Best debut you can remember....

[SaintPav]

Garry Sidebotton must have had a good debut.

[SaintPav]

If we allow imports on St Kilda debut, I know a forward who kicked 4.2 in his first game for us. A good mate of Mike Sheahan's apparently.

Jacko?

I think so....!!!!
Arden street.
We lost.

I think that was Rod Owen’s first game for the club.

[SaintPav]

Not THE best, but for me Rod Owen at Arden St, Round 1, 1983.
He was jumping on heads & kicked 3 goals.

What a waste of unfulfilled talent in the end.

I remember there were a few rare games where we had Rocket, Plugger, Buckets and Elvis in the same forward line.

Now that was one talented forward line.

[happy feet]

I asked my Dad who has seen years of Saints footy - Carl Ditterich by a mile.

[kosifantutti]

A wizard from Tassie wearing No 4 went ok first up too from memory

Eli Templeton

[saintkid]

For those that can remember my old man said Geoff Linke, as SA recruit, played 2 ripper games for the Saints back in 1982 before he tragically ruined his knee.

[saintkid]

Without a doubt, Big Carl Ditterich. 17 years of age and easily the best on the ground. Toweled up Ron Barrassi too.

Never been a better game from a debutante since.

Got christened the blond bombshell after that game. The press loved him...at first anyway.

My dad said the same.

[George27]

Milan Faletic !!

Kicked 5, I thought we had unearthed a superstar.


I was wrong.

Same here , lads. Against Doggies , I recall.

[George27]

Not THE best, but for me Rod Owen at Arden St, Round 1, 1983.
He was jumping on heads & kicked 3 goals.

What a waste of unfulfilled talent in the end.

In 83 he looked a better prospect than Plugger- he looked that good.

Very very sad.

[Special]

Jimmy Bytel did alright tonight.

He was hand balling as good as Hanners from
the midfield

[bergsone]

Carl was something that lit up football on that day,everyone was talking Ditterich after that game

[Russman]

Carl's debut was slightly before my time , but my Dad always said it was the best debut.
I wsan't at the game for Dean Greig's debut , but her tore it up and gave us something to look forward to.
I remember Nathan' Burkes debut at Moorabbin on 87. He only had 17 possessions , but I was excited by what I saw.
For a 17 year old kid , he seemed composed and could hit targets. Something we didn't see much of in the early to mid 80s.

[saynta]

Not THE best, but for me Rod Owen at Arden St, Round 1, 1983.
He was jumping on heads & kicked 3 goals.

What a waste of unfulfilled talent in the end.

I remember there were a few rare games where we had Rocket, Plugger, Buckets and Elvis in the same forward line.

Now that was one talented forward line.

[saynta]

Jimmy Bytel did alright tonight.

He was hand balling as good as Hanners from
the midfield

I have believed for some time that Bytel, Byrnes, Langlands and maybe Phillips are our long term future along with Clark, King and Coffield.

[Beno88]

Dean Greig and Brodie Atkinson. Atkinson had the strangest career. 38 possessions in his first game and only played one more then was cut.

Atkinson had 25 in his first game. Then 14. Dropped. Delisted.

He resurfaced at Adelaide over six years later, but only played 5 games.

Bizarre career.

[AuckSaint]

May not be strictly the best debut but it was a good glimpse into the future...

i was watching a practice game vs the Bears at Carrara in the mid 80's. We had the lead and lost it, and were in the last quarter and losing (so starved of success even practice games were important!). Anyway it was into the last couple of minutes and the ball went into our forward line and a massive pack went up for the ball. In amongst it was this tall, long armed number 50something who just outreached and grabbed the ball with these bucket like hands.

The bloke beside me looked over and said "who the **** is that?" Said I didn't know, and he just shrugged his shoulders and said "well if he can take more marks like that I think you will soon!"

He changed numbers to 23....

[ace]

I was at the Junction Oval for the first game of 1963. Jim Wallis was a beauty with strong hands. Like so many others, his career was cut short after just 39 games when he did his knee in round 2 1965 at Sth Melbourne. Back then, a knee injury was curtains.

The team to beat in the early 60s was always Melbourne, having won 5 flags in recent times. The debut of Ian Stewart was inauspicious, but there was nothing inauspicious about the debut of Big Carl. All leap and elbows and pace and exuberance signalled the arrival of someone different - the first real "60s" footballer.

That day, the golden rule applied - if you want to beat a top team - kick straight. We kicked 13 goals 5 behinds to 9 goals 11 behinds, having been behind at 3 qr time.

However, I must agree with others about Dean Greig. I was also at VFL Park in 1991 (coincidently on the 10th August) when he made his debut and I have to admit, I really didn't know who he was - just like Carlton as it turned out. Just as Melbourne was the top team on the 50s, Carlton, along with Hawthorn, had been the top team of the 70s and 80s. Our wins against them were rare, which made our string of 12 from 2002 to 2009 so sweet. Dean Greig had 39 possessions in the centre and dominated.

ACLs were terminal.