Over the past three weeks, SAINTS.com.au has been running a hugely popular series of articles that have detailed Russell Holmesby's top 25 Saints of all time in countdown format. 

The list has ignited plenty of healthy debate over the summer period and also illustrated just how many great Saints players have pulled on the red, white and black guernsey since 1897. 

To answer your questions about the list, Holmesby will be hosting a LIVE Twitter chat on Tuesday evening, 8pm EST. In the meantime, here is his reasoning for placing some players higher than others. 

I am sticking to the order of the initial 20 who had completed their careers by 1995. In that original list I rated Colin Watson at No.4, Bill Mohr at No.5 and Dave McNamara at No.6.

I did  that on the basis of Colin Watson being rated so highly by his contemporaries from other clubs. Mohr was regularly chosen as the Victorian spearhead in the greatest era of full-forwards in the 1930s and McNamara was the most dominant forward of his time  – a Wayne Carey-like standing in the early part of the 20th century.

I have opted to include Robert Harvey, Nick Riewoldt, Lenny Hayes, Nathan Burke, Nicky Winmar and Stewart Loewe from the modern times with the expansion of my “squad” to 25. Robert Harvey was already ranked at 17 two decades ago and this was before he won back-to-back Brownlow Medals.

Join St Kilda Football Club Historian Russell Holmesby for a LIVE Twitter chat on Tuesday evening, 8pm EST.

So where do we include the modern greats?

I maintain that Ian Stewart, Tony Lockett and Darrel Baldock are the greatest St Kilda footballers of all time. Some, including Stewie himself, will argue with that order and in truth the box trifecta could have been arranged in any order and still been appropriate.

I believe that three of the modern era can realistically be placed just beneath Stewie, Plugger and Doc at the top of the pyramid. Robert Harvey, Nick Riewoldt and Lenny Hayes will forever be regarded as giants at this club, and like the top three, an argument could be reasonably mounted for any alternate order.  

Meanwhile, it is significant that Bob Murray, Bill Cubbins and Danny Frawley were not in the original 20. The poor old backmen are often overlooked and it is a blight I attempted to rectify, but couldn't quite squeeze them into the top 25. If my list was extended to 30, all three would undoubtedly feature, probably alongside Stephen Milne and Barry Breen.

It is a powerful collection of talent and when you see names like Stewart Loewe and Nicky Winmar at No.24 and No.25 you realise just how many great players we have produced.

I could say that no correspondence will be entered into, but I know that is a futile request. Join me for a Twitter chat TONIGHT to continue the discussion. 

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TOP 25 AS AT 2015

  1. Ian Stewart (1)
  2. Tony Lockett (2)
  3. Darrel Baldock (3)
  4. Robert Harvey (17)
  5. Nick Riewoldt (-)
  6. Lenny Hayes (-)
  7. Colin Watson (4)
  8. Bill Mohr (5)
  9. Dave McNamara (6)
  10. Carl Ditterich (7)
  11. Alan Morrow (8)
  12. Harold Bray (9)
  13. Verdun Howell (10)
  14. Jim Ross (11)
  15. Neil Roberts (12)
  16. Ross Smith (13)
  17. Wels Eicke (14)
  18. Nathan Burke (-)
  19. Vic Cumberland (15)
  20. Brian Gleeson (16)
  21. Trevor Barker (18)
  22. Daryl Griffiths (19)
  23. Kevin Neale (20)
  24. Stewart Loewe (-)
  25. Nicky Winmar (-)

TOP 20 AS AT 1995

  1. Ian Stewart 
  2. Tony Lockett 
  3. Darrel Baldock 
  4. Colin Watson
  5. Bill Mohr
  6. Dave McNamara
  7. Carl Ditterich
  8. Alan Morrow
  9. Harold Bray
  10. Verdun Howell
  11. Jim Ross
  12. Neil Roberts
  13. Ross Smith
  14. Wels Eicke
  15. Vic Cumberland
  16. Brian Gleeson
  17. Robert Harvey
  18. Trevor Barker
  19. Daryl Griffiths
  20. Kevin Neale