St Kilda has formed a six-person committee to identify its next senior coach.

The club’s Head of Football Chris Pelchen will chair the committee which will comprise people from various sporting and professional backgrounds.

St Kilda board members Andrew Thompson and Danni Roche have been appointed to the committee along with recently retired Saint Jason Blake, former Geelong premiership captain Tom Harley and consultant psychologist Matti Clements.

Thompson has been on the St Kilda board since his retirement as a player at the end of 2007.

He played 221 games for the Saints over 11 years and won the 2000 club Best and Fairest.

Roche was a member of the gold medal winning Australian women's hockey team at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics.

Away from the sporting arena, Roche has held finance and commercial positions with Telstra and has also been a Director at UBS and a Partner at Evans and Partners.

Roche has also been a Director of Hockey Australia for seven years and holds a Masters of Business Administration. She joined the St Kilda board at the end of 2012.

Harley led Geelong to the 2007 and 2009 premierships and has since held numerous roles in the football media and in the wider football industry.

He has previously served on coaching subcommittees when he was part of the group that selected Brendan McCartney as the Western Bulldogs coach at the end of 2011 and the group that selected Ken Hinkley as Port Adelaide coach at the end of 2012.

Blake retired as a St Kilda player at the end of 2013 after 219 games and 38 goals.

He served as St Kilda’s representative with the AFL Players Association and completed a Bachelor of Civil Engineering during his playing career.

Matti Clements specialises in wellbeing, personal development and performance enhancement for Olympic, Paralympic, and professional Athletes or Coaches.

Clements is a consulting psychologist to the St Kilda Football Club and is also responsible for the development and delivery of a variety of wellbeing and performance programs for the Melbourne Vixens, Tennis Australia and Cricket Australia.

She has previously worked with the AFL Players Association Wellbeing Program and the Australian Institute of Sport (AIS).

The club will ensure the process is as long as it needs to be to decide on the right person for the job but it is hoped the new coach will be appointed by the time all players commence pre-season training on November 18.
 

The club’s first to four year players return to training this Wednesday where they will be guided by newly-appointed head of high performance and former Olympic sprinter, Adam Basil.