Drake Huggins
Club Legend
- May 2, 2018
- 2,391
- 9,697
- AFL Club
- St Kilda
- Other Teams
- Stoke City, Southampton.
- Banned
- #1
In typical saints' fashion, we have completely missed out in the father son provisions. For some unknown reason, none of our former champions are much chop at producing Y sex chromosomes. On the plus side, our women's team should be awesome over the next decade or so, but I digress.
In the 70's we were given Moorabbin, Cheltenham and the bayside suburbs down to Mentone as our suburban zone, just as all the young families left the area.
The drought lasted two decades. We lost Frankston, the Peninsula and surrounds to Hawthorn. Bentleigh and its surrounds were handed to Melbourne, for some unfathomable reasons.
Keysborough, Springvale, Clayton and Dingley were still mainly market gardens, farmlets or places where newly arrived migrants settled.
The peninsula was where young families were going and growing. Enter Hawthorn. Moore, the Matthews, Brereton, Mew, and others too many to mention was the result. The adjacent West Gippsland area was gifted to them as well. Tuck, Knights,the Abletts, the Dears et al. helped create a two decade long dynasty right there. They even had Loewey, but let him go and Bevo pounced.
I played at school with Gerard and Greg Healy. Edithvale boys, mad sainters whose dad ran the iconic Saints Social Club for many years. Zoned to Melbourne. The Fidges, Bevo, and several others lived on the wrong side of South Road, so had to go to Melbourne. They could almost see the Moorabbin ground from their front doors and couldn't play for us.
We got Mark Kellett and GT, both St.Bede's boys. Mickey Roberts from Beaumaris. Our only good area was Ballarat. At least we got Plugger, Spud, the Cunninghams, Burns, Perovic and Gellie amongst others.
Handy players like Kiel, Tweeddale, O'Keefe, Odgers, Mick Frawley and Jeff Dunne were good, but for whatever reason, none realised their full potential. Mick Frawley is the one that sticks in my craw. Gun CHF who could've been anything, but didn't thrive and went back to being a bush champion.
Fast forward to the late '90's. I moved back into the area. Having grown up a Jeff Fehring torpedo from our spiritual home, I brought my progeny back to live in Hampton to play with East Sandy, the feeder to the Dragons.
Imagine if the Dragons were our designated feeder club, as was the original proposal when the under 18s were created.
Judd, Ball, the Kings, and too many other top ten picks to mention over the past two decades. Flags would've been a given, when you consider up to seven Dragons were picked every year, with many of them becoming A grade, or elite. Most of the East Sandy players were saints' fans, with Auskick and training dominated by St.Kilda jumpers. Even ex-president Butterssssssss coached the Zebbie juniors.
Oh, what might have been! It would've made sense to align clubs with the feeders in their geographical areas and appropriate country zones. Instead of academies, we could simply allocate two priority draft picks a year from the relevant club or zones, in exchange for clubs putting resources into clubs and zones, helping development. I know clubs do it already, but formalising the processes would improve structures, wealth and enhance playing standards.
Under my cunning, Baldrick-like plan, the Sandringham Dragons would be our fedeer club, with us receiving two free hits in the draft each year. For example, 2001, Judd and Ball. 2018, max and Ben King. Yum, yum. Others will have good examples.
Our natural suburban area would be the Bayside, all the way from Brighton to Portsea. We could even be cheeky and throw in the Greater Dandenong area, especially with the flood of Eastern African migrants from the Sudan, Ethiopa, Eritrea et al. Players like Aliir Aliir, Daw, Chol and soon to become our very own Biggy, come to mind.
Satan, Matt and Fred should be lobbying Gil and Shocking to make it happen. Not only would it ensure our survival, but would almost guarantee ongoing success. It sure beats the thought of eventuslly getting Tassie as our exclusive zone, if you get my drift.
Make it so, number one and Satan!
In the 70's we were given Moorabbin, Cheltenham and the bayside suburbs down to Mentone as our suburban zone, just as all the young families left the area.
The drought lasted two decades. We lost Frankston, the Peninsula and surrounds to Hawthorn. Bentleigh and its surrounds were handed to Melbourne, for some unfathomable reasons.
Keysborough, Springvale, Clayton and Dingley were still mainly market gardens, farmlets or places where newly arrived migrants settled.
The peninsula was where young families were going and growing. Enter Hawthorn. Moore, the Matthews, Brereton, Mew, and others too many to mention was the result. The adjacent West Gippsland area was gifted to them as well. Tuck, Knights,the Abletts, the Dears et al. helped create a two decade long dynasty right there. They even had Loewey, but let him go and Bevo pounced.
I played at school with Gerard and Greg Healy. Edithvale boys, mad sainters whose dad ran the iconic Saints Social Club for many years. Zoned to Melbourne. The Fidges, Bevo, and several others lived on the wrong side of South Road, so had to go to Melbourne. They could almost see the Moorabbin ground from their front doors and couldn't play for us.
We got Mark Kellett and GT, both St.Bede's boys. Mickey Roberts from Beaumaris. Our only good area was Ballarat. At least we got Plugger, Spud, the Cunninghams, Burns, Perovic and Gellie amongst others.
Handy players like Kiel, Tweeddale, O'Keefe, Odgers, Mick Frawley and Jeff Dunne were good, but for whatever reason, none realised their full potential. Mick Frawley is the one that sticks in my craw. Gun CHF who could've been anything, but didn't thrive and went back to being a bush champion.
Fast forward to the late '90's. I moved back into the area. Having grown up a Jeff Fehring torpedo from our spiritual home, I brought my progeny back to live in Hampton to play with East Sandy, the feeder to the Dragons.
Imagine if the Dragons were our designated feeder club, as was the original proposal when the under 18s were created.
Judd, Ball, the Kings, and too many other top ten picks to mention over the past two decades. Flags would've been a given, when you consider up to seven Dragons were picked every year, with many of them becoming A grade, or elite. Most of the East Sandy players were saints' fans, with Auskick and training dominated by St.Kilda jumpers. Even ex-president Butterssssssss coached the Zebbie juniors.
Oh, what might have been! It would've made sense to align clubs with the feeders in their geographical areas and appropriate country zones. Instead of academies, we could simply allocate two priority draft picks a year from the relevant club or zones, in exchange for clubs putting resources into clubs and zones, helping development. I know clubs do it already, but formalising the processes would improve structures, wealth and enhance playing standards.
Under my cunning, Baldrick-like plan, the Sandringham Dragons would be our fedeer club, with us receiving two free hits in the draft each year. For example, 2001, Judd and Ball. 2018, max and Ben King. Yum, yum. Others will have good examples.
Our natural suburban area would be the Bayside, all the way from Brighton to Portsea. We could even be cheeky and throw in the Greater Dandenong area, especially with the flood of Eastern African migrants from the Sudan, Ethiopa, Eritrea et al. Players like Aliir Aliir, Daw, Chol and soon to become our very own Biggy, come to mind.
Satan, Matt and Fred should be lobbying Gil and Shocking to make it happen. Not only would it ensure our survival, but would almost guarantee ongoing success. It sure beats the thought of eventuslly getting Tassie as our exclusive zone, if you get my drift.
Make it so, number one and Satan!
