Southern Melbourne Saints
Established	1979
Final Season	1991
Former Home Venue	Melbourne Sports and Entertainment Centre, Melbourne Melbourne Melbourne is the capital and most populous city in the state of Victoria, and the second most populous city in Australia. The Melbourne City Centre is the hub of the greater metropolitan area and the Census statistical division—of which "Melbourne" is the common name. As of June 2009, the greater...
Team Colours	Black, White and Red
Championships	1979, 1980
Team History	St Kilda Saints (1979-1986) Westside Melbourne Saints (1987-1990) Southern Melbourne Saints (1991) South East Melbourne Magic (1992-1998) Victoria Titans (1998/99-2001) Victoria Giants (2002-2004)

The Southern Melbourne Saints, previously known as the St Kilda Saints and the Westside Melbourne Saints, were an Australia

Australia

Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

n basketball

Basketball

Basketball is a team sport in which two teams of five players try to score points by throwing or "shooting" a ball through the top of a basketball hoop while following a set of rules...

 team, that played in Melbourne, Victoria, in the National Basketball League

National Basketball League (Australia)

The National Basketball League, also known as the iiNet NBL Championship for sponsorship reasons, is the pre-eminent men's professional basketball league in Australasia....

.

The Saints were one of the ten inaugural, foundation clubs of the NBL that competed in the league's first season in 1979, operating out of Albert Park Stadium at the time. The St Kilda Saints finished the 1979 season in first place and became the first champions of the league defeating the Canberra Cannons

Canberra Cannons

The Canberra Cannons were a basketball team competing in the Australian National Basketball League. They went into financial administration in 2003 and were relocated to Newcastle, where they became the Hunter Pirates...

 94-93. Larry Sengstock

Larry Sengstock

Larry Sengstock is a retired Australian basketball player and the current CEO of Basketball Australia and NBL....

, NBL Hall of Famer, won the inaugural Grand Final MVP award

NBL (Australia) Most Valuable Player - Grand Final

The Larry Sengstock Medal is awarded to the Most Valuable Player of the Grand Final series.* 1979 Larry Sengstock * 1980 Rocky Smith The Larry Sengstock Medal is awarded to the Most Valuable Player of the Grand Final series.* 1979 Larry Sengstock (St. Kilda Saints)* 1980 Rocky Smith The Larry...

, which has now known as the "Larry Sengstock Medal". The Saints repeated their success in 1980, once again finishing in first place and by successfully defending their championship against the West Adelaide Bearcats

West Adelaide Bearcats

The West Adelaide Bearcats are a semi-professional basketball team competing in the Australian Basketball Association.-NBL:The West Adelaide Bearcats was a foundation club in the NBL which merged with the Adelaide 36ers in 1985. Founded in 1946, it won the NBL championship 80–74 against the Geelong...

. In 1981, finished in first position for a third straight season, but did not compete in the NBL finals. Instead they opted to compete in the 1981 World Club Championships. The team never regained this level of success. During this period, although the club was represented throughout in all the various age-grouped competitions down to the Under 10's, coached by Denis Towers, their highly successful senior side was coached by Brian Kerle.

In 1988 the St Kilda Saints (like the Coburg Giants) changed their name to incorporate a wider area of Melbourne rather than just the suburb of St Kilda

St Kilda, Victoria

St Kilda is an inner city suburb of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 6 km south from Melbourne's central business district. Its Local Government Area is the City of Port Phillip...

. For the next three years the team would be known as the "Westside Melbourne Saints". In 1991 the team would once again change their name, this time to the "Southern Melbourne Saints", however, this would be the final year the club would exist as the Saints.

Prior to the 1992, the Southern Melbourne Saints merged with their cross-town rivals, the Eastside Spectres, to become the South East Melbourne Magic

South East Melbourne Magic

The South East Melbourne Magic were an Australian basketball team, that played in Melbourne, Victoria, in the National Basketball League. The team was the result of a merger of two Melbourne clubs for the 1992 season...

. After a further merger and further financial difficulty, the last club in this lineage of clubs (the Victoria Giants) folded in 2004.

Honour Roll

NBL Championships:	1979, 1980
NBL Finals Appearances:	3
NBL Grand Final Appearances:	2 (1979, 1980)
NBL Most Valuable Players:	Rocky Smith (1980)
NBL Grand Final MVPs:	Larry Sengstock Larry Sengstock Larry Sengstock is a retired Australian basketball player and the current CEO of Basketball Australia and NBL....  (1979), Rocky Smith (1980)
All-NBL First Team:	Rocky Smith (1981), Phil Smyth Phil Smyth Philip John Smyth AM is an Australian former basketball player and former three time championship winning head coach of the National Basketball League's Adelaide 36ers.-Professional career:... (1982)
NBL Coach of the Year:	None
NBL Rookie of the Year:	None
NBL Most Improved Player:	Andrew Parkinson (1991)
NBL Best Defensive Player:	Phil Smyth (1982)
NBL Best Sixth Man:	Jason Smith (1998)