New St Kilda boss Geoff Walsh says club has to work hard to rise above mediocrity

St Kilda has secured a premiership defender, but two years without finals and a 54-year title drought means a big job for their new football boss.

St Kilda captain Jack Steele after another 2022 loss. Picture: Daniel Pockett/AFL Photos/via Getty Images

Veteran football manager Geoff Walsh hopes to drag St Kilda out of the “degree of irrelevance” they’ve had to the broader AFL competition in recent years after joining the club.

As the Saints secured premiership-winning defender Zaine Cordy from the Western Bulldogs on a three-year deal, Walsh said the club needed an injection of “top-end talent” to be competitive in 2023.

Walsh, who has worked at a raft of clubs for more than 35 years and last worked full-time with Collingwood, will oversee “all facets of the men’s football program”, replacing Simon Lethlean, who is now the club’s chief executive.

He said his willingness to make “a hard call” could be what’s needed to lift the Saints back into contention after a muddling second half of 2022 ended with the club missing the finals.

“One of the things I’d like to think I can bring to the table is the willingness to make a hard call, to not walk past something if you see it and know it’s wrong,” he told SEN.

“This might sound abrasive and Saints fans might get upset, but one of the things I think, when asked about how do I see St Kilda, I think the competition would say there has been a degree of irrelevance.

Geoff Walsh (right) worked at Collingwood with Nathan Buckley. Picture: Michael Klein

“That should be abrasive, that should choke down people’s throats. I hope that going forward I can contribute to a profile that gives the Saints the due respect they crave.”

St Kilda has missed the finals in the past two seasons in an extension of the competition’s longest premiership drought dating back to 1966.

They have bolstered their defence by signing 25-year-old Cordy, who won a flag with the Bulldogs in 2016, on a three-year-deal.

“We identified a need to bring in quality depth and coverage in our key positions, and we believe that Zaine will provide that,” St Kilda list boss James Gallagher said.

“He’s played his best football as a genuine key defender and, importantly, he will add some height to our group while also giving the coaching staff some flexibility with how we use our talls next year.”

Red, white and b̶l̶u̶e̶ black.

Welcome to the Saints, Zaine.

📰 → https://t.co/RwfeFwTBE7pic.twitter.com/yhrkIa7lOn

— St Kilda FC (@stkildafc) October 4, 2022

Walsh was involved in a review of the Saints’ football operations this season before finding his way into the role.

He said for the club to make a jump up the ladder in 2023, elite talent was needed after the Saints missed out on high-profile target Jordan De Goey.

“One of the things the Saints need to do over this trade and draft period and the next, and even the next, is an injection of top-end talent,” Walsh said.

“They’ve got a lot of good players. I think that they would really do well and benefit from the injection of some top-end talent.

“That’s one of the things that I think will help them up the road.”

Walsh brings a wealth of experience as football manager at North Melbourne and Collingwood, having begun his career at Fitzroy in 1985 and also spending time at Carlton.