Scott Watters: Another St Kilda debacle

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St Kilda's coaching-go-round has always been a spirited ride.

The spectacular wooing and shooing of Malcolm Blight in 2001.

Grant Thomas plucked from the backroom and business world to replace him.

MORE: St Kilda sack Scott Watters | Final interview reveals clueless Scott Watters

Thomas' shock sacking, four days after the Saints were eliminated from the 2006 AFL finals series.

Ross Lyon using an escape clause in his St Kilda contract to parachute into Fremantle.

And now Scott Watters, perhaps a surprise appointment in the first place, getting the most unpleasant of surprises with his sacking.

MORE: St Kilda yet to approach new coach | St Kilda 2014 AFL fixture

While Watters was on Melbourne radio on Friday morning strenuously denying his job was on the line, the AFL club was deciding the opposite at an early morning board meeting.

Just a few hours after Watters had denied any rift with players or club hierarchy and painted a rosy picture of life at Seaford with him at the helm, he was told to clear his desk.

Even for AFL coaches, whose role has all the job security of the guy ferrying unpinned hand grenades to those about to throw them, surely Watters' sacking breaks new ground.

Usually coaches who manage to survive the immediate post-season at least make the pre-season.

But this is St Kilda. A club where there has been plenty of smoke in recent months, and not always from a dwarf on fire.

The Saints' off-field troubles in recent seasons have been at times ugly and well documented.

But in 2013, troubles appeared on-field as the club limped to just five wins under Watters in his second season.

The whispers Watters was on a knife-edge had been around since off-field changes started at St Kilda a few months ago.

President Greg Westaway stepped down for Peter Summers. Chief executive Michael Nettlefold had announced his resignation.

Both men had been making the right noises about extending Watters' contract beyond its 2014 expiry. Then they were out of play.

A football department review was started. Rumours about a rift with head of football Chris Pelchen wouldn't go away.

Then surfaced talk of issues between Watters and some senior players.

Unless you're Nathan Buckley, that usually spells big trouble for an AFL coach.

So the first major move from Summers, chief executive of house building giant AV Jennings, was pulling the trigger on a clearly blindsided Watters.

Summers was evasive as to why Watters was sacked.

He said those reasons would remain confidential, but were detailed to Watters as he was delivered the bad news.

But he denied personality clashes between Watters and others were the key issue in his axing.

Or that Watters' radio interview – believed to be unsanctioned by the club and perhaps a ploy to shore up his position – may have played a role in his demise.

Amid the denials, more smoke. You be the judge if it is coming from the seat of the St Kilda hierarchy's pants.

So where to now for the Saints? Here is a club in a place they haven't been for more than a decade – facing a monstrous rebuild.

While not winning a flag, they have played in two grand finals, a grand final replay, and seven of the past 10 finals series.

Two of those failures have been in the past two seasons under Watters. It is a playing list which both creaks with age and squeaks with newness.

Port Adelaide premiership coach Mark Williams, now in a backroom role at Richmond, must be considered.

Having worked closely with Pelchen at Port Adelaide, the dynamic would surely work again.

And surely high on the list will be former St Kilda champion Robert Harvey.

He missed out to Watters two years ago. But appointing a dual Brownlow Medallist and a 383-game hero of the club would certainly deflect any heat on the club right now.

On a day where the whispers around Watters turned to roars, it was interesting to note the silence of Saints players on what has become AFL's mouthpiece of choice, Twitter.

Apart from David Armitage tweeting 'Wow' soon after the Watters news broke, there was nothing else.

It may be just the club closing the ranks. It may be the players telling us everything we need to know without saying a word.

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