ST KILDA’S first round draft pick Jack Billings has been handed number 15 next season.
The jumper has a strong history at St Kilda, with 1966 premiership players Ian Cooper and Jeffrey Moran both playing 100 games in the number. Cooper is widely regarded to have been one of the best players on the ground in the one-point win over Collingwood.
Meanwhile, Shane Savage has been handed the coveted number five guernsey today following the departure of Ben McEvoy in October.
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The 22-year-old is just one of a number of players who will wear a new number in 2014, following an active trade, draft and free agency period which further re-shaped an evolving list.
Austinn Jones played 204 matches from 1995-2005 in the number that was made most famous by triple Brownlow medallist Ian Stewart. Savage wore number 21 in each of his 56 games at Hawthorn.
In other news, Billy Longer will wear No.18 after playing nine games in No.5 at the Brisbane Lions. Brendon Goddard and Kevin “Cowboy” Neale are the two most famous Saints to forge careers wearing number 18.
Neale played 256 matches in the guernsey, while Goddard wore 18 for 205 games before moving to Essendon at the end of 2012.
Key defender Luke Delaney will wear 21 after donning the number 31 at North Melbourne. 1966 premiership player Jim Read is the most well-known former Saint to don 21.
Jason Blake’s retirement opened the door for Josh Bruce to claim 27, while the Saints’ second draft pick Luke Dunstan will wear number 36.
36 is the only number under 40 not to be represented by a St Kilda 100-game player, and Dunstan now has an opportunity to etch his name in St Kilda history with a long and successful career in the guernsey.
Blake Acres will wear number 40 – replacing Jordan Staley who was delisted in October. No Saint has ever played 100 games wearing the number 40.
Tom Curren, Spencer White and Maverick Weller have each replaced household St Kilda names wearing numbers 26, 23 and 44 following the retirements of Justin Koschitzke and Stephen Milne in addition to the departure of Nick Dal Santo.
New numbers:
5. Shane Savage
15. Jack Billings
18. Billy Longer
21. Luke Delaney
23. Spencer White
26. Tom Curren
27. Josh Bruce
36. Luke Dunstan
40. Blake Acres
43. Eli Templeton (Rookie)
44. Maverick Weller (Rookie)
45 Jason Holmes (International Rookie)
46 Joe Baker-Thomas (International Scholarship)
