Dear Ross,

The rumours have been spreading, and the gossip is swirling. Will you or won't you coach Melbourne next year? The bookmakers seem to think you will, and Garry Lyon has refused to add his own commentary, suggesting that he has something in the works for the Dees that involves you.

Please don't go. We need you to stay.

My entire life, barring eighteen months in the late 1990s and the present epoch, I have known nothing but football sorrow. Even these times - when there has been success beyond anything I'd previously dreamed - have been filled with disappointment.

Every now and again I wake up in a sweat from nightmares of balls bouncing the wrong way. From a desperate spoil, fortuitously on to Matthew Scarlett's boot and straight to Gary Ablett to break a tie in the 2009 Grand Final. And in 2010, the bounce in front of Stephen Milne that brought us back to the MCG for a second week.

But then I remember, I'm just a supporter. You're the one who made it happen. You, Nick Riewoldt and the boys. For all of my disappointment, I can only imagine your heartbreak. All that work, and so much success to show for it; so much, but not a premiership trophy.

It would be fair to say that Grant Thomas laid the foundations - it was during his time that our champions like Riewoldt, Koschitzke, Goddard, Dal Santo, Montagna, etc. were all transitioned from potential champions into members of a champion team - but it was you who built the house and got us that last step.

Initially we were critical of your game plan. We saw it as all defence, no offence - but that was our simplistic view, unaware of your grand intentions. You created and mastered elements of the game with the players that had never before been thought so important.

You restored the hope of the Saints faithful.

The media has intermittently written us off. "Their premiership window has closed," they said. "Riewoldt is past his prime." The second half of our season has proven them wrong. You have proven them wrong. You are still getting the best out of our players.

The time is now to dismiss the conjecture and give us all the confidence of your commitment. The players have said that you have committed to them and that you're not going anywhere. And yet the media still write their stories.

I'm sure that Melbourne would love to have you. I imagine that you would be able to bring the same commitment, the same creativity and the same success there. You led us to grand finals two years in a row, but the trophy cabinet at Moorabbin is still bare, and as long as it is, there is work to do.

Let your competitive nature take over. Collingwood, Geelong, Hawthorn and the Eagles are all flying high. But we know we can knock them over with you at the helm. A few years ago all our players committed to the team, and to each other, that they would make together. They were offered the big bucks elsewhere, but the chance to be part of something bigger, something together, overrode that. That togetherness includes you.

Prove the naysayers wrong when they say the Saints have done their dash. You are arguably St Kilda's second-most successful coach ever, after the great late Yabby Jeans. Lead us to a flag and who knows what could happen?

At St Kilda we would love nothing more than to see you and 'Roo' hold up a premiership cup. We want you to be part of that. You're crucial to the dream of a victorious last Saturday in September. Let's do it together.

Yours, from the Lockett End,

Liam