Core of our next 🏆

[WellardSaint]

Sincs DOB 12/2/95 Age 29 yrs
Wilkie DOB 10/3/96 Age 28 yrs
Marshall DOB 24/11/95 Age 29 yrs
are only a few years away from retiring...
I mean we need to aim for a flag while they're playing.
Our core will be those 3,
Pou, Sharman, NAS, Hunter, Higgo, King, Windy, Garcia, Byrnes, Arie, Caminiti.

[edit: Jack Steele 13/12/95, 29 y.o.
I didn't include him because although he's currently captain, I believe Wilkie+Marshall provide more leadership and if we swap picks for a ready-made mid, we'll get a younger man who will contribute just as well]

Possibly Stocker but not sure.
Butler got a flag with tigers but he's slipped away to be a shadow of his 2020 form.

We need to build a contending team around those guys.

If we fail to snag it before Sincs, Marshall and Wilkie retire, we're doomed to be worse than the Blues and Injectors.

These 3 are incredibly valuable players.
We have nobody being groomed in the next 3-4 yrs to take over from them in their roles and emulate their talent.
Their loss will surely be keenly felt and when I say they're irreplaceable, I'm not being overly dramatic.
There'll be others that will perform like them, I just don't see anyone remotely similar on the horizon.
After Tassie comes in, there'll be slim pickings at each draft and our poor little club will stagnate.

This is our chance, in the next 3-4 yrs, with the age profile, to cement Top 4 and therefore give it a shake

[Scollop]

We're not doomed if we don't win it in the next 3-4 years. Sad for some who will retire before then, but I think the club is on the right path.

I don't think we need to fear the future. Our emerging leaders can be the new core.

We had a team in 1997 that made a Grand Final with some super stars and multiple AA's and then a few years later we went to the bottom of the ladder.

The 1997 list included

Robert Harvey
Nicky Winmar
Nathan Burke
Stewart Loewe
Peter Everett
Aussie Jones
Barry Hall
Andrew Thompson
Max Hudghton
and Justin Peckett, Tony Brown, Matty Lappin, Dean Anderson, Rod Keogh, Jason Heatley, and a handful of C grade players including Steven Sziller, Jason Cripps, Lazar Vidovic, Jamie Shanahan, Matthew Young, Jayson Daniels, and the Wakelin Twins.

We chose to rebuild. We bottomed out and we hit the draft hard for youth who would become the new CORE. The whole club was on the same page from 2000-2004.

Who would have thought we'd be playing in prelim finals 4 years after winning the wooden spoon?

Of those from 1997....only 5 were left on the list for 2004. Aussie, Banger, Maxy, Thompson and Frankie Peckett.

1997 to 2004 is 7 years. Maybe in 2028...there'll only be 5 players left from the 2021 list...just like the example above

The only guy contracted for 2028 right now is Max King. I expect King, Nasiah©, Clark, Owens©, Pou©, Wilson©, Henry, Windy, Sharman, Garcia, Collard, and Shoenmaker to be in their prime. I reckon we have four potential future captains© in this group.

Add a couple of guns to come to us via Free Agency and this year's draft hall (two top 10 draft picks)...and viola - the new CORE ...and more!! .

There could be a few approaching 30 and 30+..AND...if we are on track ...it'll give our really good older players incentive to play on. I expect we'll have some very senior champion players (at age 32-33) still on our list in 2028.

I think our list build is the most important pillar if we want to challenge to win a flag. Anyone still getting a game in 2028 who was on the list in 2021 will only be there... on merit.

[spert]

What a pity we haven't got at least two more flags, considering the talent we have had, and really there's no excuse for this club- it has failed continually, no matter how close or how far away we were. I think as an organisation, the club has needed to toughen up from top to bottom for a long time- from the lowest profile player through to the president and board. We have some good talent, but need more, and need stronger leadership on the field at all times.

[seano1]

I think we have to go to the draft and get more kids in …not get in this trap of swapping picks for aging guys who really are just after the bucks

[SinCitySainter]

We are nowhere near a flag.
I would be surprised if we make the 8 next year.
I think a number of wins towards the end of the year of which only two, Geelong and Essendon, you would say were particularly good performances, has clouded a few peoples vision.
We are truly a mired in mediocrity side, destined to float around mid-table until someone within the football department commits to a single approach and ditches this pointless dual narrative.
Either forget about bringing in Soldo and Macrae and look to accumulate as many draft high draft picks as we can trading out some of the older players.
Alternatively, go all in now see if we can use 7+8 to grab an established A-Grade midfielder.
But this approach of bringing in aging players well past their best at the same time as going for youth is just doomed to fail.
That can work for clubs like Geelong and Collingwood who are draw cards for players hitting Free Agency status at their peak but they are not coming to St Kilda.
All we can offer is cash which everyone else can offer as well so forget about Brayshaw or LDU as they are not happening and if the club thinks they are a chance well I have a bridge they might be interested in.
However, I don't believe the club is so delusional as thinking they are a chance of chasing A grade Free agents as shown by the big money offers to aging players like Merrett.

[older saint]

I fear they are not yet born

[magnifisaint]

Sincs DOB 12/2/95 Age 29 yrs
Wilkie DOB 10/3/96 Age 28 yrs
Marshall DOB 24/11/95 Age 29 yrs
are only a few years away from retiring...
I mean we need to aim for a flag while they're playing.
Our core will be those 3,
Pou, Sharman, NAS, Hunter, Higgo, King, Windy, Garcia, Byrnes, Arie, Caminiti.

[edit: Jack Steele 13/12/95, 29 y.o.
I didn't include him because although he's currently captain, I believe Wilkie+Marshall provide more leadership and if we swap picks for a ready-made mid, we'll get a younger man who will contribute just as well]

Possibly Stocker but not sure.
Butler got a flag with tigers but he's slipped away to be a shadow of his 2020 form.

We need to build a contending team around those guys.

If we fail to snag it before Sincs, Marshall and Wilkie retire, we're doomed to be worse than the Blues and Injectors.

These 3 are incredibly valuable players.
We have nobody being groomed in the next 3-4 yrs to take over from them in their roles and emulate their talent.
Their loss will surely be keenly felt and when I say they're irreplaceable, I'm not being overly dramatic.
There'll be others that will perform like them, I just don't see anyone remotely similar on the horizon.
After Tassie comes in, there'll be slim pickings at each draft and our poor little club will stagnate.

This is our chance, in the next 3-4 yrs, with the age profile, to cement Top 4 and therefore give it a shake

s*** Saints have only won one and by one point. Talk about getting ahead of yourself

[Life Long Saint]

We had a team in 1997 that made a Grand Final with some super stars and multiple AA's and then a few years later we went to the bottom of the ladder.

The 1997 list included

Robert Harvey
Nicky Winmar
Nathan Burke
Stewart Loewe
Peter Everett
Aussie Jones
Barry Hall
Andrew Thompson
Max Hudghton
and Justin Peckett, Tony Brown, Matty Lappin, Dean Anderson, Rod Keogh, Jason Heatley, and a handful of C grade players including Steven Sziller, Jason Cripps, Lazar Vidovic, Jamie Shanahan, Matthew Young, Jayson Daniels, and the Wakelin Twins.

We chose to rebuild. We bottomed out and we hit the draft hard for youth who would become the new CORE. The whole club was on the same page from 2000-2004.

Not convinced that was by choice.
After Alves, we were still contending under Watson. We were =2nd on ladder half way through 1999. Then the Hawthorn game happened. You know the one. 11 goals up half way through the 2nd quarter only to lose by 13 points.
Watson proved to be the worst coach we've ever had. I don't know that he lost the players, I don't think he ever had them.

Traded out Matty Lappin to Carlton.
Drafted Tony Francis, Damien Monkhorst, Fred Campbell, and Sean Charles.
Traded in Just Plapp.
These are not the actions of a coach planning a rebuild!
We didn't really see the influence he had on the list until 2000 when we only won 2 games.
Jumped ship with a year to run...
We still thought we could contend again. The recruitment of Blight showed that.
Wasn't until we sacked him in 2001 that the awful truth dawned on us!

[Scollop]

After Alves, we were still contending under Watson. We were =2nd on ladder half way through 1999. Then the Hawthorn game happened. You know the one. 11 goals up half way through the 2nd quarter only to lose by 13 points.

I was there at that game at VFL Park. One of those games I'll never forget... unfortunately

You're right about our slide down the ladder. I suppose the club realised they had to rebuild at the end of 2000 and not at the end of 1999.

[WellardSaint]

Was that Hawks game 11 goals up?

for some reason, 44 points comes to mind.

I do remember Timid Timmy at a presser, post game, saying some players 'have heads like a boarding house pudding'

He never once acted like a coach, he seemed to believe that the players had enough talent to do the job and he was more of a director of coachimg.
Sort of like one of those rich dudes that owns a farm and has a farm manager to run it and he drives down there twice a week in his Lambo Urus

[bakes]

We aren’t taking shortcuts this time around. Sustained rebuild. Going to the draft to build a core of quality youngsters. Look at the Lions and see what it take to win a premiership.. continual finals series, failed prelims and failed GF’s over 6 years. Not sure if the Wilkies and Marshall’s will still be playing when it’s our time to shine.

[B.M]

Marshall will play until at least 34

That’s 6 more seasons

[D.B.Cooper]

The core of our next premiership team will be three Reiwoldts and two Hayes boys, that will be 2042.

I always thought we should have named Dylan Roberton as a sub to get him to 100 games with the club given he has boys and his wife comes from a footy family.

[B.M]

How do you know Reiwoldt’s or Hayes kids will play footy?

[D.B.Cooper]

How do you know Reiwoldt’s or Hayes kids will play footy?

Obviously the joke was lost on you, or just not funny

The crux of the post is we are a long way off.

[The Fireman]

The core of our next premiership team will be three Reiwoldts and two Hayes boys, that will be 2042.

I always thought we should have named Dylan Roberton as a sub to get him to 100 games with the club given he has boys and his wife comes from a footy family.

He was good

[Jonathan Strange]

It’s not as if Sinclair, Wilkie and Marshall are part of a golden generation. They’re just the best of an OK bunch of players.

Wilkie and Sinclair are 39 and 49 in Robbo’s top 50. Not that Robbo is the best judge.

No AA players this year.

The young guys are the future and if the older guys can be around for a push for the flag that’s a bonus.

[Scollop]

It’s not as if Sinclair, Wilkie and Marshall are part of a golden generation. They’re just the best of an OK bunch of players.

Wilkie and Sinclair are 39 and 49 in Robbo’s top 50. Not that Robbo is the best judge.

No AA players this year.

The young guys are the future and if the older guys can be around for a push for the flag that’s a bonus.

I think you're being a bit harsh on our best players. Sincs had an interrupted preseason, but his last 15 games were more than elite. He's a dual All Australian as is Jack Steele.

Marshall again very stiff not to be named All Australian this year after 2 elite seasons. Arguably better than Darcy Cameron this year and Tristan Xerri and also just got pipped by Tim English last year.

Callum Wilkie had another superb season after being named All Australian last year. His stats are equal to and better than Luke Ryan in the most important metrics. Wilkie beats his opponents 1 on 1.

Wilkie has more intercepts and contested marks/possessions..and more 1%'ers. Ryan got the jacket because he kicks out from full back when opposition sides kick a behind...Big Deal!! Ryan has 4 turnovers per game. Wilkie only 2.

https://www.footywire.com/afl/footy/ft_ ... 2=S&type=A

[spert]

We had a team in 1997 that made a Grand Final with some super stars and multiple AA's and then a few years later we went to the bottom of the ladder.

The 1997 list included

Robert Harvey
Nicky Winmar
Nathan Burke
Stewart Loewe
Peter Everett
Aussie Jones
Barry Hall
Andrew Thompson
Max Hudghton
and Justin Peckett, Tony Brown, Matty Lappin, Dean Anderson, Rod Keogh, Jason Heatley, and a handful of C grade players including Steven Sziller, Jason Cripps, Lazar Vidovic, Jamie Shanahan, Matthew Young, Jayson Daniels, and the Wakelin Twins.

We chose to rebuild. We bottomed out and we hit the draft hard for youth who would become the new CORE. The whole club was on the same page from 2000-2004.

Not convinced that was by choice.
After Alves, we were still contending under Watson. We were =2nd on ladder half way through 1999. Then the Hawthorn game happened. You know the one. 11 goals up half way through the 2nd quarter only to lose by 13 points.
Watson proved to be the worst coach we've ever had. I don't know that he lost the players, I don't think he ever had them.

Traded out Matty Lappin to Carlton.
Drafted Tony Francis, Damien Monkhorst, Fred Campbell, and Sean Charles.
Traded in Just Plapp.
These are not the actions of a coach planning a rebuild!
We didn't really see the influence he had on the list until 2000 when we only won 2 games.
Jumped ship with a year to run...
We still thought we could contend again. The recruitment of Blight showed that.
Wasn't until we sacked him in 2001 that the awful truth dawned on us!

I think we had pretty weak leadership on the field, and although we can look at the coaching in the that time, the players needed to stand up and play with more pride.

[StPeter]

Interesting that our top three players, Marshall, Sincs and Wilkie were all drafted by St Kilda as rookies during a period when our top draft picks generally bombed. Our other top player and captain, Steele, also didn't come to us through the main draft but was traded to us when he couldn't get a regular game with GWS.

[Life Long Saint]

I think we had pretty weak leadership on the field, and although we can look at the coaching in the that time, the players needed to stand up and play with more pride.

That's a massive call and a blight (pardon the pun) on Loewe, Burke, and Harvey in particular.
My theory about coaches has played out well at St Kilda in that time.
A good coach can't win a flag with a bottom eight team, but a bad coach can win a wooden spoon with a top 8 team.

Watson was, far and away, the worst coach I've seen at the Saints. The damage he did was so bad, you'd think that he was a plant from Essendon!

[B.M]

In that period - post 1997 where we went back to the bottom

Long term injuries to Harvey (Multiple) Burke, Everitt and Loewe
Trading of Winmar, Lappin, Joel Smith

Was more of a factor