Bassat senses a Saints revival
As a St Kilda fan who grew up in the famous Animal Enclosure at Moorabbin nearly five decades ago, Andrew Bassat knows what it is to wait.
The president also knows it is tough asking any fan base for patience, particularly one that has seen so much disappointment. But Bassat is steadfast the revolving door of personnel movement that has shaken up the offices at Moorabbin and the long-term plan he and coach Ross Lyon have committed to has the club on the way up to a pinnacle that will finally deliver a second premiership.
An uber-successful co-founder of Seek with brother Paul, Bassat needed to be talked into leading the Saints before his takeover in 2018 but now can finally see success is on the horizon. “I’d love us to win a flag,” he said. “So many people have played their role to the best of their ability and I can feel like we are getting to the top and getting that momentum to go downhill.”
The many stops and starts over the 58 years since St Kilda’s lone
Caleb Daniel will spend a second week in the VFL after missing out on selection for Thursday night’s crunch match against St Kilda.
The Western Bulldogs’ 2020 best-and-fairest winner lit up the VFL in last week’s curtainraiser with 26 disposals and 102 SuperCoach points.
Daniel recorded a kicking efficiency of 94.1 per cent with 16 out of his 17 kicks nailing the target. But it is understood that was not enough to earn a recall against the Saints.
Coach Luke Beveridge often gives players in Daniel’s situation multiple weeks in the premiership probably had the club’s fans feeling like they were pushing something else up hill.
This time, Bassat has promised there will be no rushing in experienced players despite a 2023 finals appearance.
And while there will be no prolonged rebuild, there will also be no quick fixes.
The Saints started this season with two wins from their first five games, ran likely finalists Geelong and GWS Giants close, while throwing one away against Essendon. St Kilda hosts the Western Bulldogs on Thursday.
The Saints will have to find diamonds in the draft – such as recent winning picks Mitch Owens, Mattaes Phillipou and Darcy Wilson – before landing the big fish to vault them into the top four.
Bassat and the Saints have pledged to become a regular top-four finisher, but he said the club’s rise may not be linear. “I have been a long-suffering fan, which is why I got involved to be honest,” he said.
“I thought I could help. It is hard to ask for patience but we need to do it right and to be frank, in the past, St Kilda has taken short cuts.
VFL. Teammate Jack Macrae played three full VFL games on return from a hamstring injury before earning a recall against the Eagles.
Daniel will head to Point Gellibrand Oval in Williamstown on Saturday to take on the Seagulls instead of tackling the Saints.
It means by the end of round 6, the All-Australian half-back would have played only two full matches at AFL level – which the Bulldogs both won convincingly against Gold Coast and West Coast.
Daniel started as the substitute in the round 1 loss to Melbourne, was substituted out of the round 4 loss against GeeBut
“Probably even in the recent past.” Bassat believes Damian Carroll and Lenny Hayes lead “the best development team in the country”.
While he didn’t want to get caught in a trap of putting a time frame on hitting premiership contention, the president says he young crop of Saints have them on the right path.
“If you fast-forward a year, or two years, and those players are up to 50, 100 games, we should be challenging,” he said. No coach across the league gets spoken about as running his entire club as often as Lyon.
The Saints have reworked almost the entire football department around the experienced Lyon since he returned to the club in late 2022, but Bassat batted away talk that he has too much influence. “I think we have the best coach in the AFL,” Bassat said.
“Ross has not even remotely sought to interfere with the football club beyond coaching. We have a very trusting relationship; he trusts me to run the football club and trusts Carl Dilena to run the football club beyond football and he is coaching and doing very well.” long and was axed for last week’s loss against Essendon.
Last week was the 27-yearold’s first VFL game in seven years. It had appeared that premiership coach Luke Beveridge no longer thought Daniel’s best position was behind the ball.
Last year, Daniel spent 40 per cent of his game time forward and 39 per cent in the midfield or wings.
in somewhat of a surprise, Dogs development coach Alex Johnson said Daniel was used in the defence in the VFL last week.
Johnson said Daniel’s creativity to change angles was “really important” to Footscray’s ball movement and unlocking the VFL Dogs in defence.
“It was a pleasure for me to coach him down in the back half,” Johnson said.
“He was really invested in the younger guys and wanted to help them. His direction out there was awesome.”
Daniel is contracted at Whitten Oval until the end of 2026 on a deal worth roughly $700,000 a season.