Do people still think Ball's money hungry ...

[savatage]

Please ..lets not rewrite history... he was one of our young guns, and a top performer 04-07

Ball was a Rising Star nominee in his debut season of 2003.

2004 seasonBall played in St Kilda’s 2004 Wizard Home Loans Cup winning side, the club's second pre-season cup win.[2]

2004 was a big year for Ball, coming second in St Kilda's Trevor Barker Award for the club's best and fairest player.

2005 season In 2005 Ball won the Trevor Barker Award for St Kilda's best and fairest player, tying with Steven Baker.

Ball was also recognised for his excellent season with selection in the 2005 All-Australian Team as a midfield player, his first All-Australian Team award.

When Nick Riewoldt was injured in the opening round of the 2005 season (and consequently missed the next five weeks), Ball was appointed as acting captain.

2006 season In 2006 Ball was announced as the St Kilda captain, succeeding Nick Riewoldt under the Saints' then rotational captaincy policy. Early in the season groin problems kept the young captain from performing at his best, but he was cleared in mid-June of having Osteitis pubis from which many media outlets had claimed he was suffering. Ball's second half of the season saw improvement in his game.

2007 season In 2007 Ball was co-captain along with Lenny Hayes and Riewoldt. He played a total of 18 games of the home and away season - picking up 345 disposals, 5 goals and 91 tackles. Although well down on his 2005 form, he played a valuable role in the team and solidified his reputation as a "hard-nut" and core member of St Kilda's midfield.

07 was a while ago & his decline had well & truly started by then. Was destined to be a star when he was at U18 level - it never came to fruition. His peak was long ago.

[MCG-Unit]

Ball left for the money, like Lyon.

Lyon left for money and maybe a better chance for a flag. Ball left because he couldnt get a game and just so happened to get better money and a flag.

Not sure on the question - but definitely agree with this (and maybe more game time)
This has been done to death really.........

"Luke had a rich history with St Kilda.... expectations are often set and not met by club or player. Clearly, along the line, there has been some expectations set and not met on both sides of the fence.....it's not for me to talk about our expectations. During the year he got dropped, then he matched our expectations (and returned) and then obviously there was some expectations from Luke that we weren't meeting and he moved on"

Ross Lyon 22 Jan 2010

[skeptic]

Ball left because he got the distinct impression his time as a Saint was limited