Open Mike Luke Ball

[fugazi]

Luke Ball genuinely looks tortured talking about that win over Saints in 2010

He would have loved to get the Saints up.

Looked after Lyon when asked about his 48% game time in 2009 GF....I think alot of us know that that decision cost us a second flag.

Luke Ball is a very humble excellent man.

To think we swapped him out for Andrew Lovett.

[Trev from the Bush]

Don't know where you got the Ball for Lovett swap from. I think you just made that up.

Apart from that, I agree with everything you have said.

[fugazi]

Not direct swap obviously, but in the interview it was said that they went for outside speed and so let Luke Ball go and preferred Lovett and Peake who they brought on instead.

[SaintPav]

Always thought his first half in the 09 GF was good, albeit overrated.

Not sure if he would have made that much of a difference in the second half but one of a few bad decisions. Lyon obviously didn’t rate him to get the job done.

[SaintPav]

Not direct swap obviously, but in the interview it was said that they went for outside speed and so let Luke Ball go and preferred Lovett and Peake who they brought on instead.

Would have been better than Eddy in 2010.

Ball probably made up his mind to leave half way through the season.

[fugazi]

I was there and remember turning to my mate at half time saying Luke Ball on track for the Norm Smith.

[shanegrambeau]

Ball was a trade candidate from mid season was my recollection, and it was with another suitor that he was headed I supposed. Then Eddie swooped as he tried to with Riewolt.

[nostalgicsaint]

Revisionist history.

He walked out. We wanted to keep him.

[Ghost Like]

Not direct swap obviously, but in the interview it was said that they went for outside speed and so let Luke Ball go and preferred Lovett and Peake who they brought on instead.

Would have been better than Eddy in 2010.

Ball probably made up his mind to leave half way through the season.

Certainly better than Eddy in 2010. At that point though I was still scratching my head as to why we chased Cousins after holding the door open and encouraging Harves to retire. Must be something about the surname Harvey being finished up when still infinitely better than others on the list.

I definitely believe Ball had made up his mind half way through the season if not had at least a handshake agreement. This still does not explain what happened with him on GF day, a simply very poor coaching error.

[CURLY]

Ball can get stuffed. The way he got to Collingwood was a disgrace and the AFL endorsed cheating and manipulation for him to get there to get Eddie his premiership before GC and GWS came in.

[perfectionist]

Revisionist history.

He walked out. We wanted to keep him.

Like most moves from one club to another, it was probably mainly about money. How much one club thinks a player is worth does go to a number of other factors. Early on, Luke was an A grade onballer - just look at some of his games in 2004/05. However, It seems that his OP injury permanently affected his fitness - certainly his capacity to go up a notch. Certainly as a 4th onballer in any side he was rolled gold because of his disposal. I only saw a few games he played with Collingwood, but he never really looked like he had his heart in it. His reaction after GF2 said it all.

[SaintPav]

Ball can get stuffed. The way he got to Collingwood was a disgrace and the AFL endorsed cheating and manipulation for him to get there to get Eddie his premiership before GC and GWS came in.

Yeah, totally.

I think we also played hard ball and lost.

I believe that Luke wasn’t the coaches favourite either. Ross not a fan of the private school boys.

[freely]

He really rocked the head bandage.

[saynta]

Ball can get stuffed. The way he got to Collingwood was a disgrace and the AFL endorsed cheating and manipulation for him to get there to get Eddie his premiership before GC and GWS came in.

Yeah, totally.

I think we also played hard ball and lost.

I believe that Luke wasn’t the coaches favourite either. Ross not a fan of the private school boys.

Yep, and that shitbag Lyin lied through his teeth when asked why he didn't play Luke in the last quarter. Said I forgot. Yeah, I call bulls*** on that. Cost us two flags IMHFO.

I will never forget or forgive the tosser flosser.

[CURLY]

Ball can get stuffed. The way he got to Collingwood was a disgrace and the AFL endorsed cheating and manipulation for him to get there to get Eddie his premiership before GC and GWS came in.

Yeah, totally.

I think we also played hard ball and lost.

I believe that Luke wasn’t the coaches favourite either. Ross not a fan of the private school boys.

Collingwood wanted him and the AFL allowed them to cheat the draft meaning we had no leverage. It was endorsed AFL cheating to help Eddie get his flag.

[Scollop]

Luke spoke about Grant Thomas in glowing terms. “Grant had a great ability to build a young group. Thomo was a new coach and he was fantastic for the group.” Luke said Grant had them ‘playing’ for him every week. He said Grant was a bit of a ‘father figure’. He said these days we’ve got the game moving that way with coach-player relationship being very important. Grant showed he cared for the players.

St Kilda would have had success with that young group being neck and neck with Geelong in their development pre 2007. They had continuity and we sacked the bloke who the players loved playing for. We just got impatient and....Geelong won 3 premierships

Everything goes back to that decision by Butters to sack Thomas so that he could take him to court six months later

[Scollop]

Ball can get stuffed. The way he got to Collingwood was a disgrace and the AFL endorsed cheating and manipulation for him to get there to get Eddie his premiership before GC and GWS came in.

Yeah, totally.

I think we also played hard ball and lost.

I believe that Luke wasn’t the coaches favourite either. Ross not a fan of the private school boys.

Yep, and that shitbag Lyin lied through his teeth when asked why he didn't play Luke in the last quarter. Said I forgot. Yeah, I call bulls*** on that. Cost us two flags IMHFO.

I will never forget or forgive the tosser flosser.

And I’ll never forgive Rod

[CURLY]

Luke spoke about Grant Thomas in glowing terms. “Grant had a great ability to build a young group. Thomo was a new coach and he was fantastic for the group.” Luke said Grant had them ‘playing’ for him every week. He said Grant was a bit of a ‘father figure’. He said these days we’ve got the game moving that way with coach-player relationship being very important. Grant showed he cared for the players.

St Kilda would have had success with that young group being neck and neck with Geelong in their development pre 2007. They had continuity and we sacked the bloke who the players loved playing for. We just got impatient and....Geelong won 3 premierships

Everything goes back to that decision by Butters to sack Thomas so that he could take him to court six months later

In 2006 Geelong got the gift of Selwood that gave them the edge on us.

[saynta]

Ball can get stuffed. The way he got to Collingwood was a disgrace and the AFL endorsed cheating and manipulation for him to get there to get Eddie his premiership before GC and GWS came in.

Yeah, totally.

I think we also played hard ball and lost.

I believe that Luke wasn’t the coaches favourite either. Ross not a fan of the private school boys.

Yep, and that shitbag Lyin lied through his teeth when asked why he didn't play Luke in the last quarter. Said I forgot. Yeah, I call bulls*** on that. Cost us two flags IMHFO.

I will never forget or forgive the tosser flosser.

And I’ll never forgive Rod

[Sanctorum]

Revisionist history.

He walked out. We wanted to keep him.

Like most moves from one club to another, it was probably mainly about money. How much one club thinks a player is worth does go to a number of other factors. Early on, Luke was an A grade onballer - just look at some of his games in 2004/05. However, It seems that his OP injury permanently affected his fitness - certainly his capacity to go up a notch. Certainly as a 4th onballer in any side he was rolled gold because of his disposal. I only saw a few games he played with Collingwood, but he never really looked like he had his heart in it. His reaction after GF2 said it all.

Luke Ball at selection 2 turned out to be weakest of the first three draft picks in 2001: Luke Hodge, Luke Ball, Chris Judd, and even not as good as later picks Jimmy Bartel (8), Nick Dal Santo (13) James Kelly (17) Steve Johnson (24) Sam Mitchell (36) Leigh Montagna (37) and Dane Swan (58) - probably the best draft year ever! You wonder how St Kilda would have gone in both GFs if they had selected either Bartel/Kelly/Johnson/Mitchell or Swan instead of Ball!

No doubt his battle with OP destroyed his career as he never really recovered his ability to kick the footy a long way and it restricted his pace as well.

I agree that he looked distinctly ill at ease in the interview with Mike Sheahan, was quite guarded in his responses and shirked questions about his views on Ross Lyon.

[Scollop]

Maybe Luke did walk out for money, but here in lies the dilemna. How did the St K FC let a former captain walk?

You could see from Luke’s reaction in GF2 that he cared for his former team mates and the St Kilda FC. Ross destroyed the unity and the bond between players that GT had built. Grant cared for the players and he loved/loves the Saints. Ross only cared about himself

Ross destroyed the unity and the bond between players that GT had built. That is what happened. The other thing that happened was that Ross was a novice who f***ed up our best chance at flag success in 2009. Luke is on record as saying in the program that St Kilda were ‘clearly’ the best team in 2009.

Grant left a legacy that meant we would be contenders for several years after he was sacked. No matter how you interpret Ross’s time with us, it is evident that we had a core young group under GT who were building and had just started tasting finals

RL’s flawed footy philosophies left us with a legacy of being a bottom dweller for several years after he dumped on us.

Ross dumped on the club and on his players who he wrongly accused of being washed up and who he had no more faith in. In 2011 Ross prematurely declared the ‘end of an era’? So not only does RL screw the club but he also screws with the players heads...And I wouldn’t care as much now, but he just didn’t get it done

[saynta]

Maybe Luke did walk out for money, but here in lies the dilemna. How did the St K FC let a former captain walk?

You could see from Luke’s reaction in GF2 that he cared for his former team mates and the St Kilda FC. Ross destroyed the unity and the bond between players that GT had built. Grant cared for the players and he loved/loves the Saints. Ross only cared about himself

Ross destroyed the unity and the bond between players that GT had built. That is what happened. The other thing that happened was that Ross was a novice who f***ed up our best chance at flag success in 2009. Luke is on record as saying in the program that St Kilda were ‘clearly’ the best team in 2009.

Grant left a legacy that meant we would be contenders for several years after he was sacked. Ross dumped on the club and on his players who he wrongly accused of being washed up and who he had no more faith in. RL screwed the club and and his flawed footy philosophies left us with a legacy of being a bottom dweller for several years after he dumped on us.

Good post. No great post and f*** all the Lyin lovers who will hate hearing the truth.

[Scollop]

Yeah thanks. My editor wanted a couple of changes

[SaintPav]

Maybe Luke did walk out for money, but here in lies the dilemna. How did the St K FC let a former captain walk?

You could see from Luke’s reaction in GF2 that he cared for his former team mates and the St Kilda FC. Ross destroyed the unity and the bond between players that GT had built. Grant cared for the players and he loved/loves the Saints. Ross only cared about himself

Ross destroyed the unity and the bond between players that GT had built. That is what happened. The other thing that happened was that Ross was a novice who f***ed up our best chance at flag success in 2009. Luke is on record as saying in the program that St Kilda were ‘clearly’ the best team in 2009.

Grant left a legacy that meant we would be contenders for several years after he was sacked. No matter how you interpret Ross’s time with us, it is evident that we had a core young group under GT who were building and had just started tasting finals

RL’s flawed footy philosophies left us with a legacy of being a bottom dweller for several years after he dumped on us.

Ross dumped on the club and on his players who he wrongly accused of being washed up and who he had no more faith in. In 2011 Ross prematurely declared the ‘end of an era’? So not only does RL screw the club but he also screws with the players heads...And I wouldn’t care as much now, but he just didn’t get it done

Wow.

Wonder how we would have gone with horse as our coach? He was the front runner up until the last minute.

Walls who was on the panel was very impressed by Lyon.

Walls and Lyon are mates.

Connect the dots.

[SaintPav]

Luke spoke about Grant Thomas in glowing terms. “Grant had a great ability to build a young group. Thomo was a new coach and he was fantastic for the group.” Luke said Grant had them ‘playing’ for him every week. He said Grant was a bit of a ‘father figure’. He said these days we’ve got the game moving that way with coach-player relationship being very important. Grant showed he cared for the players.

St Kilda would have had success with that young group being neck and neck with Geelong in their development pre 2007. They had continuity and we sacked the bloke who the players loved playing for. We just got impatient and....Geelong won 3 premierships

Everything goes back to that decision by Butters to sack Thomas so that he could take him to court six months later

It may have worked if Grant hired a few good tactical assistants and listened to them and actioned their ideas.

Not sure Grant was very good at that. Heard otherwise.