St Kilda captain Jarryn Geary says players have to ‘draw a line in the sand’ before crunch game against Gold Coast
ST KILDA captain Jarryn Geary has called on his players to ‘pull their fingers out’ ahead of a trip to Gold Coast that could decide Alan Richardson’s coaching future.
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ST KILDA captain Jarryn Geary has called on his players to “pull their fingers out” ahead of a trip to Gold Coast that could decide Alan Richardson’s coaching future.
The Saints have just one win and a draw from the first 12 rounds and Richardson is under huge pressure heading into the clash agains the similarly out-of-form Suns.
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Geary, who missed Saturday night’s humiliating loss to Sydney with a calf injury, said the coach shouldn’t take all the blame for the on-field performances.
“The external noise is all about Richo and the coaches, but as a playing group we have to take responsibility. We came into the season with high expectations and we haven’t lived up to those at all,” he said on SEN radio on Monday.
“There comes a time in the year when you’ve got to draw a line in the sand and say, ‘C’mon boys, you’ve got to pull your finger out and get to work and start doing something about it’.
“There’s 10 rounds to go and really these 10 rounds can shape how the club goes forward, whether you’re going to be part of that or not is up to you ... you’ve got 10 weeks to prove that you want to take the club forward.”
Geary said it was tough to watch Sydney pile on the first nine goals on Saturday night from the back of the coaches’ box.
“That’s one we’ll be pretty embarrassed about, it was a pretty average effort from our playing group in the first quarter. You certainly should never go into quarter-time nine goals down, especially when you have everything to play for like we do at the moment.
“We thought we were heading in the right direction and then were let down by a very poor performance on Saturday night.”
Richardson admitted yesterday he was coaching for his job if he cannot turn around a St Kilda side he slammed as “embarrassed” by the Swans on Saturday night.
Richardson made clear he felt his side was soft at the ball early, saying his midfield was nowhere near as physical as required.
St Kilda’ chief executive Matt Finnis and president Peter Summers have both maintained Richardson will see out his contract until the end of 2020.
Paying out Richardson’s contract will cost the Saints about $1 million if he does not have clauses in his contract limiting the club’s exposure.
St Kilda has gone 11 games with only a draw over GWS, taking on Gold Coast away next week in a contest that would have dire consequences with another loss.
Asked on Sunday if he thought his contract would be honoured, Richardson was frank about his future if he couldn’t arrest the slump.
“I reckon I have been in footy long enough to know if we can turn this around and show promise and play much more consistent footy that will be fine,” he said.
“If that doesn’t happen I reckon we are all on notice.”
He said St Kilda was not planning a full football department review mid-year.
The Herald Sun understands the Saints completed a significant review last off-season and felt they had made meaningful changes.
That included securing ex-Sydney defensive coach Henry Playfair, hiring goalkicking coach Ben Dixon and increasing their work under performance mind coach/mindfulness expert Emma Murray.
Richardson denied the club’s development was an issue, saying the club now had control of the game plan and selection of its VFL alignment under coach Aaron Hamill.
Jake Carlisle will return from suspension against Gold Coast, Jack Billings had 53 disposals in the VFL and Josh Bruce made a strong return from a back injury.
But St Kilda’s biggest issues against Sydney were in the midfield.
“It was an incredibly disappointing start,” Richardson told 3AW.
“The game was fundamentally over at quarter-time. Sydney were too physical, too aggressive. They embarrassed us at the start of the game in the contest.
“We are a pretty young side but that doesn’t excuse the lack of hunger and desperation at the start of the game so it was a bloody disappointing night.”
Richardson said his players had the Gold Coast clash then eight post-bye games to show “they can be trusted to play their role and execute their role irrespective of the pressure they are under.”
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