What was your favourite match the boys played under Swamp Fox?

[samuraisaint]

Mine was this one:

[Templar]

Was digging a footing with the old man and had this game on the transistor. Glued to the call especially the description of, was it Sidebottom, who ripped Don Scott's head band off and threw it into the crowd? Is that what happened? I do remember smiling and feeling proud about that! Small victories.

[shanegrambeau]

Can you bookend the Swamp fox era?

Start date:
Finish date:

Vaguely remember late '70s to early '80s?

[SaintPav]

Hawks must have had a premiership hangover because we were terrible that season. One of only 3 wins for the season.

[SaintPav]

Can you bookend the Swamp fox era?

Start date:
Finish date:

Vaguely remember late '70s to early '80s?

78 until early 80 from memory.

[desertsaint]

what a nightmare that round one game was.
first time i watched the saints - was a young hawks supporter and a peter knights fan.
for some cursed reason i just found my allegiances change that game - something to do with the name, the jumper, the colours, even the numbers font. by half time i was cheering on the saints.
the upset win sealed my emotional transfer.
what a horrid ten years followed. should have gone out and climbed a hill that day.

[samuraisaint]

Hawks must have had a premiership hangover because we were terrible that season. One of only 3 wins for the season.

We beat them by ten goals at VFL Park the year before too.

[samuraisaint]

what a nightmare that round one game was.
first time i watched the saints - was a young hawks supporter and a peter knights fan.
for some cursed reason i just found my allegiances change that game - something to do with the name, the jumper, the colours, even the numbers font. by half time i was cheering on the saints.
the upset win sealed my emotional transfer.
what a horrid ten years followed. should have gone out and climbed a hill that day.

Funny you should say that - took two mates from primary school to that game - one used to be a Hawks supporter and swapped over to the Saints (still a St Kilda supporter to this day) and the other thinking about barracking for the Saints, but when we got right on top he said that he decided to barrack for Hawthorn. I replied 'why, they're going to lose?' and he answered that he didn't care, he was going to barrack for Hawthorn anyway.

That was the last time we would beat Hawthorn for twelve years

[shanegrambeau]

Can you bookend the Swamp fox era?

Start date:
Finish date:

Vaguely remember late '70s to early '80s?

78 until early 80 from memory.

Well then, it encompasses the most turmoil you can imagine...and dire times.. and talk about tumultuous ...the 1978 season was ridiculous. It was the Scenic Railway at Luna Park! No the Big Dipper..

Wild times.
1978
The first time in my lifetime of being cognizant about the ladder, the fixture and all that, that St Kilda suddenly were competitive, and them like a false dwan it all fell apart, before recovering at the very end and missing the finals on percentage.

Now wonder I am a nutcase.

It was all downhill until 1978 for me..then suddenly, like a mirage.!
And then '79 and onwards, we just became destitute but we became the characterful and charismatic team we loved. Oh ..and all the players and coaches getting stiffed out of their money, especially after the Packer revolution in cricket, when suddenly cricketers made serious coin.

Fox was like Packer, except Packer paid cash, Fox paid pennies...but ..wait for it, Packer scuttled cricket and Fox my have saved the Saints?

There was a draw against Richmond at the MCG I went to. Richmond were hot, but we dared.

[Trev from the Bush]

Last round, 1978, when we flogged Carlton at Moorabbin and Robbie Muir let Dennis Collins know his smart mouth was unwelcome. We were bloody stiff to miss the finals by 2 points; I am not the only person who reckons we would have gone all the way if we made it.

Unfortunately, it also signalled the end of great careers. Big Carl went to Melbourne as playing coach taking Robert Elliot with him, Rex Hunt and George Young retired, Graeme Gellie hurt his knee and missed the next two seasons, Robbie Muir had a year away, and so on.

We declined from there and the St Kilda curse took a stranglehold. Mike Patterson became the next victim of the coach's guillotine two rounds into 1980 so Jezza could prove he was not the messiah, just an old champ past his best-before date.

R,I.P. Swamp Fox.

[Trev from the Bush]

Can you bookend the Swamp fox era?

Start date:
Finish date:

Vaguely remember late '70s to early '80s?

78 until early 80 from memory.

Well then, it encompasses the most turmoil you can imagine...and dire times.. and talk about tumultuous ...the 1978 season was ridiculous. It was the Scenic Railway at Luna Park! No the Big Dipper..

Wild times.
1978
The first time in my lifetime of being cognizant about the ladder, the fixture and all that, that St Kilda suddenly were competitive, and them like a false dwan it all fell apart, before recovering at the very end and missing the finals on percentage.

Now wonder I am a nutcase.

It was all downhill until 1978 for me..then suddenly, like a mirage.!
And then '79 and onwards, we just became destitute but we became the characterful and charismatic team we loved. Oh ..and all the players and coaches getting stiffed out of their money, especially after the Packer revolution in cricket, when suddenly cricketers made serious coin.

Fox was like Packer, except Packer paid cash, Fox paid pennies...but ..wait for it, Packer scuttled cricket and Fox my have saved the Saints?

There was a draw against Richmond at the MCG I went to. Richmond were hot, but we dared.

The draw against Richmond was the first game Jezza coached, round 3 1980. Fox had beheaded Mike Patterson after we lost the first two games.

The drawn game was a ripper, 128 points apiece. I remember a 31 year old Jimmy O'Dea on one leg in the last quarter kicking two goals in an heroic effort.

A fun fact - Richmond was coached by Tony Jewell and went on to win the premiership. A year later he was sacked at the end of the season. In another messiah-like moment he was signed by St Kilda in 1983 following Jezza' departure. Apart from helping Ian Stewart waterlog Moorabbin Oval by moonlight on nights before home games he is best remembered for becoming another one of Lindsay Fox's coaching sacrifices during the 1984 season.

Slaughtering coaches, its a St Kilda tradition.