St Kilda in crisis: ‘Review of reviewers’ to shine light on Simon Lethlean after horror season

The pressure is mounting at St Kilda and key figures are feeling the heat. Michael Warner takes you inside the drama engulfing Moorabbin.

Who is to blame for St Kilda's woeful 2021 season?

As St Kilda powerbrokers sift through the rubble of yet another failed season, it is the club’s high-profile chief operating officer, Simon Lethlean, who looms as its most intriguing figure.

As recently as last week a senior club boss was canvassing views on Lethlean being elevated into Matt Finnis’ chief executive job, but the question some are now asking is whether the AFL’s former head of football operations should even be at Moorabbin next year.

An unofficial review into St Kilda’s entire operations has been underway for some weeks and it is Lethlean, 45, at the centre of much discussion.

At least two of Brett Ratten’s uncontracted assistants — former player Aaron Hamill and forwards coach Adam Skrobalak — are under pressure as club bosses seek answers over a trainwreck season.

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Simon Leathlean with Brad Hill in 2019. Picture: AAP Image/Michael Dodge

Lethlean, who was forced out of AFL House over an affair scandal four years ago, landed a plumb job at St Kilda just six months later, taking charge of the club’s football operations before being elevated to the position of chief operating officer.

A win over the Western Bulldogs in last year’s finals gave the impression of a team on the rise but now the club’s “moneyball” recruitment strategy, overseen by Lethlean, is being seriously questioned.

Club legend Nick Riewoldt raised concerns over the “list construct” a month ago after the Dogs smashed the Saints by 111 points.

“There are some players there on a big whack that have got full bellies that have come from other clubs that have had success and I just think at the moment, the opportunity and the security part of the motivation is far heavier than the hunger for real success,” Riewoldt declared.

The signing of injury-prone Swans midfielder Daniel Hannebery on a bumper five-year deal has been a spectacular failure, and the highly-paid Brad Hill has become a whipping boy of long-suffering fans.

Hannebery’s connections to Lethlean through the tight-knit Old Xaverians A-Grade amateur football club are a sore point for some.

Lethlean’s leadership style, too, can sometimes grate.

The club’s decision to block Essendon great and Haileybury College coach Matthew Lloyd from a goalkicking session with the recently recontracted (but out-of-form) Max King raised eyebrows as did Lethlean’s complaints to media outlets over the ‘Missy Higgins’ headlines that made light of the wayward kicking of Tigers recruit Jack Higgins two weeks ago.

A harsher view from some quarters is that St Kilda has been infiltrated by a group of Lethlean-linked outsiders including inexperienced list chief James Gallagher, commercial manager Chris Larkins and recruitment consultant Graeme “Gubby” Allan.

St Kilda blocked an offer from Matthew Lloyd to work with the club’s star young forward Max King on his wayward goalkicking. Picture: Getty Images

Larkins worked with Lethlean at AFL House and played in two premiership under his coaching at Old Xavs in 2009 and 2010, while Gallagher, a banker who played 38 games for the Adelaide Crows, was a personal friend.

But Lethlean’s supporters say he has plenty of credits in the bank for introducing a sophistication to the club’s football program and being able to make hard and fast decisions under pressure.

He brought in strategy guru David Rath, NRL legend Billy Slater and Hawks four-time premiership forward Jarryd Roughead.

The Saints, partly under Lethlean’s guidance, were also able to adapt and thrive in last year’s Queensland hubs while other clubs struggled.

St Kilda president Andrew Bassat, the brother of AFL commissioner Paul Bassat, has been doing his own digging into the club’s operations in recent weeks, seeking counsel from a range of influential Saints figures. Some say he’s been surprised by his findings.

The discontent exploded this week amid reports unnamed club figures were “disappointed” in senior players Seb Ross and Tim Membrey for leaving the team’s Sydney hub to be with their young families.

Seb Ross flew home from the team’s Sydney base – and missed a game to be with his wife, Marnie Ross, and help with daughter Charlotte and twin sons Vinny and Henley.

Journalist Caroline Wilson suggested on Footy Classified on Wednesday night that both Finnis and Lethlean had approached the St Kilda board “a month ago” seeking a review into “the way things are being done around this club” but fallen Collingwood president Eddie McGuire hinted that the behind-the-scenes activity went even deeper.

“My understanding is that there might be a review of the reviewers at the moment,” McGuire said.

“There was some big St Kilda names who were on the phone over the weekend just desperately unhappy with what happened long before this story came to the surface. I think there are some big people having a look at the whole length and breadth of the club.”

Finnis, 46, has been chief executive officer since March 2014, and his uneasy performance on SEN radio on Wednesday in response to the Ross-Membrey allegations was that of a man under pressure.

But if a Kirribilli-style handover from Finnis to Lethlean was ever on the cards, it would be less certain now.

The search for answers at St Kilda will go deep and there’s a growing belief that big changes are coming.