in the decade just gone.-----------2009

[milney044]

2005 holds one of my ultimate favourite memories. Round 22 v Brisbane. Milney was amazing kicking 11 goals and it was incredible to chant his name with the rest of the stadium. I've even moved the game to DVD and had it signed. And as much as people say 11 goals is no big deal when we won by 139 points, i think 11 goals no matter what the score is simply awesome.

The semi final was just brilliant with Harvey and Dal Santo leading the way. They dominated the game and i won't forget Harvey's baulk and goal that was just pure Harvey class. Somehow after that win i fear the players just felt it would be all to easy...

There came the final against Sydney and although we were up at 3/4 time i just didn't feel confident. It turned out this was with good reason as we didn't score another goal for the game. This was a HUGE let down and unlike last year where i was bitterly disappointed and upset, that year i was pissed off and annoyed at what appeared to me as a pretty casual and half arsed effort.

Rd 1 i remember- Roo did his shoulder and the Brisbane thugs were all over him. Hamill did knock out Scott's tooth though which was nice. It was Nick's first game as captain and he must have been dying for the season to begin so he could lead his side. To see him on the bench full of emotion basically said it all - no doubt he would have counted down the days to run the boys through the banner and there he was, sidelined and unable to do anything for his teammates for 6 weeks.


I missed the re-cap of 2004 and apart from the streak, seeing Fev line up at full back was a definite highlight!!

[Spinner]

2001 hey... not much thankfully! I remember meeting a tall blonde boy and his extra tall mate at family day..new kids on the block.. got their autographs while everybody else seemed to leave them alone..they were a couple of unknowns but easy access so eh, why not say G'day. Who knew they'd be what they are now - particularly the blonde, whos now arguably the face of the AFL and if not then at least the face of the Saints. As if you can get near them for a signature now!

I remember getting acustomed to Colonial Stadium... me and my friend started chanting the stadium's name 'cause there was certainly nothing to chant about following our team! Ah, sad times.

There was also a little bloke running around in long sleeves with the double 4 on his back. He could snag a goal and light up the game when things were a bit dull. At that stage i might have thought he'd just be another Craig Callaghan or Gavin Mitchell..

Then there was Fraser Gehrig and Aaron Hamill who we had snagged from other teams and finally i thought, we might have picked up a player from an opposing club who wasn't just another reject.

I remember at the family day, they were so young!

Its freaky to see what they have become!

[milney044]

2001 hey... not much thankfully! I remember meeting a tall blonde boy and his extra tall mate at family day..new kids on the block.. got their autographs while everybody else seemed to leave them alone..they were a couple of unknowns but easy access so eh, why not say G'day. Who knew they'd be what they are now - particularly the blonde, whos now arguably the face of the AFL and if not then at least the face of the Saints. As if you can get near them for a signature now!

I remember getting acustomed to Colonial Stadium... me and my friend started chanting the stadium's name 'cause there was certainly nothing to chant about following our team! Ah, sad times.

There was also a little bloke running around in long sleeves with the double 4 on his back. He could snag a goal and light up the game when things were a bit dull. At that stage i might have thought he'd just be another Craig Callaghan or Gavin Mitchell..

Then there was Fraser Gehrig and Aaron Hamill who we had snagged from other teams and finally i thought, we might have picked up a player from an opposing club who wasn't just another reject.

I remember at the family day, they were so young!

Its freaky to see what they have become!

Yep, it's pretty amazing. They certainly weren't easy access like that for long! It's been great watching them (particularly Roo) grow into the players they are now. It just amazes me that they both still have many years ahead of them, it excites me to think what Nick will be like in 2010!

[thequarry]

I've made a similar post some while ago about 2005...that whole season was like some weird nightmare/dream/nightmare...

Round 1 was an absolute epic with Riewoldt smashing his shoulder into the Gabba turf, and we eventually got overwhelmed by the Lions in the season opener. The fall-out from the match after Michael's and Scott's treatment of Riewoldt was massive...I remember how strange bowing out in the second round of the Wizard Cup and then losing Round 1 felt after winning the pre-season competition and winning the first 10 the year before.

Round 2 we snuck barely snuck over the line against Fremantle in Tassie, and then capitulated in the last 10 minutes against North Melbourne a week later at home.

Then came a decent run of victories, with a belting of ladder-leaders Melbourne (who could forget Guerra's tackle at the opening bounce?), and a smashing of Richmond.

It was followed by an awkward stumble with a loss away to West Coast and then after kicking the first five goals against Adelaide at home, we were absolutely destroyed.

Matt Maguire played arguably the best game of his life against the lowly Hawks at the MCG on a Saturday afternoon with three booming goals and a couple of lovely high marks from centre-half back...but the rollercoaster continued and 2004 seemed like a surreal dream when we hit 6-7 going into the break with a loss to the struggling Bombers.

But in Round 14 we began an amazing run, highlighted by the emergence (for a while, at least) of Justin Koschitzke, who took over the captaincy when Riewoldt was injured again. That game at the MCG against the Bulldogs remains one of my favourite home-and-away victories in my lifetime - huge physical contests and a great fight in the face of, again, a lost captain, and great reply to the erosion of a five-goal lead early in the last quarter.

Smashings of Carlton, Richmond, Collingwood, and a highly-fancied Geelong, as well as a nice win against the bullish Kangaroos in red, yellow and black put us right back into contention, and an epic season arrived at Subiaco and tragedy as Koschitzke went down and we lost after the siren to a bratty Fremantle outfit - and let's not forget the "Whispers in the Sky" saga that followed after some questionable umpiring favoured the Dockers in front of their home crowd.

But then I don't think any St Kilda fans could forget the next three matches, that were played over four strange, warped, amazing and terrifying weeks.

Round 22, as mentioned, saw us playing off for fourth spot against Brisbane, who were playing off for eighth after a fickle season of their own. We replied in the greatest possible fashion - the biggest win in the club's 136-year history. I remember the bizarreness of watching Milne kick 11 straight, and the amazing command we had over the play at all times.

And of course, the following week...Adelaide had snatched top spot after pipping West Coast the week before at Subiaco in the battle for the minor premiership. A wet and muddy slog saw us hauled over the line by one Robert Harvey, in one of the most inspiring performances by an individual I feel I'll see in my life. Three goals - including the final of the match that quashed a late Adelaide fightback - saw us propelled into a home Preliminary Final. It also saw James Gwilt in his second game play a huge role in assisting our midfield warriors in Hayes, Dal Santo and Ball. I remember running up to the TV when the siren went, and then stopping still, because I just didn't know what to do. I couldn't believe, as a St Kilda supporter - and after the season we'd had, all those ups and downs and doubts - what I'd just witnessed.

Which brings us to the Preliminary Final. After an early finish at school on my last day of term as a Year 11, I tried to sleep away the afternoon, but in my nervousness I couldn't sleep ahead of going to the match. I remember how packed the train was on the way there, and thinking surely, after coming so close last year, we would make it through - after all, we were playing a Sydney outfit who, though they had finished one spot above us after the home-and-away season, many had thought used up one too many miracles (four, to be exact, in the form of Nick Davis's last-quarter goals) against the Cats the week before.

I also remember the rain, and the struggle for us to take control of the game. I remember Gehrig stuggling, I remember Riewoldt's goal in the second quarter, I remember somehow finding ourselves in the third quarter on the brink of a controlling lead, only for a Lenny Hayes set shot to miss. I remember watching in agony our boys trying to hold on in the dying stages of the third quarter, and Barry Hall somehow snagging a goal in the depths of the time-on. But I remember leading still, and thinking that after all that Riewoldt crap in Round 1 the team was served, the spluttering first half of the season, the limbo of the season break, that amazing streak late in the season, Umpiregate, and then our hopes being raised so high after two incredible back-to-back performances, we were a quarter away from a Grand Final.

But then something happened...I'm not sure what, but I'll never forget how flat the feeling was throughout that last quarter, and having the dream of a Grand Final appearance being snatched in a mad 15 minutes of football by a hellbent Swans outfit.

Of course, the Swans hadn't won a final at the MCG for six decades, of course, they'd only made one Grand Final appearance in the previous 60 years, of course, Hamill and Koschitzke were sitting out the game with late-season injuries...of course, it was terrible, but all of a sudden we had lost two Preliminary Finals back-to-back, and we had missed two glorious opportunities to win that second premiership.

[Munga]

The end of 2003 as the start of a dominant run. Burkey's last match, then rediculously thumping Carlton. This lead to wizard cup 04 and 10 wins in a row, then a kick in each nut by Wanganeen.

[Spinner]

I've made a similar post some while ago about 2005...that whole season was like some weird nightmare/dream/nightmare...

Round 1 was an absolute epic with Riewoldt smashing his shoulder into the Gabba turf, and we eventually got overwhelmed by the Lions in the season opener. The fall-out from the match after Michael's and Scott's treatment of Riewoldt was massive...I remember how strange bowing out in the second round of the Wizard Cup and then losing Round 1 felt after winning the pre-season competition and winning the first 10 the year before.

Round 2 we snuck barely snuck over the line against Fremantle in Tassie, and then capitulated in the last 10 minutes against North Melbourne a week later at home.

Then came a decent run of victories, with a belting of ladder-leaders Melbourne (who could forget Guerra's tackle at the opening bounce?), and a smashing of Richmond.

It was followed by an awkward stumble with a loss away to West Coast and then after kicking the first five goals against Adelaide at home, we were absolutely destroyed.

Matt Maguire played arguably the best game of his life against the lowly Hawks at the MCG on a Saturday afternoon with three booming goals and a couple of lovely high marks from centre-half back...but the rollercoaster continued and 2004 seemed like a surreal dream when we hit 6-7 going into the break with a loss to the struggling Bombers.

But in Round 14 we began an amazing run, highlighted by the emergence (for a while, at least) of Justin Koschitzke, who took over the captaincy when Riewoldt was injured again. That game at the MCG against the Bulldogs remains one of my favourite home-and-away victories in my lifetime - huge physical contests and a great fight in the face of, again, a lost captain, and great reply to the erosion of a five-goal lead early in the last quarter.

Smashings of Carlton, Richmond, Collingwood, and a highly-fancied Geelong, as well as a nice win against the bullish Kangaroos in red, yellow and black put us right back into contention, and an epic season arrived at Subiaco and tragedy as Koschitzke went down and we lost after the siren to a bratty Fremantle outfit - and let's not forget the "Whispers in the Sky" saga that followed after some questionable umpiring favoured the Dockers in front of their home crowd.

But then I don't think any St Kilda fans could forget the next three matches, that were played over four strange, warped, amazing and terrifying weeks.

Round 22, as mentioned, saw us playing off for fourth spot against Brisbane, who were playing off for eighth after a fickle season of their own. We replied in the greatest possible fashion - the biggest win in the club's 136-year history. I remember the bizarreness of watching Milne kick 11 straight, and the amazing command we had over the play at all times.

And of course, the following week...Adelaide had snatched top spot after pipping West Coast the week before at Subiaco in the battle for the minor premiership. A wet and muddy slog saw us hauled over the line by one Robert Harvey, in one of the most inspiring performances by an individual I feel I'll see in my life. Three goals - including the final of the match that quashed a late Adelaide fightback - saw us propelled into a home Preliminary Final. It also saw James Gwilt in his second game play a huge role in assisting our midfield warriors in Hayes, Dal Santo and Ball. I remember running up to the TV when the siren went, and then stopping still, because I just didn't know what to do. I couldn't believe, as a St Kilda supporter - and after the season we'd had, all those ups and downs and doubts - what I'd just witnessed.

Which brings us to the Preliminary Final. After an early finish at school on my last day of term as a Year 11, I tried to sleep away the afternoon, but in my nervousness I couldn't sleep ahead of going to the match. I remember how packed the train was on the way there, and thinking surely, after coming so close last year, we would make it through - after all, we were playing a Sydney outfit who, though they had finished one spot above us after the home-and-away season, many had thought used up one too many miracles (four, to be exact, in the form of Nick Davis's last-quarter goals) against the Cats the week before.

I also remember the rain, and the struggle for us to take control of the game. I remember Gehrig stuggling, I remember Riewoldt's goal in the second quarter, I remember somehow finding ourselves in the third quarter on the brink of a controlling lead, only for a Lenny Hayes set shot to miss. I remember watching in agony our boys trying to hold on in the dying stages of the third quarter, and Barry Hall somehow snagging a goal in the depths of the time-on. But I remember leading still, and thinking that after all that Riewoldt crap in Round 1 the team was served, the spluttering first half of the season, the limbo of the season break, that amazing streak late in the season, Umpiregate, and then our hopes being raised so high after two incredible back-to-back performances, we were a quarter away from a Grand Final.

But then something happened...I'm not sure what, but I'll never forget how flat the feeling was throughout that last quarter, and having the dream of a Grand Final appearance being snatched in a mad 15 minutes of football by a hellbent Swans outfit.

Of course, the Swans hadn't won a final at the MCG for six decades, of course, they'd only made one Grand Final appearance in the previous 60 years, of course, Hamill and Koschitzke were sitting out the game with late-season injuries...of course, it was terrible, but all of a sudden we had lost two Preliminary Finals back-to-back, and we had missed two glorious opportunities to win that second premiership.

Fantastic Post!

Every detail is exactly how i remember it!

[jonesy]

2000- New state of the art ground,same old ordinary Stkilda

2001- New hope,same old terrible Stkilda,with a contraversial coach sacking

2002-Was evident Rewoildt was to be the saviour in years to come

2003- Young guns started to blossom,good season to watch,Gehrig arrived at full forward late in the year

2004- The young saints arrive as a force.Champagne football for the first half. Injuries come late, heartache in the prelim,wanganeen out of his a$s

2005- Flat first half of season, but found a way, then they cheated on me with the worst performance by a side in a prelim and threw away the premiership that was on a platter

2006- Never in the hunt,made the 8,GT's great training regime crippled our season again and we couldn't field a side in the second half of the elimination

2007- Lyon brings one of the most boring styles of football even seen to man to the club

2008- Our style of play is almost worse than the year before,a real snooze fest, felt the club was rapidly discintegrating.Somehow finished 4th,then got walloped and shown where were really at

2009- I found true love,it was bliss,it was meant to be. Jennifer Hawkins said yes to me,our big day arrived,she was about to say "I do"....then she dropped dead. Yet again I have to rebuild myself back for the next season. It will(has) be a long process

[Spinner]

2000- New state of the art ground,same old ordinary Stkilda

2001- New hope,same old terrible Stkilda,with a contraversial coach sacking

2002-Was evident Rewoildt was to be the saviour in years to come

2003- Young guns started to blossom,good season to watch,Gehrig arrived at full forward late in the year

2004- The young saints arrive as a force.Champagne football for the first half. Injuries come late, heartache in the prelim,wanganeen out of his a$s

2005- Flat first half of season, but found a way, then they cheated on me with the worst performance by a side in a prelim and threw away the premiership that was on a platter

2006- Never in the hunt,made the 8,GT's great training regime crippled our season again and we couldn't field a side in the second half of the elimination

2007- Lyon brings one of the most boring styles of football even seen to man to the club

2008- Our style of play is almost worse than the year before,a real snooze fest, felt the club was rapidly discintegrating.Somehow finished 4th,then got walloped and shown where were really at

2009- I found true love,it was bliss,it was meant to be. Jennifer Hawkins said yes to me,our big day arrived,she was about to say "I do"....then she dropped dead. Yet again I have to rebuild myself back for the next season. It will(has) be a long process

Yep.

Today I made a significant step, watching a game of football that I recorded from the 2009 season.

Its taken me a while to even watch that, let alone one of the finals.

[evertonfc]

Great thread; only regret that I didn't get in sooner.

So we're at 2005, a year that probably requires greater consideration than most. Why? Because it really was our year. We'd burst through the year before and were ready to take the next step. And then...we flopped on the big stage.

I can't ever remember being so angry after a game. I was absolutely furious. Others have hurt more (1997 GF was easily the worst) but I've never been so angry.

What really hurt was though the players didn't seem to want it like the Swans wanted it. It was like 'we have the talent, that will see us through' and it really grated on me.

I remember my better half calling me after the match and me having to contain my absolute anger at the pathetic display.

Even after this year's GF, I went home, disappointed, but had a nice dinner and it didn't really grate internally - I knew the players gave their all on the day.

That was the thing about 2005. We played when we wanted to play. We were told we had the best list, which we did. But injuries cost us, as did the failure of some players to step up at the crucial time.

I often watch the last quarter of that match against the Swans, for some reason. Not really sure why. We were suspended in a state of mediocrity, from which we couldn't escape, and we allowed them to run over us.

Not because they were that good, but because they had blokes willing to put their bodies on the line. Nearly all of their last quarter goals came from selfless acts.

We exhibited those characteristics so strongly against Adelaide two weeks before. We showed it in the run home.

Why we chose to pack up shop in the last quarter is something that still gets to me. Our 2009 team isn't a patch on the 2004-5 team on paper, yet this one has bucket-loads more heart.

Yeah, 2005...that seriously hurt. I'll never forget it. When you're close to a premiership, you have to grab them. We had the league's best team that year and everyone knew it; only early-season injuries and gutless losses (North Melbourne, Geelong and Essendon spring to mind) prevented us from being higher in the H&A.

Then came September. An amazing, brilliant high - virtually eliminating the pain from the previous loss at AAMI 12 months prior - before a loss that ignited a fury within me that remains to this day. I'll never forget it.

[jonesy]

Great post Everton. Pretty much hit the nail on the head of my thoughts of that game also.

I lost a lot of respect that night,a lot of respect. Then to know that a lot of the boys were out celebrating on the dancefloor after the game like it was NYE even rubbed more salt into the wound.

That and the fact I had to cancel my flight from Darwin for the GF...

[PJ Sainter]

Standing in the Sandringham line train after the 2001 GF, standing along side a young Nick Riewoldt, who'd done a lap earlier as the Rising Star winner.

Was very approachable and on for a chat. I asked him why he wasn't in a cab etc, didn't the AFL stump up a car etc?, and he said they did, but for after a bit of a drinkathon after the game. He wasn't interested, so got the train home.

I like that

[ausfatcat]

Gehrig at FB

[saintbrat]

2006 bought short seasons for some Brookes and Watts ( little did we know he would have 9 operations before again pulling on the boots)

the year of THE BIG RIX

and who would predict that the Queenslander would become such a fixture in future years...

[saintspremiers]

in about 2000, or 2001, sitting on the waterfront wing near the boundary line, seeing that girly sookly-la-la Everitt looking totally disinterested after being benched due to ZERO effort.

[saintbrat]

2007- a watershed year in retrospect-
many thought we were on the slide after the tumult ( and there was more of that to come)
but in reality it was a not quite near enough- in some years 11 wins may sneak you into finals but this wasn't the case for 2007 where the losses were greater than the wins and % counted.

4 debutants and maybe the one least expected to succeed has done the best...... Go CJ....

[saintbrat]

2008 a little bif off.
a stellar year some may say- but the differance between top and 3rd was obvious,
14 wins is better than average and 4 debutants shows future-
and almost unbroken season from veterans was great to see..

[clarky449]

I still remember Rix's goal in the wet against sydney!

[clarky449]

Great post Everton. Pretty much hit the nail on the head of my thoughts of that game also.

I lost a lot of respect that night,a lot of respect. Then to know that a lot of the boys were out celebrating on the dancefloor after the game like it was NYE even rubbed more salt into the wound.

That and the fact I had to cancel my flight from Darwin for the GF...

Really? i didnt know that! which players?

[saintbrat]

and so to 2009
With Ross Lyon at the helm, the Saints endured a mediocre time in 2007, finishing in ninth place with an 11-10-1 record. This was followed by a creditable 2008 campaign which brought finals participation and an ultimate finishing position of fourth.

St Kilda's 2009 campaign will go down in history as one of the club's finest ever, with the Saints sustaining just 2 losses from 22 matches during the home and away season before qualifying for their first grand final since 1997 on the strength of finals wins over Collingwood and Western Bulldogs. For three quarters of their grand final clash with Geelong the Saints looked marginally the better side, and at the final change they held a narrow 4 point advantage but in the last term they could only manage 0.3 compared to the Cats' 3.1, and an entire season's work was ruined. Beaten grand finalists tend either to bounce back with enhanced ferocity and determination, or disappear without trace. The sublime quality of much of St Kilda's football in 2009 suggests that the former prospect is somewhat more likely, but with both Geelong and the Bulldogs capable of performing at a similar level to the Saints, and Collingwood and Adelaide looking capable of significant improvement, capturing that elusive second flag will be far from easy.

http://www.fullpointsfooty.net/St_Kilda_part_2.htm

so far from 1999- 2 players remain from the 1999 Saints squad.... veterans and champions both.. welcome to life membership Bakes