Grant Thomas Had To Go
With the players St Kilda has had on its list for the last few, a grand final if not a premiership should have been guaranteed. Yet this hasn’t happen and therefore the St Kilda Board had every right to sack its now ex coach, Grant Thomas.
Yes he did have a lot of injuries to deal with during his stint as coach, but lets not forget that most of those injuries were niggling soft tissue injuries which can be better managed through a different training regime. Also the best coaches shine through when faced with adversity, in this case injuries, Thomas didn’t. In fact Thomas cracked many times under pressure on game days, not knowing what to do when opposition teams got on top. Such a good list deserved a much better coach.
A midfield with the likes of Ball, Hayes, Dal Santo, Harvey and Goddard has the potential to be one of the best in the business and up their with bench marks in West Coast and Adelaide. Its forward line on paper is unstoppable. Riewoldt is one of the best players in the league, Gehrig is ever reliable and was recently the Coleman medalist. Throw in a fit Hamill and Koschitzke and this forward line could be one of the greatest ever. Their backline though not up there with the best is commendable and does the job as well as providing great drive.
Most of the time when a coach gets sacked, it’s because the players don’t support him or his game plan and hence don’t perform to their full potential. In St Kilda’s case, Thomas was a much loved coach and club man and had the full support of all his players. So much of the blame for the Saints not going all the way has to lie with the coach, in the end the buck stops with him.
St Kilda suffered for 6 long years but with a new coach they can look forward to a fresh start and hopefully many years of success ahead of them. In my eyes sacking Thomas was long overdue.
Yes he did have a lot of injuries to deal with during his stint as coach, but lets not forget that most of those injuries were niggling soft tissue injuries which can be better managed through a different training regime. Also the best coaches shine through when faced with adversity, in this case injuries, Thomas didn’t. In fact Thomas cracked many times under pressure on game days, not knowing what to do when opposition teams got on top. Such a good list deserved a much better coach.
A midfield with the likes of Ball, Hayes, Dal Santo, Harvey and Goddard has the potential to be one of the best in the business and up their with bench marks in West Coast and Adelaide. Its forward line on paper is unstoppable. Riewoldt is one of the best players in the league, Gehrig is ever reliable and was recently the Coleman medalist. Throw in a fit Hamill and Koschitzke and this forward line could be one of the greatest ever. Their backline though not up there with the best is commendable and does the job as well as providing great drive.
Most of the time when a coach gets sacked, it’s because the players don’t support him or his game plan and hence don’t perform to their full potential. In St Kilda’s case, Thomas was a much loved coach and club man and had the full support of all his players. So much of the blame for the Saints not going all the way has to lie with the coach, in the end the buck stops with him.
St Kilda suffered for 6 long years but with a new coach they can look forward to a fresh start and hopefully many years of success ahead of them. In my eyes sacking Thomas was long overdue.
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