ST KILDA will focus on surrounding coach Alan Richardson with "support" rather than considering whether he's the right man to lead the team, says football manager Simon Lethlean.
After a week where the Saints mutually decided list manager Tony Elshaug would be eased out of his role as the season rolls on, they've thrown their support behind their contracted coach.
"At this stage, my decision is that Alan's our coach and he deserves in my opinion to be surrounded and supported with the best people to make him the best coach," Lethlean told SEN on Saturday.
"Wayne Carey's summary earlier in the week that Alan's done all the work to get to be a senior coach, he's followed all the right pathways to educate himself as a coach and has had two or three pretty good years … he's in a situation now at the moment that's not all his fault.
"My focus is not to blame, it's to surround and support and give him what he needs to be the coach he can. That's my focus."
The Saints' struggles this year have been obvious, having won just one game to languish at 16th on the ladder with their ball use and the quality of the list highlighted as issues.
While Richardson is contracted until the end of 2020 after signing an extension in October last year, there are a host of Saints assistants with their futures currently unconfirmed.
All AFL clubs must inform out-of-contract assistants if they will be offered a new deal for the following season by August 1.
Lethlean agreed there were a number of decisions that needed to be made at Moorabbin, having identified the club is currently "a couple short in all sorts of different areas".
"I've got people I want to talk to and we want to attract some good people, just like we want to attract elite players and we want our leadership to improve as well," he said.
"We want our players to work harder and we want our players to give more.
"There's a lot of elements to successful football.
"There's plenty to do but you're never as far away as you think in footy to make some good calls and get things back on track."
Earlier this week, former club captain and game great Nick Riewoldt raised eyebrows when he said the Saints' review sessions following last week's 71-point loss to Sydney "wouldn't be very brutal at all, in my opinion".
He went further to say his view on "what brutal looks like compared to the current group" was different and was "really frustrated" by that over his last few years at the club.
Lethlean, who has used the 336-game Saint as a "really good resource" this year, clarified the comments as Riewoldt noticing a "difference in generations" between past and present playing groups.
"I think Nick might have been interpreted that he was talking about the feedback given to players by coaches … I think he was really talking about the feedback the players give each other," he said.
"Our leadership is young and needs to improve, and part of that is all about feedback.
"I don't know if it's at the extreme that Nick talks about but playing groups need to be honest with each other and give feedback to improve, we know that and look to evolve that."
Lethlean also said Elshaug would have been moved on this season regardless of the Saints' 2018 on-field fortunes.
"I really think this decision would have been made whether we were in fourth spot now or where we are because I think it's an area we can evolve and improve in," he said.
"We believe we've got the nucleus of a pretty good side, it's the fourth-youngest list.
"It certainly needs to add elite young talent from the draft but also some more senior impactful players to it.
"I really don't look at the past … I just look at the best way to move forward with the best people to make the right decisions."
