Dear Caro

[Zed]

Dear Caro

thanks for 'exposing' St Kilda's apparent culture issues. I also heard you on Adelaide radio recently discuss the same thing, and bringing up Ahmed Saads once off sports drink mistake, and the St Kilda school girl incident as examples of the culture issue. Long bows indeed.

I look forward to reading your follow up article on how this compares to other clubs - perhaps starting with Richmond.

Lets compare Ahmed Saad to say Justin Charles - the first player found guilty of systematically procuring and taking steroids. Ok so it was 1997 - too far in the past ? .. well lets try Dustin Martin and Daniel Conners on their booze and sleeping pills bender, straight after the Olympics scandal. Pity that Daniel wasn't quite as good as Dustin, because he might still be on the list trying to negotiate a huge contract. Seems to me Caro that we have the basis of an unchecked booze and drugs culture at Richmond. But that was a couple of years ago. Do we really want to bring that up again ? .. well doesn't stop you bringing up the St Kilda schoolgirl story as an example of St Kilda's culture problems - which as we all know was a huge fabrication and I cant recall you ever apologising to Nick Reiwoldt for.

Now its revealed that Jake King brings a bikie leader into the dressing rooms. So lets review that. The leader of an organisation known to manufacture and distribute illegal substances is invited into a dressing room full of cashed up young men with high stress levels and limited ways they can relax. A recruiting ground that drug lords must dream about. Really Caro - why not smash Richmond for their continual failure to properly manage this drug and booze culture at Richmond?. Clint Jones made a very stupid mistake whilst no doubt under the influence of alcohol .. but whats Jake Kings excuse ? .. I assume he was sober when he was in the dressing room. Pity we cant say the same thing for the bikie leader- who knows what influences he may have been under, or which Richmond players are now indeed under the bikie leaders disturbing influence.

It must be hard for you. Growing up as a little girl, Richmond were a powerhouse at the top of the ladder whilst St Kilda was the rabble at the other end. But for the last 20 years its been roles reversed. Weve played finals and lots of them. But for a bit of luck we could have had 3 or more premierships in that time. Your beloved Richmond have barely played 3 finals games in the same period. So overawed by the novelty of playing finals this year that they choked - again.

So maybe our culture isn't as bad when you start to compare other clubs. If you were a male, I would tell you to 'man up' , and keep your biases out of your stories and draw conclusions from meaningful facts , not half truths nor your inner most desires to be proven right. You were once a good columnist. Like an ageing footballer near the end of their career who resorts to throwing punches out of frustration, you now start grasping onto what you think will make headlines, rather than providing some intelligent commentary.

Take a good look in the mirror and work out if you care about how you want to be remembered.

[stjohnc]

well put

[Saint 58]

..... Starting with Richmond

Continuing with Essendon, Collingwood, West Coast, etc
But why bring up the past when the "big" boys are concerned
Lets just sweep it under the carpet & move on
Move on teams like St. Kilda ...

[Dr Spaceman]

Like it Zed

[Teflon]

Send it to her Zed she could do with a whack

[The OtherThommo]

Hmmmm, bikies.....own tattoo parlours.....own gyms....... PED's being administered very effectively by tattoos.....Jake seems to have lots of tattoos. Charter has connections with bikies, Dank is believed to have, as well. Bikies are connected to all sorts of illegal substance supply chains, and internationally.

Wonder if Toby could be Jakie's and the Tigger's John Kizon equivalent (to Ben Cousins at the WCE....oh, wait, that's right, Ben played for the Tiggers, too). Kizon gets you Gatto, Gatto gets you all sorts of nefarious connections, including bikies and gyms.

I reckon I could even draw a flow chart.

People in this network have real form, unlike those in the Duthie matter.

[Dr Spaceman]

Hmmmm, bikies.....own tattoo parlours.....own gyms....... PED's being administered very effectively by tattoos.....Jake seems to have lots of tattoos. Charter has connections with bikies, Dank is believed to have, as well. Bikies are connected to all sorts of illegal substance supply chains, and internationally.

Wonder if Toby could be Jakie's and the Tigger's John Kizon equivalent (to Ben Cousins at the WCE....oh, wait, that's right, Ben played for the Tiggers, too). Kizon gets you Gatto, Gatto gets you all sorts of nefarious connections, including bikies and gyms.

I reckon I could even draw a flow chart.

People in this network have real form, unlike those in the Duthie matter.

King certainly looks like he's been on something.

Tatts everywhere; muscles buldging all over the place. The sort of scary dwarf that Clint dare not light

[R. Harvey 3 votes!]

Who cares what that mole thinks anyway?

[stinger]

jack also quoted as saying that the known thug was a really good bloke...guess the guys who have been trying really hard to kill him just don't agree.......


ps...great post zed....

[sunsaint]

Like it Zed

why? and is that a beer goggle emoticon you are using
I dont see anyone getting stuck into her over on essendondope
Saad got caught 'once", but it would be fair to say he drank his sponsors drink more than once
Our public perception is of a non-successful party club, so anyone who thinks our culture is ok, needs their head read.
As for the new revelations on Jake King, we'll see how the AFL handle things now it is out in the open (thanks to the media - but somehow people will claim the big clubs get things swept under the carpet)
But here's a free kick to Ms Wilson - The saints recruited M Gardiner who had links to drug dealers.

[Dr Spaceman]

Like it Zed

why?

Because I like it.

[fingers]

Maybe you should tell her not us.

[joffaboy]

Who cares what that mole thinks anyway?

Absolute class

Wilson has been lauded on here for her tireless work on the Essendon drug scandal. Some have mentioned Walkley's etc.

But she happens to shine a light on the Saints and she suddenly has no credibility.

Fair dinkum some of you have extremely thin skins.

lets have a look at the clean image of the Saints since 2003

Lawrence

Milne/Montagna allegations

Fraser Gehrig - too pissed for Bankok

Thomas/ Butters tearing the club apart

Pregnant School Scandal

Nude Photo's of players

Players on booze and drugs in NZ

Lovett - Rape trial

Milne charged with rape

Saad takes banned substance

Dwarf set on fire.

Yes we are as clean as they come.

[fingers]

That's an impressive list.

[The Saintsational Man]

Lovett - Rape trial

Never played a game for us, so that one's on Essendon.

[Dr Spaceman]

Reckon she's done great re the Bombers.

Reckon she's been pretty accurate re the Saints (we can argue at the margins).

Just want to give her the chance to comment on the Tiges in regards to this recent development, made more newsworthy by its connections to the ACC, peptides, drug traffickingetc etc.

Would appear at least as worthy of comment as a singed dwarf IMO.

That's all.

[samoht]

We are not clean, but to trot out the term "culture" and associate it with St Kilda every time an incident occurs is a bit rich.

The only positive is - maybe it will make our club more careful in the future, as all eyes are on us.

[bergsone]

What did that school girl have ? boy/girl twins cant remember reading that

[Dr Spaceman]

What did that school girl have ? boy/girl twins cant remember reading that

I've seen the kid.





It's just like Gilbo..........









......'s right foot. Non existent

[sunsaint]

What did that school girl have ? boy/girl twins cant remember reading that

people bring this up as some sort of "proof" the whole thing didnt happen. You have evidence she wasnt pregnant?
But regardless it is just a digression from the fact that that if she dares to write anything about the saints, the superlatives written above come spewing out. If she writes about essendon she tranforms into a brilliant journalist. Its a tough gig.

[saint66au]

Saintsational Law #1...any journo no matter how credible is low life pond scum should they criticise St KIlda

[The Fireman]

Don't shoot the messenger.......until you make sure you have enough ammo

[The OtherThommo]

What did that school girl have ? boy/girl twins cant remember reading that

people bring this up as some sort of "proof" the whole thing didnt happen. You have evidence she wasnt pregnant?
But regardless it is just a digression from the fact that that if she dares to write anything about the saints, the superlatives written above come spewing out. If she writes about essendon she tranforms into a brilliant journalist. Its a tough gig.

I trust you noted I made no reference to Caro, Sunsaint. My interest is in the story, particularly in the context of E'dope and the light beginning to shine on the society wide problem of unregulated use of PED's for all sorts for reasons, with little or no proof they a) make any difference and b) they're safe in themselves and/or come from reputable sources.

As far as Caro goes, I'm not sure the King story is her long suit. Potentially this has more to do with higher level criminality, not football per se, or individual instances of dubious behaviour by footballers. This is more in the yard of B & M. It's about connections outside of the football tent, with football just being 1 part of a much bigger market.

I don't have any problem with Caro, although I do think she played a large part in the Duthie beat up (but Hinch was far worse). I think she may have been sold a pup by interests keen to shift the spotlight at the time.

[longtimesaint]

What did that school girl have ? boy/girl twins cant remember reading that

I've seen the kid.





It's just like Gilbo..........









......'s right foot. Non existent

Can we claim a future father/son?

[older saint]

I Generally don't mind what she writes just would like to see a positive article perhaps once every 5 years