News today that the Saints have delisted Ryan Gamble after just one season — yielding eleven games — along with teammates Zac Dawson, Brett Peake, Farren Ray and Dean Polo remaining out of contract as the deadline for final list lodgement looms.
What’s remarkable about this story is that all five arrived at the Saints from other clubs.
Crucial in this story is the departure of coach Ross Lyon, who must have had some sort of input into recruiting these recycled players for a team he and the club believed were on the cusp of Premiership success.
What’s pretty clear at this point is that new coach Scott Watters has a different goal.
Recycled players have had a chequered history as a breed. Some, Greg Williams (Carlton and ex-Sydney and Geelong), his nemesis Sean Denham (Essendon and ex-Geelong), Sean Wellman (Essendon and ex-Adelaide) and Leigh Brown (Barcodes and ex-North Melbourne and Fremantle) to name a few, tasted Premiership success.
For a great many others, and the five Saints named above are probably going to fall into this category, their new club eventually discovered why they’d been on the trade table.
It’s worth noting that other recent Saints “recycled” toward the end of their career include Steven King, Michael Gardiner and Charlie Gardiner. No wonder that the pundits have criticised the Saints for their failure to play many kids — there wasn’t any room on the list for kids!
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