St Kilda - For the hell of it!

[Darkhour]

Well I've been reading the posts on this board for a while now but haven't posted... so I thought I might aswell... You might know me from the St Kilda Forum..

 

[karnaby]

Howdy Vaul

Good to have you along (starting to wonder about the ride tho )

Without trying to denigrate the other place (to use a parliamentary term) at least here you can access what some bastard wrote two days ago & you've got a good chance of figuring out who wrote what.

This week sees one of my two opportunities to see the Sainters play for the year. Sadly, no matter how poorly they're playing I've never seen the dockers do the decent thing & lose. I think I saw something like 8 or 9 weagle victories before I ever saw us win over here, needless to say I definately don't need the dockers to build on their current record.

Hope to be able to report some positives from the match next week. Probably my first measuring point will be that the kids haven't told me to get knicked & that I can go and indoctrinate the mongrel cat cause they aren't listening anymore.

 

[Darkhour]

Hey Karnaby.. yeah I've known about this board for while but no-one seems to grace it... what the hell I'll start posting on here anyway..

This is one thing we don't want.. is a mindset that freo are a danger game for us... bah humbug... Freo are the basketcase.. even with a new coach they are simply just willing to be beaten.. they'll be pumped at a chance of winning a game and our boys will be pumped to dominate and give a timely thrashing....

 

[karnaby]

Vaul, like it or not, fremantle are a danger game for us. It's not as if we've been setting the world on fire & without wanting to make excuses with our injury list we're not likely to field anything near our best side (whoever that might include).

As for there not being large numbers using this site:
1...there has never been that large a number of Sainters on here
2...we're hardly travelling well enough to indulge in any chest thumping

As far as I'm concerned I'd love to see us hand out a major thrashing, if you consider our record, we certainly owe them, so a bit of payback is in order. That said, if I can walk away indulging in my crap version of "When the Saints go marching in" & we've got 4 points in the pocket then I'll be happy.

 

[StrengthThroughLoyalty]

welcome vaul

welcome to bigfooty vaul, another opinion is always welcome. its good to hear some positive comments about the up coming game against freo, talk us up we should absolutely smash them this week. hall to kick 10, harvey to have 48 quaility possessions.

karnaby, it would only be a danger game if we had something to lose, unfortunately with the season over for us we have nothing to lose, except our self respect (which i doubt we ever had).

just read the news that burkey was out for the rest of the year, i hope we haven't seen the last of the little champ. with a blighty almost certainly to sweep the broom through the place at the end of the year, surely burkey won't have to retire prematurely. i haven't prepared myself for watching the saints without burkey playing.

 

[Darkhour]

G'Day STL.. I have to agree with you there(and disagree with you Karnaby) ... What exactly are we in danger of?.. We have a message to make.. It isn't -just- about beating Freo. It's establishing with the footy world that we're not on the same level as Freo.. or the Weagles... Even if we don't thrash them I want to be dominant all day and win all 4 quarters.. then I'll be happy... It's not a danger game.. It's a statement!!...

 

[sainter]

Welcome Vaul,

Most of us are regulars or former regulars to the official forum. It was very good when it started but it has just gone downhill since then. Why people get enjoyment out of imitating other users or correcting the spelling of others is beyond me. I like the fact that we can have our own board here but also be able to discuss/defend the saints with supporters from all teams on the main boards.

Anyway, good to have you here and hopefully you can stick around.

As for the Freo game, I'm with Karnably on this one. We have put ourselves in winning positions so many times over the last few years only to fade out in the last quarter, many of which against high class opposition. Disappointingly, we seem to mix up good performances against the higher teams with losses against opposition we should beat. This week we should win but for a team that has won 4 games in 1.5 seasons and going in warm favourites, it is a danger game. I can't bear to think how I will be feeling if we don't win. Needless to say I won't be too pleased.(And that's a BIG understatement )

Enjoy the game Karnaby. Being in WA, I suppose you've been fortunate enough not to have to make the lonely train rides home after another loss. But on the hand I guess you may feel isolated being so far away from other saints fans. Hope we have a big win and that you enjoy it with the other WA sainters.

As for Burkey, the article in today's (Wednesday's) Herald-Sun was a depressing read. If a knee operation is the best thing for Burkey to do to be right for next year, I'm sure he has made the right decision. The article did refer to Blighty's tendency to have no problem in letting former champions and club legends go. However being in relatively good form and someone many of us consider to be a part of the heart and soul of theclub, the administration would be wrong to even consider not letting him play out the remaining year of his contract (and possibly another 1-2 years)

 

[karnaby]

Thanks Sainter

Mate, I certainly do feel isolated. Virtually right from the start I've refused to have anything much to do with weagle supporters & my local circle of friends/aquaintences? does not include any fellow Sainters. I do keep in touch with a couple of mates over there & both here & the official forum provide a wonderful resource. I certainly feel more a part of the club thanks to the net which I reckon is great.

I get to take the kids along this week, but like Francis Leach of 18/5 I'm afraid that I too "am a selfish, rude bastard at the footy....(too often) the ugly Australian". I really wish I could be a better example but in 13+ years of going to the footy over here I've only seen 2 wins. I suspect I'm a better winner than loser

My personal win:loss record forms the basis of seeing this as a danger game. Yes I feel for you guys over there putting up with shyte week in week out while I just get to curse the tele or the radio, if we're lucky enough to have coverage, however this is my chance & I'm not interested in losing (yet again) to a mob I don't think very highly of.

Well, that was a bit of a ramble.
I promise I'll be yelling for you guys this week.

Optimistically yours
karnaby

 

[karnaby]

So caught up in my own thoughts I forgot to address the Burke issue, doh!

I don't believe that there's any reason to believe that he won't be around for quite a while yet. I reckon he only has two negatives:
1....disposal can be dodgy at times
2....age (those using this as a major excuse might care to ask Craig Bradley or John Blakey whether they think 31 is too old)

and we all know he has a truckload of positives. Geez, how many times would a Saint supporter have wished for a teamful of Nathan Burkes, or at least a teamful of blokes with his heart.

He'll stay. He's the onfield heart of the club.

 

[sainter]

Karnaby,

You've seem 2 wins in 13 years?

We just can't lose then.

I'll be at the Social Club on Saturday night and can't wait.

We do seem to have a relatively large WA supporter group and you guys deserve a win more than anyone.

Looking forward to seeing you all celebrate at around 8:10pm WST.

 

[karnaby]

Sainter:
I was being a little tricky with my maths, yes 2/13 over here, however I have seen a couple of wins over there as well.
Not too sure but I think the last win, over there, was 92? Final against collingwood, so it's fairly distant but nevertheless a pleasant memory.

As for the Western Saints, I believe there are something like 600 members (could easily be wrong). I do know that there can be a fair amount of red, white & black at a match tho.

 

[Darkhour]

lol.. G'Day Sainter I'll have to go to something our President said about being angry is we lose.. That's in the clubs culture to except losses and something we have to get rid of... I still hurt about a loss but I'm also angry and I an also learning to be a bit arrogant and expect better match after match... something we have to strive for is the expectation to win.. it changes the 'Danger Game' into a 'Tough Ask' for the opposition....

 

[StrengthThroughLoyalty]

what a day

Originally posted by karnaby
Sainter:
I was being a little tricky with my maths, yes 2/13 over here, however I have seen a couple of wins over there as well.
Not too sure but I think the last win, over there, was 92? Final against collingwood, so it's fairly distant but nevertheless a pleasant memory.

As for the Western Saints, I believe there are something like 600 members (could easily be wrong). I do know that there can be a fair amount of red, white & black at a match tho.

the '92 final win against the pies was the first time i saw us win a finals game, what a great day it was. it didn't reach the heights or excitement of the final the year before against geelong but after the game we celebrated like there was no tomorrrow. to make it even more sweet is that collingwood haven't been in a final since.

surely you can barrack us to a win against the shockers this year karnaby, your win loss record over there is frightening to say the least. are the western saints having a piss on somewhere, if so give em hell, if not give em hell anyway.

 

[karnaby]

winning finals

I have to dredge back into the old grey stuff but here's a couple for you to get jealous over (I could be a little dodgy re the years :^)

71 Prelim Final, my hero Ditter played well, I'm sure I drooled in anticipation of what we were going to do the next week, grrrr

74? 1st ever final at Waverley, gave it to esendon by quite a reasonable margin (shame we couldn't repeat that more often over the last few years). George Young kicked 5ish, had the pleasure of a long trip home with a couple of essendon supporters, yippee

75? (the following year) happened to repeat the dose against essendon again, in those days it was good to have mates who barracked for the masons, another joyous trip home

As for this week I'll admit I'm the shocker, hope to change that tho .

The Western Saints do have a pre match function, and Malcolm & the players are at another show after the match, hope for all concerned that smiles abound for that one.

I'm starting to feel bouyant about our prospects. Isn't it amazing how resilient we can be, also wouldn't it be great if the psychologists could take some of the supporters optimism & good will and transfer that to the team at just the right moment. I"ll have to think that one thru a bit further, there's probably some tie in with vaul's comments & that culture thing.

 

[Hit The Boundary Saints]

Karnaby
The 2 Essendon elimination finals were 72 & 73, George kicked 6 from the HFF in 73.
I was there the following week against Richmond, when we were beaten. We didn't realise at the time it would be 18 years before another finals appearance.

 

[sainter]

Karnaby,

I know a few of the Western Saints. Apparently they raise heaps of money for the club and do a great job. I'm sure you will all celebrate hard after the game.



(I'm starting to think we are going to win, time to revert back to the usual negative mode to lessen the disappointment )

HTBS and STL,

I couldn't get to the finals in 1991 or 1992.

No finals series from 1973 to 1991 is a scary thought. I don't think we could bear going through that again could we?

The first time I ever saw the saints in the finals was the 1997 QF against Brisbane as a 17yo.

That whole year was such a blur. I wish I took the time to enjoy the season a little more. One half away from living out our dreams too. :sad:

 

[Hit The Boundary Saints]

I was 8 years old in 1973, so I didn't really appreciate it. I spent the majority of the next 2 decades going every week, and believe me there were some very ordinary times, but also almost no expectations. We came good briefly in 1978, and again in 87. Then when we finally put it together long enough in 1991, I happened to be in Germany for work for the 5 weeks over the finals. I rang home at 1/2 time of the Geelong match to find us 19 points up, and spent the next hour planning how I was going to get out of work and get home to see the Saints in the prelim, because that was the worst case result if we won. When I rang an hour later, my father said no good, and I listened to the radio for the last 2 minutes until the siren went.
The next year we beat Collingwood , and I will never forget the jubilation of that, just sensational.
1997 was a dream, we just kept waiting for the bubble to burst. Unfortunately it did with just an hour to go. I still maintain if Heatley had goaled instead of hitting the post in the 2nd quarter, we would have been 22 points up and would not have been beaten.