ST KILDA DECIDES NOT TO PROCEED WITH BEN COUSINS

[WayneJudson42]

This is a weak and pathetic decision by the board, Westaway = k Rudd all talk and then goes to piss when the heats on.
We are a fair way off Hawthorn and Geelong at the moment and we have an opportunity to pick up an elite midfielder for SFA
a guy how can kick goals, get about 30 possies a game deliver the ball lace out everytime (he and Judd won a flag almost of their own bat with no real west coast forwards, image roo and kosi getting delivery like that)and hes got a bit of mongrel in him (which we need) every time he played against us he ripped us a new asshole! sure he's a risk but what are we paying for him? F#$king nothing a late draft pick, stop putting these guys on pedestals they are footballers i could give a damn if he needs some blow to go out his front door or cranks off to animal porn, he is there to play footy and what these guys do in their private lives got nothing to do with it.If the sponsor has had some say in this then i too will and let my friends know to totally boycott their product, im sick of my club bending over and taking it in ass by AFL, sponsors, everyone..... someone down their please stand up and fight for us, we are a joke!

Very pissed off, dont care what they say but our club has been pumping this up, they give us an early christmas present and then rip out straight back out of our hands.

Grow some balls saints board, be leaders, not followers

Times have changed Brewski - footballers lives aren't private anymore and what they do in their own time can now reflect on their club - just ask Milne, Monty, Gehrig, Lawrence, Shaw, Didak and Carey

Also our club haven't been pumping this up - the media and the supporters have!!!!!!!!!!!!

The club did grow some balls tonight as their decision went against all media expectation - their decision came off the back of some extensive research concerning the subject and obviously he didn't tick all boxes

A lot of pro-Cousin supporters keep on harping about his footballing talent yet he is a 30 year old recovering drug addict who has been practically out of the game for 18 months - who is to say that he will ever regain that said form - who is to say that he he wasn't under the influence when he played 2 years ago

The fact that Cousins shaved his whole body after being told of the drug testing regime that he would have to undergo says to me that he is either mind numbingly ignorant or jaw droppingly arrogant - alarm bells?????

Obviously the thought of having a 25 year old drug free Cousins running around in the red white and black is very appealing however he is not 25 and there is a good chance he is not drug free considering the company he is still keeping and the fact he shaved his whole body

Collingwood dropped him like a screaming hot potato and another 13 clubs ran for the hills - now why would they do that??????????

IMO this board has flat out lied to us, these people work for us as caretakers of our club and treat us like little children, the decision would be easier to accept if they were straight up.
if we were in fact looking at recruiting youth this should have come out months ago, and there would be no need for due diligence with Benny and even if this is the case BC would go so high up the draft that it really wouldnt effect the kids we want to bring in.

I think that this decision was due to sponsor pressure and if this is the case, then it just goes to show how weak this board really is, when a bunch of corporates dictate who plays for our club, look at the Filth opting out of the TAC deal cause their players are human and was causing embarrassment. I’d rather have a smaller sponsor that lets the football dept run the club rather than bully boys who wanna have a say in it! btw Jeld Wen wouldn't be complaining if he helped us to a premiership and their brand was splashed out all round the country.

You say that the board showed leadership by not following media hype, i personally think they were showing leadership when they were chasing BC and that Collingwood also did their own enquires and didnt want him but i think a lot of people are missing the point here, in reality what would the filth get from him with their list they have to rebuild, out of all the clubs he is best suited to us, i know the window gets mentioned on here all the time but i firmly believe we are still in the window we just need something a bit special to take us the next step and we will never get another opportunity to get a player of this calibre without giving up a hell of a lot.

That brings me to role models, FFS parents should be role models to their kids not footballers, when i was a kid i loved watching the likes of big carl and Mad dog Muir didnt mean i went out and punched someone later, and the half time pics of players eating pies and smoking a ciggie didnt influence me to go do the same, it gives me the s***s that this generation of kids is plonked in front of the Tv watching some dude cut down the population of a small village with an uzi and then parent starts whinging not good for the kids when Barry Hall belts someone.
I am into the music scene and appreciated and looked up to different artists growing up for their ability not their morals, didn’t snort Coke after listening to the Stones, didnt inject smack after hearing a Motley crue cd and did scull heaps of whiskey when i heard AC/DC.
Everyone fu#ks up in life and i thing most are entitled to another chance, thank god the ACB let Warnie come back so we could have a few more years in marveling at his magic, he did his crime and he did the time and came back like a gun just to stick it up everyone.

i think Cuz would be the same i think he could be potentially better, he looks in the best nick ive ever seen him, everyone talks risk even at 60-70% he's still better than a lot on our list, the only doubt i have on him is the hammies but we already got a few of our own in that boat.

In regard to us picking him up being a media beat up, well I don’t think so there is always some element of that but we were fuelling this ride pretty well as a club saw lots of media reports from Capt, coach and board all very positive leading up on tv, internet (our site) and papers and am still very pissed off with boards decision, would like the club to explain what happened in the last week, due diligence appeared done and I think most members believed that this was barring any exceptional circumstances, already a done deal.

I think your avatar is a definite role model. Can we recruit her?

[groupie1]

Saints CEO, Archie Fraser said, "We owed it to ourselves to undertake a rigorous and thorough review and have now made our decision. This is a decision that we didn't take lightly and we still believe that for the right Club, Ben could well be a great opportunity."

For the right club? So, in short, he's good to go for another club?

That should have been us Archie. The board has badly, badly screwed up here. Big time. And they should have the balls to re-consider their position should he be around for the PSD.

Our midfield was crying out for a guy who could make us competitive. Now we are stuck with a list of too few quality midfielders and not enough young talent to take their place.

I seriously, seriously hope Cousins rips it up with whoever he plays with next year - and when he tears our midfield a new arsehole in a preliminary final, I'll be f****** furious.

We had a chance to shine here and we ballsed it. We had a chance to show our club culture was mature enough to handle someone like Ben. We had a chance to get the best from him - and for our questionable youth to gleam something.

We had a chance. And we ballsed it.

Incredibly deflating - after the stab in the heart with the membership bungles, this club is seriously testing my patience.

I just wanna say, THIS is the expression of the calender year:

"...and when he tears our midfield a new arsehole in a preliminary final, I'll be f****** furious"

BRILLIANT POST

[rodgerfox]

[
As someone mentioned... X Clarke Snr passed away to day. Get some perspective people. FFS!

How about YOU and that someone stop being so disrespectful and dare insinuate that those of us who are not happy with the decision that has been made are somehow not sympathetic to the Clarke family.

Grow up

Actually, I thought your post was quite reasonable.

My comment was about perspective. Is that too much to fathom?

My post was aimed at the hysterical clap trap over reactive vitriol posted on this thread. And you want me to grow up?

Don't be so bloody precious mate. And don't put words in my mouth.

The inference was for people to get some perspective and calm down. It's not the end of the world.

You're a sheep Wayne.

A sheep of the highest order.

[evertonfc]

This time last year Fraser Gehrig was re-drafted. We all screamed in joy, danced the happy dance. Here was a potential 100 goal player returning to the fold for a useless draft pick. Was gonna take us to that 2nd flag on the back of another century of goals..nothing surer

Worked out great didnt it.

What the hell? What a bizarre link to draw.

Very few people of football intellect thought Gehrig was going to have a major impact. He struggled badly in 2007 and my heart sank when I found out we were going to get him back...I'll never forget that moment I found out - because I was at the holiday house in Noosa scanning the Courier Mail for election updates. And when I opened the sport pages...yikes!

I didn't really want him back knowing how lazy he could be and that he seldom defeated good defenders.

The difference is that Cousins offers about 1000x what Gehrig did.

And in overlooking him, we have potentially denied ourselves a world class midfielder to replace Robert Harvey, feed our forwards, release pressure on our other midfielders and show our young developing midfielders the difference between being a 'good' or 'elite' player.

The risk was mild, the upshot was massive. And had it all gone wrong, we could have delisted him immediately. No sweat.

But we ballsed it. And we should have the courage to revisit the decision should Cousins remain without a club at the conclusion of Saturday's National Draft.

[WayneJudson42]

[
As someone mentioned... X Clarke Snr passed away to day. Get some perspective people. FFS!

How about YOU and that someone stop being so disrespectful and dare insinuate that those of us who are not happy with the decision that has been made are somehow not sympathetic to the Clarke family.

Grow up

Actually, I thought your post was quite reasonable.

My comment was about perspective. Is that too much to fathom?

My post was aimed at the hysterical clap trap over reactive vitriol posted on this thread. And you want me to grow up?

Don't be so bloody precious mate. And don't put words in my mouth.

The inference was for people to get some perspective and calm down. It's not the end of the world.

You're a sheep Wayne.

A sheep of the highest order.

Why? Where did I say that?

Please don't make this about me. Move on.

I thought my post was obvious.

No one invites you read my posts. If you don't like them, then ignore them.

Baaaaaa Baaaaa

When you have something intelligent to say, come and talk to me. If I want to be insulted by someone with the brains of a lump of shyte, you'll be the first one I call.

You are a Tosspot RF.

A tosspot of the highest order.