Remember the 1997 Prelim .......

[Geezer]

My kangaroo mate and myself were talking footy last night over a beer and the topic turned to the 1997 Prelim.

Most Pundits at the time picked the carey and Mckernan led Roo's to upset the up and coming saints missing 2 key players (lazar the amazer' and spider).
the saints at the time had won a few in a row to take top spot and get the week off to the prelim.

this week just seems so similar to that week.
night final.... not expected to win.
came out real hard at north and set the standard.
**burke and ? making the tackle to knock Mckernan out of the game in the first 10 mins
** heatley kicking straight
** Loewe and Hall running fridge and Martyn around the forward 50 with ease.
** harvey dominating . . . with burke and winmar.

and i remember making a phone call round about 15 mins into the 3rd quarter to get my mate to grab the sleeping bag and thermos and get down to moorabbin quick smart for a spot in the line for granny tickets.

just a feeling of that week all over again. . . . .


mite have to watch the replay this week. . . . .

[degruch]

Eeek...we ran ourselves into the ground and came out soft as marshmellows the next week!

[Little Dozer]

Great night! The crowd was all Saints and the team steamrolled North. Remember Barry Hall intimidating Carey and standing over him, he looked genuinely scared. Winmar put on a show and Heater couldn't miss. Cook was the other player in the McKernan tackle from memory. If only Joel Smith and Everitt didn't miss the GF...

[TAGHLAO]

**burke and ? making the tackle to knock Mckernan out of the game in the first 10 mins

.

T'was Brett Cook that layed that tackle with Burkey. Was called into the side to replace Spider.

FQF

[Solar]

if you ever want to watch a player with awesome wet weather first touch watch winmar that night.

[Red]

Spider played that night. He injured himself in the last quarter.

[evertonfc]

Spider played that night. He injured himself in the last quarter.

No he didn't. He injured himself in the first final against Brisbane - tried to get back (trained on the Thursday before the game) but didn't make it.

[saintsrus]

Spider played that night. He injured himself in the last quarter.

No he didn't. He injured himself in the first final against Brisbane - tried to get back (trained on the Thursday before the game) but didn't make it.

yes you are correct

[SaintWodonga]

If only Joel Smith and Everitt didn't miss the GF...

And Laszer...

[Geezer]

If Lazar played. . . .
"as one scribe put it . . . . you can't kick goals if your unconcious . . ."
Mr Jarman.

he prob would have retired after the game if we won.

great footballer ol' lazar . . . . just wouldn;t buy a car off of him . . . .

[Megamaguire]

I'll always remember that roar from the car radio as i was travelling upto whitehorse road box hill. i was worried pre-game with the carey- pagan factor but the straight kicking of Heatley and Saint Kilda pressure was relentless. The feeling was amazing as it dawned on me that 1997 would mark a grand final appearance for Saint Kilda. From memory the crowd that greeted the grand final parade was massive -100.000 mostly Saints of coarse.

Seeing Raphael Clarke take the game on the front foot last week was fantastic for a stack of reasons but particularly for the collective belief of the TEAM that a proactive presence on Saturday will bring the Saints home.

G O S A I N T S !

[saintspremiers]

very different to 1997.

Back then, we finished on top of the ladder, had won about 10 straight, thrashed the Bears by 50 points at VFL park in the Qually's and had all the form.

[Winmarvellous]

Most Pundits at the time picked the carey and Mckernan led Roo's to upset the up and coming saints missing 2 key players (lazar the amazer' and spider).
the saints at the time had won a few in a row to take top spot and get the week off to the prelim.

If so, I think we should be worried. Quite a few have jumped on our bandwagon, while the up and coming Hawks may be missing two key players (Croad, Bateman). They've also won a few and have had the week off to the prelim. Tables are now turned this time, so not a great analogy IMHO.

[SuperSaint]

very different to 1997.

Back then, we finished on top of the ladder, had won about 10 straight, thrashed the Bears by 50 points at VFL park in the Qually's and had all the form.

Yes but lost both of our front-line ruckmen in the last home & away round against Port (Vidovic) and in the first final against Brisbane (Everitt). Nullified McKernan in first 5mins of the Prelim but our ruck division was found wanting in the GF.

The Friday night Prelim against North was a great game & electric atmosphere because of the pro Saints crowd and the way the players were so switched on to win. Went the following week to the GF only to witness the biggest let down and heartbreak for me to date.

The other highlight of the 1997 Prelim win for me (and my better half), was that my son was conceived on that night.
He just happens to be a mad 10 year old Saints supporter, a pretty good junior player already and the 'old man' is hoping......he,he!!

[esaint66]

1997 was one of those very odd years, after 4 or 5 rounds we were 2nd bottom and it took us till the 2nd half of the season to get a roll on (started with the Hawks at Waverley from memory)

Also odd in that we finished top after losing 7 times and Modra the leading goal kicker only kicked 60 or 70 goals.

Great game that prelim, had nothing left for the big one sadly

Let's just hope Saturday night is the same ... a champion team will always beat a team of champions.

[TriColourDisciple]

l can remember getting thrashed by Brisbane in Rnd 1 & l was thinking 'Man, this might be a long year' Not in my wildest dreams did l think we'd make the grandfinal at that point.

[bigred]

We were 1-5 going into round six.

Played Melbourne in the wet @ waverley, which was the turning point.

Stan put Banger onto Jim Stynes who at the time was running red hot. melbourne were shyt at the time though.

Banger flogged him, and we gave melbourne one hell of a touch up.

Were a bit inconsistant over the next couple of months, then strung 10 on the trot coming up to the GF.

I still believe to this day that if Joel Smith didnt do his knee, he would have become an absolute superstar of the game instead of a GOP @ hawthorn.

He was a dead set highlight reel off Half forward that year....sheesh.

[Gabba]

Only vaguely... i was 7 years old and can only remember the folks talking about it, and Harvey's brownlow, for a solid week. Then on i can only remember the grand final wake we had.

[perfectionist]

l can remember getting thrashed by Brisbane in Rnd 1 & l was thinking 'Man, this might be a long year' Not in my wildest dreams did l think we'd make the grandfinal at that point.

It was actually round 2, a real flogging after a narrow loss to Hawthorn in round 1 (Harford had BO that day). We were bottom after 4 games with one win.

[jk23]

One of the happiest days of my life.............as the toyota ad says oh what a feeling!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Enrico_Misso]

It was Stephen Lawrence that broke Spider's collar bone.
Irony in that.
Lawrence never made a contribution for us - as opposed to his old man who was a champion.

Harvey and Max are our only survivors from that match.


But the Prelim was just magical.
I don't ever remember being on such a high.
And it lasted almost 8 days before it went so horrible wrong.
I don't ever remember being on such a low.

[markinUSA]

Me too...

We were the first ones in the Grand Final...

The joy of the moment. All that time waiting for the great day - really wonderful feelings.

[esaint66]

It was Stephen Lawrence that broke Spider's collar bone.
Irony in that.

I thought it was Spider running into Nigel Lappin that caused the 'fractured' collarbone

[Halo]

I thought it was Darryl White

[Halo Halo]

I was a kid & we came up from the country.. I cant remember much of the game - Just remember walking to the car with my flag & getting asked who won & I was was waving like a maniac..

I also remember reading in the paper the next day or a few days later infact that Corey McKernan's mother had written in & said the St Kilda supporters were awful & she wanted Adelaide to win the grand final...