Player given away for SFA By the Saints to retire

[saynta]

Hawks big man McEvoy to call it quits

Scott Spits

Two-time Hawthorn premiership ruckman Ben McEvoy will retire at the end of the season.

The veteran campaigner and former St Kilda player recorded his 250th AFL match at the weekend but, at 33 years of age, the Hawks’ captain said it was time to step away.

“I have an enormous amount to be grateful for across my whole journey,” McEvoy said.

“Football can be a selfish existence at times, and I am incredibly thankful for the unconditional support I have had from my family.
Ben McEvoy has announced his retirement.

Ben McEvoy has announced his retirement.Credit:Getty

“I also want to thank my teammates, coaches, fitness staff, volunteers, and supporters, who have all contributed to me being able to perform at my best.

“I feel very privileged to have played out the career I have and still pinch myself as to how fortunate I have been.”

McEvoy said he was physically, mentally and emotionally ready to call time.

“It’s not like my body’s completely given out on me,” said McEvoy, who crossed to Waverley at the end of 2013 and became a two-time premiership player and a member of one of the great Hawthorn teams.

“It’s always been slow – it’s getting slower – but it hasn’t actually broken down.

“But physically, mentally and emotionally the petrol tank’s just empty.”

Drafted to St Kilda from Dederang-Mt Beauty via the Murray under-18s, McEvoy will return to life on the land after giving and giving at the Saints and then Hawks.

“I’ve got a farm and I’m very passionate about living in the bush,” said McEvoy.

“It’s been a very challenging 15 years being in Melbourne – especially early days, that was really, really hard.

“I’ve got better at managing it as we’ve gone along, but ... we’ve got a farm, which needs me to be there. It’s been a real challenge not being there.

“When time allows over the next couple of months, we’ll make the transition back to the bush.”

Article from the Age.

[bigcarl]

Never agreed with him going, nor Dal Santo, nor Goddard. What did it get us?

[SinCitySainter]

Hardly SFA, we got Shane Savage and their first round pick 18 which we used on Luke Dunstan.
He played 91 games for us and 159 for Hawthorn.
Savage and Dunstan both played over 100 games for us.
Ben McEvoy has been a good solid ruckman his whole career, he has not been a world beater, never made all Australian or won a club best and fairest (came 2nd in 2017).
Did we win on the deal probably not but to say we gave him away for SFA is somewhat rewriting history.

[B.M]

No - we didn’t win the deal

Luke Dunstan and Savage were both fringe players (bottom 6)

McEvoy was a top ten player at Hawthorn + he played a crucial role.

We could have had the ruck pairing of McEvoy and Stanley for over a Decade

Instead we had Luke Dunstan, Shane Savage, Hugh Goddard!

[takeaway]

Hardly SFA, we got Shane Savage and their first round pick 18 which we used on Luke Dunstan.
He played 91 games for us and 159 for Hawthorn.
Savage and Dunstan both played over 100 games for us.
Ben McEvoy has been a good solid ruckman his whole career, he has not been a world beater, never made all Australian or won a club best and fairest (came 2nd in 2017).
Did we win on the deal probably not but to say we gave him away for SFA is somewhat rewriting history.

We got Acres as well in the overall deal.

[D.B.Cooper]

Hardly SFA, we got Shane Savage and their first round pick 18 which we used on Luke Dunstan.
He played 91 games for us and 159 for Hawthorn.
Savage and Dunstan both played over 100 games for us.
Ben McEvoy has been a good solid ruckman his whole career, he has not been a world beater, never made all Australian or won a club best and fairest (came 2nd in 2017).
Did we win on the deal probably not but to say we gave him away for SFA is somewhat rewriting history.

We got Acres as well in the overall deal.

I've read that on here previously but have never been able to confirm that to be accurate.
How did we also secure Acres, wasn't that our existing pick?

Did we give up anything as well as McEvoy?

[desertsaint]

Thedeal actually gave ys savage and acres. Dunstan (unless taken by the hawks) we were taking with our pick. Getting the second pick allowed us to grab acres as well.

[Life Long Saint]

Ben McEvoy was traded to Hawthorn for Shane Savage and pick 18.
Seperately, or maybe related, we also recevied pick 19 from Hawthorn (as part of the Franklin free agency move to Sydney). This was completed after the Mcevoy trade as the compensation was not known until then.
We also traded picks 24 and 59 to Hawthorn.
We picked Luke Dunstan with 18 and Blake Acres with 19.

Hawthorn picked Billy Hartung with 24 and upgraded Ceglar from the rookie list with 59.

We received pick 25 for the Dal Santo move to North. Which we traded to Brisbane along with pick 41 for Billy Longer and pick 48 which traded to GWS for Josh Bruce.


So the trade was, effectively, McEvoy and Hartung for Savage, Dunstan, and Acres.
We also "traded" Dal Santo for Longer and Bruce.

[CURLY]

No - we didn’t win the deal

Luke Dunstan and Savage were both fringe players (bottom 6)

McEvoy was a top ten player at Hawthorn + he played a crucial role.

We could have had the ruck pairing of McEvoy and Stanley for over a Decade

Instead we had Luke Dunstan, Shane Savage, Hugh Goddard!

Was never top ten in there best years.

[Trev from the Bush]

Despite the usual who got what and we wuz robbed (!!!) arguments there is no argument other than Benny has been a great servant of both clubs. At the time of his surprise (to him and all of us) departure to the Hawks the only knock I had on him as a player was he seemed to lack the ability to win hit-outs at centre bounces. We were consistently smashed in centre clearances because of this.

Subsequent ruckmen - I am thinking Billy Longer, Jason Holmes and to a lesser extent Tom Hickey - could win centre hit-outs but couldn't play footy! Billy Longer couldn't get a kick if he dressed as a mod and walked into a sharpies-only dance!

Pure football ability was never an issue with Benny. A superb reader of the ball, intercept mark and reliable kick for goal from any distance made up for any shortcomings. He improved his ruck skills over time at Hawthorn and I was far from surprised to see him develop into one of the best rucks in the business with two premiership medallions as proof. Still, I watched him closely when we played the Hawks recently and Rowan Marshall gave him a bath at the centre bounce. That is not one of Marshall's strong points to date but he has been luck to have had Paddy to learn from while he developed. Ben had Gardiner and KIng but never got much opportunity to play with either of them (have I heard it said before Lyon was not into developing young players?).

Regardless, well done ben on a very fine career. 250 senior games as a bash and crash ruckman is some achievement, I am sure the doors at Linton Street will always be open for you.

As for the masterminds behind the trade, where are they now? I believe St Kilda's acceptance of mediocrity since the Jeans era can be pinpointed to a lack of rusted-on Saints running the show. During the 60's, our most successful decade, Huggins and Drake were a powerful combination who dragged the club up by the bootlaces, took risks, recruited brilliantly, got rid of the dud "stadium deal" and settled us in or new home. During the 70's the reality of developing your own ground from scratch (no government or league assistance back then) took hold and we had choices to make - pay your players or pay your mortgage. The era of BYO wages had ended, players were sold off for big transfer fees to try and keep the club solvent. But they failed.

Lindsay Fox, a dyed-in-the-wool Saint (but also known as a Carlton coterie member), took the reins and his 7.5 cents in the dollar "scheme of arrangement" to debtors (including club legends Jeans and Breen) saved the club but could never save face. Four decades on the mere thought of this still rankles many. And then South Melbourne relocated to Sydney. The decision to play Paul Morwood and Silvio Foschini without clearances and subsequent legal challenge changed the face of football forever. For the worse in my opinion. St Kilda Football Club stank in the minds of the league and all other clubs and I believe the stench still exists.

The club may have won its legal case but it lost all good will in doing so. Since then, we have been treated like a door mat. The club's administrations since have seemed to lack dare and don't want to be seen to be treading on anybody's toes. We have kowtowed to individuals who went against popular opinion, eg, the sacking of Stan Alves and the appointment of an untried Tim Watson (a shout out to Watson for acknowledging he wasn't up to the job and giving plenty of notice). Blight anyone? The appointment of Grant Thomas or,much worse, his sacking? Kneejerk reactions have been somewhat a club speciality.

However, that is the past. I believe the current crew running the show a pretty professional and display the best interests of the club at all times. I would like to think, though, the are al asked a mandatory question for any position they apply for with the club.

"Who do you barrack for?"

[Wayne42]

Never agreed with him going, nor Dal Santo, nor Goddard. What did it get us?

Salary cap relief maybe.
The List manager probably thought himself a genius getting the club extra draft picks for those that were discarded, then stuffed up when selecting replacements.

[skeptic]

It was actually a great deal for us… we just fluffed the picks

Rewrite that draft with us taking
Matt Crouch
Zach Merrett
Or Karl Amon

And we’re laughing all the way to the bank

[PADDLEPOP1001]

McEvoy was a future skipper for the Saints & a very good ruckman,2 things you can build your side around & two things we lacked for several years!It was a bloody shocking trade,dual flag winner & a very well respected presence at the Hawks!

[Killa]

At the time Hickey had gone past McEvoy - and easily

McEvoy was seen as one paced and limited - including in ruck contests

Plus Longer was on the radar - a first round draft pick

The fault from there was the preference for Longer over Hickey - Hickey eventually leaving for West Coast and now at Sydney playing as he is (so effectively an extra midfielder as is Marshall)

Longer is where?

[saynta]

Never agreed with him going, nor Dal Santo, nor Goddard. What did it get us?

SFA

[kosifantutti]

At the time Hickey had gone past McEvoy - and easily

McEvoy was seen as one paced and limited - including in ruck contests

Plus Longer was on the radar - a first round draft pick

The fault from there was the preference for Longer over Hickey - Hickey eventually leaving for West Coast and now at Sydney playing as he is (so effectively an extra midfielder as is Marshall)

Longer is where?

I was a big fan of Hickey but your first statement is plain wrong.

Hickey played 12 games and finished 25th in the TBA just behind Tom Lee. .

McEvoy played all 22 games and finished 11th.

[B.M]

Some people change their tunes of the course of the years

I absolutely remember the defending of the McEvoy decision on this forum at the time (everyone though Pelchen was a list managing guru!)

People calling Dunstan a Win after 1 game and even started calling McEvoy a dud! Trying to somehow justify in their own minds that it was a ‘great decision’

Hickey came to us via the BJ Goddard Compo
Dunstan and Savage via McEvoy
Longer via the Dal Santo Compo

So what would have been three club champions (2 future Captains)
McEvoy, Goddard, Dal Santo
We got
Hickey, Dunstan, Savage and Longer

See
Giving up known good players in the hope of finding better ones doesn’t always work!

Both Dal and BJ went on to play outstanding seasons at Essendon and North
McEvoy was very good for 10 years at Hawthorn

[spert]

At the time Hickey had gone past McEvoy - and easily

McEvoy was seen as one paced and limited - including in ruck contests

Plus Longer was on the radar - a first round draft pick

The fault from there was the preference for Longer over Hickey - Hickey eventually leaving for West Coast and now at Sydney playing as he is (so effectively an extra midfielder as is Marshall)

Longer is where?

People forget that McEvoy was an average ruck with us- but a strong mark around the ground. His ruck work improved a bit at the Hawks under better coaching IMO.

[saynta]

Some people change their tunes of the course of the years

I absolutely remember the defending of the McEvoy decision on this forum at the time (everyone though Pelchen was a list managing guru!)

People calling Dunstan a Win after 1 game and even started calling McEvoy a dud! Trying to somehow justify in their own minds that it was a ‘great decision’

Hickey came to us via the BJ Goddard Compo
Dunstan and Savage via McEvoy
Longer via the Dal Santo Compo

So what would have been three club champions (2 future Captains)
McEvoy, Goddard, Dal Santo
We got
Hickey, Dunstan, Savage and Longer

See
Giving up known good players in the hope of finding better ones doesn’t always work!

Both Dal and BJ went on to play outstanding seasons at Essendon and North
McEvoy was very good for 10 years at Hawthorn

All true. unfortunately.