What happens to Chris Pelchen’s 40-page plan for St Kilda: Jay Clark
THE Chris Pelchen development seemed incredibly harsh, if not confusing. The big question is what happens to Pelchen’s briefcase now?
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WHEN Chris Pelchen took over as St Kilda’s head of football, rivals wished him good luck.
If you were saving a dog from the pound, the Saints’ list back in 2011-12 was the limping old kelpie in the corner, whose best years on the farm were well behind it.
With a bulging salary cap and some cultural issues to fix, Pelchen walked into the toughest rebuild in the game, and, probably, the ugliest job in footy.
CHRISTIAN A PERFECT FIT FOR SAINTS
Three-and-a-half years into that steep uphill climb, the Saints made the surprise decision yesterday to part ways with the 30-year footy veteran, who had devised the challenging list recovery.
Now that almost 35 players had been turned over, the player payment issues straightened out and a further 19 youngsters re-contracted, the Saints all of a sudden wanted a new footy boss. A high performance chief with expertise in medical and fitness.
“A harder edge”, is what chief executive Matt Finnis said was required on SEN.
What does that mean, exactly? Higher expectations? A less patient approach?
Geelong’s master football operations man Neil Balme walked onto the trade period floor last week and started talking about biscuits. Twice.
As a Saints fan, you couldn’t be sure what’s happening at Seaford at one of the most pivotal times in the club’s history. The Pelchen development seemed incredibly harsh, if not confusing.
The big question is what happens to Pelchen’s briefcase now? Does his thinking about building towards finals in 2018-20 remain at the core of their list movements? Or was his vision no longer shared? If the paths still matched, you would think he would still be in the job.
The uplifting 40-page plan Pelchen revealed in the Herald Sun last week, which Finnis said he was happy with, outlined how the club wanted 18 players from the first three rounds of the 2013-16 drafts. Followed by an aggressive tilt at free agency.
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It was built on premiership models at Port Adelaide and Hawthorn.
Coach Alan Richardson has made quite an impression on his young players and is widely respected across the league for his nurtured coaching methods. He looks a great fit.
But if the Saints think they are suddenly better than they are and try to hurry things up a little, one thing is guaranteed. They will spike in the short term only for the bottom to fall out again. You don’t make the icing before you bake the cake.
After all, this is a club that had the worst drafting record in the league between 2006-10 and is still paying the price.
Pelchen oversaw decisions to trade Ben McEvoy for Luke Dunstan and Shane Savage last year and Rhys Stanley for No. 21 this year. Not the decisions of a club pushing for finals.
We thought the unrest at Seaford had ended, but this was another scalp in a ruthless spring.
Hardly ideal five weeks out from the draft, for a club whose future depends on it.
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