Ross Lyon would have been disappointed again with the Saints’ effort in 2024, winning less than 50 per cent of their games and finishing 12th on the ladder after finishing sixth in 2023.
A small turnover in personnel with the sacking of two players and the defection of one was compensated by the recruitment of one player, so Lyon will have to look for improvement in his ranks as he moves to within 25 games of the unwanted record of having coached the most AFL/VFL games without achieving the ultimate goal of winning a premiership.
Top 100 Game Players Lost: 3.
Sebastian Ross (No.24) was delisted 13 games into the season despite having given the Saints 13 years of good service and having won the club’s Best and Fairest on two occasions. Ross, 31, wanted to continue his career elsewhere but was not picked up by any other AFL club.
Tim Membrey (No.39) was not offered a new contract and moved on to Collingwood.
Josh Battle (equal No.97) made the Top 100 list near the end of the season. He requested a trade to Hawthorn.
Top 100 Players recruited from other clubs: 1
Jack Macrae (No.13 – Western Bulldogs) was the most senior current game player at the Bulldogs with a total of 249 games.
Current Top 100 Game Players: 5
Jack Sinclair (No.35) is now the most senior current player at the Saints, with teammates Jimmy Webster (equal No.46), Jack Steele (No.48), Rowan Marshall (equal No.80) and Callum Wilkie (No.82) who has not missed a game of football since arriving at the Saints in 2019.
Jack Steele. (Photo by Mark Brake/Getty Images)
Potential New Top 100 Players in 2025: 1
Only one player, journeyman Bradley Hill, is a candidate for elevation to the Saints’ Top 100 game players in 2025.
Players who no longer qualify as Top 100 Game Players: 3
A stunning list of three champion players from the club that boasts more players than any other in the AFL/VFL.
Steven Sziller was recruited from Woodville-West Torrens in the SAFNL where – in his short career- he had been a member of the club’s inaugural premiership, was best on ground in the Grand Final and in the following year won the Best and Fairest! He played for the Saints from 1995 until 2000 when he was delisted but had two successful years at Richmond under the coaching of former teammate Danny Frawley.
There is no greater legend at the Saints than their 1966 premiership captain Darryl “Doc” Baldock. Baldock started at the Saints in 1962 and over the next seven years achieved almost everything in football: captained a premiership team, won three best and fairest, four leading goal-kicking awards and finished second in the Brownlow Medal on two occasions.
Russell Greene, in one of the most bizarre trades ever, was swapped to Hawthorn midway through the 1980 season and went on to play in three premierships at Hawthorn and won the Best and Fairest in 1984. He played in total 304 AFL games and lies in 85th place on the AFL all-time game players list.
He also appears on both Hawthorn’s games played and goals scored lists in 45th (games) and 75th (goals).
Top 100 Goal Scorers Lost: 1.
Tim Membrey who was a Top 10 all-time goal scorer at the Saints is no longer there.
Top 100 Goal Scorers recruited from other clubs: 0
Current Top 100 Goal Scorers: 4
Max King (No.25) is now the current leading goal scorer at St Kilda, and they have two other centurions in their ranks: Jack Higgin (No.37) and Dan Butler (No.49) plus the up-and-coming Rowan Marshall (No.96).
Potential Top 100 Goal Scorers in 2025: 2
It is possible that both Jack Sinclair and Jack Steele could join the list of elite goal scorers at the club.
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