St Kilda copped a barrage of criticism after their spending/recruiting spree after the 2025 season. And as Tom De Koning looks set to join Sam Flanders on the sidelines, suffering broken ribs and a punctured lung during the weekend’s loss to the Dogs, those same people are now readying to dance on the club’s grave.
These people saw the club’s aggressive off-season acquisitions as a way to bandaid issues within a list, whilst others thought they were doing the AFL version of hailing cab – taking the first available players on the market.
However, when you are rebuilding, or retooling a list, those same people made the mistake of thinking that things would get better immediately.
And things don’t do that at a footy club. Not often.
Some will tell you that things have not worked. They might even stray into the territory where they tell you St Kilda has failed Again.
They’re jumping the gun, and HB goes into why.
This is just the introduction – the remainder of this article is for our members. They support me, and I provide for them. It’s a good deal.
Oh… a Mongrel paywall… the worst of all paywalls. We’re all in on the 2026 AFL season. Player articles, stats, awards, game coverage. Dump the mainstream lip service and dive into articles like this – you will never look back. If you don’t want to, that’s fine. I consider it your loss as we get into the grind of the season, and you’re stuck with the stuff that’s frustrated you for years.
