I think it goes past him being a bit of an idiot with this call, into territory that paints him as a spiteful one who came at our coach off a long run for reasons best known to himself.
The only defense for Leigh is that his opinion maybe reflects his personal experience and the culture of relative failure at his own club. Maybe he's bitter after being toweled up by Sam and Hawthorn even when St.Kilda was at its most recent best.
The fact is that Mitchell had already been through one expedited rebuild as a player under Clarkson pre coaching our team. That had to count for at least something re: our current edition, given what a savvy player and hard worker he was.
Plus, Sam was at WC as a coach when they won a flag in 2018 after spending a year there as a player in 2107. So he's been around winning environments as a coach and player twice.
How far we rise this time remains up the air. But was it really reasonable to suggest that Mitchell would fail and be sacked, and that Hawthorn wouldn't make finals for ten years?
That's a fool's prediction even without taking into account Hawthorn's history of success or Sam's track record of achievement.
A week is a long time in football, and there are a LOT of weeks in a decade.
Purple's foolish call might have been the most visible, but this one is the most offensive and most unwarranted. There was less than little to no reality in it.
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