The Saints have a new coach.
Saints coach Thomas sacked
St Kilda coach Grant Thomas will not coach the Saints next year after reaching a "mutaul agreement" with board members earlier today.
Thomas said he was disappointed in the decision and said that before the board meeting, he had expected to hold onto his postition for next season.
''The guys (board) think firmly that the club needs to move in a different direction,'' Thomas told the press conference.
''It's not necessarily a mutual agreement.''
''It came from left-field, I certainly wasn't expecting it.''
Club president Rod Butterss said Thomas' departure would allow the club the time it needed to find a new coach.
He highlighted strategy as one of the things the club had disagreed with Thomas on.
''We had our differences in terms of strategy and that helped our desision,'' he said.
Thomas, Saints part company
Tuesday 12 September 2006
Ben Wise
Sportal for afl.com.au
Grant Thomas has coached his last game with the St Kilda Football Club. Thomas and the Saints have parted company by mutual agreement.
The second-longest serving coach in St Kilda history has been at the helm of the Saints since 2001 when he was a shock replacement for mid-season sacking Malcolm Blight, but club president Rod Butterss and Thomas broke the news at a media conference at Moorabbin on Tuesday that he was leaving the club.
Thomas said that when he went to attend a board meeting at the club on Tuesday afternoon it had never occurred to him that he would not be in charge by day's end.
"I had a fair inkling that I would be coach, but things change … we have to move on pretty quickly.
Thomas also expressed that he was disappointed at having to leave a post that he has "put his heart and soul into" but said: "The board firmly believes the club is heading in a different direction and I will have to live with it. I still think I am the right bloke for the club but the club has made the decision to head in another direction."
"It is not necessarily a resignation it is a mutual agreement, we are after the same things, to achieve the ultimate success. I don't think we are totally congruent with the direction the club is heading.
Butterss said the club wished to thank Thomas for his achievements at the helm of the Saints.
"The board discussed that it was in the best interests of the football club that Grant should stand aside. He has always preached the need to be selfless," Butterss said.
St Kilda was knocked out of the AFL finals race by Melbourne at the MCG last Friday night.
Injuries to key players throughout the year including a season-ending knee injury to star midfielder Lenny Hayes in round nine, a fractured skull to Justin Koschitzke in round six, knee problems for rugged forward Aaron Hamill and Matt Maguire's broken leg made Thomas' task of getting his side into the finals all the more difficult.
After struggling to lift the club from lowly ladder positions in 2002 (15th) and 2003 (15th), Thomas led the club to third in 2004, fourth position in 2005 and eighth this season.
The Saints succumbed in preliminary finals in 2003-04 and won a pre-season competition under Thomas in '04.
Thomas leaves the club with 62 wins from 118 matches (one draw) at the helm, and punctuates what has been a tumultuous year for the club. Thomas played 72 games with the Saints from 1978-83.
