Justin Koschitzke, Jason Blake and Stephen Milne bid emotional farewell to AFL football

ST KILDA coach Scott Watters says retiring trio - Justin Koschitzke, Jason Blake and Stephen Milne leave a significant vacuum.

Saints farewell

RETIRING St Kilda veterans Justin Koschitzke, Stephen Millne and Jason Blake addressed the playing group last week about the need to defeat Fremantle and end the season on a positive note.

''Our message to the young guys all through the week was that there's no dead rubber, it's about keeping on improving,'' Koschitzke said after the match.

"A couple of wins to end the season springboards these boys into next season. Off they go to Colorado and the momentum builds and they can look forward to getting into next season.''

Saints farewell stars in style

All three players bid an emotional farewell to AFL football ater the 71-point win, doing a lap of honour and being interviewed on the ground before farewelling Eithad Stadium for one last time.

Coach Scott Watters was delighted that his team handled the emotion of the Round 23 farewell so professionally, slamming on the first eight goals of the match.

''We took a breath in the pre-game, you could sense that there was a lot of emotion, a lot of nervousness .... so we deliberately just took a breath,'' Watters said.

"I asked the boys how they were feeling, everyone was a bit edgy but we took time to focus on the things that we know we need to hit as a side.''

Watters said he would miss Blake's honesty, that Koschitzke was such a ''much-loved figure'' among his teammates, and that Milne was a spark who ''fills the air'' at training, in the rooms and on the field.

Justin Koschitzke

''They leave a significant vacuum and hopefully over time younger players emerge and fill that hole but that will take time. They're big shoes to fill,'' Watters said.

Koschitzke said it had ''been a lean year, and to have that joy and emotion one last time I'll be forever grateful''.

He was bemused by the fact that his final-quarter goal, which sparked a minute of enthusiastic celebrations, was later disallowed when a video review showed it had ht the post. 

''I didn't know what was going on and I didn't care,'' Koschitzke said. ''I got a couple of minutes to celebrate with the boys. I got the moment. It's like the (Melbourne) Storm ... they took the trophies off them but they still got to celebrate the premierships.

''It really didn't bother me. I got to go out for another quarter, take some marks and get around the boys. It was a great send off.''

Among those in the rooms after the match was St Kilda great Stewart Loewe, the man who handed the number 23 jumper to Koschitzke upon retiring at the end of 2002.

''It was a reminder of how quickly it goes,'' Loewe said.

''I think every player who has played the game has had an old bloke come up to them and say 'it will be over before you know it' and having spoken to Kosi a couple times in the past few weeks, I think he realises that.

''Today was awesome. It was great to see him with a smile on his face. I haven't seen the smile too much in recent times.''