Saint delisted but ‘not closing the door’
St Kilda will not offer a contract to Seb Ross for next season, but the veteran midfielder wants to play on at another club after an injury-interrupted year.
The Saints delisted Ross, 31, on Wednesday as several more key decisions loom on a handful of out-of-contract older players.
Ross, who played 211 games for the Saints and won two best and fairests in 2017 and 2019, said he was “not closing the door on football” after learning of the Saints’ decision.
“St Kilda will always be the place that gave me the chance to live out my childhood dream of playing AFL football, and I will forever be grateful for that,” he said.
“While I’m not closing the door on football moving forward, I leave the Saints with some lifelong friends and some incredible memories.
“I’d like to thank all of the teammates I’ve shared the journey with over the years, as well as all my coaches, the staff and the broader St Kilda community for making my time here so special.
“I’m comforted knowing that whatever comes next, I have my incredible wife Marnie and our children, Charlotte, Vinny and Henley, by my side. They truly are my world.”
St Kilda football boss David Misson thanked Ross for his “exceptional service” as he said the decision was painful but necessary to “position our list for the future”.
Unrestricted free agent Josh Battle is expected to depart Moorabbin, while the Saints are yet to confirm whether Tim Membrey, Mason Wood and Zak Jones will play on next season.
Jones’s late-season form while Ross was sidelined with calf injury could have saved the former Swan, who handballed to Jack Higgins for the matchwinning goal against Carlton and made a desperate smother to stop the Blues going forward at the subsequent centre bounce.
It is understood Dan Butler, 28, and Jimmy Webster, 31, are both on the verge of signing new deals to remain at the club.
St Kilda axed four players on Tuesday, including journeyman ruck Tom Campbell and recruit Riley Bonner, who played 19 senior games after he was picked up as a delisted free agent from Port Adelaide.
Untried talls Matthew Allison and James Van Es were also not offered new deals.
Demons part with No.2 pick
Former No.2 pick Josh Schache’s AFL career could be over after he was delisted by his third club Melbourne on Tuesday.
The Demons’ decision not to offer the 27-year-old tall a new contract comes after he only managed one senior game in 2024 despite the club’s forward-line dysfunction and Max Gawn’s late-season injury.
Schache, who was taken with pick 2 by Brisbane in the 2015 draft, played 27 games in two seasons at the Lions before he moved back to Victoria to join the Western Bulldogs.
He never managed to play more than 14 games in a season in his five years at Whitten Oval but found form during the Dogs’ 2021 finals campaign as a defensive tall forward and played in the grand final loss to Melbourne.
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