Rick Davies - Australian Football Hall of Fame inductee

[GWW]

Kitschke would have been about to go to St Kilda too?

S Russell to Collingwood around that period too.

I think Welsby and Lennon also joined Victorian clubs.

[Jimmy_041]

Kitschke would have been about to go to St Kilda too?

S Russell to Collingwood around that period too.

I think Welsby and Lennon also joined Victorian clubs.

They would have all gone anyway.

I spoke with Rick on Sunday - he said he's milking this for as long as he can

[gadj1976]

Kitschke would have been about to go to St Kilda too?

S Russell to Collingwood around that period too.

I think Welsby and Lennon also joined Victorian clubs.

Whittlesea last played for us in 91
Kitschke 89
Lennon 91 (came back in 94)
Welsby 90
S Russell 89
Willmott 89

lost a lot of talent in those three to four years.

Other clubs would've done the same but we were never able to recover the depth of players other clubs did. Why....we'll still never know.

[GWW]

Yes, they would have all gone anyway - I was just listing the other players who left, as an extension of gadj's point about why they became so uncompetitive after Keane left.

I think it might have been the case too that the players that Higgins brought in - including his son, and O'Keefe and Friebel - didnt do a lot.

Plus losing blokes like Ey, Derrington (a few years earlier), and Willmott, didnt help.

Nor did the fact that juniors such as Gray, McGlashan, Brasher, and Brookes, didnt develop as they would have liked.

[Magpiespower]

Whittlesea last played for us in 91.

Reakon he was at the Hawks in '91...

[JK]

Underwood might have been another to add to those lists?

IIRC Sturt had huge talents in Packer and Gask whose careers were completely ruined by injury.

[GWW]

I think the Crows would have had big hopes for Packer, too.

[Rik E Boy]

Well done Jumbo. Up there with The Flash and Bagshaw as the best Sturt players i have seen.

Regards,

REB

[therisingblues]

It was Schache (RIP) that left as well, and he was probably the one that cost Sturt the most, when he left to go to Torrens.

I just looked it up, Dilena went to Fitzroy in 89, so we lost those three and Carl to Fitzroy. I'm sure there were more.

Ouch!!!
I remember this all too well.
Yes, we lost Schache, Popplestone and Smith to Torrens.
Smith was a big Keane supporter, after the club got rid of Keane they then sacked Smith. Schache and Popplestone left with him. Schache was hugely talented, then Popplestone and Smith were great club men. I remember many a time in 88 when either Popplestone or Smith would place a jug or two of beer on the cheer squad's table at presentations "Get stuck into it boys!" Popplestone was like a comedian with the mike back then. He'd have the whole room laughing with his observations and stories. The club lost a big piece of its heart at the time right there.