Discussion General AFL Thread 2017
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Huge Loss for Carlton. Highly defensive game plan which includes slower ball movement and high kick-handball ratio. He is arguably their most important player.
George
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Reimagine Moorabbin
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Feel so bad for Docherty.
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I feel bad for him but hes still young, will bounce back 2019.
Catltons daydreams for '18 just went out the window.
Cannot think of 1 player they would have rather NOT lost.
George
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Reimagine Moorabbin
- Aug 17, 2015
- 45,306
- 127,288
- AFL Club
- St Kilda
- Other Teams
- Phi Eagles & Phillies, Liverpool, PAO FC
They will be up against it, bottom 6 you would think now for sure.
CursingFijian
Knight of the Square Table
Today I Learned that St Kilda 'won' the wooden spoon for the first 6 years after joining the VFL in 1897, and did not win a game until it's fourth season. 
st_trav_ofWA
Norm Smith Medallist
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i think i remember reading when we won our first game it shut down St Kilda such was the celebrationsToday I Learned that St Kilda 'won' the wooden spoon for the first 6 years after joining the VFL in 1897, and did not win a game until it's fourth season.
CursingFijian
Knight of the Square Table
May 5 1900 : St Kilda successfully protested against Melbourne to win its first VFL match after 48 straight losses
http://www.afl.com.au/afl-hq/the-afl-explained/chronology
Last edited:
Diehard Saint
Brownlow Medallist
CursingFijian
Knight of the Square Table
Roy Cazaly tells all about one of footy's great dramas.
Sporting Globe 1 May 1937 P8 Banner
Football Ring-in with £500 at Stake
By ROY CAZALY
Coach Of South Melbourne
As Told to H. A. de Lacy
First past the post the winner, £500 up and both teams "ring-ins." That was the funniest football match I ever played in.
But the story must have a beginning. Colbinabbin and Elmore were great rivals. The money was up. Colbinabbin won. Elmore was not satisfied — there were "ring-ins" in the Colbinabbin team. That started the fight and the money was on in packets.
Billy Schmidt was playing with St. Kilda then. As the League team were not playing on the Saturday someone at Elmore decided that if Colbinabbin could win with a few "ring-ins," so could Elmore.
Billy Schmidt got a letter asking for assistance. A regular S O.S. Seven of us volunteered for the emergency.
Sporting Globe 1 May 1937 P8 Billy Schmidt
We would have played anywhere in those days so long as it was football.
WE left town on Friday afternoon—a secret departure. Hush Hush everywhere- We were to leave the train two stations before we got to Elmore. We sneaked off the train—more hush hush. Cars were waiting. It was about 1am. We were taken to a general store, where supper was to be provided.
BIRDS EYE VIEW OF ELMORE, LOOKING FROM WATER TOWER C1912 SLV H86.98 125
Visualise us sitting in the back room of that store. There were racks of delicacies. We were hungry, and this was to be a feed with a vengeance. We pulled tins of crab, sardines, salmon, pickles, etc., off those shelves, and had a regular "blow-out."
Then more hush hush. We were seeing the funny side of it by this tune. To bed. We remained in bed until about two hours before the match.
Then we were fed and groomed and motored to the ground. The stakes exceeded over £500 by this time. Elmore were well set.
Uniforms complete, out we ran, regular Elmore colts, prancing and preening.
1922 Magpie Cigarettes St Kilda Biilly Schmidt Otway Jack (thecollectingbug)
1922 Magpie Cigarettes Sth Melbourne Roy Cazaly
1922 Magpie Cigarettes Sth Melbourne Mark Tandy
There was Billy Schmidt, "Snow" Noonan, Pat Kennedy. Paddy Maloney, Mark Tandy, Jock Doherty and myself, 0ut ran Colbinabbin. The first player I saw was Dick Godfrey from Hawthorn. We had played together as kids, so it was no use trying to hide anything.
We smiled, and knew the game was up.
Twelve Association “Ring-Ins'
There were 12 Association "ring-ins” in the Colbinabbin lot They had reconstructed their team.
In those days the game did not command the publicity it does now. Players
were allowed to have a game here and there, and no notice was taken. They were playing in Wednesday games. No bar was on anyone — almost a "go-as-you-please" permit arrangement.
"Snow" Noonan. who usually played full-back for St. Kilda. started in the ruck with me. with Mark Tandy as rover.
The Colbinabbin fellows had an "ace" to play. Smack! A big, raw-boned Irishman - with the touch of the brogue in his tongue — let go a haymaker.
'I’ll have you!" he yelled at me. "Snow" had been played in the ruck for Saints, but he was a little too wild, especially if there was a fight offering.
First Class Scrap
'He's mine, Cazzaer!" I heard Snow yell. In he went, and a first-class scrap was soon in progress.
Then said the Irishman, sudden-like. "Soiy. lets go on wit the game.”
So on went the game. Down went the Irishman. "Snow" had bowled him properly. Off they started again. Gee! They could both scrap.
After about a dozen exchanges, one of them remembered
"Now we have a game." he said, and on they went.
Mark Tandy still laughs when he recalls Snow and the Irishman.
They were two young huskies, full of life and vitality. They would scrap for a few minutes then with a laugh one of them would say "Now what about a few more kicks?"
Mark Tandy played a great game. He was bowling everyone, and those wonderful feet of his were twinkling.
Billy Schmidt in the centre dominating everything. This everything was “made to order/”
The St. Kilda "ring-ins" were right at their top. We could not have done better.
It was an eye opener to the country people, and even though the money had been won and lost they were taught something about the game they did not think possible. Docker Doherty was up and down off the ground like a bouncing ball.
The Association men did not let Colbinabbin down either. The result was a wonderful game of football. The country fellows also played their part.
But Mark and "Schmidty" were too good, and we had about a five-goal margin.
I nearly forgot to tell you that Mark Tandy got 24 dozen eggs as the prize for the best and fairest. He's never been able to laugh that one off. We naturally disagreed about the decision.
We had a court martial on the way home and decided unanimously that Mark had not only been the roughest bird in the match, but the noisiest as well. He'd talked his way to those eggs.
So we took them away from him.
We were extended wonderful hospitality. On the Sunday we were taken to, the weir, where fish abounded, but not having the inclination for fish we just dawdled about.
Now as 1 look back I am convinced that Jock Doherty must have been prompted with an evil impulse to make one of us splash about like a fish. He had a go s tech of us.
Finally he had me set for a “sitter”. He took a running jump to push me in, I just saw him coming and half turned. In he went – clothes and all.
We returned to Melbourne with a fiver each, all expenses paid, and the better for having played in a great game.
Outings such as these cement friendships. Clubs should get their players together as much as possible. Any excuse is good enough for an outing. Take your player into the bush, take them
anywhere. so long as you break down the strangeness that helps to keep fellows apart.
A man is altogether different when the strain of seriousness is off him. Teach him to play when the serious business of football is over, and you will get better and happier teams.
I was coaching at Minyip in 1925. By an arrangement. 1 was also able to play with Litchfield-Carron in the Donald district. They played on a Wednesday.
Too Much "Rough Stuff"
We were playing against Donald. There was a lot of money on the match—but no ring-ins. I was offered £50 for a win. I've still got to get that money Money was plentiful, and everyone in both "teams was flat out to win.
Donald were playing better football that we were. The game was willing. The players were keyed up, and there. far too much rough stuff arising from over-anxiousness. When players get keyed up, and they are fit, they become a trifle abnormal. You have seen it before a final or an important game, and you have seen it on the field during such a game. It takes iron nerve and a steady head to weather such an occasion.
In the second quarter, I did one of those unorthodox turns with which I used to get out of trouble. To my amazement I was struck the hardest blow over the eye 1 have ever had. It was a beauty.
I was told afterwards that as I turned a big fellow with more brute strength than science flung
himself head first at me. I got his head above the eye. It was a fair knock but did it bleed! Naturally I was out of the game for a while.
It is strange how a knock -will stimulate a player. I have seen it in other games, but this was the first occasion I had experienced it myself.
1 was covered with blood, and a weird sight. The game went on. and I flew for a high mark. Got it; and then from somewhere about 70 yards out, I put the ball through. Mark you. I was still dazed. Had 1 not been. I would have hesitated about having that shot. But there it was.
The ball was thrown in. Somebody grabbed my pants and tore them off mc. But nothing could stop me. Had I been more rational, I would have noticed those torn trousers. But no - I knew nothing but getting that ball.
Wife Brought Me To My Senses
The first I knew about it all was the voice of my wife calling to me. "Roy, come here, come off."
My wife has always been my companion in football. She is a fine judge of a game too. She was accompanied by my sister and my kiddies. Covered with blood as 1 was. and with my pants torn off, 1 must have looked a wild sight.
My wife attracted my attention but still I didn't know what it was all about. She ran out with
two safety pins and pinned my pants up on the field. That was honestly my first knowledge that they were torn.
There we no spare pants, so that repairs had to be effected at the interval.^
After that knock 1 got five goals. They told me about them for 1 didn't know much.
We won the game.
Often a player with slight concussion as I must have had that day will play on and do things that his normal senses would have prevented him from doing. The incidents of that game are told to you second-hand. I was just an automaton.
Lost — And Bogged!
We did not get home till after 4 am. next day—the climax of a beautiful day. If you know the Wimmera you know, just how bad those roads were about 1925. After rain they were impassable.
I started out to drive home By that time the eye was closed and the other one affected. We lost the guiding ears, and soon I could see through the pelting rain a patch of water ahead of me.
The water I soon proved was deep. l made for a track near the fence, but half blind as I was, I hit the wire and got tangled up it it. Then we were bogged. After a lot of struggling we reached a farm house, borrowed some petrol and asked where we were.
We were headed for Warracknabeal. The relatives of the folk we were giving a lift to were nearly crazy with anxiety when we did not arrive home on time.
What a game – a bung eye, torn pants and that £50 still missing, wet and far from home, bogged, and an irate husband looking for his wife – Lucky I had my own wife along.
END ARTICLE ONE
Sporting Globe 1 May 1937 P8 Banner
Football Ring-in with £500 at Stake
By ROY CAZALY
Coach Of South Melbourne
As Told to H. A. de Lacy
First past the post the winner, £500 up and both teams "ring-ins." That was the funniest football match I ever played in.
But the story must have a beginning. Colbinabbin and Elmore were great rivals. The money was up. Colbinabbin won. Elmore was not satisfied — there were "ring-ins" in the Colbinabbin team. That started the fight and the money was on in packets.
Billy Schmidt was playing with St. Kilda then. As the League team were not playing on the Saturday someone at Elmore decided that if Colbinabbin could win with a few "ring-ins," so could Elmore.
Billy Schmidt got a letter asking for assistance. A regular S O.S. Seven of us volunteered for the emergency.
Sporting Globe 1 May 1937 P8 Billy Schmidt
We would have played anywhere in those days so long as it was football.
WE left town on Friday afternoon—a secret departure. Hush Hush everywhere- We were to leave the train two stations before we got to Elmore. We sneaked off the train—more hush hush. Cars were waiting. It was about 1am. We were taken to a general store, where supper was to be provided.
BIRDS EYE VIEW OF ELMORE, LOOKING FROM WATER TOWER C1912 SLV H86.98 125
Visualise us sitting in the back room of that store. There were racks of delicacies. We were hungry, and this was to be a feed with a vengeance. We pulled tins of crab, sardines, salmon, pickles, etc., off those shelves, and had a regular "blow-out."
Then more hush hush. We were seeing the funny side of it by this tune. To bed. We remained in bed until about two hours before the match.
Then we were fed and groomed and motored to the ground. The stakes exceeded over £500 by this time. Elmore were well set.
Uniforms complete, out we ran, regular Elmore colts, prancing and preening.
.jpg)
1922 Magpie Cigarettes St Kilda Biilly Schmidt Otway Jack (thecollectingbug)
1922 Magpie Cigarettes Sth Melbourne Roy Cazaly
1922 Magpie Cigarettes Sth Melbourne Mark Tandy
There was Billy Schmidt, "Snow" Noonan, Pat Kennedy. Paddy Maloney, Mark Tandy, Jock Doherty and myself, 0ut ran Colbinabbin. The first player I saw was Dick Godfrey from Hawthorn. We had played together as kids, so it was no use trying to hide anything.
We smiled, and knew the game was up.
Twelve Association “Ring-Ins'
There were 12 Association "ring-ins” in the Colbinabbin lot They had reconstructed their team.
In those days the game did not command the publicity it does now. Players
were allowed to have a game here and there, and no notice was taken. They were playing in Wednesday games. No bar was on anyone — almost a "go-as-you-please" permit arrangement.
"Snow" Noonan. who usually played full-back for St. Kilda. started in the ruck with me. with Mark Tandy as rover.
The Colbinabbin fellows had an "ace" to play. Smack! A big, raw-boned Irishman - with the touch of the brogue in his tongue — let go a haymaker.
'I’ll have you!" he yelled at me. "Snow" had been played in the ruck for Saints, but he was a little too wild, especially if there was a fight offering.
First Class Scrap
'He's mine, Cazzaer!" I heard Snow yell. In he went, and a first-class scrap was soon in progress.
Then said the Irishman, sudden-like. "Soiy. lets go on wit the game.”
So on went the game. Down went the Irishman. "Snow" had bowled him properly. Off they started again. Gee! They could both scrap.
After about a dozen exchanges, one of them remembered
"Now we have a game." he said, and on they went.
Mark Tandy still laughs when he recalls Snow and the Irishman.
They were two young huskies, full of life and vitality. They would scrap for a few minutes then with a laugh one of them would say "Now what about a few more kicks?"
Mark Tandy played a great game. He was bowling everyone, and those wonderful feet of his were twinkling.
Billy Schmidt in the centre dominating everything. This everything was “made to order/”
The St. Kilda "ring-ins" were right at their top. We could not have done better.
It was an eye opener to the country people, and even though the money had been won and lost they were taught something about the game they did not think possible. Docker Doherty was up and down off the ground like a bouncing ball.
The Association men did not let Colbinabbin down either. The result was a wonderful game of football. The country fellows also played their part.
But Mark and "Schmidty" were too good, and we had about a five-goal margin.
I nearly forgot to tell you that Mark Tandy got 24 dozen eggs as the prize for the best and fairest. He's never been able to laugh that one off. We naturally disagreed about the decision.
We had a court martial on the way home and decided unanimously that Mark had not only been the roughest bird in the match, but the noisiest as well. He'd talked his way to those eggs.
So we took them away from him.
We were extended wonderful hospitality. On the Sunday we were taken to, the weir, where fish abounded, but not having the inclination for fish we just dawdled about.
Now as 1 look back I am convinced that Jock Doherty must have been prompted with an evil impulse to make one of us splash about like a fish. He had a go s tech of us.
Finally he had me set for a “sitter”. He took a running jump to push me in, I just saw him coming and half turned. In he went – clothes and all.
We returned to Melbourne with a fiver each, all expenses paid, and the better for having played in a great game.
Outings such as these cement friendships. Clubs should get their players together as much as possible. Any excuse is good enough for an outing. Take your player into the bush, take them
anywhere. so long as you break down the strangeness that helps to keep fellows apart.
A man is altogether different when the strain of seriousness is off him. Teach him to play when the serious business of football is over, and you will get better and happier teams.
I was coaching at Minyip in 1925. By an arrangement. 1 was also able to play with Litchfield-Carron in the Donald district. They played on a Wednesday.
Too Much "Rough Stuff"
We were playing against Donald. There was a lot of money on the match—but no ring-ins. I was offered £50 for a win. I've still got to get that money Money was plentiful, and everyone in both "teams was flat out to win.
Donald were playing better football that we were. The game was willing. The players were keyed up, and there. far too much rough stuff arising from over-anxiousness. When players get keyed up, and they are fit, they become a trifle abnormal. You have seen it before a final or an important game, and you have seen it on the field during such a game. It takes iron nerve and a steady head to weather such an occasion.
In the second quarter, I did one of those unorthodox turns with which I used to get out of trouble. To my amazement I was struck the hardest blow over the eye 1 have ever had. It was a beauty.
I was told afterwards that as I turned a big fellow with more brute strength than science flung
himself head first at me. I got his head above the eye. It was a fair knock but did it bleed! Naturally I was out of the game for a while.
It is strange how a knock -will stimulate a player. I have seen it in other games, but this was the first occasion I had experienced it myself.
1 was covered with blood, and a weird sight. The game went on. and I flew for a high mark. Got it; and then from somewhere about 70 yards out, I put the ball through. Mark you. I was still dazed. Had 1 not been. I would have hesitated about having that shot. But there it was.
The ball was thrown in. Somebody grabbed my pants and tore them off mc. But nothing could stop me. Had I been more rational, I would have noticed those torn trousers. But no - I knew nothing but getting that ball.
Wife Brought Me To My Senses
The first I knew about it all was the voice of my wife calling to me. "Roy, come here, come off."
My wife has always been my companion in football. She is a fine judge of a game too. She was accompanied by my sister and my kiddies. Covered with blood as 1 was. and with my pants torn off, 1 must have looked a wild sight.
My wife attracted my attention but still I didn't know what it was all about. She ran out with
two safety pins and pinned my pants up on the field. That was honestly my first knowledge that they were torn.
There we no spare pants, so that repairs had to be effected at the interval.^
After that knock 1 got five goals. They told me about them for 1 didn't know much.
We won the game.
Often a player with slight concussion as I must have had that day will play on and do things that his normal senses would have prevented him from doing. The incidents of that game are told to you second-hand. I was just an automaton.
Lost — And Bogged!
We did not get home till after 4 am. next day—the climax of a beautiful day. If you know the Wimmera you know, just how bad those roads were about 1925. After rain they were impassable.
I started out to drive home By that time the eye was closed and the other one affected. We lost the guiding ears, and soon I could see through the pelting rain a patch of water ahead of me.
The water I soon proved was deep. l made for a track near the fence, but half blind as I was, I hit the wire and got tangled up it it. Then we were bogged. After a lot of struggling we reached a farm house, borrowed some petrol and asked where we were.
We were headed for Warracknabeal. The relatives of the folk we were giving a lift to were nearly crazy with anxiety when we did not arrive home on time.
What a game – a bung eye, torn pants and that £50 still missing, wet and far from home, bogged, and an irate husband looking for his wife – Lucky I had my own wife along.
END ARTICLE ONE
We were like a suburban team joining the AFL. They let us in because we had the Junction oval.
CursingFijian
Knight of the Square Table
Hopefully our womens team starts with a little more success.
Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk Pro
Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk Pro
dct66
Club Legend
- Jun 19, 2014
- 1,433
- 3,139
- AFL Club
- St Kilda
One of my favourite St Kilda games took place against Geelong at Corio Oval on 9 Sep 1899.
Saints scored a point early and were only 30 points down a quarter time. Sixty point to nothing was a blow in the second quarter with seventy-one points to nothing in the second half giving Geelong a lazy 162-1 victory.
https://afltables.com/afl/stats/games/1899/091518990909.html
Before anyone asks, NO I wasn't at this game!
Saints scored a point early and were only 30 points down a quarter time. Sixty point to nothing was a blow in the second quarter with seventy-one points to nothing in the second half giving Geelong a lazy 162-1 victory.
https://afltables.com/afl/stats/games/1899/091518990909.html
Before anyone asks, NO I wasn't at this game!
- Nov 7, 2012
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- Bristol City FC, Urawa Red Diamonds FC
One of the periods of our club's history which most interests me is the transition point from the period detailed above to when we started winning games and upping our standard to a level closer to our competitors: what was the catalyst?
Was it simply that our players were good but lacked experience, a la most expansion clubs?
Were our facilities or training methods changed, or did the players take it more seriously?
Or was there a player or players who came in and was so good that he single handedly dragged the team back into games, so good that he made the players around him better and inspired his teammates to lift their game?
I'd really appreciate a nod in the direction of that particular information, if anyone knows.
Was it simply that our players were good but lacked experience, a la most expansion clubs?
Were our facilities or training methods changed, or did the players take it more seriously?
Or was there a player or players who came in and was so good that he single handedly dragged the team back into games, so good that he made the players around him better and inspired his teammates to lift their game?
I'd really appreciate a nod in the direction of that particular information, if anyone knows.
- Sep 28, 2016
- 6,630
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- St Kilda
Didn't expect to read this in our history book:
'Alpacas were a kind of llama with long wool which had been imported from South America as a money-raising venture'.
Unfortunately that article reads like it was written by a 16 year old. And the 1913 season makes no mention of the challenge rule which was in place at the time. Describing the first grand final as simply a preliminary final.
austinnn this is probably what you're looking for:
'In 1904 a committee shake-up heralded a bold new recruiting drive and the club netted much-travelled ruckman Vic Cumberland and champion Tasmanian rover Vic Barwick, but in 1904 St Kilda finished eighth on the ladder and in 1905 seventh. Within two years of the bold new recruiting drive the brilliant young forward Dave McNamara and a talented batch of interstate men were on the books and St Kilda rose to sixth place in 1906.'
austinnn this is probably what you're looking for:
'In 1904 a committee shake-up heralded a bold new recruiting drive and the club netted much-travelled ruckman Vic Cumberland and champion Tasmanian rover Vic Barwick, but in 1904 St Kilda finished eighth on the ladder and in 1905 seventh. Within two years of the bold new recruiting drive the brilliant young forward Dave McNamara and a talented batch of interstate men were on the books and St Kilda rose to sixth place in 1906.'
dct66
Club Legend
- Jun 19, 2014
- 1,433
- 3,139
- AFL Club
- St Kilda
austinnn, following on from the post by Armitage2Riewoldt I've had a go at outlining the players who joined the club leading up to 1913. I've based it on Russell Holmesby's "Heroes with Haloes", Stephen Rodgers "Every Game Ever Played - VFL Results 1897 - 1982" and the good old AFL Tables website.
St Kilda played their 100th game in R1 1903 and lost to Geelong bringing our record to 2-98 but 1903 proved to be our breakout year where we finished 5th with 7 wins and 1 draw. This improvement was probably due to Vic Cumberland joining from Melbourne and forming a rucking partnership with rover Vic Barwick. A star forward from Ballarat, Charles Baker who played with the club from 1902 – 1906 also contributed to the on-filed improvement. All three of these players were included in Russell Holmesby’s “Heroes with Haloes” with Vic Cumberland listed at 15 in that original top 20 St Kilda players compiled in 1995.
1904 saw us drop back to the bottom with only three wins and 1905 wasn’t much better with only four wins, however, four more of those “Heroes with Haloes” joined the club that year: Gordon Dangerfield, Harry Lever, Dave McNamara and Billy Stewart. Lever was the first Saints player to play 200 games. Holmesby rated Dave McNamara at No 6 in his 1995 top 20.
Modest improvement in 1906 with six wins and then a major breakthrough in 1907 with nine wins, a third place finish and the club’s first finals. George Morrissey, another “Hero” joined the club in 1907.
Ten wins in 1908 and another finals appearance with the club again finishing in third place. Bill Woodcock joined the club and played 17 games.
The club fell away again in 1909 (3 wins, 10th place), 1910 (1 win, 10th place) and 1911(2 wins, 9th place). The major player to join the club during those years was Wels Eicke who debuted in 1909 aged 15 years, 314 days. Holmesby rated Eicke at 14 in his 1995 top 20. It should also be noted that Roy Cazaly joined the Saints in 1911 and played 4 games that year. Another “Hero”, Ernie Sellars played 8 games in 1911.
In 1912 the club finished in 8th place but managed seven wins, a major improvement on the previous three years. Cazaly played a further 4 games for the club and Billy Schmidt joined St Kilda having already played 71 games with Richmond.
In 1913 the Saints won 11 games and finished in 4th place to play finals for the third time in our history. We actually beat Fitzroy in what could be considered a Grand Final but lost to them the following week when they invoked the ‘challenge rule’ where they could replay the final because they had finished on top of the ladder.
I think it is interesting to list the “Heroes with Haloes” who played in 1913
Cumberland, Eicke, Schmidt, Sellars and Woodcock played all 21 games. Dangerfield and Lever played 20. Cazaly played 19. Morrissey played in 12 games and Vic Barwick who hadn’t played since 1909 came back for one game, the home win against Geelong in R9.
All but Barwick played in both of the finals against Fitzroy.
St Kilda played their 100th game in R1 1903 and lost to Geelong bringing our record to 2-98 but 1903 proved to be our breakout year where we finished 5th with 7 wins and 1 draw. This improvement was probably due to Vic Cumberland joining from Melbourne and forming a rucking partnership with rover Vic Barwick. A star forward from Ballarat, Charles Baker who played with the club from 1902 – 1906 also contributed to the on-filed improvement. All three of these players were included in Russell Holmesby’s “Heroes with Haloes” with Vic Cumberland listed at 15 in that original top 20 St Kilda players compiled in 1995.
1904 saw us drop back to the bottom with only three wins and 1905 wasn’t much better with only four wins, however, four more of those “Heroes with Haloes” joined the club that year: Gordon Dangerfield, Harry Lever, Dave McNamara and Billy Stewart. Lever was the first Saints player to play 200 games. Holmesby rated Dave McNamara at No 6 in his 1995 top 20.
Modest improvement in 1906 with six wins and then a major breakthrough in 1907 with nine wins, a third place finish and the club’s first finals. George Morrissey, another “Hero” joined the club in 1907.
Ten wins in 1908 and another finals appearance with the club again finishing in third place. Bill Woodcock joined the club and played 17 games.
The club fell away again in 1909 (3 wins, 10th place), 1910 (1 win, 10th place) and 1911(2 wins, 9th place). The major player to join the club during those years was Wels Eicke who debuted in 1909 aged 15 years, 314 days. Holmesby rated Eicke at 14 in his 1995 top 20. It should also be noted that Roy Cazaly joined the Saints in 1911 and played 4 games that year. Another “Hero”, Ernie Sellars played 8 games in 1911.
In 1912 the club finished in 8th place but managed seven wins, a major improvement on the previous three years. Cazaly played a further 4 games for the club and Billy Schmidt joined St Kilda having already played 71 games with Richmond.
In 1913 the Saints won 11 games and finished in 4th place to play finals for the third time in our history. We actually beat Fitzroy in what could be considered a Grand Final but lost to them the following week when they invoked the ‘challenge rule’ where they could replay the final because they had finished on top of the ladder.
I think it is interesting to list the “Heroes with Haloes” who played in 1913
Cumberland, Eicke, Schmidt, Sellars and Woodcock played all 21 games. Dangerfield and Lever played 20. Cazaly played 19. Morrissey played in 12 games and Vic Barwick who hadn’t played since 1909 came back for one game, the home win against Geelong in R9.
All but Barwick played in both of the finals against Fitzroy.
Last edited:
dct66
Club Legend
- Jun 19, 2014
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It appears not with the Dangerfields
http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2007/11/27/1196036893735.html
Yeah it would have allowed us to get Rodney , but then they took it away before Patrick was eligible for the draft.
