FROM Roy Cazaly to Trent Dennis-Lane, St Kilda and the Sydney/South Melbourne Swans share an extensive and rich history.

Both founding members of the VFL in 1897, the fluidity of movement between the two clubs for 116 years is astounding.

Initially the mutual connection between South Melbourne and St Kilda was geographically based, nowadays it is largely coincidental.

Tony Lockett was arguably the most high-profile trade of the 1990’s, moving from St Kilda to Sydney at the conclusion of the 1994 AFL season. Two years prior, he booted 15 goals against his future team in a 53-point victory.

In fact, Lockett’s career record for St Kilda versus Sydney is better than any other team he played against; kicking a staggering 112 goals in just 17 games.

In a similar vein to Lockett, Barry Hall left the Saints for the Harbour city in 2001. In his last match for St Kilda, Hall booted a goal after the siren to defeat Hawthorn at the MCG.

In recent times, Adam Schneider, Sean Dempster and Dennis-Lane have all gone the other way, arriving at Seaford from Sydney.

Jayson Daniels moved back and forth between St Kilda and Sydney in the mid 1990’s, as did Paul Morwood in the 1980’s. Morwood was involved in a legal dispute which ultimately led to the AFL abolishing the zoning rules that had been an integral part of recruitment for 90 years.

Also heavily involved in this bitter legal wrangle was Silvio Foschini, another player who moved from Sydney to St Kilda. Remarkably, Foschini, Morwood and Lockett all debuted for the Saints in the same game; Lockett as a fresh-faced 17 year-old and the other two as established league footballers.

Roy Cazaly is one of the most recognisable names in football. He too was a product of the Saints and South Melbourne. The high-flyer played 99 matches for each club, and coached South Melbourne for 52 games in two stints, 15 years apart.

In addition to his playing ability, ‘Up there, Cazaly’ became an Australian battle cry during WWII, and later became the name of a song released by Mike Brady and the Two-Man Band in 1979, thus immortalising Cazaly’s legacy in the game.

Vic Nankervis, a rover in the 1940s is one of 24 VFL/AFL players to play for four league clubs. St Kilda was his third club in just his third season and after seven games and six goals he moved to Geelong for two years before joining South Melbourne in 1946.

However, the association doesn’t just rest with the players. Ian Stewart, a three-time Brownlow Medallist and member of the St Kilda team of the century coached South Melbourne in two spells. (1976-77 & 1979-81).

Saints coach Scott Watters, like Stewart, shares a bilateral association with Sydney having played 37 games for the Swans in 1993-94 before moving back to Perth.

In 1913, George Sparrow coached the Saints to their first ever Grand Final; a 13-point loss to Fitzroy. Sparrow is significant in this narrative because he was the first man to play for both St Kilda and South Melbourne, before returning to St Kilda to coach in three separate stints. (1913, 1920 and 1928-29).