Five years on, Thomas proves his staying power

For all the doubts about Grant Thomas's ability, the St Kilda coach has showed tremendous resilliance to turn around a struggling club and survive five years at the helm. Sebastian Hassett reports.

When news of Malcolm Blight's sacking on July 19, 2001 leaked into the football world, it seemed St Kilda - so traditionally adept at falling into a hole of its own making - had willingly strolled into an abyss.

Had it really been just 10 months since Blight's appointment as senior coach was greeted with such universal enthusiasm, leading to him being dubbed the messiah who would rescue the lost Saints?

Little about the club's decision to abruptly terminate his contract made any sense, and the subsequent explanation that Blight lacked commitment seemed unimaginable at the time.

But perhaps most interesting of all was his replacement.

The man who many accused of knifing Blight, football director Grant Thomas, was temporarily and later permanently handed the reins as senior coach.

That's now five years ago. Thomas inherited a team which had won just eight matches of its past 52 matches.

Yet for a man whose coaching ability is commonly derided, his record since taking over from Blight sits at 58 wins from 115 games - better than 50 per cent.

There are several factors contributing to why Thomas, the club's second longest serving coach, is marked so harshly by his many detractors.

His role in usurping the popular Blight has never been made publicly clear, and a suspiciously smooth transition from caretaker coach to club tsar made him all the more conflicting to the establishment.

Compounding the friction was that Thomas shelved traditional notions in favour of his own, untested methods.

Rotating captains, self-elected leadership groups, empowerment philosophies, foreign camps, pinch-hitting ruckmen and the much-maligned training services all quickly became part of the Thomas brand.

He even sacked former premiership ruckman Matthew Capuano midway through 2003 because of a "policy of zero tolerance to mediocrity".

But while Blight was admired and revered for his eccentricity - largely because of his daring exploits as a player - Thomas, a dour defender with limited foot skills, was doubted with unrelenting ferocity.

The corporate language acquired from his days as state manager with insurance company MLC did little for his popularity - who else would correct a club's focus from goals and points toward outcomes and processes?

When the team lost all but one game in 2001 during Thomas's caretaker period, and then four out of its first eight in 2002 by over 80 points, some serious PR spin was needed.

Yet when the Saints started to come good the next year, the lingo stayed, and soon almost every other coach cottoned on; key performance indicators and selfless acts are terms now heard across the footballing landscape.

Thomas doesn't have the same coaching pedigree of the modern day tacticians. He was not groomed as an assistant, and even his apprenticeship - four premierships as coach of country powerhouse Warrnambool - pigeonholed him as a bush battler.

Some five years on, arguments about whether Thomas has made the grade continue to rage.

His followers say he has galvanised and reinvigorated a broken club, while his detractors say any good results are due to high draft picks, and bad results a direct consequence of coaching inadequacies.

And, as has been said many times before, only a premiership will see Thomas viewed through less judgemental eyes.

However, in the immediate future, there's a footnote Thomas needs to address: overcoming Port Adelaide, a feat he's never managed in eight attempts.

A win on Sunday against the Power - putting the Saints firmly in the hunt for a top four spot - would certainly make for a happy anniversary.

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