Almanac Footy (Conundrum): Who is the greatest Saint – Rooey, Harves or Baldock?
Researching on who I would name as the greatest St. Kilda player ever led me to the conclusion that this is a very difficult question. The criteria I was using to decide who was the greatest Saint was a player’s service to the St. Kilda Football Club and how they have contributed and influenced the club in their time as a player. I found I was in a dilemma choosing between Robert Harvey and Nick Riewoldt for this honour.
After writing the previous chapter, Darrel Baldock’s record also would not go away. Harvey played 383 games and Riewoldt 336 games in the red, black and white; Harvey with 8 All Australians and Riewoldt with 5; Riewoldt with six Best and Fairests and Harvey with 4 plus two Brownlow Medals. Darrel Baldock was the Saints’ 1966 Premiership Captain. He did win 3 Saints Best and Fairest awards in 1962, 1963 and the Saints’ Grand Final year of 1965. Baldock was the Saints’ Team of the Century Centre-Half Forward and Captain. In his 119 games and 237 goals between 1962 and 1968, he captained the club in every year he played for them except in 1962, his first year as a Saint.
Baldock also nearly won a couple of Brownlow Medals. He was the Saints’ highest Brownlow vote poller in 3 of his 8 seasons. In 1963 Baldock was equal second in the Brownlow with 17 votes. In 1965 he was 3rd in the Brownlow with 17 votes and, in the Saints’ premiership year of 1966, Baldock was 4th in the Brownlow with 14 votes. A 2nd , 3rd and 4th place in the Brownlow Medal. His third and fourth places were behind St. Kilda legend Ian Stewart who won the medal in 1965 and 1966.
This shows the influence Baldock and Stewart had over the football world and was a prime reason why St. Kilda played in two consecutive Grand Finals of 1965 and 1966. Interestingly Baldock won the Saints’ Best and Fairest in 1965, which was the year of Stewart’s first Brownlow Medal. Stewart won the Best and Fairest for the Saints and Brownlow in the premiership year of 1966. Riewoldt and Harvey have both played the most finals for the Saints with17 finals appearances, equal with Nick Dal Santo, with Riewoldt kicking 41 goals in those finals, the most by any Saint.
Harvey played in 4 Prelim finals – 1997, 2004, 2005 and 2008 and, of course, the 1997 Grand Final – where he topped the most disposals by any player in the game with 36. Riewoldt holds the record for the greatest number of games as Captain of the Saints, 208, and captained the Saints to the 2005 and 2008 Preliminary Finals, and three Grand Finals, including the draw and playing in the 2004 Prelim Final in Adelaide. In my eyes, a draw is not a loss! (Obviously the replay was a disaster!) A draw is better than a loss, obviously not a win, but from a Saints’ supporter view, apart from Baldock, no captain has been as close to a Premiership. Riewoldt also kicked 718 goals! Allround as good as anyone who has played the game.
Darrel Baldock obviously is the Saints’ only winning Premiership skipper and his influence is undisputed and continues. Having only played 119 games from 1962 to 1968 is probably the only thing that could count against him. But Nick’s 336 games and Rob’s 383 games, and their records and longevity as a Saint probably has them just ahead of Baldock. You could argue, of course, that a Premiership Captain is the biggest contributor! I would love to know who you went with as greatest Saint and why, as I am having trouble splitting Baldock, Harvey and Riewoldt as the Saints’ greatest player! All three though should have statues of them unveiled at Moorabbin as Saint Immortals!
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About Mark Tenny
A long time Saints fan, having moved from Aspendale, Melbourne when I was 12 to Adelaide, where I became a Crows member just to watch the Victorian teams play! Although a Saints fan, I am a fan of football just as much. I love hearing and reading the stories of footballers and of their clubs and hope to add to the enjoyment of all football followers my stories, that will hopefully bring a smile to peoples faces.
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Mark, you’ve created a real teaser for yourself here. As a complete outsider to anything to do with St Kilda, I’d go with Baldock because, it seems to me, he put the Saints on the map, winning the ultimate prize (which is still the only one they have in the cabinet). No disrespect meant to Harvey and Riewoldt.
I know you’ll know Mark but St Kilda is the worst VFL/AFL club ever. One of the eight foundation clubs in 1897 the Saints have collected 27 spoons — that’s right, twenty-seven — and have saluted for a flag just once.
By one point mind you. That’s OK as there’s no percentage in finals and all you have to do is win. They went close again against my boys the Cats in 2009 but Scarlett, Little Gazza and Chappy combined to land the winning goal that day. I’m with Ian H. —I’ll go for Baldock as the best-ever Saint.
I am nominating our boy Buckley as best player and worst coach at Collingwood, like James Hird at Essendon. Baldock tried to coach the Saints but he too came up short, but as St Kilda coach he had plenty of competition. There is another nominee for best saint, the amazing Ian Stewart, the team of the century centreman.
All things considered, the way Baldock dragged that team across the line in 1966, in a way that Riewoldt. and Harvey couldn’t, gives Baldock the nod, along with his other worthy deeds across the years.
Not being a Saints tragic, I don’t have strong opinions either way on this question.
But I have never forgotten the afternoon at the MCG when my schoolmate Peter and I sneaked in to watch the Victorian state squad at training. When the official session was over, a few players stayed out to work on their skills.
“Doc” jogged down to the Punt Road goal-square, and picked up two footballs.Then he ran the length of the ground – twice – bouncing alternatively with his right and left hands.
I had never seen it done before, and more than 50 years later, I have never seen it done again.
Perry Apted 10 Feb 2022
. Baldock for me and remember was he the only non Victorian to captain the big V
As Robert above said his ability to bounce the ball with both hands which he perfected by running along the railway line bouncing a ball on the sleepers
Based on comments made already it seems Baldock was the best. Rooey had his moments (that famous mark running back with the flight of the ball) and Harvs has a rare distinction of winning back to back Brownlows.
Barry Breen must be in the discussion too! Arguably he made Baldock the greatest Sainter of all time.
The Doc easily…have you ever seen a footballer (he was 19th man due to injury) come on at half time and then judged best on ground. We needed to win that game against Hawthorn to make the finals…Doc did it?
When my father was alive he was a massive St Kilda supporter, (and so am I), and he saw Baldock, Stewart, Harvey and Riewoldt all play. He started going to St Kilda matches in 1939 and he always told me that Ian Stewart and Darrel Baldock were not only the best players he had seen play at St Kilda, but the best players he had ever seen play! He couldn’t separate them. He was unlucky that he was unable to attend the 1966 Grand Final but was there for the 1965, 1971 and 1997 Grand Final losses. He passed away in 2008, so he missed out on the 2009 and 2010 Grand Finals.
Mark, I sincerely hope that St Kilda win their 2nd flag by 2030. Yes, they have the poorest record, as reminded by Ernest E, but it hasn’t all bad with other Grand Final appearances in 1913, 1965, 1971, 1997, 2009 and 2010 where some of those losses could have been wins, with a bit more luck. 1966 was brilliant but St Kilda fans want more success.
The draft and salary cap from 1987 has helped their cause, no more consecutive wooden spoons (four in a row from 1983-86) and if other teams could break their long premiership droughts, it’s time St Kilda does the same!
St Kilda don’t hope, don’t think, do!
Now that we’re in 2025, this article got me thinking about the best St Kilda players of the last 50 years, including 1975 onwards. Obviously, I have to leave out Baldock and Stewart, and other players from the 1965, 1966 and 1971 Grand Final teams, who had either retired or were past their best by 1975.
Why 1975 onwards? I started attending matches sparingly in 1972, 1973 and 1974 but from 1975, I started to attend matches regularly until the present. These players needed to have played their best football at St Kilda from 1975 onwards, which is why only Trevor Barker from the St Kilda team of 1975, was included. George Young was St Kilda’s leading goal kicker from 1975 to 1978 inclusive, but he was named as an emergency for team balance.
Also, a number of articles in the Footy Almanac include in the title “50 Years On”.
If a player has played consistently well for a long period of time, that has helped their cause.
Here is my best team of St Kilda players from the last 50 years (including 1975 onwards):
B: Nathan Burke, Danny Frawley, Callum Willkie
HB: Jack Sinclair, Sam Fisher, Trevor Barker
C: Nicky Winmar, Lenny Hayes, Brad Hill
HF: Aaron Hamill. Stewart Loewe, Nick Riewoldt (c)
F: Stephen Milne, Tony Lockett, Fraser Gehrig
R: Rowan Marshall, Robert Harvey, Jack Steven
Interchange: Brendan Goddard, Jack Steele, Nick Dal Santo, Josh Battle
Substitute: Aussie Jones
Emergencies: George Young, Barry Hall, Leigh Montagna, Jeff Sarau
Coach: Ross Lyon (3 Grand Finals 2009, 2010 drawn GF and 2010 Grand Final replay)
This team will play a pretend exhibition match against St Kilda’s 1966 premiership team.
The venue will be at Moorabbin.
Entertainment will be provided by the St Kilda Football Club song and highlights of the 1966 premiership.
The match will be live streamed on Saints TV on YouTube. Leigh Montagna will provide the commentary and Nick Riewoldt, Nick Dal Santo, Brendan Goddard and Nathan Burke will all be mic’d up to provide special comments.
There will be free admission and anyone who misbehaves in the animal enclosure will be no saint.
Let’s hope for a good game of football where it’s a guarantee that “The Saints Will Go Marching In!”
I’m surprised that Tony Lockett hasn’t been mentioned by anyone as the greatest St Kilda player of all time, or at least in the same sentence as Riewoldt, Harvey, Baldock and Stewart.
For the record, Tony Lockett played 183 games and kicked 898 goals for St Kilda from 1983-1994, at an average of nearly 5 goals per game, in an era when St Kilda won 4 wooden spoons in a row from 1983-86 and another wooden in 1988. Therefore, since then, St Kilda haven’t done too badly winning only two more wooden spoons in the last 27 years in 2000 and 2014.
Also, as with tennis and other sports, it’s difficult to not only compare different eras, but also different positions on the field. Having said that, personally I think that in no particular order, the 5 greatest St Kilda players of all time are Baldock, Stewart, Lockett, Harvey and Riewoldt.