b&f and spider

[StrengthThroughLoyalty]

went to the b&f last night and overindulged as usual. actually the term ratarsed would be an apt description of my final condition.

if you don't know the results yet, here they are

2001 trevor barker award: spider
runner up: fraser
third: hamill
most improved: moyle
most determined: hamill
most outstanding under 21 player: kossi
best clubman: thommo
best clubman (trainers): crippsy

retirements: powell,ryan,trigger and mark gale.

all the player speeches were the usual boring thankyou so and so speeches. the highlight reel of kossies season was also the highlight of the night, even his speech just oozed class, when i compare him to spider they are poles apart as far as character goes, thank goodness.

a couple of points of interest during the speeches was butters threatening scott dennison to get his 200 signatures and take the board on because they were ready to fight him.

butters also said that is was a tough year and we had to endure a lot especially from the press who wrote "pure unadulterated crap", got a round of applause.

waldron is an impressive speaker and made it very clear that if sydney did not deal they would trade hall elsewhere. he is the right man to be doing our trading, makes it very clear what he wants and gives the impression that his position is final. he's an absolute hard nut, i'd hate to be playing poker against him.

grant thomas handled his role for the night with his usual aplomb. this bloke will be a good coach with the right people around him. he exudes confidence and clearly communicates that it's up to the players, board, staff and supporters to improve the club. he also said that the players will be eating, breathing and sleeping with footballs, obviously he thought blightys no footys before christmas was a joke. thomas made it clear that if any player didn't want to play for the club then that player was not required at the club, which leads me to my final point.

spider everitt is leaving or the club will be doing it's best to trade him. it wasn't hard to read between the lines of spiders acceptance speach. he talked about st kilda in the past tense and thanked the club for sticking by him for his 9 years at st kilda. in fact he mentioned that he had 'been' at the club for 9 years about 10 times during his speech. it came across as if he had done his bit and he was moving on. the fact that at the end of his speech he walked off the stage without saying where he would be playing his football in the future, spoke volumes of the fact that he is going. when micky roberts (the mc for the night) asked thomas about the future of spider he said that spider was a great player for the saints and then repeated that any player that didn't want to play for the club would not be at the club, and that spider had not approached him to say that he wanted to play for st kilda. the fact that spider had won an award named after my hero trevor barker did not sit well with me at all. i may be wrong and spider might stay but i am sure that the club are trying to trade him.

on a brighter note heath black is 98% signed, sealed and delivered and that is straight from the horses mouth.

in the words of big fraser as he was leaving the stage

"go saints"

 

[sainter]

Thanks for that STL,

Most of what you have wrote has reaffirmed my positive thoughts about the future of our club.

All of the winners were extremely worthy of their awards.

With the teams performance this year, I have a hell of a lot of respect for the way Gehrig and Hamill went about their business all season. After a full pre-season Fraser will just go from strength to strength. Aaron worked bloody hard this year and very few people deserve to succeed more than he does.

What can you say about Brett Moyle? After seeing him return from his broken leg and continiung from where he left off, it convinced me that he is possibly the most least known and most promising of all our youngsters.

Justin Koschitzke is all class on the field and from what I've seen and what you've just said, is also all class off the field. And to think some West Australian's don't think this kid deserved the Rising Star Award.

After a slowish start Thommo had his typical great year in the midfield. He reveled in the captaincy and the extra workload placed on him due to the injuries to other midfielders.

Jason Cripps - Absolute Champion!

I love the comments you mentioned that Butterss made. Your not wanted Dennison, go crawl back up the hole you came from. Same goes for the media.

As for other points, I certainly wouldn't want anyone but Brian Waldron negotiating for us and I can't fault anything about Grant Thomas yet. It is very early days but I'm impressed with him.

I've left Spider till last. The view I've repeatedly said is the same that GT and the club have. If anyone is not 100% committed to the St Kilda Football Club, they are better off elsewhere. I hope we can retain Spider. He had a magnificent season in 2001 and was a deserved winner last night. But from what you've said, maybe he won't be there next year. If that's the case it's a shame but it's up to Spider to decide and for the club to do what's right. For him to be released with 2 years left on his contract, we would have to receive a hugely beneficial deal.

Anyway thanks for the report and it's good to hear that you made the most of the alcohol on offer.

Before I go, what did you hear about Black to hear that it was 98& likely he will join us. All week I've heard that he will join us but I've never seen him or his management interviewed. I'm still quietly worried.