St Kilda is settling in to new digs at its old home, Moorabbin Reserve

ST KILDA Football Club left Moorabbin in a siren of headlines but has returned as part of a $30 million redevelopment. Former player John Bennett was there.

John Bennett compares the old and the new at Moorabbin Reserve.

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• Saints unveil plans for new home
• Push to name ground after rugby club founder

SOME Moorabbin of old remained to go with the shiny new when St Kilda Football Club returned to Linton St on March 20.

Half of the GG Huggins stand has been demolished and makes for a contrast to the Saints’ freshly finished training and administration headquarters.

St Kilda left Moorabbin in a siren of headlines after a breakdown in negotiations with Kingston Council over $16.5 million redevelopment plans for the site and argument over its gaming machines.

Embraced by the City of Frankston, it relocated to Belvedere Park in Seaford in 2010.

But this week it returned to Moorabbin as part of a $30 million redevelopment that during a second stage will provide a new home for the Southern Football Netball League, the South Metro Junior Football League and TAC Cup club Sandringham Dragons.

The ground will be known as RSEA Park.

SFNL hall-of-famer and former St Kilda forward John Bennett was at the ground today and marvelled at the site of the Huggins stand cut in half and flanked by the new buildings.

The rest of the stand will be knocked down soon.

The Saints have returned to Moorabbin, where they first moved to in 1965.

Memories came surging back for Bennett, who joined the Saints from East Brighton as an Under 19 player in 1979, with the great Bob Murray his coach.

“I was all of 17. Big thing for a young bloke coming out of local footy,’’ he said. “You dreamt to play with a league club. To go up to the seconds and then to get a game in the seniors and rub shoulders with players like Trevor Barker, that was fantastic.

“Trevor was one of the first people I met when I walked in the doors. He went out of his way to come over and say hello to me. Never forgot that. Played with ‘Plugger’ (Tony Lockett) too of course.’’

The Huggins stand was home to the legendary St Kilda disco.

“Well people rave about that, don’t they?’’ Bennett said.

“It wasn’t bad, I must admit. Everyone was friendly. It was the place to be. Even the players from other clubs used to come here.’’

Bennett said it was a disaster when the Saints left Moorabbin because of “political stuff more than anything’’.

He said if club had a spiritual home, it was Moorabbin, which it moved to in 1965.

“To come back here is just fantastic, not only for the football club, but the Southern league, the Dragons, the local community,’’ he said.

St Kilda president Peter Summers said he had shivers as he watched the players return to the club.

St Kilda Football Club captain Jarryn Geary ahead of a media conference.

He said the Saints had a first-class facility and community support at Seaford, but Moorabbin “holds a very special place in the hearts and minds of the St Kilda faithful’’.

“While work on Stage 1 won’t fully be completed until the end of 2018, and the club is committed to retaining a strong presence in the Frankston region, we believe today marks the beginning of a new era at the football club,’’ Summers said.

“Not only is RSEA Park a world-class venue, and the equal of any facility in professional sport in Australia, it’s a shining example of the spirit of the Saints.

“The club, through generous donors and our own means, has contributed more than $6 million to the redevelopment at RSEA Park and we plan to contribute a further $2 million before the completion of Stage 1 later this year.

“The Kingston City Council, the State Government, the AFL, and our community partners have of course played an enormous role in making this facility possible, but we wouldn’t be here without the generosity of St Kilda supporters.”