Kane Cornes took a keen interest in St Kilda’s review of their football program.
The review, which began in July and led to the sacking of Brett Ratten, found that the club did not have the platform needed to sustain a winning culture and called for significant change in the football department and club as a whole.
As the review has already caused significant changes, Cornes questioned some of its aspects that he considered “strange”, particularly the influence former North Melbourne figures David Noble and Glenn Luff wielded.
“We’ve been waiting for this review, they said after they sacked Brett Ratten that it’d be released within days,” Cornes said on SEN Sportsday.
“But it struck me, I thought it was vague and I suspect that was to protect the reputation of Brett Ratten, although reading between the lines, it was pretty scathing on him.
“I was interested in the fact that long ago David Noble was on the panel that ultimately decided to sack Brett Ratten.
“That was interesting in itself, considering Noble had just been sacked with his 5-32 record at North.
“Then I read that (former) North Melbourne (list) boss Glenn Luff conducted the review of the playing list and list management performance – we know what happened to ‘Luffy’ part way through the year.
“Those two things struck me as strange, just like getting Jordan De Goey to review your professional standards at the footy club or getting Gold Coast to review your salary cap performance, I thought that was strange.”
With the review stating that the club do whatever it could to contend for an extended period even if it made the short-term “more difficult”, Cornes questioned whether the Saints truly know where they are.
Cornes in particular feels the hiring of Ross Lyon and targeting of free agent Jordan De Goey were reflective of a club that wants to win now instead of taking a step back to take two steps forward.
“But to get to the review, they strike me as a club that doesn’t exactly know where they are,” Cornes said.
“I think it’s really important to know where you are.
“They said when Brett Ratten was sacked that essentially, they’ve underperformed with the list that they’ve got and they’ve got to perform better.
“But in the review findings, they’ve essentially prefaced their fans to say they need to put in place a program and a game plan that is going to be sustainable and that may not happen automatically.
“So, what are St Kilda? Are they going to take a step back to step forward? Or have they made the decision to sack Brett Ratten to immediately get out of that six to 10 zone and get from one to five as they said when they sacked him?
“I just don’t know that they know where they are, because if you do and you are taking a step back, you don’t go and get Jordan De Goey and you may not move on the coach and get a Ross Lyon-type.”
St Kilda will hope their review helps them improve on a poor 2022 season where they started the campaign with an 8-3 record before finishing 10th with an 11-11 record.