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Thomas slams lack of effort
By Martin Blake
Sydney
June 7, 2004
The greatest winning streak in St Kilda's history is over, coach Grant Thomas last night blaming a relative lack of effort from his players and inept decision-making for the defeat.
Roared on by a partisan SCG crowd, Sydney belted St Kilda by 36 points to end the streak at 10 wins and invigorate the season for most of the other 15 teams in its wake. While opposing coaches undoubtedly will study the method used by Paul Roos' Swans, Thomas said there were no big secrets.
"It's extremely disappointing," he said.
"What we're most disappointed in and the players are disappointed in is their effort. They just didn't bring their A-grade effort to the game today. We just didn't work anywhere near hard enough, which is uncharacteristic of our players.
"But that said, it's one of 22 blocks, and it's a disappointing one. We'll need to review it and go through it to the extent that we get some learnings and understandings out of it. After that we need to focus very heavily on next week." (The Saints confront the Western Bulldogs at the MCG on Saturday.)
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Thomas scoffed at a suggestion that his decision to call off training last Wednesday night and take the players to see a movie had any influence. "It wasn't that unusual," he said.
"We've had several days where we haven't had training . . . It had nothing to do with anything."
The Swans closed down St Kilda in the midfield and drew stellar performances from their back six, led by Leo Barry, who held leading goalkicker Fraser Gehrig goalless. The Saint had two handballs for the day. Nor did Stephen Milne kick a goal.
"Fraser wasn't as good as he has been all year and that's going to happen," Thomas said. "If your full-forward that you're used to kicking five goals a game is down, you've just got to make sure you've got another avenue to goal . . . It's something, historically, we've been good at . . . Today, nobody chipped in . . . That was the difference."
Thomas could not find a single St Kilda winner. "Sydney footy club deserve a lot of credit, and 'Roosy'. They were well coached and the team were tremendous. You couldn't help but be impressed by the way they went about it. They were harder than us, tougher than us, they stuck to their plans better and got a better result than us."
Some observers, not least Denis Pagan, have said the Saints would benefit from a loss, and Roos agreed. "I wouldn't have thought (it) hurts," he said.
But Thomas said he thought the theory was bunk. "Look, I don't subscribe to that but I don't know what goes through all the players' heads. But I'd be really disappointed if they weren't desperately trying to win week-in, week-out."
By Martin Blake
Sydney
June 7, 2004
The greatest winning streak in St Kilda's history is over, coach Grant Thomas last night blaming a relative lack of effort from his players and inept decision-making for the defeat.
Roared on by a partisan SCG crowd, Sydney belted St Kilda by 36 points to end the streak at 10 wins and invigorate the season for most of the other 15 teams in its wake. While opposing coaches undoubtedly will study the method used by Paul Roos' Swans, Thomas said there were no big secrets.
"It's extremely disappointing," he said.
"What we're most disappointed in and the players are disappointed in is their effort. They just didn't bring their A-grade effort to the game today. We just didn't work anywhere near hard enough, which is uncharacteristic of our players.
"But that said, it's one of 22 blocks, and it's a disappointing one. We'll need to review it and go through it to the extent that we get some learnings and understandings out of it. After that we need to focus very heavily on next week." (The Saints confront the Western Bulldogs at the MCG on Saturday.)
advertisement
advertisement
Thomas scoffed at a suggestion that his decision to call off training last Wednesday night and take the players to see a movie had any influence. "It wasn't that unusual," he said.
"We've had several days where we haven't had training . . . It had nothing to do with anything."
The Swans closed down St Kilda in the midfield and drew stellar performances from their back six, led by Leo Barry, who held leading goalkicker Fraser Gehrig goalless. The Saint had two handballs for the day. Nor did Stephen Milne kick a goal.
"Fraser wasn't as good as he has been all year and that's going to happen," Thomas said. "If your full-forward that you're used to kicking five goals a game is down, you've just got to make sure you've got another avenue to goal . . . It's something, historically, we've been good at . . . Today, nobody chipped in . . . That was the difference."
Thomas could not find a single St Kilda winner. "Sydney footy club deserve a lot of credit, and 'Roosy'. They were well coached and the team were tremendous. You couldn't help but be impressed by the way they went about it. They were harder than us, tougher than us, they stuck to their plans better and got a better result than us."
Some observers, not least Denis Pagan, have said the Saints would benefit from a loss, and Roos agreed. "I wouldn't have thought (it) hurts," he said.
But Thomas said he thought the theory was bunk. "Look, I don't subscribe to that but I don't know what goes through all the players' heads. But I'd be really disappointed if they weren't desperately trying to win week-in, week-out."
