Saints off season

[Falchoon]

Solid all around I would have thought

Now to the draft

 

[hayes]

Pretty solid so far but the most important part is about to come. Nail this draft and we're pretty much set.

 

[Sunshine Saint]

Well we have gone about the end of season in a typically St Kilda fashion. We:

• Retired three icon players
• Had the CEO resign
• President finish his term of office
• New Saints President appointed
• Severed ties with Sandringham, with announcement that the Saints are to field their own stand alone VFL team in 2016 at Moorabbin
• Interest and negotiations with Richmond bad boy Dustin Martin about joining his close buddies, Fisher and Armitage at the Saints
• Player set a dwarf on fire at a Mad Monday club event
• Had the players publicly and individually apologise to Saints members and supporters for dwarf burning
• Had players banned from holidaying in the US with a Richmond wild man
• Had the same players holiday with the same Richmond player in Bali instead
• Coach dismisses negotiations and talks of recruiting Dustin Martin
• Had an assistant coach leave for Carlton
• Traded out an icon player to the Hawks
• Traded out an icon player to the Kangaroos
• High Performance Manager leaves for Collingwood to renew old friendship with Eade & get away from Watters
• Appoint new High Performance Manager
• Traded in youth, youth, youth in a trade sale when everything and everyone was up for grabs
• Collected draft picks like a monopoly game where the club is hell bent on collecting prime real estate
• Had Riewoldt rumoured that he was off to Collingwood and Montagna to Essendon
• Club dismisses coach
• Had a past great appearing in court for rape charges
• Had Richmond administration and supporters in a lather that one of their assistants may join us as coach
• The Age has Caroline Wilson on special assignment doing Saints only articles from appointment up to first pre-season match
• Have a past Gold Coast player with rumoured attitude problem training with Saints hoping to be taken with free agency, drafted or included on rookie list
• Rumoured to be interested in bad boy Dayle Garlett, who was overlooked by every single club in last years AFL draft
• Revlon rumoured to be making up with St Kilda as a potential sponsor
• Left a St Kilda great and club games record holder off the short list for interviewing for the coaches position
• Took an assistant from Port Adelaide who publicly was saying that he wouldn't even apply for the coaches position with us. We hate to be rejected. Williams may have been better showing less interest.
• Williams rumoured to be wanting five years as coach, or nothing and was given the nothing
• Appointed a new well well travelled young coach, with no senior coaching experience
• Supporters blissfully happy and see that this is the turning point of a new low key, professional St Kilda
• Draft still to come, with three first round draft picks
• Saints rumoured to be interested in Melbourne sporting administrators, but in wake of Port Adelaide success in recruiting a coach are now after the current Port Adelaide CEO Keith Thomas

One thing about supporting the Saints, its never dull.

 

[goodie23]

Retirements: Farewell Milne, Blake and Kosi. Done in style. Really hope Lenny's got that one more year left in him the club thinks he has.
Trading out: Brutal. Big Ben's a loss but while he's outstanding around the ground, he's in his prime yet still vulnerable with the ruck. Honestly not that happy about losing Dal, I can completely understand why the club did it but still can't say I approve. He deserved to be a career Saint.
Trading in: Very, very happy. Finally key defenders, not one but two and brought in at bargain prices. May not be elite but it's brilliant to finally have options. Not sold on Savage but he seems decent addition to the McEvoy deal and deserving of a chance. Longer was a bargain, we fleeced Brisbane and that helped ease losing Dal.
Draft position: Superb. 3, 18, 19 and Curren.
Coach out: The more I hear, the more I agree. Club was faced with putting up with another 12 months of Watters or ripping off the band-aid. We chose the lesser of the evils.
Coach in: Didn't jump into bed with the first option which is reassuring. Got our man, annoyed we're compensating Port only because Koch had a whinge, if he kept his trap shut I'd be okay with it.

Now we've just got to find a midfield coach and let Trout work his magic next week.

 

[Plugger35]

Another eventful off season and while all of it hasn't been good, at least they've had the balls to make some aggressive changes rather than just sit on their hands and let things drift along.

Only time will tell if they've made the right calls, same can be said for our upcoming draft picks.

 

[Q TRAIN]

You know if i tilt my head to the side and squint a little it almost looks like Richo is holding that premiership cup

 

[VDS66]

why does the word FRENETIC come to mind?

As posted on another thread... I am sensing some serious purpose and aggression from summers, Pelchen and co.

The club is on a serious mission as shown by our aggressive trading and hiring of Richo etc.

About bloody time! Despite everything, i really believe we are finally getting our sh1t together post Lyon. all the changes are part of the transition.

Nail the draft and we're up up and away again!

 

[FlyingSledghamer]

lol Sunshine... good post
we also drafted 2 international rookies and delisted an accidental drug cheat.
Pretty much summed up life in the red white and black.
But I hope your right. I hope this is the start of a long future supporting StKilda with out late night press conferences and club public appology statements.

 

[VDS66]

I think there were 3 issues that needed addressing: list, board and coach. Apart from a CEO we have pretty much dealt with the rest.

Thankfully we have been quick and precise as opposed to death by 1000 cuts.

 

[Bojangles17]

Never knew the club was after dustin Martin , thought it was just BF piffle like choco was set to be announced ....as head coach

 

[SaintLex]

Never knew the club was after dustin Martin , thought it was just BF piffle like choco was set to be announced ....as head coach

Finey said it on SEN the same night he ripped into Scott Watters. Well, his mail on Watters has been mostly confirmed from other sources, so could be on the money again.

 

[Defacto]

if this is true it sounds like pelchen may have some explaining to do:

Clearly Pelchen had communicated to him that he had the job. Perhaps the Saints football chief had forgotten to tell the remainder of his coaching panel that he had already appointed Watters' replacement before they met to ratify the decision.

although the timeline of events doesnt really support that

 

[mysainters]

if this is true it sounds like pelchen may have some explaining to do:


although the timeline of events doesnt really support that

Unless some wanted Alan, some wanted mark

 

[NarklesHelmet]

I reckon what we have done this off-season is great on the whole but, as you said in the OP, let's go to the draft and finish the deal.

 

[Barrels]

Well we have gone about the end of season in a typically St Kilda fashion. We:

• Severed ties with Sandringham, with announcement that the Saints are to field their own stand alone VFL team in 2016 at Moorabbin
• Saints rumoured to be interested in Melbourne sporting administrators, but in wake of Port Adelaide success in recruiting a coach are now after the current Port Adelaide CEO Keith Thomas

One thing about supporting the Saints, its never dull.

Are the Magoos really going to play at Moorabbin? It'll need a right spruce up, the place is in near ruin; I've been past twice in the last few days. If they sell beer and snags at Magoos games though they'll make a killing!

As for Keith Thomas, is he this bloke? If so, get around 'im!

 

[Riccardo11]

• Saints rumoured to be interested in Melbourne sporting administrators, but in wake of Port Adelaide success in recruiting a coach are now after the current Port Adelaide CEO Keith Thomas

I would absolutely laugh my head off if that happens! All the Powerless supporters heads would explode!

 

[Flyingsaint]

Shame we don't get points for Column inches- or $ per paragraph.
we'd be well ahead of most others this preseason alone...

 

[Ian Dunross]

Shame we don't get points for Column inches- or $ per paragraph.
we'd be well ahead of most others this preseason alone...

Unsure if chicken or the egg, but our mighty Saints get more press than just about most Melbourne clubs except for Collingwood, Carlton and atm Hawthorn. I'm based in Adelaide and only a young man so don't know the full history but it seems to me that St Kilda has a lot of supporters, more than the other "non-big" clubs. Reckon that with the right off-field things in place they could do a Hawthorn and become a big club despite their "small club" history. Just my uninformed opinion.

 

[Nutsngum]

Unsure if chicken or the egg, but our mighty Saints get more press than just about most Melbourne clubs except for Collingwood, Carlton and atm Hawthorn. I'm based in Adelaide and only a young man so don't know the full history but it seems to me that St Kilda has a lot of supporters, more than the other "non-big" clubs. Reckon that with the right off-field things in place they could do a Hawthorn and become a big club despite their "small club" history. Just my uninformed opinion.

I know at lot more St Kilda supporters then I do St Kilda members. I know this goes without saying for most of the clubs, but there are a heap of casual Saints supporters in the south east. The fact the club has failed to push the club brand over the last.. well 140 ****ing years is beyond me.

Its good they are starting to push that now but we SHOULD be a stable 50k+ member club right now at the minimum. No other club can lay claim to such a huge amount of population bar Geelong (in Victoria that is) and we don't utilize it.

 

[CHBench]

Not sure if it's because I've lived my life entirely in the South-East/St Kilda heartland, but my schools - RW&B completely owned footy days. By owned I mean destroyed. Probably all of about 3 were members, including myself. Ridiculous amount of casual supporters that I don't think even the club realises. Which is why I'm not worried about relocation etc, because in desperate times those casuals will chip in and do their bit. But it's annoying to see everyday our untapped potential.

 

[Desi Van_83]

I know at lot more St Kilda supporters then I do St Kilda members. I know this goes without saying for most of the clubs, but there are a heap of casual Saints supporters in the south east. The fact the club has failed to push the club brand over the last.. well 140 ******* years is beyond me.

Its good they are starting to push that now but we SHOULD be a stable 50k+ member club right now at the minimum. No other club can lay claim to such a huge amount of population bar Geelong (in Victoria that is) and we don't utilize it.

I agree with you to an extent. However, I think our single premiership plays a massive part in our low supporter to member ratio. If we had managed even just one or two more over the duration it would have made a difference IMO.

In response to the OP though; despite the general consensus from the rest of the competition that our club has now slumped to the Basket Case category, I'm actually feeling more positive about things than I have for a fair while. We've had and will continue to have issues on and off the field, no doubt. But the issues have been there for a few years. It's just now that they've been thrust into the hands of the media that the usual trolling has occurred. Yet, the fact that they have become public is a sign that they are finally being dealt with. We'll continue to ride the bumps collectively for a while I'm sure, but in 3-5 years I believe we will be enjoying supporting a club that is strong in all areas.

 

[Flyingsaint]

maybe time to take up the New Presidents challenge from the B&F
if every member fgot just one new member we'd have 60.000- eliminate the usual reasons and some too young
agre we should get to 50,000
the aim of the current membehsip/ corporate tema is to do as someone above suggested- Own the Bayside region. 5 council areas from Etihad to the Peninsula

 

[St_Laz]

I bought my sister a 3 game membership for her bday. Still counts even if it's not their money!