Football training at St Kilda City is starting to ramp up and we are getting good numbers down there.

We are now training three times a week; Monday, Wednesday and Thursday nights from 6pm and it is important that you get down to training for at least two of the nights.

We have organised two practice matches that are fast approaching.

• On Saturday the 25th of March we face off with Moorabbin Kangaroos
• On Saturday the 1st of April we play Caulfield

Both of these games will be played at the Peanut Farm.

Please get on to anyone you know who is interested in training and get them down there.
And for all those complaining about injuries etc we now have our fabulous trainer on duty to look after you.

We had a good solid train tonight, enthusiasm was good and we all seemed to be running pretty well. There were good numbers around and the new boys are starting to feel a part of the City way. New recruit Arvo looked strong, but was giving a few sideways glances as i think he tried to knock a few blokes heads off when he was playing for the other team last season. When i say Arvo was playing for the other team, you know what i mean . . . . no like that.

After a bit of a game of handball through the goals Bruno came running in to the trainers squeeling like a little girl, he had blood all over his chest, i think he thought someone had ripped his heart out accidentally. After a quick mop up, it turns out the wound wasn’t quite the gaping hole that he thought it was. In fact, as it turns out, no one has ever had a softer wound in the history of Australian Rules Football.

Taz was the man in charge for the evening, and the general gave the boys what they deserved. It was a good night for numbers and a few new faces (and old faces) had joined the fray for an absolute punishing. Most thought it might never end with drill after drill, all capped off with everyone’s favorite mock-football game – ‘handball it through the cones, boys’.

Porter, Mankind and BZ were resigned to a circuit mostly indoors as Nudge watched on and offered plenty of moral and verbal support. He had obviously been running all day, probably been at the gym and in the pool and so he was parched and unable to train.

The boys finished up just as the sun began to set over the peanut farm, they held hands and limped off after a good beating from Taz, who some have come to calling “Dorothy” as his shiny new red boots were a menacing sight to the local st. kilda witches.

Trin promised Zac that this would go on the site. So here it is…

This shot was taken at the “Festival On The Farm” that took place on Sunday at The Peanut Farm. A few of the st. kilda city boys were there to play kick to kick with Dermott and some of the other celebs at the change of innings. Nudge took regular screamers over the 10 year olds and looked generally fit. His absense at training has been missed, and with the skills that were on display on the weekend, he will be a valuable addition to the team when he rocks up.

Strength was the order of the night. Running up and down the field propped upon each other’s backs., this was after some running work and then a little bit more running, some pushups and a bit of a run (or 2).

Did i mention we were carying each other around on our backs?

and we did some running?

and pushups?

and stuff?

So about half of the blokes at training tonight were new guys. The old guys felt almost like new guys being outnumbered by newcomers. At this stage in pre-season it’s always great to see new faces and each year brings a good number of guys down to the club. The skills and enthusiasm were on high and even though we didn’t know everyone’s name there was a good amount of “hey bluey”, and “quick hands blondie” going around.

The night started with a decent amount of running, getting the blood pumping and keeping it pumping was the order of the evening. After everyone was pumping we got straight into some ball-work and the skills were pretty good seeing as this was the first training for a fair few blokes. The hands were quick and the talk was up. Guys were running in numbers and we were all feeling pretty good. Later in the night the footwork into the wind caused some problems, but the enthusiasm seemed to get us over the line. The night ended up with some physical ball work in groups and even though the call was out for the physicality to not be too liberal, it was there in spades. Rosco ended up looking like a college cheerleader by the end of the night with his top all ripped up, if it was white i’m sure someone would have got the hose onto it. But i suppose that’s the sort of treatment you deserve on your first night.

The usual suspects were sitting it out, they were either too fit to need the run, or too injured to even think about it. But these guys always pull through when their time comes. Loooking forward to seeing an even larger crowd on wednesday.

St Kilda Football Club (AFL)

The St Kilda Football Club’s preferred charity, Sacred Heart Mission, will be holding it’s annual ‘Batting for the Battlers’ charity cricket match at the Peanut Farm Oval in St Kilda, on Sunday 12th February from 10.30am-6pm.

Once again, the famous and the infamous will pick their sides, with a number of celebrities taking part, including Lisa McCune, Billy Brownless and comedian Dave Hughes. It is sure to be a fun filled event and all Saints fans are encouraged to attend.

Entry is by gold coin donation and all of the day’s takings will go to St Kilda’s Sacred Heart Mission, which provides vital services to people who are homeless or living in poverty.

For further information click on the link below to download a pfd file.

Batting for the Battlers flyer (PDF 721 KB)

So i rocked up to training a little late tonight after putting in the hard yards at work to find the peanut farm absolutely bursting with activity. And fforr a wednesday night in the rain i was pleasantly surprised, i mean we have been lucky to get 30 blokes on the track so far and this week we had about 40-50 players all going nuts and running around like little schoolgirls on their first day back from summer vacation. It was a good day for the City!

As i approached tthe cclubrooms to get kitted up and join my fellow team-members i noticed a couple off them walking from the rooms. Now these players were not known for their early retirement in the night and i switched my point off view back out to the muddy oval where the team were hurridly training away. Upon closer inspecttion it seemed that i was in fact not the St. Kilda City that i remember and rather the St. Kilda City SHARKS running amuck, gracefully falling over each other and treaing tthe boys to a real testament of dedication and responsibility.

As i entered the clubrooms i saw a sorry group of about 8 boys sittting around, packing up and walking off. They had put in a solid night with few numbers on the track. These were the dedicated few that come rain, hail or shine would never let you down, this was the real City. They assured me that they had put in a pretty solid night’s worrk, or at least they ran around looking at the girls for a while and maybe flexed their muscles (in vein) a little bit here and there. Hopefully Monday will bringg a few more of these dedicated soldiers of the club so we can show tthe girls up andd get stuck into it.