This is the most hopeless stkilda team I have ever seen

[chico2001]

Still reckon saints would do ok in Tasmania, they would be welcomed with open arms.....trust me

[saynta]

Been to the footy since I was a kid in about 1987.

I have seem some terrible stkilda teams like the 2000/2001 team, but at least in those dark days we had a hopeful good player who was Robert Harvey.

This current team has nobody. There is not a single good player. Not one player who will shine a light in the quagmire of losses. Older people may remember Trevor Barker doing the same thing.

But today it is dire. Usually I am angry but now I just feel hopeless. How has it come to this, that we do not have one good player? Not one who youd turn up to watch no matter the ladder position.

And one of the youngest.

[perfectionist]

Supporting the Saints in the early 80s was tough but we had hope.
Lockett, Frawley, Owen and then Winmar gave us something to look forward to...Bring in St Kilda people now just like in the 80s when we bright back Doc.

We bottomed out in 1986, with just two wins. But in 1987, Nicky Winmar and Nathan Burke arrived to join Tony Lockett. All three would be in the greatest ever Saints side. Stewart Loewe also made his debut. People also forget how good Rod Owen was in 1987. He had a horrendous run with injuries.

We bottomed out in 2000, again with 2 wins. We still had good players, and our recruiting turned out to the most astute since the days of Ian Drake and Graham Huggins in the early 60s.

Jake Carlisle and Jade Gresham are two highly skilled players who would get a game in every other team. But no-one would be a walk up start in any of the top 8 teams. Half the team wouldn't get a game in any other team. This is due to a number of things. Whilst it took time to appear, the low quality is a direct consequence of having 18 teams. It is simply at least two teams too many. Good players don't suddenly materialise simply because you create another 70 spaces for them.

My view is that our fit 2014 team was the most skillful Saints team ever. We should have capitalised but luck was against us. We finished third and had to play two interstate finals. Compare that to Richmond last year. They finished third, and while 5 interstate teams made up the final 8, the luck of the draw meant Richmond played every game on their home ground.

While our 2009 team was not as skillful as in 2004, it was the most disciplined. We were unlucky to meet one of the best teams ever in the AFL. The Geelong 2007 side had 14 players who could kick both sides. At the moment, we have one or two. Still, we could have beaten them if luck had not intervened. The Hawthorn team turned out to be almost as skillful but was better because they had forwards. The one thing Hawthorn didn't have, to start with anyway, was a ruckman, but we eventually generously remedied that deficiency for them.

The last three Premierships have been won by significantly inferior teams to Geelong (2007-2011), Hawthorn (2008-2015) and the Saints of 2004/05 and 2009/10. But that's the fallout of the 18 club competition.

The coach is the last ingredient to take a good side to a flag. There is no point getting the greatest coach in history with our current group. At least half of them need to go, but with the rule that clubs must pay at least 95% of the salary cap even if the players are the least skilled in football history, restricts the amount of change in any one year. Three or four players can get the chop each year, but at that rate you are looking at 4 or 5 years before things start to look up - assuming we do better at picking that we have in the last four years. No decent coach – and someone who no longer needs the money - would accept such a job. But there are plenty of wannabees who would quite like $700,000 per year. We have one.

There is really only one question that needs to be answered. Have we bottomed out yet? If we haven't, there are some even darker days ahead and we might as well let Richo suffer as much as everyone else.