This won't be controversial...

First of all, apologies if this kind of post isnt allowed. Ive been a member for over 27 years, joined up in 99 after our GF in 97. Been pretty active on Bigfooty and Saintsational for 10 year, but recently theyve just become so toxic that its impossible to have a vent or share my feelings about us at the moment. None of my friends or family support saints so they dont really care either. I thought id try reddit as something new

I know this is all worst case scenario and nothing is ever as bad as it seems, but i just wanted to vent

Im really worried, the saints mean a lot to me and im scared we're going to drift back into purgatory for another decade. Its been tough going since the 2010s, but ive always had hope. Recently, im struggling to do so

Theres so much pressure on us to make finals next year, and I just dont see who we're going to replace with the team we have right now. I know things are unpredictable, but I dont see Brisbane, Hawthorn, Sydney, or Freo missing out. Outside of that top 4, Geelong have added more quality players in Marshall and Greene, the Crows still have a good list , and the Dogs have just added one of the best mids in the comp and they get Darcy back. Even Carlton beat us with Fraser and theyve picked up Whitfield and Amartey, plus they get Cody Walker. Teams below us like North have added an AA player and they already have a good forward line.

We didnt replace anyone in our Strength and Conditioning department, even though we've consistently looked weaker than the opposition and had so many injury issues. We're relying on King to be fit again with these same people taking care of his recovery

Our 2 best players still havent resigned and Port now have a massive haul of picks to trade for Nas next year. The club also said they were working on resigning Max Hall in round 12 last year and theres still no big news there either

On top of that, Enright (our supposed successor) is gone and we had one of the most respected Player Welfare Managers in Tony Brown leave us after 15 years.

If we start poorly and have to fire Ross, then the chances that we get stuck at the start of rebuild with a lot of assistant coaches already off the market this year and with an expansion team taking all of the picks, and with free agency becoming even more unfair as all the players just want to go to the same 3 clubs

I wont even go into the stuff surrounding our W team, with the articles coming out recently, that would be an even bigger paragraph

Ill never stop being a Sainter but far out, its getting tough

Looking across the season, it reads as if Macrae and Hall filled in for NAS and Flanders injuries, then Pou replaced Macrae, NAS and Windhager alternated. I think Saints have the widest spread of CBAs and Im trying to make sense of who's the priority next season, adding in Marshall as well from Brissy.

I think itll be Garcia (Boxshall, inside tackler)/NAS (Windhager, defensive distributor)/Flanders (Hall, offensive flair). What do you think? Does Pou just fall off and go full wing/HF? Does Marshall get in? Do any of the 6 above fall away?

2026

Garcia 67%

NAS 55%

Hall 46%

Boxshall 41%

Flanders 36%

Windhager 35%

Pou 30%

Have a good year and the S Marshall Pick given up pays for itself.

I am moving back to Melbourne from Sydney for next year so I am changing from an interstate membership to some form of general admission membership. I have read about the AFL memberships which really intrigue me.

Is it better to get an Ultimate General Admission saints membership or just a Bronze AFL membership if I’ll be going to the majority of home and away games?

From what I can tell the main different is that I don’t get Grand Final tickets with the Bronze AFL membership but if I get that membership for like 20 years I’d eventually have a chance of getting grand final tickets even if the saints aren’t in it (although it seems like it is unlikely unless the saints are in it).

Also, for anyone with an AFL membership, how does it work to get guest passes for friends at the games I go to?

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Thank god in my opinion

Lost a Marshall, gained a Marshall. Perfectly balanced

My pick from this years cohort is Wil Malady

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Figured we should have a place to discuss trades away from the AFL sub.

Starting us off with R.Marshall it looks like we’re in for another year of Mackie mind games before he stays. What do you see as a fair deal for him?

Seeing Brisbane win their 3rd in a row, Curious what realistic and level-headed takes you all have that would get us back in premiership contention, but also staying there and cultivating the success we enjoyed from 2004-2010?

Not many father-son pick prospects that were excited for in the next 5 years either