Trip Down Memory Lane

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The AFL Story - 1996 Grand Final Story.
Interesting Watch



Sensational doco. Amazing the raw emotion after all theses years have passed. A doco you can easily watch every 12 months.
 
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Nutsngum

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Awesome doco. Love the old girls talking about the players, reminds me of my nan talking about Fitzroy. Probably the best aspect of footy is just that its loved by everyone equally.

God I hope we manage to win another premiership in these guy's lives.
 

Nutsngum

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Does anyone know when they stopped the swapping guernseys thing? Seems really odd to me that youde even start a tradition like that in the first place.
 

ST ROMNAR

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When thinking of the 1966 premiership I always recall the forgotten players who never got to play due to career ending injuries or in Big Carl's case suspension.

Brian Gleason - 1957 Brownlow medallist at 23, ruckman never played again - knee, would have been 31
Jimmy Guyatt - 1964 classy back flanker / centreman at 24 - knee, would have been 26.
Ross Oakley - 1966 prelim final, winger at 24 - knee
Jim Wallis - 1965 ruckman at 24 - knee, would have been 25.
Bill Stephenson - 1963 full forward on track for a 100 before crippled at 26 - knee, would have been 29.
Carl Ditterich - suspended.

We have had more than our share of injuries to great players, the one's above however missed being immortalised as St Kilda premiership players.
 

Axcellence

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Surprise!
On a more positive note..

I accidentally hit the last page on the forum.. and saw the origins of the Saints Board... it was in a year that Saints were going to finish bottom. There were some really interesting posts, which may seem prescient or otherwise looking on. Feel free to necro quote here!

Here's a collection of what I thought were interesting when looking so far back on!

The very first post on the saints footy board! Clearly, technology has moved on and I'd be surprised if anyone has ICQ still (although its still listed as a successful company with the last version coming out in 2012 - see wikipedia)! Just shows what life was like...

anyone have icq?
here's my # 92379226

cheers!

------------------
GO LIONS!

So, clearly, we did have some people who agreed on who should be the top 2 draft picks in 2000.

STL and Karnaby,

I agree that Koschitzke and Riewoldt are the way to go.

Didak is the best midfielder on offer and may be the most likely to warrant immediate senior selection on offer but like you have said STL, key position players like these guys will not come around very often at all.

For someone like Riewoldt, who is regarded as a top CHF yet is agile enough to play as a wingman for Southport, he looks to have it all.

Apart from the fact that I have just learnt to spell his name, I think Koschitzke should be the other section. He has proven to have natural talent as a CHF and CHB while prefering to be a ruckman. And with a height of 196cms, he has an opportunity to develop as a ruckman underneath Spider and Capuano.

Both of them are very tall and slighly built and may take a while to develop into senior players. But having them playing regular senior football next year is not the main thing. These guys have the potential to be fantastic footballers and I hope our selections will be made on their long-term worth to the side and not that they are a ready made senior footballer like Didak.

And the familiar refrain...

Why would they do a thing like this?

the saints self destructing once again!

thats what veryone will be saying!!

who would want to coach a rabble, a rudderless ship, one who sacks their coach at a drop of a hat. ????????????????????????????????????????

can someone please tell me some answers????????????????????????????????


why

why why?

And a really prescient one.. (although more by accident) :)

Wooooohoo..... Kossie Kossie Kossie Oi! Oi! Oh! Well deserved Rising Star of 2001!.. Riewoldt for 2002!... :)

Other drafting discussions..

grant thomas will leave all the draft choices to john beveridge this year. he said the club had missed out on a lot of players that beveridge had suggested because previous coaches over ruled him to get what they considered a certain type of footballer.

our first pick in the draft will be ball or hodge depending on who hawthorn take. as it is fairly certain that the hawks will take ball that leaves us with hodge. the club have had bone density tests on judd so obviously they are also thinking about him with our next pick, if he is still available.

has anyone got an info on hodge? how does he compare to ball and judd etc.

Are you certain we will go for Hodge definitely?

As for the tests done on Judd, what exactly is that? To see how his shoulders will be? Or just a general stress on whether his body is up to the rigours of footy?

I think I'd prefer to go for Hodge over ball anyway. He'll play seniors straight away- is physically a man already & can play midfield or up forward. Towering left foot kick (60m+), quick & strong overhead. He is a matchwinner.

The Falcons coach said Hodge is easily the best midfielder available including Ball- just his groin injury slowed him down this year before ending the year absolutely dominating.

Hodge for mine.

I was told from someone involved with Football Geelong that Hodge is rated one of the best young kids they have ever seen.

As for John Beveridge, I reckon it's about time some faith was shown in him. Why have a recruiting manager that spends all year watching youngsters around the country when a senior coach overrules him.

Even last year after selections 1 and 2, our next pick wasn't until 64 so he hardly had a chance to do much. He'll have an excellent opportunity to get some great kids into the club.

You'd reckon if we did take Hodge, the Eagles would take Polak and the Dockers Sampi which would leave Judd to us but I guess we don't know how the clubs are feeling.

Patrick smith.. nothing changes..

he discussed the lack of a football manager, and the fact that st kilda will be the only club that does not have one.

what i'd like to know, is does it matter or not?

it seems the CEO will be doing more work and somebody called Cam Roberts (who is he?) will be doing some.

and there will be a new media pr person. (not a bad thing.)

i am getting sick and itred of the cornflakes issue!!!!

Article... from 2003, about Lenny Hayes being in the race for captaincy for 2003 (Hammill was the captain eventually)

Hayes sets mark
07 January 2003 Herald Sun
By MARK STEVENS

LENNY Hayes is the bolter in the race for the St Kilda captaincy.

The midfielder, 23 next week, has impressed coach Grant Thomas so much in recent months that it is clearly no longer a two-way fight between Aaron Hamill and Andrew Thompson for the position.

Under the Saints' radical rotation system, Hayes would hold the job for one year if successful.

Hayes' leadership skills have blossomed in the main pre-season training group, filling the void left by the absence of senior trio Thompson, Robert Harvey and Nathan Burke.

With the older group on a modified program, Thomas said yesterday Hayes had been an inspiration.

"Without doubt he is up there ... he's really set the benchmark," Thomas said. "He has just been so conscientious. There is a real work ethic and determination to prove himself. He's got all the attributes of leadership ... he's an extremely humble man and very embracing of his teammates."

Thomas said the rotational captaincy idea had fast-tracked Hayes' development.

"Lenny's had to stand up and that's the sole reason we've embarked on the process of captaincy we have," he said.

""I'm not certain under another system he would've stuck his head up like he has."

The Saints will announce their skipper next month.

Hayes played 20 matches last season for a career total of 71. He was only narrowly pipped by Nick Riewoldt for the club's best-and-fairest.

"His effort at the footy and man with footy was exceptional," Thomas said. "But I know he's not satisfied. He wants to take his footy to another level."

Harvey, Burke, Thompson, Justin Peckett, Matthew Capuano and Fraser Gehrig, all on cross-training programs before Christmas, re-joined the main group yesterday for the Saints' first session of the new year. The Saints' main injury concern is ruckman Trent Knobel, who is fighting a chronic knee injury.

Knobel has patella soreness and will not be rushed back.

There are no guarantees he will be ready for Round 1, meaning another injury to No. 1 ruckman Capuano would be a painful blow.

I really liked Savatage 's prescient posts (a lot of them were just "hi.. is anyone here types") But on asked who was better of Riewoldt or Koschitzke..

Good question.

Kosi has more poise & his skill level would be top 5 in our club (not bad for someone 6 foot 6). He will most likely spend his career alternating between CHF/CHB & the odd stint in the ruck.

Riewoldt has the extra ability to be able to cover those positions & also pop up into the midfield & be able to get 20 odd possies & a dozen marks.

The versatility of both players are their main strengths. Injury permitting, both should be in store for long, successful careers.

Both are also level headed, smart kids with plenty to offer in way of leadership.

another one.. about Dal Santo

Best disposal at the club (yes, better than Goddard, despite what that no good beatnick Sav might tell you). Last year in the Freo game, with the ball deep in defence and 10 players in a pack, he got the ball (btw, everyone else was moving in slow motion by then), spun around and after assessing his options for a split second drilled the ball 55 to the wing, where Moyle looked on in awe before collecting the ball.

4 things about Dal
1) He is VERY SLOW. He also NEVER, EVER, EVER gets caught. If you think Harvey cannot be tackled in a pack, watch the magic Dal weaves.
2) There is NOBODY at the club i would rather have the ball 70m from goal. Will pinpoint a ripping pass every time.
3) He is easily in our best 18 when fit
4) He is one of my favourite players, so some things I say about him might be SLIGHTLY exaggerated. He is absolutely top notch though.

Importance of senior players...

St Kilda infants finding feet
By Mark Fuller
April 06 2003


Nick Riewoldt, ball in hand, was flat on his back beneath three Adelaide tacklers late in a knife-edged last quarter yesterday when Aaron Hamill swooped, tossed each of the Crows to the wind and helped his young teammate to his feet.

Afterwards, Saints coach Grant Thomas insisted a new era at St Kilda was not born with yesterday's rousing win over the Crows but had been growing stronger legs since last year.

Yesterday, that era took its first steady steps, and it was Hamill who was keeping it on its feet.

For St Kilda fans, the infant new era may look like a chip off the old block.

There have been, for example, the familiar, fearful stumbles. Life is never easy when you're born with a wooden spoon in your mouth.

Baby Saints Riewoldt, Justin Koschitzke, Luke Ball, Xavier Clarke and Nick Dal Santo are not yet Tony Lockett, Stewart Loewe, Robert Harvey, Nathan Burke and Nicky Winmar, but drawing the parallel is alluring.

Up to a point. The original Big Five, too often stranded in a sea of mediocrity, could not deliver the prize.

Until yesterday, fears might reasonably have been held that the new group might suffer eventually a similarly barren fate. And in this most unforgiving of arenas, that may yet transpire.

For all the similarities, the reasons why this era may be different were evident yesterday, when Thomas fielded four of them - minus Dal Santo - together for the first time. And some of the original Big Five remain.

Lockett was there yesterday, looming large in white lettering 40 metres above Koschitzke as he goaled just two minutes into his first match for almost a year. Loewe was there, too - his old No. 23 worn proudly on Koschitzke's back.

But it was the ones who came to embrace him who mattered most.

Harvey and Burke may not shake a game as they once did, but they proved their value yesterday when it mattered.

While Koschitzke, Riewoldt and Co. were leaping and marking and kicking St Kilda to a seven-goal second-quarter lead, Harvey and Burke were on the bench.

But when the Crows began to dominate the clearances in the dying stages, and the Saints' lead dwindled to nine points, Harvey and Burke appeared in the centre to shut down the revival. They had no such assistance when they were on the way up.

Nor did they have the irresistible force that is Aaron Hamill.

Last week in Hamill's absence, Riewoldt carried much of the forward responsibility, only to have his confidence checked by the fearful buffeting he copped from the Kangaroo defenders.

Thomas conceded last night that there was little he could do to ease the pressure that Riewoldt places on himself.

"You can try, but realistically you're only doing it with mirrors because he's a see-ball-get-ball player, and he handles it enormously well," Thomas said.

"You can try and take some pressure off him, but he actually thrives on it and enjoys it and actually goes in search of it, and that's the quality of the guy."

Yesterday, with Hamill muscling inside the forward 50 and beyond, Riewoldt thrived and was a vision splendid in the sunlit plains that extend down the wing.

It had much to do with the pressure that Hamill absorbed, a trait that Thomas said was vitally important in allowing the young stars to grow.

"It's extremely important because he's a quality player and he attacks the football very hard and he keeps defenders honest and he provides an enormous amount of encouragement to the rest of the guys," he said.

"He eases a lot of pressure. It's a fact of life when you have your quality, highly regarded players in your side, it just gives everyone a lot more support and belief that they can complete the job, and he's got enormous presence on a game of football, Aaron, and that showed today. "But when you've got a really good bunch of players in, strategy and moves and rotations become a lot easier."

Having helped them to walk, Hamill is showing them how to run.
 

Sainttony

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Great post Axce, you can see the similarities with now. McCartin or Petracca, Hodge or Ball or Judd. Even Sainter saying Rooey and Kosi are the way to go is interesting.

Let's hope someone writes a similar article this season to the one that Mark Fuller wrote about our development in 2003.
 
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I like the fact that BigFooty looks like it's gonna stick around for at least the foreseeable future. I was active on a couple forums before I joined here (2004 onwards) but both of them were shut down and pretty much wiped form the net.

It's cool knowing I'll probably be able to look back on posts I made here in years to come!
 
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I like the fact that BigFooty looks like it's gonna stick around for at least the foreseeable future. I was active on a couple forums before I joined here (2004 onwards) but both of them were shut down and pretty much wiped form the net.

It's cool knowing I'll probably be able to look back on posts I made here in years to come!
Probably be able to show your grandkids! "As you can see from my post back in the day I had the opinion that <insert player name> was going to be a total spud, but in fact he turned out to win the Brownlow and Norm Smith Medal in our Premiership winning season!"
 

Murraj1966

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29 days until we're one draft closer to 2003...

I loved that year, footy was still raw to me and the Saints had some amazing wins the year against Brisbane, the Gtrain goal against North, ripping apart Richmond in our heritage strip, Allan Murray pinching a few against Hawthorn.

Good times
 
29 days until we're one draft closer to 2003...

I loved that year, footy was still raw to me and the Saints had some amazing wins the year against Brisbane, the Gtrain goal against North, ripping apart Richmond in our heritage strip, Allan Murray pinching a few against Hawthorn.

Good times
Ordinary video quality but it still gets the hairs on the back of my neck standing up. Ill never forget being at that game:):):)

 
Yep - great call. I was there too.

Harvey running through the middle as if the game was in the first quarter not the last. Before his time.
Yeah it was a bloody awesome day tbarker:thumbsu:
Ive been lucky enough to be at all of the recent history last gasp wins. Micky G Vs Geelong. G-Train Vs Kangas and the vey exciting and very unlikely Troy Schwarze Vs Lions.:):):)
But a bit of a forgotten one that has great memories for me is this one

Yeah yeah i know Hall ended up being a turd and that was his last game. But that was a f-ing fantastic end to a bloody woeful season. So many of our young players had never played in a win, so to beat the much more fancied Hawks on the day was awesome. I was behind those goals on the first tier up and i jumped around like such a freaking idiot when he kicked it. It was like a huge relief valve after a horrible season. Not just for me, you can tell the way the players went nuts that it was special to them too:D Its one of my favourite Saints memories.
One regret i have is i couldnt go to the 1989 game Vs Carlton when Lockett won the game with his 10th goal of the game with only seconds left. I had to work:(
Thankfully the whole last qtr is on youtube in good quality. Its a blast from the past watching it.
People can say what they want about the Saints. But ive still got a shitload of wonderfull memories :thumbsu::thumbsu:
 

tbarker

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Yeah it was a bloody awesome day tbarker:thumbsu:
Ive been lucky enough to be at all of the recent history last gasp wins. Micky G Vs Geelong. G-Train Vs Kangas and the vey exciting and very unlikely Troy Schwarze Vs Lions.:):):)
But a bit of a forgotten one that has great memories for me is this one

Yeah yeah i know Hall ended up being a turd and that was his last game. But that was a f-ing fantastic end to a bloody woeful season. So many of our young players had never played in a win, so to beat the much more fancied Hawks on the day was awesome. I was behind those goals on the first tier up and i jumped around like such a freaking idiot when he kicked it. It was like a huge relief valve after a horrible season. Not just for me, you can tell the way the players went nuts that it was special to them too:D Its one of my favourite Saints memories.
One regret i have is i couldnt go to the 1989 game Vs Carlton when Lockett won the game with his 10th goal of the game with only seconds left. I had to work:(
Thankfully the whole last qtr is on youtube in good quality. Its a blast from the past watching it.
People can say what they want about the Saints. But ive still got a shitload of wonderfull memories :thumbsu::thumbsu:


Wow - I had forgotten all about that one! I wasn't there but remember watching it on replay. Who is the blonde bloke wearing #29?

You are spot on about Saint's supporters having games that brought a huge amount of relief. I reckon we know how to celebrate better than anyone. It comes from so much pain over the years. For many years my favourite game was Plugger kicking his 100th against the doggies at Moorabbin and running then onto the ground.

Ironically my all time favourite is now round 14 2009 versus Geelong when the big show nearly killed 3 geelong players in the square and sealed the game for us. I was there and it was hands down the best atmosphere of any game at Etihad. The AFL has put out a documentary on the AFL website of that game and interviewed a lot of players. My little bloke who is 5, has watched the doco about 100 times and keeps asking me when the Saints will be that good again.

Keep the hits coming Snake.
 

Murraj1966

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Wow - I had forgotten all about that one! I wasn't there but remember watching it on replay. Who is the blonde bloke wearing #29?

You are spot on about Saint's supporters having games that brought a huge amount of relief. I reckon we know how to celebrate better than anyone. It comes from so much pain over the years. For many years my favourite game was Plugger kicking his 100th against the doggies at Moorabbin and running then onto the ground.

Ironically my all time favourite is now round 14 2009 versus Geelong when the big show nearly killed 3 geelong players in the square and sealed the game for us. I was there and it was hands down the best atmosphere of any game at Etihad. The AFL has put out a documentary on the AFL website of that game and interviewed a lot of players. My little bloke who is 5, has watched the doco about 100 times and keeps asking me when the Saints will be that good again.

Keep the hits coming Snake.

Just tell your son that the Saints took time to be that good but we will be one step better next time

I still remember how exciting those times were I really hope it's that exciting again
 
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