History of the St Kilda Football Club

Proof of the team's quixotic nature came in the last season it played in the VFA when several top players missed the Collingwood game because they chose to go to the races instead.

Within two years of the bold new recruiting drive the brilliant young forward Dave McNamara and a talented batch of interstate men were on the books and St Kilda rose to sixth place in 1906.

The following years saw St Kilda establish itself as more consistently competitive, despite being the poorest club in the league apart from new entrants Hawthorn and North Melbourne owing to an absence of wealthy industrial and political patrons.

Though there was some high-class players like Harold Bray, Keith Drinan, Peter Bennett and later Neil Roberts, St Kilda were rarely competitive.

After the 1964 season, the club moved to Moorabbin Oval in the south-eastern suburbs of Melbourne in an effort to attract the population of a rapidly growing region.

St Kilda finished with 14 wins and 4 losses, qualifying for the finals in second place and Ian Stewart won his second consecutive Brownlow Medal.

Twenty-five minutes into the final quarter and with scores level, Collingwood's Wayne Richardson had a shot at goal on the run but kicked it out of bounds on the full.

Potter however managed to get out a hand pass but it found its way to St Kilda's Barry Breen who snapped at goal and kicked a behind to put his side in front.

Boasting arguably the game's premier key forwards in Tony Lockett and Stewart Loewe, and with a formidable midfield set up incorporating the likes of Nicky Winmar, Nathan Burke, Gilbert McAdam and Dean Greig, St Kilda were capable, on their day, of producing some high standard football.

A combination of continued financial pressures and unpredictable factors, such as the loss of glamour full forward Lockett to Sydney, made St Kilda's long-term prospects begin to look precarious.

At the end of the 1997 season Robert Harvey won the league's highest individual award, the Brownlow Medal, with a total of 26 votes.

[14] In the 2003 Season there were signs that the team was at last beginning to turn things around, as it played some eye catching football to storm up the ladder and only narrowly miss the finals, finishing 11th with 11 wins.

A consistent and very competitive season saw St Kilda finish third at the end of the home and away rounds and qualify for the finals series with 16 wins and 6 losses.

In a consistent and very competitive 2005 Premiership season, the Saints finished the home and away rounds in the top four in fourth position, qualifying for the Finals Series with 14 wins and 8 losses.

A competitive 2006 Premiership season with 14 wins and 8 losses saw the club finish sixth at the end of the home and away rounds and qualify for their third successive finals series.

This left the Saints in eighth position on the ladder, a spot the side was unable to maintain after narrow losses to reigning grand-finalists Sydney and West Coast in the remaining five rounds.

[19] The club narrowly missed playing finals for the fourth consecutive season, finishing 9th with 11 wins, 1 draw and 10 losses for the year.

The club had wins over Richmond in the round of 16, Geelong in the quarter-final, Essendon in the semi-final and won the final against the Adelaide Crows by 5 points at AAMI Stadium, 69 to 64.

[23] Lyon's surprise move to drop midfield star Nick Dal Santo (as well as Stephen Milne from the side was due to them not meeting these "benchmarks".

In Round 11 St Kilda won its 11th consecutive game, breaking the previous club record of 10 set in 2004 by beating North Melbourne by 46 points, despite trailing by almost five goals in the first quarter.

The Round 14 clash between St Kilda and Geelong broke the previous record of the largest crowd at an AFL game held at Docklands Stadium with an attendance of 54,444.

St Kilda reached the final of the 2010 NAB Cup competition with wins over Collingwood in the first round,[32] Sydney in the quarter-finals[33] and Fremantle in the semi-finals.

[40] In December 2010, the club received the keys to their new additional training and administration property in the City of Frankston at Seaford[41] – currently known by its sponsorship name of the Linen House Centre – after its construction was completed at a cost of approximately $9.5 million.

[50] Former Sydney, Fremantle and West Coast player and Collingwood assistant coach Scott Watters was announced as Lyon's replacement in October 2011.

After a close loss to West Coast and a heavy defeat to Adelaide, the Saints managed to upset top eight favourites Essendon by 16 points.

In 2015, the club still struggled to compete with the higher echelons of the competition, however, the team still showed its potential with an eleven-goal comeback against the Western Bulldogs a particular highlight, as well as the emergence of key forward Josh Bruce, who finished the year with 50 goals.

In 2017, St Kilda once again challenged for a spot in the top 8, highlighted by their Round 16 victory over eventual premiers Richmond, in which they recorded an 82-point margin at half time, leading 14.8 (92) to 1.4 (10) before running away to a comfortable 21.12 (138) to 10.11 (71) win.

Increased scrutiny on Richardson as coach saw the club bring experienced assistants Brett Ratten and Brendon Lade to Moorabbin, along with NRL legend Billy Slater in a leadership role.

While 2019 started brightly with four wins from the first five games, the Saints eventually suffered a similar dip in form to the previous year, losing 9 of the next 11 matches.

[56] The Saints also added to their football department with former player Sean Dempster joining as a fitness coach, while former Hawthorn legend Jarryd Roughead as well as David Rath and Ben Robbins also moved to the club.