St Kilda’s General Manager of Football Simon Lethlean has stood by his comments made on Sunday, reiterating that the entire football program must take responsibility for losses like last Saturday’s.

“This season has certainly challenged our football program and … you can’t just ringfence that to just coaching – it certainly has ramifications on looking at our list management, our development, our player leadership, our player performance and our high-performance areas, as well as coaching,” Lethlean said on the Dare Drink it Through Podcast.

“We’re looking at all parts of the program and backing Alan to be the best coach he can by trying to improve not just the coaching areas but all areas that support Alan in getting the best out of players.”

READ: Lethlean: Inconsistency not good enough

Lethlean rued the lack of response from the Saints midway through the match, when a handful of Bulldogs “got a hold” of them and punished them on the scoreboard.

“There was a seven-minute patch in the third quarter where I think we had 38 points scored against us, which was the telling part of the game,” he said.

“Our review was pretty strong, the players broke up into groups and reviewed that seven minutes and had a pretty robust conversation about what wasn’t good enough… and how a response is needed during that period of time.

“It was a pretty honest conversation, but the proof will be in the pudding … this weekend and the next two weekends to go.

“Since the bye, we think we’ve had the right trajectory in our performance. (The Bulldogs game) was hopefully a dip that we resurrect and correct this week.”

In this week’s episode…

Host Clair White is once again joined by St Kilda General Manager of Football Simon Lethlean to discuss the Bulldogs loss, James Gallagher's appointment as List Manager, the Andrew Gaff incident and the fallout from it, the possibility of red cards, Dylan Roberton's road to recovery, and two new re-signings.

Episode guide

0:22 – Round 20 loss vs Western Bulldogs

2:33 – Josh Battle, Tom Hickey injuries

3:23 – Nathan Freeman debut

4:09 – Lethlean on change in the football department

5:30 – List Manager James Gallagher

7:57 – Lethlean on trades, rumours and negotiations

10:28 – The Gaff Incident

11:37 – Red cards and removing players

13:43 – Roberton’s road to recovery

15:44 – Two new re-signings