Former St Kilda President Rod Butterss Hits Back At Criticism

"It’s just so dumb."


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Former St Kilda president Rod Butterss says it is a “cheap shot” to criticise him for  costing the Saints on the field, saying those suggestions are incorrect.

Butterss revealed his battle with alcohol and drugs during his St Kilda tenure on The Footy Show on Thursday night, which was met with suggestions it harmed the club on the field.

He refuted those suggestions on Sunday Rub.

“I had a board of nine people. Seven of those people were outstanding human beings…great people,” he told Triple M.

"So there’s this horrible sort of sense that it was the Rod Butterss show. I was one of nine. You don’t think they held me in line and pulled my coat and told me when to pull my head in, et cetera, et cetera?”

He argued there were many more figures at the club that had a direct influence on what happens on the field.

"Boards of qualified, capable people make decisions. To think that I could have somehow affected the on-field performance is just so stupid,” he told Triple M.

"It’s ludicrous. My job was to set the strategy, to implore the chief executive and to raise the money to build the list - which I think most of you would agree was the envy of the AFL at the time - and to pay the players on time. 

"The chief executive’s job was to run the club, the coach’s job was to coach the players, the medicos to keep them on the track and the player’s job was to get the footy and kick it through the big sticks.

"To draw (that) conclusion…is just so silly. It’s just so dumb."

Ethan Meldrum

20 August 2017

Article by:

Ethan Meldrum




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