How come Hawks get a big marquee game and we don’t ?

[bigcarl]

They are awful

[Sainter_Dad]

They are awful

Tradition

[whiskers3614]

We will once we win 3 flags in a row and11 in 45 years!

[SaintWiki]

We will once we win 3 flags in a row and11 in 45 years!

... and draw a big money making crowd

[bigcarl]

We will once we win 3 flags in a row and11 in 45 years!

Well that’s a fair point, but even North Melbourne - neither a big club nor a modern day success story - seemingly has a big marquee game wrapped up (Good Friday).

Hell, the league wouldn’t even give us our preferred opponent for our 150th ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATION.

I’m not furious about it. I don’t care to be honest so long as we are successful on field. Just like pointing out the inequalities of the AFL - of which there are many

[whiskers3614]

I think we as supporters let ourselves down at times.
For example Saturday sitting top of the ladder and playing an opponent we usually beat, get 45k supporters to the game and we will be seen as a sleeping giant like the tigers!

We on the other hand prefer to watch games on pay tv and complain about how hard done by we are.

[Teflon]

Think Hawks playing for the Harley Reid cup ….they’re gonna win it too

[bigcarl]

Think Hawks playing for the Harley Reid cup ….they’re gonna win it too

Yep, they were putrid. Maybe the league should share the Easter Monday fixture around.

[Life Long Saint]

Name a team, other than Collingwood, that we could play where we could consistently draw a crowd over 65,000 at the 'G on a dreary Monday afternoon and being 1-3 with a putrid percentage?

That crowd was even with the trains replaced by buses on the Geelong line!

[perfectionist]

We play Hawthorn twice.

[asiu]

... the league wouldn’t even give us our preferred opponent for our 150th ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATION.

who was our preferred ?

[bigcarl]

Name a team, other than Collingwood, that we could play where we could consistently draw a crowd over 65,000 at the 'G on a dreary Monday afternoon and being 1-3 with a putrid percentage?

That crowd was even with the trains replaced by buses on the Geelong line!

Maybe the Good Friday game should have been always North v St Kilda. Now it looks as though Carlton is going to claim it as just ONE of its marquee games.

[mr six o'clock]

Their supporters turn up !
We've tried to get marquee games over the years and just about every time our supporters don't front .
We've been great so far this year and as the club supposedly has more than 50k members I was thinking we'd get a 25k + crowd on Saturday night (even being Easter ) but no , just our average 20k+ when we play an interstate side.

[bigcarl]

... the league wouldn’t even give us our preferred opponent for our 150th ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATION.

who was our preferred ?

We asked for Collingwood (1966 GF, 2010 and all that) but the league obviously didn’t think it would draw a crowd. So the league gave us a suitable “big” club.

Home and record crowd for St Kilda. We have a reasonable following still when we are up and about.

[bigcarl]

Their supporters turn up !
We've tried to get marquee games over the years and just about every time our supporters don't front .
We've been great so far this year and as the club supposedly has more than 50k members I was thinking we'd get a 25k + crowd on Saturday night (even being Easter ) but no , just our average 20k+ when we play an interstate side.

You reckons North draws a crowd? They have a monopoly on Good Friday … from now on against their bitter traditional rival and sworn enemy Carlton.

[samuraisaint]

Name a team, other than Collingwood, that we could play where we could consistently draw a crowd over 65,000 at the 'G on a dreary Monday afternoon and being 1-3 with a putrid percentage?

That crowd was even with the trains replaced by buses on the Geelong line!

The trains are running to Geelong. One of my mates caught the train home to South Geelong after the game this evening. He said it is standing room only.

[samuraisaint]

The MCG numbers are inflated by the AFL members reserve and the MCC. 10-12,000 are easily neutrals at most MCG games. And yes, the Hawks are poor this year but have win four premierships since 2008, playing another team who have won four premierships since 2007. If they can't draw 65,000 to the MCG on a public holiday in the school holidays, nobody can.

But I agree, we should have got more than 21,000 on Saturday night. But look at whom we were playing; a team who didn't exist in 2010 and probably won't in 2030. Our supporters who were there were awesome, but it is a lowish crowd. But I'll bet there were fewer than a thousand neutrals attending and probably 100 Suns supporters. Same could be said for the Freo game in round 1.

I think it might be wrong to suggest that Hawthorn supporters always turn up though. They drop off too when they are not challenging. Wait and see how many of them come along to the two games against us later in the season. I have a feeling that if their form continues into multiple seasons that their crowd numbers at games will decrease significantly.

As for North - they got 21,000 against West Coast Round 1. I reckon that is a reasonable crowd. I'll bet they were 21,000 die hard North fans, with a smattering of Eagles supporters and 100 in their cheer squad behind the goals.

I am interested to see how many we get when we host Port Adelaide on Friday night in a few weeks' time. I'd say we'd probably get a similar number to the Freo game - 23,000, but I think the club would expect 25,000 but hope for 28,000, particularly if Port are still going okay.

I think to remain viable; the club really need to draw 25,000 St Kilda supporters to all Melbourne games. I don't think we are far off doing that. Another 2-4,000 Saints supporters to our matches in Melbourne would really increase the atmosphere no matter who we play.

[Saint 58]

ANZAC Day match should be top 2 VIC teams from the previous season

[diddley]

... the league wouldn’t even give us our preferred opponent for our 150th ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATION.

who was our preferred ?

We asked for Collingwood (1966 GF, 2010 and all that) but the league obviously didn’t think it would draw a crowd. So the league gave us a suitable “big” club.

Home and record crowd for St Kilda. We have a reasonable following still when we are up and about.

That’s pockycock.
Leathers was on Unpluggered saying we asked for any of the big 4 teams. Specifically saying we didn’t whittle it down to one specific team, to give us a better chance of us getting the result we wanted.
We asked for it, and we got what we asked for.

[bigcarl]

... the league wouldn’t even give us our preferred opponent for our 150th ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATION.

who was our preferred ?

We asked for Collingwood (1966 GF, 2010 and all that) but the league obviously didn’t think it would draw a crowd. So the league gave us a suitable “big” club.

Home and record crowd for St Kilda. We have a reasonable following still when we are up and about.

That’s pockycock.
Leathers was on Unpluggered saying we asked for any of the big 4 teams. Specifically saying we didn’t whittle it down to one specific team, to give us a better chance of us getting the result we wanted.
We asked for it, and we got what we asked for.

According to this report our president told Whateley we asked for Collingwood.

https://www.sen.com.au/news/2023/03/28/ ... -ahead-of/

Notwithstanding the AFL making the end decision, the Saints were allowed to put forward their preferred opponent and it turns out the Bombers weren’t that, despite their players trying to use this night as a bit of added motivation.

“The efforts by the Essendon players to build themselves up have been a bit misguided, we actually asked for Collingwood,” Bassat laughed.

“We wanted a big Victorian team because we want it to be a big night.

No, not poppycock at all

[Life Long Saint]

Name a team, other than Collingwood, that we could play where we could consistently draw a crowd over 65,000 at the 'G on a dreary Monday afternoon and being 1-3 with a putrid percentage?

That crowd was even with the trains replaced by buses on the Geelong line!

The trains are running to Geelong. One of my mates caught the train home to South Geelong after the game this evening. He said it is standing room only.

Maybe it was last week...I looked to get a train in from Tarneit and they were all replaced with coaches.

[The_Dud]

Imagine how triggered some on here would have been if we played a home game against Collingwood at the G!