The junior footy team Saints fans will be keeping an eye on

St Kilda hasn’t had much luck on the father-son front but the sons of three club legends are pulling on the boots together for one junior side. Plus the AFL coach turned umpire. It’s all in Quick Kicks.

The Riewoldt, Dal Santo and Hayes families.

Here at Quick Kicks we look at the lighter side of local footy.

Whether it be a funny exchange, a good stat or an action that’s laughed about after the game — it’s all here.

ST KILDA FANS FIND THEIR JUNIOR TEAM

Is this the pic which could bring smiles to the faces of long-suffering St Kilda fans?

One of Brighton Beach Junior Football Club’s under-9s teams is stacked with talent this season.

It includes three sons of former St Kilda greats including Nick Riewoldt, Nick Dal Santo and Lenny Hayes.

The Saints have only had three father-son connections in their history including Stuart Annand (son of Bud in 1989), David Sierakowski (son of Brian, 1992) and Bailey Rice (son of Dean, 2015).

It’s the same number as the father-daughters at the Saints including Alice Burke, Caitlin Matthews and Charlotte Simpson.

Change may be on the horizon however, given there are nine boys in total between the Riewoldt, Dal Santo and Hayes clans.

Compare the lack of success from that list with Collingwood’s current list with the Daicos boys — Josh and Nick — and Darcy Moore who all played part in the 2023 flag.

Then there’s the Dogs — Tom Liberatore, Sam Darcy, Jordan Croft and Rhylee West are all current players.

The Saints have certainly been hard done by coming up against father-sons in the past too.

In the 2009 grand final, the Saints were beaten by a selection of Geelong father-sons who happened to be handy players including Gary Ablett Jnr, Matthew Scarlett and Tom Hawkins.

Then, the following year, they had to front up against Travis Cloke and Heath Shaw in the famous drawn 2010 grand final against Collingwood.

In fact every Victorian club other than the Saints have enjoyed celebrating a superstar father-son selection at some stage in recent history.

Could the Saints finally get a change of fortunes with this budding trio down the track?

IT’S ALMOST IMPOSSIBLE NOT TO LOVE HIM

Craig McRae is often being described as the reason so many people have made Collingwood their “second team” (we’ll let you decide on that one). But his friendly nature is one reason we can all get around him. Less than 48 hours after Collingwood’s Anzac Day win over Essendon, McRae pulled on the high vis vest to umpire an Western Football Netball League under-10s game as Williamstown Juniors’ representative. We love nothing more at Quick Kicks than seeing the big names give back and McRae does it in spades.

Craig McRae umpiring the WFNL junior game.

THE MONEY OR THE TRIP

It’s the father-son holiday of a lifetime that has been planned for a year, and it’s just increased in value. Last September, Devon Meadows co-captain Nick Battle and his dad “Toss” booked a trip to watch Liverpool’s season finale on May 25. It just so happens that the game at Anfield will be when Liverpool is presented with the Premier League trophy. The Battles have watched their $4k flights and game tickets soar to over $50k. Many would pay big money for them. But Nick and Toss aren’t cashing out. They’re going, determined to enjoy every moment. Good on them.

‘OH HERE HE GOES’

Old Trinity’s Tom Ferrier took one of the marks of the local footy season in his side’s VAFA Premier B win over Old Melburnians. Ferrier, who finished with three goals, finished over the top of a pack. One spectator could be heard on the footage saying “oh here he goes, look at this”. A great call.

HOW NOT TO IMPRESS THE COACH 

They are calling young Pines player Connor Jackson “Damage” after a training mishap. Trying to get into the Pythons’ reserves side, Jackson has been kicking a ball at training. But one errant drop punt missed the target by that much it went over fence and smashed into Pines coach Paddy Swayn’s daughter’s windscreen. Not a good way to get back into the team.

FABULOUS FORTIES 

A string of Eastern league players collected more than 40 possessions on the weekend – from Premier Division through to Division 3. Doncaster East’s Josh Deluca gathered 41 possessions (24 contested) in his side’s 26-point win over South Croydon in the top-flight – with the ex-AFL man also amassing 18 clearances. Templestowe’s Carl Giovannini hauled in 47 disposals in Division 2 against Lilydale – including 12 marks and nine clearances. The big showing was matched by Oakleigh District’s Luke Potts in Division 3, with the ex-VFL man torching Coldstream with 47 touches, complemented by 14 inside-50s and 18 contested possessions.

LATE CHANGE

Southern Division 3 club Lyndhurst was dealt a blow when Dane Swan was ruled out of his scheduled appearance this weekend with a hamstring tear. Fortunately, the Lightning were able to draft in a suitable replacement in fellow former Saint Lenny Hayes. They will take on Black Rock at Marriott Waters Reserve at 2pm, and Swan will still be in attendance and appear at a sportsman’s night afterwards alongside Ricky Nixon.

TEAMMATES GO TOE-TO-TOE

When opposing Murrumbeena and Cranbourne coaches Michael Kinsella and Angelo Soldatos went toe-to-toe on the weekend, it is hard to envision there was any bad blood between the pair given they played representative footy together growing up, and were even AFL Nines teammates as recently as this summer. The ledger is 1-0 in favour of Kinsella after their first meeting.

WHISPERS

* Richmond VFL captain Lachlan Street a chance to play for Frankston YCW this weekend after recovering from a knee reco.

* Murmurings of a couple of unhappy campers at a ladder-leading side in a metro league. Stay tuned.

* A premier local footy big man is having his phone ring hot with some VFL clubs looking to bolster their stocks. His club will be hoping he keeps saying no.