Richardson laments AFL inconsistency

Now one of the AFL's good blokes is another former St Kilda coach.

Richardson's six-year AFL tenure reached its peak on that Saturday night in round 16, 2017, when the Saints mauled Richmond by 67 points.

The top four beckoned and it begged the question - could Richardson eventually join Jeans as St Kilda's only premiership coaches?

The following week, Essendon easily beat St Kilda by 61 points.

Eventually, the Saints dropped out of the top eight and Richmond broke their premiership drought.

St Kilda never made the finals under Richardson and that doomed their second-longest serving coach, who left the club on Tuesday.

"It's a lot of things ... we just haven't been consistent enough," he said of the last two years.

"So it's time for me to jump out of the way."

Richardson noted the team that belted Richmond was in transition, with club greats Nick Riewoldt and Leigh Montagna approaching retirement.

Reality then bit hard last year, with St Kilda winning four games.

By his own admission, Richardson struggled and the Saints realised a revamp of their football department was needed.

Then came their horror run of player issues, with Dylan Roberton, Jarryn Geary, Paddy McCartin, Jake Carlisle, Dan Hannebery and Jack Steven either out for this season or sidelined for long periods.

Richardson earned kudos as the Saints started the season with four wins from five games.

More importantly, they won plenty of friends with solid effort.

But perhaps inevitably, the big losses came, capped by the woeful first quarter against North Melbourne a fortnight ago that sealed Richardson's fate.

Much was made of football boss Simon Lethlean's radio interview last month, when he said the team had to show improvement for Richardson to keep his job.

Still, it was stating the obvious.

The Saints never managed the big scalp or two that might have saved Richardson and instead, they are on a four-game losing streak.

Whatever Richardson's senior coaching record, there is no doubting his character and Tuesday's departure media conference was all class.

He only became emotional once, when asked about his family.

With wife Joanne and sons Ben and Lachie in the room, Richardson quickly shut down the topic.

"I will probably fill this cup with tears," he said.

"Please, no more questions about that."

Asked if he had any regrets, it was time for Richardson's dry humour.

"I regret we didn't kick it through the goals more," he said.

"I'm really proud of the fact that when the club was looking for a coach to win its second flag, they knocked on my door.

"It was a time in my life (when) I probably thought that had passed me by."

He also noted they re-contracted him twice.

But there were no finals, so no third time.

Australian Associated Press