the Luke Ball arguement

[congorozides]

I heart Luke Ball.

If he never plays another game, i'll still not regret that we took him.

Quality footballer, quality individual. Will be remembered in 50 years time as one of the best.

Give him time.

you have to be joking.

50 years one of the best?

baldock, lockett, winmar, barker, harvey....

and nathan burke was terrible. so he had "spirit" and courage. but it was a waste of time because he turned it over every time he fought to win.


what u smoking?

Have you ever watched Luke Ball a game? Get a grip mate.
His clearance work is stunning and getting better. His skills are getting better every game. Just wait till we see the Luke Ball of 2004 again. Would get the clearance, handball out to Dal or Harves who would give it back to him running full pelt and hed slot it from 50 on his left. Watch it happen.

Like I said, in 50 years time, he will be remembered as a St Kilda great.

watched him plenty of times. very smart player. great in close.
not knocking him. just not getting carried away.

[congorozides]

I agree... Nicky was a champion. Champion.

And he could do everything - Dan, I do remember him handpassing... and is handpasses were spearing - they were so fast and well-aimed. He could create opportunities in many, many ways.

Definitely one of the best I've ever, ever seen.

Him and Plugger... don't get me started! I'll never stop!

agree. lockett and winmar were incredible. incredible.
two of the all time afl greats. just go and get some old footage. the off field stuff tarnished both their reputations a little but on-field they wre very very good at all facets of the game. a modern day pedant might say pluggers defensive work wasnt the best but tell that to some of the pople he tackled... and he markedy 99% of the time inside 50 anyway. despite often being triple teamed and scragged.

winmar was consistent and was good offensively and defensively and a real team player as well as skilled. great all reound player. would be even better in todays game because its a bit cleaner so it would suit him more with his kicing and running.

[st_Trav_ofWA]

how many times will we go over this same old line "we should of got Judd over Ball"

lets look at the facts
Luke Ball will pay 200+ games for St Kilda
the percentage of players to play 200 games being in the top 10 picks is not a very high %
St Kildas facillitys are not even in the same ball park as Westcoast had Ball been taken by the Eagles he would more then likly be reciving huge accolades (and more then likley be still there such is the loyalty) and had we taken Judd he would also be a great player but his OP that made him lets be honest slightly above ordinary player lastyear would of come alot earlyer .

why waste time worring about what we shoulda woulda coulda done all those years ago ? be happy with the great player we got not upset on the great player we didnt

[Red]

St Trav your argument doesn't hold water. You can't say Judd would have

have OP if he came to the Saints - Ball had it when he was drafted that's

why he didn't play in his first season.

Ball will play 200 games and he will end up being seen as a St Kilda champ

but to say he would have being as good as Judd if he played somewhere

else is pure BS.

Ball will always be a class player but not one who can turn a game on it's

head ala Judd or Ablett. That's what the debate is about.

[Dan Warna]

luke ball wanted to finish his VCE hence he signed a 3year contract with st kilda not the usual 2 for rookies.

st kilda respected his decision at the time

I think he got well in excess of 90% on his final results and subsequently got into a high level university course.

pretty sure he didn't have OP as he dominated at school football that year, and school cricket as well, I am happy to be corrected if wrong on that issue.

had we taken judd, not sure we would have matched carltons $$$$$ to lure him over

and given the team failure in 04 and 05, not sure he'd be the difference to getting into the GF.

dont forget if he did come to st kilda we'll be playing the 'free hit on judd' rule

[n1ck]

He did suffer from OP, but thats not why he didnt play for us.

At the time, nobody knew too much about OP. Luke Ball was completing his final year of school at Xavier College and wanted to concentrate on his education.

I think he finished with a TER score of 98.6.

As Dan said, killed it in school footy and also school cricket. OP never stopped him playing for us, it was all about school for Bally.

[yipper]

The OP with Bally only came up after round 1 in 05?? when he played on Judd over at Subi and tore his groin?? Before that it was never an issue I believe.

[plugger66]

The OP with Bally only came up after round 1 in 05?? when he played on Judd over at Subi and tore his groin?? Before that it was never an issue I believe.

Definately had OP in his last year of School footy. I even think he missed a few games because of it.

[n1ck]

I seem to recall him having the better of Judd, up to that point too.

Not that it makes any difference.

I think we were leading, Lenny was just about best on ground. Then Ball damaged his groin / adductor / stomach, Juddy got free and we were overrun in the 2nd half.

I think we were all cramping up at 3qtr time too. Was alot of fuss about that at the time.

But anyway, yes Luke Ball suffered on and off with OP (although he / we knew nothing about the condition at the time) since being drafted. He didnt miss his first season because of it, though.

[Dan Warna]

The OP with Bally only came up after round 1 in 05?? when he played on Judd over at Subi and tore his groin?? Before that it was never an issue I believe.

Definately had OP in his last year of School footy. I even think he missed a few games because of it.

I dont follow APS football, but I do remember something about him playing on or against judd in year 11 and destroying judd's team in the final, and the next year he captained his side to back to back premierships (must have piss3d off the yr 12s that a yr 11 was captain)

again my memory could be playing tricks.

thansk for the update on his TER, I date back to HSC which was your best 4 subjects and 10% of the rest. I believe his TER put him in an elite bracket also.

further his cricket scores put him in an all time elite bracket as well in the APS which has produced some more than handy cricketers in its time.

Must be sick of jealousy folks over Luke ball, good looking, modest, humble, decent, brilliant mind, couragious heart, brilliant footballer, brilliant cricketer, captain at 21, AA selection, B&F at club, at he's still 23.

No wonder there are so many haters

go get your brownlow and premiership bally, that will stick it right up em

[st_Trav_ofWA]

St Trav your argument doesn't hold water. You can't say Judd would have

have OP if he came to the Saints - Ball had it when he was drafted that's

why he didn't play in his first season.

Ball will play 200 games and he will end up being seen as a St Kilda champ

but to say he would have being as good as Judd if he played somewhere

else is pure BS.

Ball will always be a class player but not one who can turn a game on it's

head ala Judd or Ablett. That's what the debate is about.

have you seen the facillitys that the eagles have at their dispossal ?? have you seen the lush training surface they train on ?? have you seen the medical staff they have empolyed on thier books whos sole job is to moniter the players ?? bally may have had OP at the start but being at stkilda increased the healing time . add to the judd factor the work of those around him who help make him look great for instance Cox benny kerr all helping him out laying blocks to help him lose the tag

im happy with our choice of bally hes a quallity footballer and a quallity person and is a loyal as the day is long for judd two out of three aint bad

[Dan Warna]

interestingly in 97 when we made the GF st kilda were only at 87% of the salary cap at the time

we were one of the 'cheapest' teams.

as it is our football division comes in at about 10m with the total club turn over around the 22 million mark.

Other clubs are running through turn overs at 40 to 50 million.

we dont own our gate reciepts, we are happy for any sponsor and really we aren't getting the fords/holdens/hungry jacks/coca cola/etc brands

most of the footballers go to a private gym and only use the club facilities to warm up and warm down or for tests.

yes our players are reimbursed well, and yes the club has THIS decade, gone from just throwing money at players, to player welfare, player development and player management (following the models laid down by essendon in the 1980s under sheedy)

we are the povo football side. whether you like it or not, we have less money that richmond.

(incoming comment on GT but thats just part of st kilda)