Nick's Collingwood Bulletin Board

P. Ryan:

The clock's ticking for Saints coach Richardson

https://www.theage.com.au/sport/afl/4-p ... 520i4.html

"Not even two years have passed since St Kilda thrashed Richmond at Docklands in what has proved to be the falsest of football dawns.

Since that high point of Alan Richardson's coaching career the Saints have won 12 of 41 games ...

Football manager Simon Lethlean simply told the truth when he said on radio the Saints have to start beating teams around or above them on the ladder for Richardson to retain his job in 2020...

So far this season the club has two wins against the Suns and one each against Carlton, Hawthorn, Melbourne and Essendon which is not exactly winning in group one company.
...

Unfortunately despite such realities during Richardson's time the numbers in his era are now hard to sell.

On Sunday he becomes the second longest serving coach in the club's history without having made the finals and his career win-loss record is 35 percent...

But there comes a point where no-one cares much about the detail of what has happened and the history is too overwhelming to talk about."

"While not completely safeguarding him from the sack in the next few weeks, sources at St Kilda say a trigger clause in Richardson's contract makes the prospect removing him while they are still a mathematical chance of making the final eight considerably less palatable.

St Kilda announced at the end of the 2017 season that Richardson had signed a contract extension, tying him to the Saints until the end of 2020. However, reaching 2020 was conditional on several factors.

While the exact terms of Richardson's contract are unclear, it's believed he would guarantee himself a seventh year in the job if the Saints were to win a final this year."

https://www.theage.com.au/sport/afl/sai ... 520ho.html

Amazingly they are only one game outside the top 8 (And percentage).

Their big losses this year: Rnd 7 Vs GWS (44 points). Rnd 9 Vs Coll (41 points). Rnd 11 Vs Port (70 points). Rnd 14 Vs Lions (56 points).

Apart from the big losses to Port and the Lions, have they really been that bad?I guess they've scrapped by against teams that are at the bottom of the ladder.

Considering they are still close to the top 8, they wont sack him right now. But you feel that they want him gone.

The Saints run home:
Richmond (Marvel)
North (Tassy)
Geelong (GMHBA)
Bulldogs (Marvel)
Melbourne (Marvel)
Adelaide (AO)
Freo (Marvel)
Carlton (MCG)
Sydney (SCG)

The Cats game is looming as another ten goal loss. The other games they should be able to keep under 30 points with a couple of winnable games in there too.

I think Richo is gone. But if they can scrape together another 4 wins, that'll put them on ten wins, which isnt too bad with the list they have.

Some of the posts on p.1 have not aged well.

"That’s not to say Richardson has been perfect. Far from it. Though he is widely viewed as a likable person, his relationships with players were generally not up to scratch last year. Richardson paved his way as a development coach but in the main role his attention was said to be overly dedicated to his top 10 to 15 players.

Off-season soul-searching has created a more thoughtful coach, while the addition of Brendon Lade and Brett Ratten has helped sharpen the St Kilda coaches’ box. So given the umpteen episodes of misfortune which have befallen key Saints players this year, a 6-7 record is creditable.

But when you are about to become the second-longest serving coach in your club’s history, creditable might not end up being enough."

https://www.theage.com.au/sport/afl/ric ... 522et.html

I thought they were ok against Richmond. Dont give them much chance against North, Geelong or even the Bulldogs in their next three weeks.

Richo's Gonski. If not this week, certainly by season's end.

St Kilda officially looking for a new coach.

Brilliant - this frees him up to take the job at Carlton. It also looks like it takes Brad Scott out of the running for the Carlton spot.

Bookie sb have a market. They say in NRL this is forbidden, but in AFL it's allowed. More AFL hypocrisy.
(I don't know how the sporting league can say what's allowed and what isn't, though. Isn't it just whatever the relevant state or federal Act says?)

Anyway, favourite is Scott, but not too far back is Harvey ($7.00). Should we do a straight swap, Harvey for Richardson?

Richardson may be more suited to player development. Who does that now? Tarkyn? But he will want to be a senior assistant coach, not in player development.

BARRETT: Why the Saints must consider a former great

https://www.afl.com.au/news/2019-07-16/ ... rmer-great

"Bassat and his coaching sub-committee team now empowered with finding St Kilda's post-Alan Richardson coach simply owe it to Harvey, who after a Saints-record 383 matches, has spent the past 11 years in the AFL system at three clubs as an assistant coach.
...

Harvey has long wanted a senior job and is convinced he is ready. Buckley endorses Harvey's credentials and football nous."


[Objectively speaking, I don't think our current coach's endorsement will count for much, unlike e.g. Clarkson's.]

Feel bad for Richo. Comes across as a top bloke.

Think the appointment of Ratten as assistant coach at the end of last year was the beginning of the end for him.

Recently appointed director of coaching at Melbourne.