West Coast the better team today and deserved winners. Saints outplayed in the middle, continue to butcher the ball and rely on on two few! How good was King though, very happy to see him playing with confidence, an absolute star in the making!
Eagles midfield is great to watch when it’s on. Forward ball movement to the forwards is gonna be hard to stop for any team if they get on top of the clearances and rebounds. Definitely the big difference between the two teams.
Relieved the saints aren’t gonna make finals, there’s some serious issues with their team structure, mentality and the current list they need to sort in the offseason without any false reassurance from teams around them on the ladder capitulating.

All the commentary about Lynch has distracted from Cotchin’s effort which would probably have been a send off offense if not a suspension in the rugby codes. The Lynch stuff is stupid but a waste of time. Tough footy is what we saw from Port and Geelong last weekend not what Richmond dished up.

Dropping like flies down at Moorabbin. Looking like some ‘character building’ weeks ahead.

Thanks for the article Pat. Shocking start to the year with injuries in what was already a fairly shallow list in terms of depth.
Hoping to see the same attitude and pressure they brought out in the JLT. Sad to see Roberton having ongoing heart troubles and rightfully stepping down to try and diagnose the issue before something terrible happens.
Going to be an interesting year at Moorabbin with a pretty disappointed fanbase and then an off field focus on finances and Richardson’s 2020 extension.

Glad he and his medical team went ahead with the defibrillator last year. Sad to see him out of the side but much more happy that he’s still able to be with his loved ones.
Adds some important perspective to what will likely be a character building year at Moorabbin this year.

St Kilda also beat Melbourne last year in membership figures ~46 000 vs 44 000.
Given Melbourne’s form I don’t know if that says more about Melbourne fans though…

Wonder whether poor business practices or the long run of off field incidents in the late naughties played a bigger role in the loss of sponsorship dollars?

Should ask the cats to borrow their pokies machines in Werribee before they’re sold, 6 million in extra revenue would pay it off in no time.

But in all seriousness I agree its not clear what their plans are and that makes me nervous.

Thanks for the article Marnie!

It’s hard to know exactly how they will fill the Nick Riewoldt’s leadership vacuum.
Ideally a combination of coach, captain and president, and hard work, honesty and passion.

Agree with you that there’s not much passion on display to your average punter and I’d love to hear someone go further than “We know 2018 was disappointing” and give the fans both an overview of the changes they’ve made (recruitment, financial decisions, tactical changes etc..) and then what they are using as a yard stick to assess the impact of these changes and what will define a successful season in 2019.

I’m actually pretty OK with them taking the China game if it makes them some money. Paying off their debt without the pokies income that the other Victorian clubs receive (except North) will be difficult without taking these opportunities. I’m still absolutely gutted that we showed so little in the Good Friday game last year, I’d been hoping for a marquee game for a long time but after what we dished up it’s rightfully moved on without us and I expect crowds and memberships to take a dive.

Will no doubt be a long season for Richardson.

Honestly I could cope if the Saints were to head to Tassie at some point but Hawthorn and North in their current set up make that seem unlikely.
The Saints used to play in Launceston from 2001-06 along with Hawthorn, but went back to Docklands as they were losing their games down there. Shame really because they would have made much more money and garned further support had they stayed.
I agree North is in the same boat but their debt is gone and current form is good so they’ll escape the spotlight in the short term.
Fingers crossed the saints find some form and get some crowds.

The ARU are definitely more frustrating but they’re also much more in the spotlight. It’s hard to know what goes on behind closed doors at either headquarters.
The loss of the force was heartbreaking but I think the reality is rugby union is on it’s knees.
I think the AFL has the money to bank roll Gold Coast for a fair while longer. The Suns aren’t doing well but AFL in QLD and particularly on the Gold Coast is surprisingly big and still growing.
I don’t see a merge happening at the moment, North are actually making money and St Kilda do have a significant membership base, if only they could get some to games with some better form. But I can’t see anyone else that would be considered at the moment. What are you thoughts?

I’m taking the bait
Here’s one Tragic saints fan’s perspective/rant. You’ll want to sit down, it’s lengthy.
Long story short – nothing’s ever as good or as bad as it looks.

Any reference to another club is not shot taking and I apologise if I’m short of examples and if I’m factually incorrect.

Firstly, I think there’s a small but significant number of wallflower saints fans regularly on this site . Unfortunately the discussion following pieces involving the saints are often started by people who act like the StKFC’s failures are a personal offence to them and frequently resort to disrespectful comments and name calling. Let’s be honest, most of the comments come from about 10-15 roar users who’ll respond to every post with the same point time after time. Let’s encourage some AFL fan diversity by at least being respectful.

I’ve worked/studied in nearly every part of Victoria and am surprised (in a good way) by how many saints fans I meet around the place, though possibly because of low expectations. I was surprised that St Kilda was 12th for memberships in the AFL in 2018, ahead of Melbourne (favoured for top 4) then the Dogs and North. I expect after 2018 there will be a reasonable decrease.

I feel the sting of the relevance comments, as another user mentioned but agree we are probably the least relevant club bar Gold Coast at the moment and I have voiced to many my fear that we will be the club that moves/merges/folds. That being said I think everyone (bar Collingwood unfortunately) overestimates their clubs relevance outside of their home state (a reason why West coast are often underrated/reported on the east coast).
I think the frustrating thing is that now that our disgraceful off-field antics are behind us, other clubs that have essentially achieved nothing whilst rorting the salary cap, committing almost unspeakable medical negligence or also relying on AFL support, seem to deserve more respect historically.

I also think St Kilda’s debt is not being talked about in a fair manner. whilst it’s multifactorial lets take in some more context.

Firstly pokies.
Geelong’s pokies income (which is entirely made in Melbourne’s western suburbs) would cover their debt in 2.5 years. Collingwood’s (also in the western suburbs) would cover it in less than 1 year, Hawthorn’s (Western suburbs again) in 6 months. Part of the move to Seaford was supposedly about a pokies disagreement with Kingston city council. I’m not a fan of pokies funding AFL clubs so I respect Kingston looking out for their own. Currently StKFC is making 2.1 million, I hope they can get to a point financially where they take the machines out of their club house for good. I also hope they don’t take the low road of financing the club in another low socioeconomic part of Melbourne. Respect to North Melbourne, Well done.

Secondly, the stadium deal crippled all of the dockland clubs (not including carlton or essendon with shared access to MCG). St Kilda made more from one game in Wellington than a whole season at etihad. Cat likes to frequently bring up the loss of income for Geelong from having to play at the MCG. St Kilda used to beg the AFL for one game there as it would be worth $100,000s more for the same crowd. The Wellington game’s made more than an entire season at Etihad. The new etihad/marvel deal should add ~ 2million to the clubs bottom line, bringing it up but still not to the same level of other clubs around the country. Additional funding from the AFL to North, Doggies and Saints is essentially re-compensation for the additional contributions they have made to the stadium in it’s first 15 years. Each of the 3 clubs has lost tens of millions over that time period.

Thirdly bad (read inexcusible) decisions.
StKFC have made terrible decisions with player and coach payouts. They’re not alone in that respect but recent/ongoing decision making doesn’t seem to be improving.
The move to Seaford was diabolical to players and fans. May as well set up the training ground in Geelong. Let’s remember though that many clubs receive large grants from the AFL and from government’s towards their facilities – for example the hanger out at Windy Hill.

So here’s my short list of unimpressive positive’s from an awful 2018

– Consistent exposure and development of the very young (think Hunter Clark etc..)
– A newly structured coaching system with (supposedly) more autonomy for the assistants
– An ongoing and somewhat transparent conversation from the club to fans about the failure to meet basic expectations which has lead to restructuring within the club at all levels
– Offseason recruitment that covered a number of bases (within the reality that in 2018 no A grade midfielder would consider moving to the club).
– Billy Slater – whether it will make a tangible difference is unknown. Is it awesome? Undeniably.
– Moorabbin is functioning and will hopefully provide a great base for AFLW and VFLW (apparently 1 in 6 women playing aussie rules in Melbourne is in the bayside area).

Here’s my negatives (a shortlist of many)

1. Terrible terrible horrible form.
I don’t buy the talent argument. I don’t think we have a premiership team talent wise, but a significant number players do have the underlying talent to be excellent AFL level footballers. The last team to really embarrass Richmond prior their 2017 premiership was St Kilda, who have since never looked the same.
I think there was huge a psychological issue at the club, and goal kicking is a good example – huge number of games with more behinds than goals, Membrey – 1.5 one week, 5.1 the following month. With our woeful goal kicking, after periods of midfield dominance early in games we would often have nothing to show on the score board, momentum would swing, heads would drop and disposal efficiency would plummet. Even if we were winning the contest, the turnover goals would pile on and by half time it would be game over. I think on field leadership was a big part of this, and a Hodge, Selwood or Cotchin type was really missing.

2. Coaching and Development
– Are our prized recruits where they should be? No.
– Were the gameday coaching tactics visible and were they responsive to the actions of the other team (one of my favourite attributes of the All Blacks). No.
– Will this change in the space of 12 months? I’m not expecting miracles but Richardson will be looking for another job if there’s not a significant improvement. I am typically pre-season positive about the new coaching staff.
– I often wonder what our players would look like in other colours. What would Jack Steven look like if he had some support to take a tag? Would Billings be consistent at a club with more experience and leadership? etc..

3. Wasted opportunity.
I have to give the Good Friday game it’s own section. I worked at Royal Children’s and I saw the players of both teams at the hospital visiting many of my patient’s. What an opportunity to give back to the community, gain a marquee game (so important!!) and exposure and personal growth for the team. I went to the game and was absolutely devastated by the state of play. I wanted them to win but really I just wanted them to play like it meant something to them, like it was more than just a standard home and away game and that they would fight for their opportunities. That opportunity is now gone and deservedly so.

4. The debt is looming. I expect inroads to be made this year, but let’s be realistic, it’s going to exist for several years to come. If that for some reason upsets you, maybe re-evaluate your priorities in life.

Rant over.

Hope for an improved 2019 after a tough year for this St Kilda, QLD reds, Aussie tennis, Aussie cricket, Socceroos and Wallabies fan. Wish me luck or recommend me a netball team, ideally a good one.

Thanks for the article Josh, a detailed and very realistic assessment of a club with a huge amount of work to do on field and off field.
Fingers crossed we can see some form develop in the midfield including some a stronger onfield leadership presence and see some more convincing tactical acumen from the coaches rather than the token ‘put Carlisle up forward’ at 3/4 time approach we saw last year. Specifically they seem to have significant mentality issues related to converting kicks at goal, entering the attacking 50 and often seem to lack any discernible shape in the midfield.
Will be an interesting year as a saints fan in terms of our progress but probably more so as a neutral come the pointy end of the season given how close and unpredictable the league has become!

Thanks for article MF. Finance is a big concern of mine as a saints fan, it’s hard to see a future for your club when you’re performing poorly off-field and on-field. I think the china game was a great idea considering it’s unlikely to impact where they finish up on current predictions (bottom 3-6).

I’d love to know the breakdown of the nearly $100 million pokies takings/revenue (reported by fairfax) amongst the profits made by the Victorian clubs of which the saints made $2 million and Hawthorn $24 million. I’d like to think the saints would look a lot better financially if they were getting the pokies money of any other club (bar North, who run a profit with no pokies money, something worth a lot of praise.)
Also good to see other clubs like Collingwood, Geelong and Melbourne decide to try and move away from this source of income, though they’ve certainly set themselves up to consolidate their finances before committing (eg Melbourne will still take 40 million in revenue at their current rate before selling their licences in 2022.)

I hope the Saints sell their licenses as soon as they can/make a considerable dint in their debt. They need to form a media presence for positive reasons after the disaster years of off-field incidents when they were relatively successful on field.

Yes St Kilda are poor decision makers on and off field, I’ll always admit that. Between their very measly pokies intake and crippling docklands stadium deals, they were financially crippled before they made the regretful decisions to move to Seaford, sack coaches etc.. (I’m sure there’s a huge list of further poor decisions I’m not privy to),

Geelong have been extremely successful, and have been run in an exemplary fashion off-field. Additionally, they have been helped significantly along the way by unique circumstances, which they have duly taken advantage of. Becoming debt free and ending their pokies funding was an awesome move. The saints may as well do the same seeing as they make so little from their anyway.

I’ve been an avid reader of these forums for a long time, and frankly it’s a huge disappointment to repeatedly read your bile stained comments throughout different articles. You’ve really got no reason to be bitter, especially as geelong supporter with such recent and prolonged success. Maybe if footy news is so frustrating you should take a break and return when you can contribute to constructive conversation.

Cat, talking down other teams after having to hear something resembling praise about them reeks of the arrogance and sense of entitlement I too often hear from close mates who support the cats. Frankly worse than Hawthorn supporters these days.
Reckon the Saint’s would look a whole lot better with the game’s best player (picked up for spare change) in their centre square passing to probably the greatest player of all time in his twilight (picked up for essentially nothing after squeezing out of his contract early elsewhere), playing in their own boutique stadium (funded largely by the VIC and federal governments) in a 1 team town with a coach who was mentored during a premiership era where off field discressions were largely absent from the media.
Geelong have achieved greater than any other team in their player recruitment and development leading to a remarkable consistency, a fact I acknowledge and greatly respect. However, they have gifts and circumstances other teams can only dream of.
Support your team Cat, don’t feel the need to kick everyone else whilst they’re already down on the ground.

Pumped about that last quarter display, regardless of some WCE fans wanting to write it off (the best teams never showed mercy). Means a lot to see effort and character on display when you have a young team, out of form and in some ways out of their depth. To be honest I thought this could end up a 3 figure loss, our backline is so short at the minute with almost every key defender out.

Finally seeing some good kicking from the forwards, though credit to West Coast for a truly impressive night of kicking in front of goal. Saints need to work on their entries and kick it to advantage though it’s nice to see Tim Membrey and Jade Gresham finding some form. Membrey almost outgunning Josh Kennedy whilst playing on an elite backline was really encouraging. Tom Hickey also had a good game against Nic Nat, not an easy job.

I did think the umps were pretty tough on the ol’saints, 25 to 12 frees I think in favour of the eagles, and a few videos up today of tough calls against us, though I’m first to admit we have been known to give a few sloppy free kicks away. Josh Kennedy very lucky Jimmy Webster landed on the ball in that sling tackle, could have been out for a few weeks had the landing been anymore awkward.

Huge respect to West Coast for so many seasons of high performances and 10 in a row this season, they don’t get the airtime they deserve over here in Melbourne, and lets hope they can get some longterm form at the MCG now that they’re playing a similar ground week in.

Can only hope this year builds character and once the form (and kicking) is consistent over 4 quarters I think we’ll trouble a lot of teams. Still hurts after building expectations last year for a crack at finals. Hopefully the young sainters can keep the energy up and play a 4 quarter game in a tough one against the swans.

Long term reader, first time poster…

Thanks for the Article Stirling, it’s often few and far between for pieces about the saints and I feel spoiled this week with so many.

I definitely agree that consistency and a game plan without a plan B are key issues for the saints to address before next season.
I’m hopeful they’ll use the 2 first round picks wisely and if nothing is coming their way go to the draft as I’d hate to see them wasted on a trade made in desperation.

My biggest disappointment wasn’t the inconsistent pressure but the poor kicking.
Poor delivery into the forward 50 + poor goal kicking were more often than not the cause many of their losses, including 12 games with more behinds than points.

A silky midfielder might help in this area but IMHO disposal efficiency across the entire team needs a bit of a lift.

I will say defensively, the saints have improved substantially from a year or two ago (despite the loss of Dempster early in the season) and have surpassed my expectations. Carlisle and Roberton have been great and I think Webster has been better than he’s getting credit for.

Also, Seb Ross has been superb, very excited to see how he goes next year, hopefully with Stevens firing on all cylinders.

I think it’s been a really interesting year for a lot of teams, as despite no team dominating this year like in previous, the overall quality was very high and there were upsets every weekend. Looking at the ladder it’s so congested that had the saints won 4 more games they’d be in the top 4, instead they sit well outside of the 8.

Here’s to a hopeful 2018 for another saint’s tragic.