Batting below our average

[hungry for a premiership]

I'm usually optimistic about St.Kilda, but after that loss, I'm absolutely lamenting about this beloved, cursed, bitter-sweet thing we call the St.K.f.c right now, so I decided to come on here and have a bitch and a piss and a moan to dispel the negativity and make myself feel better so I can go back to believing we are a powerhouse club.
I'd like to hear other people's tales of St.Kilda woe and hopelessness, as I'm sure there are plenty out there who've experienced greater depths of s*** than I. Glad I missed the 80's. Wish I had of seen the 70's, though (for the free love and lsd, not for anything st.kilda related).

This is what I'm lamenting about: I was 8 in 1990, the year the VFL became the AFL, and I've been a passionate saints member from then to now - 22 completed seasons.
In that time, we have managed to defy the mathematical laws of probability by not winning a flag, which leads me to believe that yes, the only reason we haven't won a flag is because there is some kind of "loser culture" that clings to this club.
You may laugh this comment off and scoff, "bulls***," "rubbish," but you know and I know that you fear this to be the case. Deep down, whether they know it or not, ALL ST.KILDA SUPPORTERS fear that this is true, and until we win a flag, nothing will change.

Here is the evidence:

Accumulated ladder finishes:

Between first and fourth: 7 ('91, 97, '04, '05, '08, '09, '10)
Between fifth and eighth: 4 ('92, '98, '06, '11)
Between ninth and twelfth: 6 ('90, '93, '96, '99, '03, '07
Thirteenth or lower: 5 ('94, '95, '00, '01, '02)

So for A THIRD, yes A THIRD of those 22 seasons, we've finished top four, yes, top four. That's above average. In 22 years, for a third of the time we've been one of the best 4 teams in the land.

Not once (average), but twice (above average), we've been the clear standout team in the comp, finishing on top of the ladder and rightly earning premiership favoritism throughout the finals series.

One of those 1st place finishes included a season where we utterly smashed all the averages and were arguably the most dominant side the game has ever seen, piling on an ALL-TIME RECORD 20 straight wins, and, including finals, losing only 3 games for the entire season by a combined total of 17 points - another ALL-TIME VFL/AFL RECORD.

Yes, we have 'won' 1 wooden spoon (average) and finished 2nd last twice, and we've had a couple of other very poor years, but we've also had 4 seasons where we finished either 9th or 10th, barely missing finals action.

Out of 22 possible preliminary finals, we've made 6 - above average.

Out of 22 possible grand finals, we've made 3, and played a total of 4. FOUR GF's in 22 years - above average.


And still, for all that above-average performance.... No premiership.

I've seen:

West Coast win 3 flags
Brisbane win 3 flags
Geelong win 3 flags
Hawthorn win 2 flags
North Melbourne win 2 flags
Adelaide win 2 flags
Collingwood win 2 flags
Essendon win 2 flags
Carlton win 1 flag
Sydney win 1 flag

EVEN farking PORT ADELAIDE HAS WON A FLAG!!!!

The only teams that haven't won a flag apart from us are Richmond, Melbourne, Bulldogs, and Freo (fledglings don't count).
Of these, only Melbourne has played in a solitary GF (let alone four), and none of these teams have finished on top of the ladder (let alone twice), and none have been outright flag favorites come finals time (let alone twice).
Since 1990, we have had more success than all of Richmond, Melbourne, Bulldogs and Freo combined and x2, yet still we remain flag-less alongside them whilst EVERYONE else has had a drink from the cup.

We are batting below our average. And that's just taking in the last 22 years.

It's been 47 years since '66. That's 47 seasons, chances at a premiership, most of which were with a 12 team competition. I ain't no mathematician, but it seems to me that somefink don't what add up here.

Never mind the 80-odd years that preceded that....


I really, really, really hope that one day in 40 years time, in the year 2052 when im an old man of 70 years, I can look back on these dark days of desolation and remember them as some kind of long-forgotten bad dream, as the time before we finally broke the drought and starting winning premierships at at-least an average rate.

But I fear, I really, really, really fear, that in the 50-60 years that I hope I've got left in me, I won't get to see us win one single flag. That I won't get to experience the feeling of winning a premiership as a supporter. That I will be deprived of the one feeling that is all any football supporter ever wants. That would just be so, so, so unfair, it would defy the natural mathematical laws that govern the universe, but hey, Doc Baldock died before he got to witness us do it again, and that is even more unfair than the scenario I've just described, so there you go.


I invite you to have a bitch and a piss and a moan about how lamentable it is to be a St.Kilda supporter, or to tell me to HTFU, or whatever.


GO SAINTS!!!

[35...LEGEND]

When you put it like that......

[oh when the]

Welcome to St Kilda - after the 2010 GF I quoted - if you always do what you've always done, you will always get what you've always got.
And we do.

[Waltzing St Kilda]

The loser mentatlity extends to making endless apologies for players who just don't cut it. And to coaches being initimidated by high profile players who wield more influence than they should. And to coaches (I'm looking at you, Ro$$), who consider their tenure at the Saints just a career move.

One (pedantic) note. It was 19 straight wins in 2009, not 20. And it was a record for us, but not a league record.

[ralphsmith]

goddard taking that mark in the drawn grand final was probably the closest any of us will get to the feeling of winning the big one.

i was sitting behind the goals for that game and the adrenaline and sheer exctasy ( the natural kind) was pumping through the spirit like nothing ive felt gefore...when almighty goddard flew in one last act of defiance against this endless curse....

Was not enough was it??

In reality...collingwood should have blown us away in that game. They were the better team all year.

[StGoddard18]

goddard taking that mark in the drawn grand final was probably the closest any of us will get to the feeling of winning the big one.

i was sitting behind the goals for that game and the adrenaline and sheer exctasy ( the natural kind) was pumping through the spirit like nothing ive felt gefore...when almighty goddard flew in one last act of defiance against this endless curse....

Was not enough was it??

In reality...collingwood should have blown us away in that game. They were the better team all year.

That moment made me get the number 18 on the back of my jumper. I will never forget it.

[SainterK]

Some appear to have...

[Richter]

Was reminiscing with my mate on Sunday... those Grand Finals were good days... not great ones... but so good to be there... whenever I feel sorry for us though, I remember the other team who missed out.... and who we knocked out both years the week before... the Bulldogs... their fans have not seen a premiership for almost 60 years and not even had a grand final appearance to boast about for over 50 years (1961)!

[mr six o'clock]

You forgot , was it 04 or 05 that we won the first ten games of the season !
any team in the history of the game that has done that has played in the GF .

except St kilda !

[howlinwolf]

goddard taking that mark in the drawn grand final was probably the closest any of us will get to the feeling of winning the big one.

i was sitting behind the goals for that game and the adrenaline and sheer exctasy ( the natural kind) was pumping through the spirit like nothing ive felt gefore...when almighty goddard flew in one last act of defiance against this endless curse....

Was not enough was it??

We too were sitting in the pocket 5 rows from the fence when BJ took that grab and it was then I thought we'd done it. I turned and looked at my daughter who was bawling her eyes out. I thought the pain was over finally.

They do say though.. it's the unattainable that makes something desirable. And so it is that which makes us Saints fans keep coming back.

[Teflon]

Some appear to have...

and right there..........is what this thread is all about.....

Goddard takes a mark in a losing GF and is therefore, somehow, beyond reproach/expectation from supporters forever...

Just wouldnt happen at succesful, powerful clubs where members/support dont demand success.......they have come to expect it.

Ah...we just revel in our "mark moment" or our "streak DVD" of 10 games in a row........

[hungry for a premiership]

They do say though.. it's the unattainable that makes something desirable. And so it is that which makes us Saints fans keep coming back.

Not me.

I don't keep coming back to see us not win premierships.

[Little Dozer]

The Boston Red Sox thought they were cursed too and they put that theory to bed. Eventually...