Memories of Lenny

[saintbrat]

There are already and will be more from all sides of football
The club has already posted video clips and a great story about Lenny from the inside

Saints.com.au
The Lenny we knew

[ROLS-LEE]

Lenny the 'candy man'. Sold more candy than our local milk bar. The GF's the 50 mtrs bomb against filth and that tackle against the doggies after knee surgery.
1 of the all time greats of our club.

[Viking3]

If I was to write what I thought at this moment I would be here until midnight.
Words cannot express near enough.

Lenny,
Thanks for being a Saint.
Love always.

[plugger66]

Simple favourite memory and summed Lenny up. First game and Arch hits him as hard as he can. lets gets up and brushes it off and if he expected it for another 296 games.

[St.Roly]

Lenny the 'candy man'. Sold more candy than our local milk bar. The GF's the 50 mtrs bomb against filth and that tackle against the doggies after knee surgery.
1 of the all time greats of our club.

That goal is simultaneously one of my best and worst football memories.

It represents the outright guts and determination that Lenny has always exemplified - making the distance at that time of the game through sheer will - but is accompanied by the sadness that it was not enough to get him and us the ultimate prize on the day.

[Munga]

Playing 250 games with a bung heart!

[saintbrat]

https://m.soundcloud.com/sen1116/justin ... -harf-time

[saintbrat]

[saintbrat]

This event could be sold out before the days out,
http://www.sandringhamfc.com.au/news.aspx?id=269

What do you have on on Friday afternoon?

[saintbrat]

Leave your message for Lenny at the club
http://www.saints.com.au/news/2014-07-1 ... -for-lenny

[saintbrat]

Harves

Harvey said he held Hayes in the same lofty regard he held long-time teammate Nathan Burke, because both would invariably strive so hard to help their team succeed.

‘‘He’s just an honest player in every sense of the word. He’s that way off the field. There’s no in-between there,’’ he said.

‘‘St Kilda fans will dearly miss Lenny Hayes running out each week and giving his all for that team. It’ll be a big hole

Read more: http://www.theage.com.au/afl/afl-news/s ... z37X6nqKcM


http://www.theage.com.au/afl/afl-news/w ... ztely.html

and to give you the tears;

To go again, and again; it was so throughout the Saints' long and laborious rise. It was so after Hayes' first knee in 2006. It was so after the disappointment of a narrow grand final loss to Geelong in 2009; Hayes was best for the Saints that day, too. It was so after the crushing disappointment of 2010. It was so after his second knee in 2011, and after his heart operation in 2012. Hayes won his third best-and-fairest that year, and was presented with it in a hospital rehab ward.

It was so despite the scandals and the self-immolation, St Kilda specialties. None of it ever touched Hayes. St Kilda was ever the club of saints and sinners, and Hayes, playing in Nicky Winmar's guernsey and Robert Harvey's spirit, personified it. He was archly competitive – all his teammates aver it. Once, in thanking his wife Tara for her forbearance in 2010, he admitted to ''going a bit psycho'' in season. But he kept perspective. He sought to be hard but fair on the field, to lead by example, to remain humble and to treat others with respect. These are simple virtues, but in the intense, driven environment of AFL football, deceptively difficult to uphold. Hayes did.

That's why you have to love him, and why the Saints thought it was important to say so not just in words, but on T-shirts, and decided to dedicate a match to him before he goes, and why although the football wheel has turned full circle for him, the young Saints might be inspired to believe that if they dedicate themselves to the job as he did, it might still turn again.

Because he's Lenny Hayes.

Read more: http://www.theage.com.au/afl/afl-news/w ... z37X7Yu0HM

[saintspremiers]

This event could be sold out before the days out,
http://www.sandringhamfc.com.au/news.aspx?id=269

What do you have on on Friday afternoon?

Bratty please create a new thread on this.

[Sainternist]

That bump on Chapman in the 2010 QF. I could almost hear the rattle of Chapman's ribs on impact from where I was sitting that night. He always went in hard for the ball and if that went crashing through a tough opponent, so be it. He's been a treat to watch over the years.

[saintbrat]

Russell Holsmby
http://www.sen.com.au/inside-football-d ... ints/70796
.16PM 15-7-2014

Lenny Hayes and Alan Morrow were men of different footballing eras, but they share qualities which have been admired in players since the dawn of the game.

When we interviewed Morrow in these pages last week he told the story of how he first met Hayes a decade ago on a day when St Kilda players were having a swimming session at the Sandringham King Club and Morrow happened to be having a gym workout at the same time.

Morrow introduced himself and Hayes was stunned that the man who he had heard about as a lion-hearted ruckman in the 1966 premiership side was only 183cm tall compared to his own height of 186cm as a midfielder.

“You played in the ruck?” was Hayes’s first remark as he shook his head.

The accolade of spiritual leader fitted both men comfortably, yet their self-effacing natures would shy away from such lofty tags.

“Spiritual leader” is a phrase that has been spawned in comparatively recent times, probably starting with Glenn Archer and again being affixed to Luke Hodge.

[saintbrat]

Grant Thomas‏@Thomo_Grant·
What an ornament to the game. Lenny Hayes is a greater person than he is a player & hell he could play! Selfless, brave, the epitome of team

Lenny hayes‏@Len_hayes·
Feel lucky to have played for as long as I have and to have met so many great people over the journey. Thanks for all the messages

Mark Robinson‏@Robbo_heraldsun
Is Lenny at the #AFL360 desk tonight? @LukeHolmesby If yes, bring some I love Lenny St-shirts. XL for GW. Kids size for me

Luke Holmesby‏@LukeHolmesby·
@Robbo_heraldsun Ask him about the t-shirts though. He loves that we made such a big fuss over him.


Mark Robinson‏@Robbo_heraldsun·
Is Lenny at the #AFL360 desk tonight? @LukeHolmesby If yes, bring some I love Lenny St-shirts. XL for GW. Kids size for me


Luke Holmesby‏@LukeHolmesby·2
@Robbo_heraldsun Phone interview unfortunately. But I reckon we can get a couple of t-shirts to find their way to you before the year's done

Barry Breen‏@barry_breen·
Lenny Hayes congratulations on a stellar career. Top 5 Saints of all time and a class act. Well done.

many in the AFL world and beyond have tweeted- as listed at bottom of this article
http://www.afl.com.au/news/2014-07-15/m ... arvs-hayes

[bigcarl]

I can't go past the goal from outside 50 in the drawn Grand Final.

I mean, the guy can't kick 50 metres, everyone knows that, let alone accurately.

But somehow, in a superhuman effort - like the mum who lifts a car to free a trapped child - he put it through with sheer will.

That summed him up as a player. A massive heart, and when the club needed him to rise to the occasion he did.

No one deserved a premiership medallion more.

[bigred]

I wasnt around in 66' so I cant talk glory days.

But how lucky am I.

I got to see Barks play when I was a kid.
Followed Plugger from end to end at Linton street.
Saw Nicky feed it to him lace out.
Then of course there was Burke and Loewe. I had 23 on my back in high school.
Then there was Banger. Rob Harvey. Nothing really to say.
I still think that Aussie Jones is one of the best 50m field kicks you will ever see.
Roo comes in and collects B&F's like they grow on trees.

I've been lucky.

Getting to see the football career of Lenny Hayes has been an absolute privilege and an honor.

I will be telling my kids about this bloke. And whenever I think of Lenny Hayes playing football, I will smile and shake my head.

He plays this great game how we all wish we could.

He represented and put it on the line when it had to be done.

I will miss him terribly.

How lucky are we.

[SainterK]

Nice work red

[magnifisaint]

https://m.soundcloud.com/sen1116/justin ... -harf-time

try this instead https://soundcloud.com/sen1116

[Moods]

That bump on Chapman in the 2010 QF. I could almost hear the rattle of Chapman's ribs on impact from where I was sitting that night. He always went in hard for the ball and if that went crashing through a tough opponent, so be it. He's been a treat to watch over the years.

Yep. Agreed. Summed it up perfectly for me. That was a huge game (Qual final) against a rival we weren't expected to beat. Roo was doing his bit the way Roo did (marking everything and working his arse off) Milney was doing his bit (kicking goals and revving the boys up) and the Lendog was doing his thing - smacking into blokes as hard as he bloody well could and winning crucial contest after crucial contest. Smacking into Chapman like he did I just knew we were going to win that game, it was as inspirational as any other effort that night. The pain on Chappy's face as well as the shock (obviously rarely gets hit that hard) was almost as pleasurable.

Used to LOVE watching Lenny come off at half time, spent, and snarling. For a bloke who appeared like such a good bloke (never had the privilege of meeting him) he could be a mean tough inspirational bastard.

3 x B&F's and the total respect of the entire footy community is a testament to the footballer and the man.

[SemperFidelis]

This from Robbo.

http://www.heraldsun.com.au/sport/afl/r ... 6990163387

And (don't howl me down), he quotes Ross Lyon as follows:

`Asked yesterday to describe the essence of Hayes, his former coach Ross Lyon wrote: ‘’He played without restraint, he wasn’t defined by the scoreboard or his opponent, and never kept anything in reserve so he could give himself an alibi.

‘’Lenny didn’t save anything to protect himself emotionally. He put it all out there. Most of us are conditioned to protect ourselves a bit - not him.

‘’He was prepared to put everything on the line, to expose himself to having given everything and lost.’’'

Pretty much sums it up, really.

[saintbrat]

http://www.crocmedia.com.au/2014/07/16/ ... nny-hayes/
Former Saints star Aussie Jones and also former coach Grant Thomas shared some memories with Dash on the career of St.Kilda champion Lenny Hayes -

[saintbrat]

great montage on 'The Bounce' with the song/ vision of "The Candy man"

and Lenny on MMM this morning
http://www.triplem.com.au/melbourne/spo ... d-magpies/

[saintbrat]

Does lenny legitimise this thread.?
http://www.afl.com.au/video/2014-07-16/ ... et-crushes


viewtopic.php?f=2&t=46016&p=1481918#p1481918

[saintbrat]

As is often the way in football and in life, one moment you're pausing to look at the fresh new faces who have it all in front of them, and the next you're tipping your hat to another who has decided that this year will be his last. Lenny Hayes has been the player you wanted to be, wanted to have and the player you'll never forget.

I once wrote a piece on mateship in footy and the truism that, win or lose, one of the great things about the game is who you get to play alongside. Typical of the times we live in, my self-esteem rested purely on how many people retweeted it. My phone alerted me at one point that Lenny Hayes had retweeted me. It was like Elvis Presley dedicating Blue Suede Shoes to me at a Vegas show. Hmmm, the power of Lenny.

I don't know anything about the inner workings of the St Kilda Football Club, but if I had to bet who was the energy source in the changerooms I would put my last dollar on Lenny Hayes being the man. Every time we played against the Saints, and there were a few big games, he always found a way to impose himself on the game.

The tackle on Easton Wood is something I've kept coming back to this week. Sometimes a single act can have a huge impact on a game, just like a single player or a cluster of players can have a huge impact on a club.

For the Bulldogs, I hope this next cluster can take the torch and run with it. For Lenny Hayes, all anyone can do is raise a glass to a footballer who's been one of the finest of all.

Read more: http://www.theage.com.au/afl/afl-news/c ... z37iJjYwLX