing in a Moose or Sharman but I wonder if we lean to Campbell for a mature, experienced big body to provide backup for Marshall. Helps combat their talls, frees up Marshall to get around the ground a bit more and should hold his own in the ruck.
Last week Witts was cooked by the 4th quarter, if Campbell is slowing late we could sub at that point to bring in some fresh legs as well.

 

[tomjoad]

Must win game

We will struggle the following two weeks wirh our injury list, need to bank these games if we are going to play finals

Even without getting to finals, we should be banking these games. Whatever about the weeks ahead, we should be able to go toe to toe with mid table teams. GC will give us a run for our money, they've got some serious talent in the team coming through, and always give us a fright...but we should have enough to beat them on our home deck.

 

[mad-saint-guy]

If Wood is able to play then we've got to play him. In his last 9 games he's averaged 20 disposals, 7.4 marks, 3 tackles and 1.4 goals per game. He has lifted his game this year but last year he was playing very good footy as well.

 

[tomjoad]

If Wood is able to play then we've got to play him. In his last 9 games he's averaged 20 disposals, 7.4 marks, 3 tackles and 1.4 goals per game. He has lifted his game this year but last year he was playing very good footy as well.

He's been more than handy since arriving. Even his first year with us wasn't too bad. I think it was only 9-10 games, and they were nothing particularly flashy, but he played his role. He flew under the radar most of last year until June or July when he started getting more accolades externally, but even before that he was playing quite well for us with his running a big feature.
Been nothing short of a jet so far this year.

 

[Baldur]

We should feel confident but not too much, Gold Coast has some very good players, Miller, King, Lukosius & Rowell for instance. The team has to treat them as a serious threat or we will lose. But with RTB I feel confident that message will be hammered home all week.

 

[Minga]

Understandably a lot less Phillipou talk this week, but I think he’ll add some highlights to his reel against Gold Coast. There will be a lot of younger players running around and I reckon he’ll want to assert himself amongst the best. No pressure on the kid though, just playing his role is enough.

 

[Barrels]

I love the romantic idea of bringing in a Moose or Sharman but I wonder if we lean to Campbell for a mature, experienced big body to provide backup for Marshall. Helps combat their talls, frees up Marshall to get around the ground a bit more and should hold his own in the ruck.
Last week Witts was cooked by the 4th quarter, if Campbell is slowing late we could sub at that point to bring in some fresh legs as well.

Love the idea in terms of working over Witts… but if Bytel comes in too (and he should), and Paton goes into the 18 to replace Webster, who plays as the sub?

 

[saintkildaman]

Love the idea in terms of working over Witts… but if Bytel comes in too (and he should), and Paton goes into the 18 to replace Webster, who plays as the sub?

Highmore or Peris. I’m warming to the idea of TC coming in, even if Cordy drops out

 

[Barrels]

Highmore or Peris. I’m warming to the idea of TC coming in, even if Cordy drops out

Highmore/Peris, Bytel, Campbell, and Paton for Webster and Cordy still leaves us one too many, doesn’t it, unless I’m higher than I thought?

B: Stocker - Howard - Wilkie
HB: Wang.-Mil. - Battle - Sinclair
C: Brynes - Ross - Wood*
HF: Hill - Caminiti - Gresham
F: Higgins - Owens - Butler
Foll: Marshall - Crouch - Windhager

Int: Paton Phillipou Clark Campbell
Sub: Bytel Highmore/Peris
​

Bytel is absolutely NOT suited to the sub role, so… who else comes out?

 

[The_Steadier]

Why do so many people want a ruckman as a sub?

Because we have a massive gap from marshall to our next best option in the ruck.

If marshall were to ever go down before halftime in a match- that alone could very easily cost us a win.

We'd get smacked in the ruck PLUS our structure elsewhere would get messed up because owens or cordy etc would be taken out of the fwd line.

Plus the "advantage" of only 1 set of "fresh legs" in Q4 is not very much.

Never seen a sub come on and change a game purely because they had "fresh legs".
Its not really much of an advantage at all if you bring on a sub by choice (at 3qtime etc) rather being forced to because of injury

 

[Remboy]

Because we have a massive gap from marshall to our next best option in the ruck.

If marshall were to ever go down before halftime in a match- that alone could very easily cost us a win.

We'd get smacked in the ruck PLUS our structure elsewhere would get messed up because owens or cordy etc would be taken out of the fwd line.

Plus the "advantage" of only 1 set of "fresh legs" in Q4 is not very much.

Never seen a sub come on and change a game purely because they had "fresh legs".
Its not really much of an advantage at all if you bring on a sub by choice (at 3qtime etc) rather being forced to because of injury

That wouldn‘t make it much of a tactical sub though would it? You’d only use the sub if Marshall got injured. And if a midfielder got injured early and all you had was a second ruck to replace them, your rotations would be up the creek.
I get where you’re coming from but I think we would lose more than we gain. Have a look at round one and being able to replace Butler with Paton.