EX-SAINTS OF THE LAST DECADE AT OTHER CLUBS

[Waltzing St Kilda]

LUKE DUNSTAN: Cheesed off at not getting regular games in our midfield, joined one of the league's best midfields and predictably couldn't get a game. Sadly suffering an ACL inhury and almost certain to be delisted. VERDICT: No regrets

JACK NEWNES: Two indifferent years with the Blues but scored a career highlight with a match-winning goal against Fremantle. VERDICT: No regrets.

MATTY PARKER: Thought the young fella had some X-factor but couldn't bring much magic to Richmond and eventually fell victim to homesickness, possibly the reason the Saints delisted him in the first place. VERDICT: No regrets

MAV WELLER: Showed early promise at the Saints but quickly fizzled out (I blame Tantric meditation) then fizzled out some more at the Tigers. VERDICT: No regrets

PADDY McCARTIN: Inspired move to the backline got some good value out of him at the Swans, including a GF appearance, before inevitably succumbing to concussion injuries. VERDICT: Sad, but no regrets. Irresponsible, in fact, for the Swans to put him back on the field.

RHYS STANLEY: The curious case of the average ruckman who nevertheless held in his position in a powerhouse team and played in a premiership. VERDICT: If he was good enough for the Cats he was good enough for us, but not losing sleep over it.

BEN McEVOY: A completely bonkers trade. Bloke rucked in two premierships and captained the club. This is what happens when big stakes gamblers invade our club determined to make a splash. VERDICT: A debacle.

TOM HICKEY: Sought greener pastures, quite understandably, after Richo inexplicably favoured Longer, and proved very handy to WCE and the Swans, rucking in a Grand Final. On the other hand, his retention would have hindered the development of Rowan Marshall. VERDICT: Neither here nor there.

NICK HIND: A handy, cheap-as-chips speedster let go for no discernible reason. VERDICT: Our loss, though not a huge one.

BEN LONG: As inconsistent at GCE as he was at the Saints; played 15 games this year. Thought we'd miss his aggression in the backline but Stocker has proved a cheaper and more reliable alternative: VERDICT: No great loss.

TOM LYNCH: Became handy at the Crows and played in a GF. His retention at the Saints would probably have mitigated the need for a new full forward and allowed us to recruit Petracca, not McCartin;.VERDICT: A mistake.

JAMIIE CRIPPS: Not really our choice as he wanted to leave and finally repaid the debt by single-handedly beating the Bulldogs in the second-last round. VERDICT: Neither here nor there.

JACK STEVEN: Jacky Boy's colourful life followed him to Sleepy Hollow where he bowed out rather promptly. VERDICT: Sad, but no regrets.

DARRAGH JOYCE: 13 games at the Saints, 5 so far at the Lions, probably facing the axe. VERDICT: No regrets.

BLAKE ACRES: Steak knives to Freo in the Brad Hill trade, now a regular with Carlton: VERDICT: Sold cheaply by our high-stakes gamblers.

JOSH BRUCE: A career-highlight ten-goal game at the Bulldogs but otherwiose inconsistent and injury-prone. VERDICT: No regrets.

HUGH GODDARdD: Ten games for us and inexplicably picked up by the Blues for a further two games. VERDICT: No regrets.

BRENDON GODDARD: ITK geniuses assured us he had only two playing years left when he left the Saints but went on to play six years at the Injectors and captain the club. Had the misfortune to arrive just as the club imploded. Would have been handy setting the standards for Richo's lost generation. VERDICT: A mistake, though he's back at Moorabbin now.

NICK DAL SANTO: See above. Only St Kilda would give away its generation's most skilled player. Added to his finals tally at North. VERDICT: Another mistake, though he's back at Moorabbin now.

[Otiman]

Agree with just about everything you've said.

In hindsight I don't think Dal Santo, Goddard and McEvoy would have made much difference in our average years. We would have still been just as average. Being a good team is about many list and development decisions over a long period, not just 3.

The 4D chess around Tom Lynch and Petracca is not something I've considered before - a good one. The dearth of KP players on our list AND in that years draft meant we had to pick Paddy.

Jamie Cripps was a mistake but out of our hands.

[older saint]

Agree with most.
Stanley was a mistake - never really tried as a ruck properly at Stkilda. Made worse drafting Goddard at 21 who didn't work out at all. Names such as Steele, Touk Miller, Maynard, Mitch McGovern, Dougal Howard, Langdon drafted afterwards doesnt help - also that stanley is now a Premierhsip ruckman.

Lynch was terrible trade - part of RL Mach I where lack of opportunity provided. Think he was used as a HBF at reserve level at one stage.

McEvoy - terrible is all i can say

[StPeter]

Agree with all of this.

Perhaps to me the biggest mistake was giving Acres away (along with 2 high draft picks).

He obviously to me had up side to come.

Also Dal Santo huge mistake.

[Mr Magic]

Agree with most.
Stanley was a mistake - never really tried as a ruck properly at Stkilda. Made worse drafting Goddard at 21 who didn't work out at all. Names such as Steele, Touk Miller, Maynard, Mitch McGovern, Dougal Howard, Langdon drafted afterwards doesnt help - also that stanley is now a Premierhsip ruckman.

Lynch was terrible trade - part of RL Mach I where lack of opportunity provided. Think he was used as a HBF at reserve level at one stage.

McEvoy - terrible is all i can say

I thought Lynch actually left after Lyon had gone?

[Vortex]

Josh Bruce was possibly the biggest mistake. Our forward line has been a shambles since his departure with only this year possibly seeing some signs we might have found an extra tall to support Max and it has made Max's game harder than it needed to be.

[older saint]

Agree with most.
Stanley was a mistake - never really tried as a ruck properly at Stkilda. Made worse drafting Goddard at 21 who didn't work out at all. Names such as Steele, Touk Miller, Maynard, Mitch McGovern, Dougal Howard, Langdon drafted afterwards doesnt help - also that stanley is now a Premierhsip ruckman.

Lynch was terrible trade - part of RL Mach I where lack of opportunity provided. Think he was used as a HBF at reserve level at one stage.

McEvoy - terrible is all i can say

I thought Lynch actually left after Lyon had gone?

Left end of 2011 - wanted out after not playing . Just happened RL left at the same time, but damage and probably deal was done.

[B.M]

Goddard and Dal Santo - horrendous
McEvoy - Stupid
Lynch - Dumb
Newnes - neither here nor there
Cripps - Shoulda drafted Darling
Bruce - Dumb - next to King would’ve done the donkey work

Some list mgt and drafting horror stories

And some successes
Steele
Membrey
Sinclair Marshall Wilkie
Etc…

[skeptic]

I throw a a few caveats in there.

Hickey: was underwhelming and then all of a sudden looked like he was going to be a good ruck for us. Whilst Longer was favoured… Hickey got plenty of opportunities and inexplicably played with almost no aggression.
After he left… I thought he was quite mediocre at WCE before finding himself at Sydney where he fulfilled his potential.

Take home message = between him and McCartin (although let’s not go too deeply there)… we need to figure out what they’re doing that we’re not. They have this knack for development.

Goddard: I didn’t mind this at the time… thought it was a win win and have since learned how idiotic that line of thinking is. Membrey is a player that has been queried as being out of favour, possibly passed it or due to be moved on. If he’s not top 22… I would absolutely have him on the list playing/leadership/depth at Sandy. This line of think of seems dated by modern standards but I reckon there’s something there

Dunstan: Whole situation was peculiar. After some early promise… Luke never looked remotely fit enough to be an AFL kid for the majority of his stint. Then… on his last season with us… he exploded and actually looked like one of our best mids minus disposal. Then we got into this odd area of deciding not to play him despite his form.

So after years of persevering through questionable form… we moved him on when we were starting to see some return. All of that said… not a big loss and a very odd decision by Luke to go to Melbourne and compete with Oliver. I hated his sulkiness.

Hind - I actually think this is a bigger loss than most realise. If we figured out how to play… we pbly don’t need Hill as badly as we do. Granted Hind is no Hill but pbly means that we keep Acres and also keep those picks, which netted them some pretty good players

[B.M]

Are you talking Brendon Goddard?

What part of that did you think was a good idea at the time

A two time AA at 27yo

And you don’t even want to know what we did with the (pathetic Compo)

[skeptic]

Are you talking Brendon Goddard?

What part of that did you think was a good idea at the time

A two time AA at 27yo

And you don’t even want to know what we did with the (pathetic Compo)

At the time, given that the list was done and we were going to rebuild (the first of many times as it were)… he pbly wasn’t going to be around the next go.
As said as above… obviously a bird in the hand etc

[B.M]

Why was the list done?

Was Geelongs list done - after 3 flags
Or Sydney’s after after any of their premiership

I don’t believe in the whole list was done idea

However, it was done when we made a number of ridiculous list mgt decisions in 2012/2013

[Life Long Saint]

Only looking at one side of the equation here.
What about the contrast of bringing players from other clubs or what those draft picks turned into?

For example: Josh Bruce is both a loss and a gain. Picked up for next to nothing from GWS as a defender and we turned him into a more than handy forward. I thought that he left for a better contract with the Dogs.


FWIW, Goddard left for the security of an extra year. He was a free agent and there was little that we could do given our salary cap issues at the time.

[B.M]

We could have offered him another year and made him a lifer!

After all he did play another 6

[B.M]

Not only was he a great player

He was a standards driver!!!

You don’t offload those!

[terry smith rules]

Tom Lynch was crucified by us.

First game played on D. Fletcher for his only game of 2010

5 more in 2011 and that was all she wrote

Great trivia answer for someone who kicked 10 in a game

[B.M]

As did Josh Bruce

[Jacks Back]

Goddard and Dal Santo - horrendous
McEvoy - Stupid
Lynch - Dumb
Newnes - neither here nor there
Cripps - Shoulda drafted Darling
Bruce - Dumb - next to King would’ve done the donkey work

Some list mgt and drafting horror stories

And some successes
Steele
Membrey
Sinclair Marshall Wilkie
Etc…

That, there, is the problem with our recruiting. All of those were rookies. While we got them I still don't understand why we didn't pick them up in the draft. Or were they to old for the draft??

[SaintPav]

Cripps and Lynch wanted to leave. Not much that the club could have done about it at the time.

[B.M]

Cripps I can understand- shouldn’t have drafted him in the first place - red flags

Lynch - why did he want to leave?

To move interstate- away from the team nearest to his family home and who he barracked for as a kid!