Is anyone done?

[BadRossco]

May as well hang in there for now as the end of the ride may not be far away, che AFL will soon get sick of propping up losers like the Saints and North. We will always be losers unless our recruiters have the guts to take a chance on young players rather than picking up rejects from other clubs at least North are trying to do this.

[shanegrambeau]

May as well hang in there for......end of the ride......... AFL will soon get sick of propping up losers like the Saints and North............

The AFL would like six Melbourne teams...

...but if us basket cases insist on staying at the party......
..leave the backyard door open, let them wander out there and accidentally lock the door. It is a real danger. The rationalists don't care...they will have moved on to Basket Ball Australia, or Pop Corn New Zealand by the time their handiwork comes to roost.

That is the narrative ..it might sound a bit whiney and victim like..but it is real. Ask a Fitzroy or North fan.

St Kilda will hang on, but we need to build some regional vibe, some attachment to St Kilda itself. (North have a bit of that at Arden Street.. Cudos to NOrth and particularly Brayshaw..he get's a lot of flack for being a pretender, he is too pretty and sharp for that voice I suspect. But they helped forged North and rebuild it and North Melbourne itself. it is a mess right now...but it doesn't take anything away from how solid that ten year effort was.

We will endure crappy fixtures, sh%tty decisions at tribunals, a lack of attraction (the idea as a 'destination' club is a joke), and a bunch of other things as our legacy as an old club scraping by, gets dug up by the 'academics' in the press etc., and our gallows humour might hellp as well as hurt us. But we will carry on.

Our personnel is the main problem now...and the trappings of recruiting - having to spend a certain amount within a given year etc., It is a poison and a drug. I am sure great minds are at work hoping for better ways to work it out.

[axcellence]

I am done with this “era”. Never liked the CEO, particularly, after the Richo contract extensions. St Kilda - the club for good blokes!

Hannebery- publicly questioned choice. Never made st kilda top 10 b&f
Hill - overpaid for him and non performer who doesn’t make the b&f top 10

Don’t get me started on the administration on their draft performance. McCartin... give me a break.

Mediocrity galore. The fitness is so off pace this year. All players are gassed after 1.5 quarters. Doesn’t look like they adjusted at all for the normal length quarters.

2021 is lost. And the course correction required will take another 5 years. See ya all in 2026!

[saynta]

I am done with this “era”. Never liked the CEO, particularly, after the Richo contract extensions. St Kilda - the club for good blokes!

Hannebery- publicly questioned choice. Never made st kilda top 10 b&f
Hill - overpaid for him and non performer who doesn’t make the b&f top 10

Don’t get me started on the administration on their draft performance. McCartin... give me a break.

Mediocrity galore. The fitness is so off pace this year. All players are gassed after 1.5 quarters. Doesn’t look like they adjusted at all for the normal length quarters.

2021 is lost. And the course correction required will take another 5 years. See ya all in 2026!

Don't let the door hit ya where God split ya..

[skeptic]

I am done with this “era”. Never liked the CEO, particularly, after the Richo contract extensions. St Kilda - the club for good blokes!

Hannebery- publicly questioned choice. Never made st kilda top 10 b&f
Hill - overpaid for him and non performer who doesn’t make the b&f top 10

Don’t get me started on the administration on their draft performance. McCartin... give me a break.

Mediocrity galore. The fitness is so off pace this year. All players are gassed after 1.5 quarters. Doesn’t look like they adjusted at all for the normal length quarters.

2021 is lost. And the course correction required will take another 5 years. See ya all in 2026!

See I wouldn’t think a course correction would take long at all
Ryder, Hannebery, Geary, McKernan and pbly Frawley finish up this year

Carlisle, Hunter, Clav, Joyce, Dunstan depending on contract have at most another year depending on contracts

10 players right there to turn over

If any of Highmore, Bytel and Byrnes come on and we recruit to fill our spine a bit... even if this year is write off we’ll bounce back quickly

We’ve got a good core here

[shanegrambeau]

Walk away, the best thing I ever did

Realised it was just a burden on my life, there was no joy there anymore.

If you still get a thrill out of going then good on you, but if not, walk away, you don't owe the club anything , I used to think I did, so I'd keep going, you know strength through loyalty and all that

Still keep my eyes on the score, or just read the game threads here and bf, watch the highlights,go occasionally, but I don't get that pain anymore, infact with this mongrel bred group that have been piled together I've never felt less connected to them or the decimated game.

A premiership now would still be great I won't deny, I invested to much to not be there live if we ever made another one, but it would never mean as much to me as it would of , used to mean everything to me, to much

Was great to see plugger and Loewe back for spuds game, players didn't feel any connection but...

I walked 700kms along the Australian Alps track to Canberra a few weeks back. Got into Canberra and fronted up at a sports bar to watch that puerile non performance against Essendon. By half time the writing was on the wall for the season, a complete disconnection amongst the group, zero semblance of any sort of a game plan that I'd possibly never seen , that doesn't get fixed over night.The saints generally turn up there toes in a season when things go astray .

If the club looks to go belly up in the coming years I hope at least they put some stkilda people back at the helm for the final chapter, players who had pride in the jumper and performance. There's a few floating about with roles at other clubs..

I hear you.

I can only say, I was in pain as a supporter so badly between 1974 and 1979...I basically went into denial....avoided footy for years...and then re-emerged in the mid 80s with an Irish sense of humour.

It went that way until Sheldon’s ‘91, where the kid in me woke up again, but quickly scurried for cover. By ‘97 our successes took on a surreal character.

Didn’t expect us to win in 09 or 10...apart from fifty seconds after Goddards mark.

I relate to the long walk, a bar, comfort reward, and then to see a shellacking ...which deflates...but I think we are trying as a team. They actually held their own meeting after that essendon debacle if we believe the media spin.

[Teflon]

I am done with this “era”. Never liked the CEO, particularly, after the Richo contract extensions. St Kilda - the club for good blokes!

Hannebery- publicly questioned choice. Never made st kilda top 10 b&f
Hill - overpaid for him and non performer who doesn’t make the b&f top 10

Don’t get me started on the administration on their draft performance. McCartin... give me a break.

Mediocrity galore. The fitness is so off pace this year. All players are gassed after 1.5 quarters. Doesn’t look like they adjusted at all for the normal length quarters.

2021 is lost. And the course correction required will take another 5 years. See ya all in 2026!

See I wouldn’t think a course correction would take long at all
Ryder, Hannebery, Geary, McKernan and pbly Frawley finish up this year

Carlisle, Hunter, Clav, Joyce, Dunstan depending on contract have at most another year depending on contracts

10 players right there to turn over

If any of Highmore, Bytel and Byrnes come on and we recruit to fill our spine a bit... even if this year is write off we’ll bounce back quickly

We’ve got a good core here

If you look at our side from a youth and talent lens to build from and challenge imo we have a good solid core but lack enough class. Below I’ve left out those I think won’t be in our real next challenge eg Ryder Carlyle etc plus those I think who are genuinely expendable eg Lonie , McKenzie, Ross, Dunstan, Hannebery etc

When I look at this, to really challenge I think we need

2 x A grade mids to support Steele
1 x Upcoming young ruck support Marshall
1 x Key defender ....B King if he was happy here would be nice if not play him and his brother CHF / FF ala Eagles with 3 talks upfront and go hard for another key defender

I think it’s doable but we need to be ruthless - I would be prepared to give up some on list below IF it secured me say...a Merret or B King ...we can no longer settle for rejects ....we also need a balance as imo our kids stocks look thin so hit the draft hard. No point treading water - take a step back , develop the side of the future this year (we aren’t winning it) and plan for a genuine flag tilt inn2-3

King - Key FWD B Grade (pot A)
Howard - B Grade (pot A) Key Def
Steele - A grade mid
Gresham - B grade mid
Marshall - A Grade ruck
Clarke - B Grade mid/def (pot to A)
Coffield - B Grade def
Paton - B Grade def (pot A)
Wilkie - B Grade Def
Billings - B Grade Wing
Battle - B Grade utility
Crouch - B Grade mid
Sinclair - C Grade mid
Butler - B Grade small fwd
Long - C Grade (pot B) Def
Membrey - B Grade Fwd
Hill - B Grade outside mid (A on his day)

To be come on
Byrnes
Bytel
Highmore

[sendmehomehappy]

I am done with this “era”. Never liked the CEO, particularly, after the Richo contract extensions. St Kilda - the club for good blokes!

Hannebery- publicly questioned choice. Never made st kilda top 10 b&f
Hill - overpaid for him and non performer who doesn’t make the b&f top 10

Don’t get me started on the administration on their draft performance. McCartin... give me a break.

Mediocrity galore. The fitness is so off pace this year. All players are gassed after 1.5 quarters. Doesn’t look like they adjusted at all for the normal length quarters.

2021 is lost. And the course correction required will take another 5 years. See ya all in 2026!

See I wouldn’t think a course correction would take long at all
Ryder, Hannebery, Geary, McKernan and pbly Frawley finish up this year

Carlisle, Hunter, Clav, Joyce, Dunstan depending on contract have at most another year depending on contracts

10 players right there to turn over

If any of Highmore, Bytel and Byrnes come on and we recruit to fill our spine a bit... even if this year is write off we’ll bounce back quickly

We’ve got a good core here

I agree with this: We have a good core. We should be able to rise again sooner than a complete rebuild would take.

Marshall, King, Higgins, Howard, Steele, Gresham (if fit) Patton (if fit), Coffield, Clark, Jones (if fit) Bytel, Wilkie and Skunk should all still be around for our next serious tilt. We must hope 1 or 2 of Highmore, Byrnes, Connelly or Allison come on. Then just hit the mid-season and pre-season drafts hard and cleverly.

I would add Lonie to the clean out list.

Package Billings off for a draft pick to a team in contention while he still has good value. Same with Hill, unless he pulls his finger out. Better to get a young talented trier into the team from the draft even if we must pay some of his fees. Cutting one's losses can be very useful.

I will never give up. I'm too long-standing a supporter and too emotionally invested, I would be devastated if the club ever folded. Anyone who has barracked for the Saints through the 80's knows this is a walk in the park. The key is to have realistic expectations and not to believe in bultish from the quick fix trading merchants at the club.