This is why we have one premiership.

[Look2Me4Guidance]

Finey just keeps reading out the messages from disgruntled supporters that they are ripping up there membership as we speak.

Finey is seriously pissed off with this decision.

The upside to get Ben was huge on so many levels for our club. Ben will know doubt go back to his 'old' ways or he will return to his best with another club like the lions. And our Board will be responsible for the decision they made that lead to either of the two.

Footy First my Arse. They are more worried about other things than winning a flag. Westaway knows squat about footy.

This club has been digging it's own grave for decades.

Finey is a moron who speaks with his heart before his head. Some of his other intellectual offerings tonight included having a go at St.Kilda for losing Lockett (despite Sydney offering ridiculous amounts of money) and for St.Kilda losing Everitt (well look how that turned out). Mate if you're seriously jumping off the club because of this decision, you are a joke. You're taking the easy road. It's pathetic.

 

[Look2Me4Guidance]

Winning a Flag > Not winning a flag.

So why hasn't your club recruited him?

 

[Look2Me4Guidance]

Unbelievable. What a gutless thing to do. It will rip the heart out of us to have done all of this work and then walked away.

So apparently he didn't fit into our list management strategy? Yeah, I agree. We have way too many legends of the game in our midfield already.

It's a funny thing. I view him waxing his body and shaving his head prior to being hair tested as a gutless thing to do, but that's just me.

 

[Fehring]

Typical so called "supporter". it's "supporters" like you that make me sick...
what a DISGRACEFUL thing to say.

threatning to not renew your membership over something like this is absurd. what would you, i or any other punter know that the ST KILDA board doesn't? i think they are in just a SLIGHTLY better position to make a call on this subject than you and are.

Get a life and Grow up.

for the Record, i'm 25 and been a member for 25 years. (already payed for 26)

You're way off the mark. These people are hurting. Again. And it's not because we didn't take Cousins. It's because the club made us all think that we were going to take him, allowed us - not to mention a recovering drug addict with a fragile state of mind - to get excited FOR WEEKS and then just sold us out. It's so ****ing St Kilda. So, yes, I'll buy my membership but that's irrelevant. They're peanuts. They're lightweights. They're bringing our club to its knees in front of our eyes. Again. And we have a right to be angry.

 

[Look2Me4Guidance]

You're way off the mark. These people are hurting. Again. And it's not because we didn't take Cousins. It's because the club made us all think that we were going to take him, allowed us - not to mention a recovering drug addict with a fragile state of mind - to get excited FOR WEEKS and then just sold us out. It's so ****ing St Kilda. So, yes, I'll buy my membership but that's irrelevant. They're peanuts. They're lightweights. They're bringing our club to its knees in front of our eyes. Again. And we have a right to be angry.

C'mon Fehring. DON'T YOU GET IT??????? They were going to take him. They had every intention of doing so. The waxing saga (which occurred last week) is the reason their views changed. It had nothing to do with stringing supporters along. Ben is the one who has done the wrong thing here and for that he will never have my sympathy.

 

[BrianSpeaking]

Please correct me if Im wrong but didnt we grow as a team when Plugger left? Im sure we made the 97 Grand Final. The same can be said of Barry leaving, we picked up Nicky Dal with the exchange of Barry for pick 12. Win win I would suggest.

Footy and recruiting is such a hard thing, trust the 1000's of hours of investigation done on Cousins. Archie, Greg, Nick and the whole club are desperate to win a flag, thats why they do what they do and are employed to do. Dont you think it was the hardest decision to knock back a champion from coming to our club?

FFS, be reasonable and smart, not like that dic khead Fine on SEN.

Lets welcome in a bunch of new kids to the system and hope that they can help us keep building ala Hawthorn.

PS Im glad my kids wont be hero worshipping Ben, hes not a hero in my eyes.

 

[Look2Me4Guidance]

Please correct me if Im wrong but didnt we grow as a team when Plugger left? Im sure we made the 97 Grand Final. The same can be said of Barry leaving, we picked up Nicky Dal with the exchange of Barry for pick 12. Win win I would suggest.

Footy and recruiting is such a hard thing, trust the 1000's of hours of investigation done on Cousins. Archie, Greg, Nick and the whole club are desperate to win a flag, thats why they do what they do and are employed to do. Dont you think it was the hardest decision to knock back a champion from coming to our club?

FFS, be reasonable and smart, not like that dic khead Fine on SEN.

Lets welcome in a bunch of new kids to the system and hope that they can help us keep building ala Hawthorn.

PS Im glad my kids wont be hero worshipping Ben, hes not a hero in my eyes.

Fair points Brian, but this is what gets me. He was never ours in the first place. If he was an A grade citizen, he'd still be at the Eagles and none of this discussion would be occurring. Instead we have people saying they aren't going to renew their memberships because of this decision. I mean FFS, does that mean if we pass on Jackson Trengrove with pick 13 in the draft that we're all to jump off as well.

 

[jackmac7]

Finey is a moron who speaks with his heart before his head. Some of his other intellectual offerings tonight included having a go at St.Kilda for losing Lockett (despite Sydney offering ridiculous amounts of money) and for St.Kilda losing Everitt (well look how that turned out). Mate if you're seriously jumping off the club because of this decision, you are a joke. You're taking the easy road. It's pathetic.

Not after months of bullshit.

Why did they lead us down this path and cut him loose like that. Can't wait to see him rip up our midfield when we play the lions. We said no to a champion.

We average 1 flag every 130 years and now we're saying no to a Ben Cousins when we are poised to tilt at a flag, after the club had all of us fooled into believing we would take him.

I have nightmares that I'll never see a St kilda flag in my entire life, do you?

GC17 and West Sydney will have more Premiership cups in there cabinet than us soon enough.

We just keep rolling through the years down at St Kilda..............

 

[Look2Me4Guidance]

Not after months of bullshit.

Why did they lead us down this path and cut him loose like that. Can't wait to see him rip up our midfield when we play the lions. We said no to a champion.

We average 1 flag every 130 years and now we're saying no to a Ben Cousins when we are poised to tilt at a flag, after the club had all of us fooled into believing we would take him.

I have nightmares that I'll never see a St kilda flag in my entire life, do you?

GC17 and West Sydney will have more Premiership cups in there cabinet than us soon enough.

We just keep rolling through the years down at St Kilda..............

How many times do I have to say it? They decided against it because he shaved his head and waxed his body to avoid being hair tested. Instead of laying into the club, perhaps take a moment to consider why would he bother doing that if he didn't have something to hide?

 

[ChrisFooty]

To all of these people calling in the various radio stations saying they will rip up their club memberships.....Please. I really can not take you seriously as a football supporter. Fair enough if you are struggling with money in tight economic times, that I can accept. But to stop buying a membership because of an issue like this.........weak.

Go and support Geelong and Hawthorn if you want flags. Or go follow another sport. How do you know Cousins will not relapse anyways?

Maybe he would just keep shaving his hair all year round, cliaming it's the fashionable look for a guy.

 

[Look2Me4Guidance]

Despite 14 other clubs passing on him, we're seen as the bad guys. Good rational thinking everyone.

 

[SaintsSeptember]

IT DOES NOT MAKE SENSE!!

You take a widely known completely shit bloke whose a useless footballer anyway.

Yet you pass on Cuz?

Worst move you made since you gave Grant Thomas the coaching job - and that's saying a lot.

Ummm.... I hate to insinuate that you are stupid, but we have not taken Carroll, and if it is the worst move the club has made, then all of the other clubs ( so far ) have made the same bad move. How can you come on here and critisize St Kilda when every other team has done the same thing. In fact St Kilda seemed to think it over and review the whole issue more than any other team.

 

[sainter]

The Saints supporters who log on to this board do so because they want to discuss Saints related issues with their own supporters. If you're an opposition supporter please post on one of the other million threads floating around because I'll simply delete your post and issue you with an infraction.

 

[Sport Of Kings]

im disappointed. would have much rathered us take a risk on him for a potential great gain than passing on him and may never know what could have happened. we could have a least tried!

wont be throwing my membership but i am not too happy with the results tonight

 

[sainter]

As for my opinion, I'm really angry tonight.

We voted for the new board on the basis that they would increase spending on our football department and that would ultimately bring us closer to experience premiership success.

I don't think they did that tonight.

We'll all be expected to hand over our membership fees in the coming weeks as we've done year after year and I really see us further away from a premiership than we were a few hours ago.

Sure, taking Ben Cousins would have been a punt but surely one that was worth making?

I expected a lot better from our board members.

 

[numbat06]

l2m4g
There is 2 sides to the "waxing" story
so you can't really condemn cousins
when noone really knows the actual story

 

[SaintsSeptember]

l2m4g
There is 2 sides to the "waxing" story
so you can't really condemn cousins
when noone really knows the actual story

Well you should talk to the West Coast board and convince them to forgive him and take him back. You need him more than we do.

 

[BrianSpeaking]

As for my opinion, I'm really angry tonight.

We voted for the new board on the basis that they would increase spending on our football department and that would ultimately bring us closer to experience premiership success.

I don't think they did that tonight.

We'll all be expected to hand over our membership fees in the coming weeks as we've done year after year and I really see us further away from a premiership than we were a few hours ago.

Sure, taking Ben Cousins would have been a punt but surely one that was worth making?

I expected a lot better from our board members.

Sainter, from a pure footballing view ALL of us, even those who voted feel your pain BUT this is not purely a football only decision, if it was we would have had a 1 in 16 chance of recruiting him and would not have had a sniff.
Dont be angry, think of why they have played this card. Please also answer this question directly, ''Would you welcome a person addicted to ice into your family?''.

 

[StFly]

You know, I was going to come in here after hearing the news and quirk at hearing the outrage from the drama queens who claim supporter tagwhile throwing their support out a window from the goddamn Rialto observer deck. Unbeknownst to me however, the daggers had already been unsheathed and planetd firmly in the backs of everyone involved with the decision. Kudos to those who kept a level head during this, and shame on those now switching to "zomg 100% Carroll now!" speculation, getting burned counting chickens with Cuz lets all go down the same path again shall we?

This is arguably the best sign supporters have had in decades as far as the club goes and they're being condemned for it.

Unanimous decisions. It was quite unanimous by all ticket holders to vote in Footy First, it was rather unanimous from the supporter base to stick with a single coach for more then 2 years, and now it's unanimous to not vie for Cousins. These are good signs for prosperity, these are good signs for possibilities when everyone is agreeing after months of deliberations.

Shame on thee, doubters, repent your sins!

 

[Look2Me4Guidance]

l2m4g
There is 2 sides to the "waxing" story
so you can't really condemn cousins
when noone really knows the actual story

Enlighten us or this is a nothing post.

 

[King Elvis]

So why hasn't your club recruited him?

Because we aren't as close to a flag as you?

 

[BrianSpeaking]

My son who is almost 9 asks me today, ''Dad, you said Ben Cousins was a loser because he took drugs when he was at West Coast, does that mean he isnt a loser just because he might play at the Saints?'' Kids dont need scumbags for role models, they are our future and I for one am glad my kids wont worship this guy. Check this great article out.

Time to speak up and come clean
Greg Baum | November 26, 2008
TWO football seasons have passed since Ben Cousins' drug addiction first became public and he embarked on the long, tortuous and not yet complete journey to recovery. In that time, Cousins has spoken publicly perhaps three times, each breathlessly promoted as the first. Otherwise, Cousins has spoken only through his mouthpiece, manager Ricky Nixon.

All of Cousins' few utterances were brief and stage-managed, and none was especially enlightening. We heard that he had a problem with "substance abuse", only later upgraded to drugs. Then we heard that he was not ashamed to say he had a drug problem. We heard that he was sorry to West Coast, sponsors, the AFL and the community; the order was more intriguing than the apology. We heard that he was sorry to all those who had supported him, sorry to those he had hurt. We heard that he felt a need to regain their respect. His priority was to rebuild his health, life and reputation.

We heard that he wanted to play football again. We heard him say that he had kept himself fighting fit. We heard that he was so anxious to play that he would comply with all the "onerous" conditions the AFL has put on his return.

We heard that he was no longer in denial. That he had known what he was doing was wrong, but justified it to himself. We heard his theory about how the singlemindedness that made him a great footballer also made him vulnerable to drugs. We heard that drugs chose him, not he drugs.

But there is something we have not heard from Cousins, and his silence on the matter is deafening to the point of ear-splitting. We have not heard him denounce drugs.

We have not heard him say that the drugs he was on are at least illegal and in any case injurious to health and almost always dangerous, and in the long run — the long, lurid, lonely run — fatal.

We haven't heard him say that drugs are a lie, glittering but false, seducing users to their ruin. We haven't heard him say that he was lucky to have the vast resource and goodwill of the football world to save him, but that too many others end up in a clinic, or a jail, or even somewhere even more suffocatingly and inescapably confined.

We heard him say he had a drug problem, but we haven't heard him say that drugs are a problem. We heard him say that drugs chose him. But we haven't heard him say that before that, he chose drugs, and that he would not on any account choose them again.

Now would be a good time to speak up. Now, when he is searching for a route back to the AFL and has the football world's undivided attention. Now when he might publicly demonstrate renunciation, the first step without which there can be no recovery, the will that must precede the way.

Now when he can truly do good as a role model, a role he did not choose, but that like drugs manifestly chose him. Now when his silence otherwise might lead the impressionable to conclude that if Ben Cousins got away with it, so might they.

Now would be a good time for Ben Cousins to speak up for the first time about the scourge of drugs.

If he can.

 

[sainter]

Sainter, from a pure footballing view ALL of us, even those who voted feel your pain BUT this is not purely a football only decision, if it was we would have had a 1 in 16 chance of recruiting him and would not have had a sniff.
Dont be angry, think of why they have played this card. Please also answer this question directly, ''Would you welcome a person addicted to ice into your family?''.

I understand that. It was always going to require a club to take a punt on him. I just thought it would be a club that considered itself in a position to challenge for a premiership, felt that it had the right structures in place to accomodate him and a leadership group capable of keeping him in line and providing the support he needed. I believed that would be us.

In answer to your question, I'd like to think I was open minded enough to welcome somebody who has made some mistakes, served his penance and was keen to atone. Like I said, selecting him was always going to be a risk but I would have been really proud for us to be that club considering the kind of culture that we were once known for.

 

[saintharvs]

I must say that I am shocked with the decision. I was very confident that the Footy department would be given the green light to go ahead and recruit Cousins. Although I am disappointed I suppose I have to accept the decision. The boards members know a lot more about the situation than us and we have to accept their judgement. Only time will tell wether though whether this is the right decision. As far as people not renewing their membership because of this, well that is just ridiculous. If you are a die hard supporter then there is no question that you will again be there for the red, white and black in 2009. I know I sure will be. I love the club too much. The club is bigger than any individual.

 

[John Bonney]

I must say that I am shocked with the decision. I was very confident that the Footy department would be given the green light to go ahead and recruit Cousins. Although I am disappointed I suppose I have to accept the decision. The boards members know a lot more about the situation than us and we have to accept their judgement. Only time will tell wether though whether this is the right decision. As far as people not renewing their membership because of this, well that is just ridiculous. If you are a die hard supporter then there is no question that you will again be there for the red, white and black in 2009. I know I sure will be. I love the club too much. The club is bigger than any individual.

IMO. I THINK SAINTS will push a record breaking membership because we have a very good group of players.
Tonight we have recruited a few Victorians to meet us at Cararra for Saints NAB cup.