It's hard to know what St Kilda has done to upset the footy gods up there in the great goalsquare in the sky, but the club's reputation as the great oddballs, misfits and accident-prone eccentrics of football continues to grow apace.

Now the club captain Nick Riewoldt - a man admired the competition over for his decency and intelligence - is drawn into a squalid situation where a naked photograph taken of him by a teammate is posted on the internet by a woman whom he says he has never met but who stole the images from the teammate's computer. Or something like that. Still following this? Only St Kilda could conjure a storyline so weirdly off-the-wall.

We know the Saints have won one flag in 113 years of top-line competition, a notable run of under-achievement. We also know in the matter of partying, carousing, rabble-rousing, attracting trouble and unwanted headlines, they are out there in a league of their own. Theirs is a history strewn with mishaps.

Maybe the feng shui was all wrong at Moorabbin, especially that part up near the club disco. Maybe Tony Lockett hit a black cat when he threw that crutch at a TV crew. Maybe Molly Meldrum not just wore his hat indoors but walked under a Linton St ladder. Maybe Robbie Muir broke a mirror, Robert Harvey opened an umbrella indoors, and Cowboy Neale spilled salt on his post-match dim sims.

Maybe their one and only premiership was achieved on Friday 13th - well, with the Saints, anything's possible ...

Just how can a club, one of the VFL originals in 1897, have produced such a profound record of mediocrity? A record on the field that involves finishing last more often than any other club in the league, having the lowest all-time win percentage of any team still playing in the league, and producing the lowest score ever in a VFL/AFL match, one point against Geelong (who scored 162).

Which is not meant to mock them. Because the AFL would certainly be duller place without those Sainters marching in, those maddening mavericks doing their own thing. Backed by just about the most feral fans in footydom, the club has often added a dash of colour to a bland landscape, fielding the likes of Trevor Barker, Lockett, Darrell Baldock, Ian Stewart and Riewoldt himself.

But even under the reign of Ross Lyon, as straight a shooter as there's been, things have gone awry more often than anyone at Moorabbin would like.

In letting go former captain Luke Ball at the end of 2009, and picking up Andrew Lovett, the Saints not just gave away a player who would go on to play a pivotal role in Collingwood's 2010 premiership team but took on a troubled soul who, no sooner had he arrived, was arrested for public drunkenness.

Much worse was to come on Christmas Eve, when the club learnt that Lovett was under investigation for an alleged sexual assault. The Saints then sacked Lovett, who did not play a game.

As a trade, it might go down as one of the worst in history.

Last May, two Saints players were under investigation for allegedly having sex with a teenage schoolgirl, who became pregnant.  

Then there was the allegations of rape against Steven Milne and Leigh Montagna six years ago, a case which reared its head again this year.

St Kilda gloriously and memorably won the premiership in 1966. Since then, the Saints led the 1971 grand final at three-quarter time before being overrun by Hawthorn. Then they went into the 1997 GF as overwhelming favourites but found a way to lose to Adelaide. But for some shocking goalkicking and lack of poise when it mattered, they might have won the 2009 flag against Geelong.

Then, in the dying moments of the first Grand Final this year - after brilliantly and bravely fighting their way back into the game - Stephen Milne ran on to a loose ball in the right forward pocket at the city end, only needing a half-decent bounce for him to take possession and kick the winning goal. But it bounced on its end, veered sharply right and trickled through the points. The moment had passed, opportunity gone.

So entering a new season, how will Gilbert's relationship with his captain be affected? Not to mention his relationship with Zac Dawson and Nick Dal Santo, the other players who feature in the shots. How will the team chemistry be impacted? How can Ross Lyon get the harmony and good karma back after such a destructive few days? Will this very St Kilda story end in tears?

Still, it is said you can break a bad luck spell by turning seven times in a clockwise circle. Maybe Lyon should think about adding that to the pre-season training routine.