What a sh*tty year!

[noreason41]

Sitting at Etihad last Saturday, i couldn't help but sit in silence as i watched Sydney rips us too shreds in a 4th quarter in a final, for the 2nd time in my life.

The last game of the year, ultimately, reflected how i've felt this year supporting the saints as a whole.

s*** start. Gets even worse. Then just before half time you hit rock bottom (Kosi, mate, are you f****** serious running over the side of the line???? How hard is it?) , then suddenly when all looks gone, they fight back. All of a sudden you start thinking you're back in it, you're in with a real chance. We keep fighting, never give up, and then its over.

But more to the point - Was looking through this article:
http://www.heraldsun.com.au/sport/afl/g ... 051?page=5
That made me realise how s*** a year it has been off the field.

1.5M Loss.
7500 members failing to re-sign up.
New Zealand sleeping pills/alcohol scandal.
Fisher gets 'king hit' while out.
Baker & Hayes get accused of starting a fight at Love Machine.
Sex with a teenager who was at a school footy clinic.
Photos of Roo/Gilb/NDS emerge...
Court order gets taken out, photos deleted, but story gains more media circulation.
Nixon gets accused - Impacts on Roo & Any other players Nixon may have managed.


In the end, it culminated in us losing a game we were heavily favored to win. (Seems so surreal now to have lost in the first week of finals).
When Sydney kicked that first goal of the last q (effectively sealing the game) - I wasn't that dissapointed. No where near as dissapointed as 08,09,10.
It was almost comforting for the season to have finally finished. Not that i wish we didn't go further, but i can honestly say it more relief that it was over then dissapointment.

[bigred]

Yep.

Crap year for supporters.
Crap year for players.
Crap year for coaches.
Crap year for the club on field.
Crap year for the club off field.

Have not enjoyed this year one bit.

Will watch out preseason with interest.

Will be good to see Lenny next year.

[SaintPav]

It was crap but it could have been a lot worse.

[Dr Spaceman]

It was crap but it could have been a lot worse.

Hopefully those involved in the crap have learned their lesson and there'll be no repeats (if they're still at the club).

I sense Ross will be in a "no crap" mood from hereon and heaven help anyone who oversteps the mark!

[fingers]

As hard as i was barracking on Sat night once we lost there was a part of me that was relieved that this crappy season was over. It was just tiresome. I can only imagine how the coach and players felt.

[Jacks Back]

And don't forget the Lovett trial which would have affected the players that had to give evidence. Any court appearance can take it out of you way before the event even if just giving evidence.

[OneEyedSainter77]

2009 - This year was all about the journey. Every week was wonderful, we would build ourselves up, get nervous and smash the opposition - for nineteen weeks we did this.. Then we had a few nervy weeks where we lost a couple of games and then a couple of wins in the finals - I still remember how elated I was to win the Prelim in 2009 - because after three failures in the last five years, we were FINALLY there! It ended in heartbreak, but I enjoyed every minute of it. Football was fun in 2009.

2010 - For me, it was all about the destination - losing the Grand Final hurt so much, I just wanted to fast forward to the next Grand Final - even when we playing like absolute crap, I always believed we had what it took to make the Grand Final and from there, surely the hurt of losing last year would get us over the line.

2011 - This year, with my new son, footy took a back seat as I had more important things to worry about. I watched the first game of hte season in full and got a bit upset about the result.... I listened to the draw against Richmond on the radio (I was on my way home, so I couldn't watch it - by the time I got home, it was over and I knew it was a draw so I didn't want to watch that)

I didn't watch another game we played in until round 6 against Adelaide. It was too painful. I'd catch glimpses but our style and skills were deplorable. I just couldn't get into it.

The second half of the season, I paid a bit more attention because I thought we'd have more of a chance. Excluding the West Coast game and Adelaide games (as I was busy those nights) I watched every other game for the rest of the season. All along I thought "We've got next to no chance this year but it's interesting to see how far we could get"

But the year sucked so much football wise, as soon as that Sydney player (forget which one) kicked their third or fourth goal (the one from the free kick) I was relieved this horrible season was over.

Lenny going down, so much off field crap, a bad start, rumours about the coach leaving and other players leaving - it just wasn't an enjoyable six months and it was much better to have all that over.

Next year, regroup and do it all again. My son will be older then so we'll hopefully be watching some of the games together and I'll be teahcing him everything I can about football (uch as that Rooey is God and Collingwood supporters are filthy bogans (except for Mummy because we love her and resent the fact she's a Collingwood supporter)

Mind you, the kid will only be about 15 months old when next footy season starts so he'll probably just be looking at me like "WTF are you talking about, Dad?"

[desertsaint]

1978 - promising
1979 - showed promise for one week
1980 - crap
1981 - crap
1982 crap...
1987 - so long ago - i think we started to look good - moved out of the bottom 3! ...
1991 - finals - first time since 1973! (out first game)

so yes last year was crap, but better than 80% of our seasons!

[kosifantutti23]

1978 - promising
1979 - showed promise for one week
1980 - crap
1981 - crap
1982 crap...
1987 - so long ago - i think we started to look good - moved out of the bottom 3! ...
1991 - finals - first time since 1973! (out first game)

so yes last year was crap, but better than 80% of our seasons!

Someone with a bit of perspective. 1986 was a crap year. This was Nirvana by comparison.

[3rd generation saint]

Been through it all like everyone else.
All I want to hear over the summer is who we recruit and delist and a new major, major sponsor with lots of dollars.
No schoolgirls faking pregnancies, no new recruit losing it a couple of days after he joined the club, no excessive drinking. Just an attitude of wanting to achieve something.
Oh and no Filth premiership either.

[Rosco]

i'm relieved to be able to think about something else for a while.

[Johnny Favier]

Yes I have to agree too - it was a relief in the end really.

We get an early finish - time for the club to take a break, freshen up, and concentrate on footy alone instead of damage control. (Please, please let it be so!)

Same goes for us lot too!

[I Love Peter Kiel]

1978 - promising
1979 - showed promise for one week
1980 - crap
1981 - crap
1982 crap...
1987 - so long ago - i think we started to look good - moved out of the bottom 3! ...
1991 - finals - first time since 1973! (out first game)

so yes last year was crap, but better than 80% of our seasons!

What about '83/'84 with Tony Jewell? At least he was funny.

1983...a great win at Kardinia Park (which I missed)
A super win over Fitzroy (who were really good that year) at the Junction Oval.
Phil Narkle ...

What about Gellie...'85/86. Terrible years.

[fingers]

I actually think losing on Sat was an honest way to go out. Imagine we made a prelim. I think it would have papered over some cracks. Hopefully the catalyst to ask some serious questions, take action. Seems like Ross is ready to to that.

[Legendary]

No sh|t this year in the summer.

No crap. Straight footy.

I want to hear stories about how X, Y and Z are training the house down, about how our first round draft pick is a gun and will win the Rising Star, about how Lenny looks better than ever, about how Ross has devised a gameplan that will make Malthouse and Scott start crying, about how we have a major new sponsor, about how Riewoldt's knee has recovered really well after an operation and he feels mentally fresh, about every player breaking skinfold and time trial records ...

I wanna hear good positive football stories. I want Pelchen to wield the axe, screw every club up the clacker at trade week and walk away with the building blocks of our list in better shape.


I just want a nice quiet positive and drama-free pre-season, where we all get bored because it's just footy, footy, footy.

Please.

[SaintScottOfSydney]

As I've said before I come down from Sydney a few times a year and saturday night was one of them. I was quite devastated at the end but like quite a few others over the last few days I've come to have great admiration for the club getting as far as we did. We had some great wins (West Coast, Port and both Freo games spring to mind) and we played the kids.

I truly never expected to win it this year and when Lenny went down I knew that was it. What I didn't expect to see was Stevens stand up and Armo improve. Plus I think Siposs and Cripps will be grand as well.

Our best 6 are the best 6 in the comp; our bottom 6 - so long critiqued - have stood up. A few recruits, a proper off season and a quicker, revised game should have us back up there

[desertsaint]

1978 - promising
1979 - showed promise for one week
1980 - crap
1981 - crap
1982 crap...
1987 - so long ago - i think we started to look good - moved out of the bottom 3! ...
1991 - finals - first time since 1973! (out first game)

so yes last year was crap, but better than 80% of our seasons!

What about '83/'84 with Tony Jewell? At least he was funny.

1983...a great win at Kardinia Park (which I missed)
A super win over Fitzroy (who were really good that year) at the Junction Oval.
Phil Narkle ...

What about Gellie...'85/86. Terrible years.

mate in total agreement. to depressing to list evryone, so i ... to cover 83-86.
geez the 80s took a long time to finish.

[Enrico_Misso]

But at least in the 80s we had no expectations.
So footy was fun.
We cheered the good play.
And made fun of the bad play.
At the end of the day - we lost - but we went home with our expectations satisfied.

The last eight years we have had a side with a super core of players that we knew were capable of leading us to a flag.
I admit that this year, despite attending all the Melb games and one interstate match, I didn't actually enjoy ANY of them.
Even the good wins (there were a few) had me thinking - "So what - it's only a H&A game and doesn't begin to make up for the two flags lost!!".
Perhaps that is just the bitter and twisted cynical attitude of someone who has waited 45 years and is still waiting.

Yes Sat night hurt.
But it was sooo much less hurt than the prev two years climaxes.

[Sainternist]

Season 2011 was like a more melodramatic version of 2006.

I'm with you, noreason41. Not a particularly memorable year.

[Griggsy]

1.5M Loss.
7500 members failing to re-sign up.
New Zealand sleeping pills/alcohol scandal.
Fisher gets 'king hit' while out.
Baker & Hayes get accused of starting a fight at Love Machine.
Sex with a teenager who was at a school footy clinic.
Photos of Roo/Gilb/NDS emerge...
Court order gets taken out, photos deleted, but story gains more media circulation.
Nixon gets accused - Impacts on Roo & Any other players Nixon may have managed.

plus Lovett trial which players were involved in

[Enrico_Misso]

Well all that has just been well and truly TRUMPED !!!

[clisaint]

Ouch.