Ben Cousins + Michael Gardiner + St Kilda = Trainwreck

[fishbowl]

C: Goddard - Ball - Dal Santo
Foll: King - Hayes - Cousins

I'll take it, cheers.

OUT: Harvey, IN: Cousins. 54 point loss in the preliminary, Cousins is not worth 9 goals.

Those 5 players are peahearts. 'Spud' Goddard (joke), Ball (What a waste of a draft pick), Dal Santo (potential is a dirty word), King (Queen), Hayes (retire before you make a fool of yourself).

St Kilda is a train wreck without Michael Gardiner and Cousins. How many games has Gardiner played?

 

[4blues]

OUT: Harvey, IN: Cousins. 54 point loss in the preliminary, Cousins is not worth 9 goals.

Those 5 players are peahearts. 'Spud' Goddard (joke), Ball (What a waste of a draft pick), Dal Santo (potential is a dirty word), King (Queen), Hayes (retire before you make a fool of yourself).

St Kilda is a train wreck without Michael Gardiner and Cousins. How many games has Gardiner played?

Sorry cant agree with you, Goddard, Ball and Hayes are all great players.

 

[panthers]

.

Those 5 players are peahearts. 'Spud' Goddard (joke), Ball (What a waste of a draft pick), Dal Santo (potential is a dirty word), King (Queen), Hayes (retire before you make a fool of yourself).

Seriously fishbowl you need to keep away from buddy.

 

[Animosity1989]

I don't think Cousins will be very useful to St Kilda's premiership hopes in 2009. I'll tip the saints to finish outside the 8 and i don't think i'll be alone on that. To be honest i've never known a top 4 side to be so disrespected. The saints time has come and gone and an ageing, drug-addicted star is not going to help them.

 

[bigcatman]

hey, if the ' trainwreck' wins us a premiership then I'm happy, the supporters are happy and the players are happy.. win-win..

wont happin

 

[Consumed]

C: Goddard - Ball - Dal Santo
Foll: King - Hayes - Cousins



I'll take it, cheers.

I guess last month is forgotten to you then.

Goddard (is good on his day, but really plays HBF)
Ball (love this bloke, but is never 100%. Will play only 15 games in '09)
Dal Santo (should have traded him, soft under real pressure. Is not a finals player)
King (No more premierships for this bloke. Retirement next)
Hayes (Great player, big heart, A+ star)
Cousins (really an unknown, be lucky to do a Dew, more like a Gehrig)

But hey, 2009 could be the rediscovery of The Streak for St Kilda.

Go the Streak.......

 

[SaintsPremiers08]

^ if you don't remember, Ball didn't play in any of the finals games.

He adds so much to our team, one of most important players. When he's not out there, Hayes has to do all the inside work by himself.

 

[Ice-Wolf]

^ if you don't remember, Ball didn't play in any of the finals games.

He adds so much to our team, one of most important players. When he's not out there, Hayes has to do all the inside work by himself.

And against the Hawks we played Fiona which just made the job easier for them, like giving them an extra man.

 

[holllywood]

I guess last month is forgotten to you then.

Goddard (is good on his day, but really plays HBF)
Ball (love this bloke, but is never 100%. Will play only 15 games in '09)
Dal Santo (should have traded him, soft under real pressure. Is not a finals player)
King (No more premierships for this bloke. Retirement next)
Hayes (Great player, big heart, A+ star)
Cousins (really an unknown, be lucky to do a Dew, more like a Gehrig)

But hey, 2009 could be the rediscovery of The Streak for St Kilda.

Go the Streak.......

if cousins did have a comeback it he would do more than what dew did in 08.

cousins is 10 times the player and athelete.

 

[Seth]

Yes people keep assuming that just because Gardiner and Cousins were in trouble at West Coast the same will happen at St Kilda. However Gardiner has been on the straight and narrow since he joined the Saints and by all accounts has been a great bloke to have around the club. He has also just been offered a new contract so he must be doing something right. If anything he should be a help to Cousins in turning his life around just like he has himself.

The other thing to remember is that at West Coast both Cousins and Gardiner were senior players, that enjoyed rock star status in Perth, and as a result they had virtually free reign to do as they pleased. It will be a lot different at St Kilda where they are just regular players who have to answer to the existing senior leadership group.

Really Gardiner has been offered a new contract for what? Injury consultant.

What has he done since being drafted by the Saints. He has played 9 games (?) none in 2007 and 9 this year. 1 game since round 12. He is a list liability. Any other club and he would have been shown the door.

 

[huggy_b]

Toot, toot - all aboard the trainwreck to Frankston. This is an express service with no stops in between.

 

[natty]

The Saints to NOT make the 8 would be an interesting bet for me if the odds were awesome.

I sense a deduction of premiership points could happen if a player, hmmm "hello Ben" transgresses !

 

[DJ Dupree]

Cousins could be the vital link between the Saints and a premiership.

He has been captain of a great side, and has premiership experience. He knows what it takes.

If he goes there, it can't be as a reactionary squib trying to please everyone because it's his last chance- he has to have input into that side, and has to be respected. Anything less and it'll be a failure. And if allowed the time, they could achieve the ultimate success.

I've been critical of the Saints in the past, not getting it together. But this man could make the difference. I'm not saying he'll shake 5 tags on GF day, get 40 disposals and win the Norm Smith; just his presence as the man who has been there, done that, will galvanise the team.

And you know what? Other than the Roos obviously, there isn't a team that I'd like to see win it more, so I do hope he gets there and has an impact.

 

[Bourky23]

you guys are seriously underestimating what benny c brings to the table apart from exceptional footballing ability.. i can tell you now, Nick Dal Santo and the like will certainly think twice about pulling out of a contest or not going in hard because i wouldn't want to have to answer to cuz.. people will argue that they would have done the same for Harvs but i reckon Harvs was a bit more of a nice guy and nowhere near as intimidating, Ben will tear anybody apart who isn't giving 110%.. he's just got that "presence".. imagine having to answer to him and Lenny

Cousins is an outstanding footballer yes, but i think he'll bring much more to St.Kilda than just playing ability (this of course is if we get him which is another matter)

I've got faith in the club to make the right decision and i'm fully behind the recruitment of Ben Cousins

 

[Selggad]

I think you guys are seriously overestimating what Benny brings. His gut running is exceptional but other than in his Brownlow year his foot skills are ordinary and decision making can be suspect. I've watched him a fair bit and he turns the football over a lot, or kicks up and unders with that weird kicking style he has, giving the back man a lot of opportunity to spoil or putting undue pressure on the forward. Still, he was a very good player but now he is an unknown. He is 30 and has suspect hammies. As a supporter of a club that has tried to help our prospects by recruiting experienced player I don't think it is worth it. I think your needs are deeper than 1 hard running mid-fielder

 

[dan warna]

ben cousins may be good, he may be rubbish, we don't know.

personally i dont want him at st kilda but you never know.

i suspect he wont play 30 games for the saints due to age and injury.

 

[Total_Juddshanks]

All the best wishes in the world to Cousins, but I do think this is Very Bad News for him- and for Gardiner.

Thats not even a reflection on where Gardiner is at at the moment, its just a fact that when you have a history of boneheaded behaviour in the company of another, its not in either person's interest to start hanging around together again.

Most recovering addicts find they have to steer clear of their former friends for precisely that reason.

 

[StFly]

Really Gardiner has been offered a new contract for what? Injury consultant.

What has he done since being drafted by the Saints. He has played 9 games (?) none in 2007 and 9 this year. 1 game since round 12. He is a list liability. Any other club and he would have been shown the door.

He's done his job is what he's done. 2nd season in in which 9 games were played, averaged the 10 possies a game in excess of 70% efficiency and gave us an actual solid, but not overly potent ruck combination where we had bit players attempting to fill the role, you can't expect Kosi, Blake, McEvoy or Rix to be 2nd ruck, and with Van Reenan out for the season with a foot injury, Gards did what he was asked to, ruck.

Sure his best is probably behind him, but he did his job and hopefully the midfield can gel with him more in '09 after being exposed tohim in actual games & pressure situations.

 

[Puddy]

time will tell

 

[Bollox]

I sense a deduction of premiership points could happen if a player, hmmm "hello Ben" transgresses !

How ? Whoever takes him on cant and wont be subject to any AFL redress.

The AFL has only to decide whether to re-register Cousins or not. This decison will very likely be subject to an AFL club sponsoring him and agreeing to certain conditions....but not a single club would be stupid enough to risk their future performance, membership and name on a druggy.

If they say the club that gives him a lifeline may be penalised for not keeping him "in line" then they have effectively finished his career anyway....obviously not a single club will offer him a contract with that condition. You can forget about that side of it.

 

[mattyss]

Regardless, I hope he returns and stays clean. As the AFL well knows, it will make for a great comeback story. It will be inspirational to people everywhere and may even be of benefit to other addicts.

 

[bergholt]

They were saying this morning on SEN that Gardiner had completely turned his life around...

undeniably true.

he used to be a good footballer who did dodgy things off the field.

now he's a dodgy footballer who does good things off the field.

 

[clobba]

You could leave out "Ben Cousins + Michael Gardiner +" and the rest of the heading would still be accurate

ahh been long enough after the GF for you lot to startr mouthing again has it?

 

[clobba]

It seems like st kilda are desperately topping up their list in an effort to win a flag.

I don't think they will win a flag and it will backfire on them big time in 3-4 years.

hows 1 pick in the PSD going to have any major negative effect? not like we are trading first round picks in the draft

 

[ROYAL EAGLE]

They were saying this morning on SEN that Gardiner had completely turned his life around and maybe Cousins heading to the Saints could be good for him.

Lets hope so because Gardiner was the one who introduced Ben to a drug lifestyle and bikies connections he made through his career at West Coast.

Its funny that Ben was the leader at West Coast but of the field he used to be more the follower, when it came to his relationship with Gardiner.