Ratten and perspective ...

[axcellence]

A Sumatran Orangutan could have coached that list into a Grand Final.

Well, that strategy won’t work with today’s list. So, Ratten it is

[Myron Gaines]

By his own account, Ratten didn't change anything except the forwards coach, just encouraged the players to play with confidence. So if you're still shitting on Richo, please acknowledge that you're doing it (as before) just for the sake of doing it, not because the club somehow needs your "honest assessment".

Do you think he’s going to come out & tell the rest of the football world about his planning & execution?

OK, don't acknowledge it. Just keep on doing it if it makes you happy.

Did you watch the game? I would’ve thought the subtle changes were fairly obvious? Newnes defensive forward, Acres & Sinclair attended extra centre bounces, McKenzie dropped & an emphasis made on ball retention & controlling the tempo especially in the back half. Quick play through the corridor when opportunity is there & a will to take the ball inside 50 with greater intent. Our backs retaining their shape & not getting sucked up the ground. At lease one of our forwards staying deep inside 50.

I wouldn’t pay much if any attention to what coaches & players say regarding game plan & structure. All you will get is the cliches such as “emphasis on contested footy, tackling, confidence, hardness, kicked straight, etc, etc”. They are not about to give away specifics on their game plan.

[supersaints2]

By his own account, Ratten didn't change anything except the forwards coach, just encouraged the players to play with confidence. So if you're still shitting on Richo, please acknowledge that you're doing it (as before) just for the sake of doing it, not because the club somehow needs your "honest assessment".

Do you think he’s going to come out & tell the rest of the football world about his planning & execution?

Basically saying anything else is basically stating what he thinks was wrong with ARs
Coaching
Ratten has too much class to say what he thinks Richo did wrong.. so has the club
The way the players respond will tell the true story
So far chapter 1 starts a good read for the future

[barneyboyz]

freely

Are you talking about honesty in relation to acknowledging Richo's win loss record? Your opinion versus other people's opinions is not important in the scheme of things. Seperate opinion from facts.

There is a very good reason that there aren't too many coaches lasting as long as Richo. You have to be able to take the emotion out of it and just compare how the team performs over the next five weeks. I think you are confusing your opinion versus the fact that Richo has been unsuccessful in improving the team over a very long extended period.

You can keep ignoring the honest truth like the fact that we have been unable to score over 100 points for so long. People are not interested in shitting on anyone. They care for this football club and they are trying to objectively assess the strengths of our interim coach.

The footy department and CEO have been in denial since July 2017. You can keep ignoring the fact that the team was crying out for leadership and a head coach who 'honestly' believed in our players. All clubs have injuries. Too many negative messages were heard throughout 2018 and I believe we had stagnated and young players were being held back in their development. I am confident that Ratten will make this team grow and improve significantly over the next few years

No - I'm not talking about Richo's win-loss and I've got no argument with Richo getting the heave-ho. I'm just not a fan of supporters taking the opportunity to have one last pot at him, basically pretending that us beating the bulldogs - using a gameplan pretty much unchanged from the one he was using with the notable difference that during this game we kicked straight - proves that he was useless! It doesn't prove anything. Not that Ratts is a genius and our saviour either.

The win against the Dogs had far less to do with game plan than it had of being released. Have another look at the vision in the rooms after the game, do you think those blokes were so elated because of a new plan? or because they were able to play with freedom?

Ratten is a smart man, and despite what his personal thought of Richo might be, he simply knew the switch needed flicking

[freely]

I expect some of them were elated to get a win. Regardless, all I'm saying is that it's time to stop making every other post an excuse to.pot richo. He's gone. Bye bye. Move on.

[HighettMan]

Coaching and playing without expectation are such liberating forces. It will be great times at the club and for most people from the coaches down it will feel like holidays have come early. I'm pretty certain the only plan getting attention right now is the end of season trip.

[The Peanut]

Temporary replacement coaches don't carry the weight of a coach under pressure and carrying the weight of the media, supporters and a poor performance history - It must be great for both the coaching group and the players when given a chance to throw that pressure and scrutiny to the shithouse.

[darylcowie]

If omens mean anything Ratten will do well if he gets the coaching gig at The Saints.
In Chinese Astrology 2020 is the Year of The Rat!

[Ghost Like]

If omens mean anything Ratten will do well if he gets the coaching gig at The Saints.
In Chinese Astrology 2020 is the Year of The Rat!

A sounder method of selection than what Lethlean had planned.

[Saintmatt]

We won 4 of our first 6 because we had some easier games at the start, we will win a few on the way home, because we have some easier games coming up.

Question
Who have we lost to this season, that we should of beaten?
Have we won any games we should not have?

The Suns should have beaten us in R1. They were all over us in the last 1/4.
I felt like we were fortunate to beat the Dawks when they were 2 men down for the whole 2nd half


We absolutely should have beaten Freo in Perth. The opposite of the Suns game in R1.
I could mount an argument that had we managed to kick one more goal from the ridiculous amount of F50 repeat entries in the 3rd q against the Pies then we would have won that

[Saintmatt]

By his own account, Ratten didn't change anything except the forwards coach, just encouraged the players to play with confidence. So if you're still shitting on Richo, please acknowledge that you're doing it (as before) just for the sake of doing it, not because the club somehow needs your "honest assessment".

If that is directed to me as the OP then I'll respond with this: -

Do you honestly believe Ratten was not just being more than a little bit self-effacing when he said he "didn't change anything except the forwards coach"?

If you don't believe that then: -

1. When was the last time you saw Newnes played as a lock-down defensive forward on the opposition's running half back? (Hint: you wouldn't have)
2. When was the last time you saw Acres start and stay on a wing the whole game?
3. When was the last time you saw our structure incorporate Membrey and/or Bruce largely playing as stay at home deep forwards?
4. Did you not notice on Sunday that the boundary line was no longer our friend and that we were manifestly more corridor-centric when attacking?
5. When was the last time you saw Langlands play Senior football for St Kilda?
6. When was the last time you saw Ross play as a defensive/sweeper midfielder not racking-up huge numbers of meaningless possessions (in the 1st half).

Yeah right - didn't change anything except the forwards coach my lilly white ar$e.

But for the record - my OP was about perspective and my perception of the outlook of our former coach and the caretaker. Not a potshot at Richo at all - just observations. Again, if you think Richo's been enjoying his job for the past two seasons - save for the few and far between wins - then you see things considerably different to me

[barneyboyz]

I expect some of them were elated to get a win. Regardless, all I'm saying is that it's time to stop making every other post an excuse to.pot richo. He's gone. Bye bye. Move on.

I agree, I take no enjoyment out of removing Richo in a personal nature

[axcellence]

Did you watch the game? I would’ve thought the subtle changes were fairly obvious? Newnes defensive forward, Acres & Sinclair attended extra centre bounces, McKenzie dropped & an emphasis made on ball retention & controlling the tempo especially in the back half. Quick play through the corridor when opportunity is there & a will to take the ball inside 50 with greater intent. Our backs retaining their shape & not getting sucked up the ground. At lease one of our forwards staying deep inside 50.

I wouldn’t pay much if any attention to what coaches & players say regarding game plan & structure. All you will get is the cliches such as “emphasis on contested footy, tackling, confidence, hardness, kicked straight, etc, etc”. They are not about to give away specifics on their game plan.

It was as much change as you could do in 5-6 days without completely confusing the players.

It was quite funny on footy classified on monday night. Hutchy went with, "oh, nothing's changed in terms of the game plan.. yet here we are". Juddy goes, "oh, I thought they used the corridor a lot more."

That shut Hutchy right up and not a single more peep out of him on that game.

[Rubyjo]

If omens mean anything Ratten will do well if he gets the coaching gig at The Saints.
In Chinese Astrology 2020 is the Year of The Rat!

Should be a premiership.

[Scollop]

One of the things that I think has happened over the past 18-24 months with Richo is that we've become so insular. So conservative. If you could sum up our 'style' during that period it would be - don't play to win; play not to lose. All that mentality does is help you to not lose too heavily. Rarely however, does it allow you to win.

As a result - Richo's demeanor had become increasingly dour and devoid of any positive personality trait. Many times when listening/watching him in the media I wondered what he was doing in the senior coaching job because he definitely did not look like he was enjoying himself. In the context of the quote - it became apparent that Richo (and our players) weren't putting themselves "out there". And now we have Ratten.

To freely:

I have quoted the op and in particular if you reread that first paragraph AND if you're honest with yourself you'd remember a few of our games from last year where Richo would have numbers behind the footy. Prior to the 6-6-6 rule Richo would be playing with 2-3 forwards and 7-8 players in the defensive half of the ground straight after a goal was scored. We'd be defending even though we were 4-5 goals behind on the scoreboard!!

If you agree with Richo getting the heave-ho, why don't you privately ask yourselves what the hell was the point of keeping him after what we saw up until the middle of last year.

"Richo's demeanor had become increasingly dour and devoid of any positive personality trait" I totally agree with this statement and I think that he should have been moved on after about round 9 or 10 last year. A leader who remains positive finds the answers and keeps the faith and doesn't blame injuries or his player leadership group like Richo did. Every team has injuries and every team has setbacks.

1 game doesn't prove anything, but I reckon you shouldn't dismiss the possibility that Ratts may indeed be a genius. The fact that we scored over 100 points for the first time this year is a great sign

[barneyboyz]

One of the things that I think has happened over the past 18-24 months with Richo is that we've become so insular. So conservative. If you could sum up our 'style' during that period it would be - don't play to win; play not to lose. All that mentality does is help you to not lose too heavily. Rarely however, does it allow you to win.

As a result - Richo's demeanor had become increasingly dour and devoid of any positive personality trait. Many times when listening/watching him in the media I wondered what he was doing in the senior coaching job because he definitely did not look like he was enjoying himself. In the context of the quote - it became apparent that Richo (and our players) weren't putting themselves "out there". And now we have Ratten.

To freely:

I have quoted the op and in particular if you reread that first paragraph AND if you're honest with yourself you'd remember a few of our games from last year where Richo would have numbers behind the footy. Prior to the 6-6-6 rule Richo would be playing with 2-3 forwards and 7-8 players in the defensive half of the ground straight after a goal was scored. We'd be defending even though we were 4-5 goals behind on the scoreboard!!

If you agree with Richo getting the heave-ho, why don't you privately ask yourselves what the hell was the point of keeping him after what we saw up until the middle of last year.

"Richo's demeanor had become increasingly dour and devoid of any positive personality trait" I totally agree with this statement and I think that he should have been moved on after about round 9 or 10 last year. Every team has injuries and every team has setbacks.

1 game doesn't prove anything, but I reckon you shouldn't dismiss the possibility that Ratts may indeed be a genius. The fact that we scored over 100 points for the first time this year is a great sign

If Ratts was coaching us from around the time North got rid of their coach, I reckon we'd be playing finals. Not necessarily winning, but who knows?

[resaintlee]

Not Scott. They played the clip of Roo trying to come off the ground with a crook shoulder and being attacked by the Scotts
This was after the game show in Sunday night fox

[Scollop]

Is there a betting agency where I can get a multi on Saints winning the next 5 under our new genius coach?

What odds can I get that the Saints under Brett Ratten win ALL their remaining matches in Home and Away?

Would be good if you could have a multi with Saints winning 12 games for this year, plus Ratten appointed senior coach, plus Saints making finals in 2020. As Mick Molloy would say; "Load up. This one can't lose"