Sometimes timing is everything. And on Wednesday night, the timing of the release of the fly-on-the-wall documentary The Challenge detracted from what was an interesting and insightful look inside the St Kilda Football Club.

St Kilda has denied the documentary was a PR stunt designed to show the football club in a favourable light, with no inner turmoil or angst among the playing group. Nor that it a deliberate attempt at rectifying the negative image that some believe the club had attracted over the past 12 months.

No, this was not a chance to put "those photos" behind them and forget about "that girl" whilst portraying a team that was barely affected by the prescription drug and alcohol-fuelled antics of four players in New Zealand.

Instead, St Kilda will have you believe that this was a documentary that happened by chance and with no ulterior motive than to allow the average fan of Australia's No.1 football code to take a guided tour of the inner sanctum of St Kilda FC.

Saints CEO Michael Nettleford stated on 3AW's Sports Today on Wednesday night that there was no correlation between the making and release of The Challenge and the bad publicity that has dogged the club in the past 12 months.

"It wasn't designed in any other capacity then to show the challenges that we face in attempting to repeat last year's effort of playing off in two grand finals," he said.

"The challenge of putting the team back on the park, of picking ourselves up and getting back to the form of last year."

The Challenge, Nettleford stated, was an idea brought to the club after they lost the second grand final to Collingwood last year, and was to be based on a similar four-part documentary that the Boston Celtics produced after they lost to the Los Angeles Lakers in the 2009-2010 NBA finals series.

Nettleford added that there was no other reason why the documentary was made, insisting that the AFL were the ones pulling the strings. "The AFL came to us and commissioned it and we were more than happy to allow them to help us show the challenge that we face," he said.

Nettleford did agree, however, that it was a good advertisement for the club and one that showed the Saints in a positive way.

"We would like to think that it is a good promotion for our football club, one that adds to our brand but one that also is a good promotion for the challengers that we have to face," he said.

All of which may be true. Maybe footage of Nick Riewoldt talking to a shirtless Sam Gilbert about overcoming the tension between the two players and "being closer than ever" had nothing to do with publicly mending wounds.

Maybe Ross Lyon saying that "four players' actions don't represent the club as a whole" - and that it is the majority which the club should be judged on - is not related to a perceived image problem of the club.

Maybe Zac Dawson confessing to the camera, "I don't think I've made that big of a mistake in my whole life" has nothing to do with changing the way the public sees him.

Maybe it was all a coincidence and The Challenge was not meant in any way to make the TV viewers change their perception of some of the St Kilda players.

Conversely, this columnist has no problem with a club attempting to give their perspective on recent events - in actual fact I was enthralled by the candid vision of Ross Lyon venting his spleen whilst driving to training, as well as the way he conducted his training sessions. Footage of Lenny Hayes describing what it meant to be a part of a team was evocative and heart-warming. As was the relationship between player and coach displayed best by Lyon's instruction and advice to Tom Ledger.

In fact, I think it would be a shame if more of these documentaries weren't made, because through these films one can gain a much better appreciation of what a football club at the elite level is like.

However, next time instead of suggesting that it isn't a promotion for your "brand" or an attempt at smoothing over the edges of a rough off-season, do us a favour: don't treat us as imbeciles. Be honest about the exercise. After all timing is everything and memberships are still on sale.