NBL EXPERIENCE

Santo Chirico made his NBL debut with the St. Kilda Saints on 1/3/1980. He scored two points in his first game.

After claiming the NBL’s first title in 1979, St Kilda reshaped its group for a 1980 repeat bid, with Robbie Cadee, Ian Manson, Peter Vitols, Neville Beer and Barry Bird no longer around, but Brian Kerle still anchored by returning locals Tony Barnett, Danny Morseu and Larry Sengstock, plus Steve Breheny, Gary Voss and Alan Mikkor.

To boost the scoring and add depth, the Saints imported Rocky Smith, added Ken Burbridge, and brought in Dean Templeton (via Nunawading) before later reinforcing the run home with Mike Slusher (12.3 ppg).

St Kilda opened the season on 3 February with a 74–68 loss to Wollongong at Albert Park, then bounced back with a 109–70 win over Canberra and road wins over Newcastle (88–86) and City of Sydney (84–71).

On 2 March at Beaton Park, the Saints beat Wollongong 101–83 as Smith erupted for 46 points, with Burbridge (21 points) and Barnett (16 points) providing support.

The ladder battle with West Adelaide went to the wire, and St Kilda dropped the final regular season game 88–90 on 7 June at Albert Park despite Smith (39 points) and Barnett (12 points), as Ken Richardson (31 points) and Rick Hodges (21 points) led the Bearcats.

Both teams finished 17–5, but St Kilda held top spot after splitting the season series 1–1 and keeping the points advantage from their earlier win to enter the Launceston finals as the number one seed.

St Kilda’s offence ran through Smith (33 ppg), supported by Morseu (18.5 ppg) and Barnett (14.9 ppg), with Slusher (12.3 ppg), Sengstock (9.3 ppg) and Burbridge (9.2 ppg) providing multiple options, while Santo Chirico saw minimal playing time as an injury replacement, appearing in four games and averaging 0.5 ppg.

At season’s end, Morseu earned All-NBL First Team selection, while Smith collected the league’s Most Valuable Player award despite missing All-NBL First Team honours.

In the semi-final on 14 June, St Kilda defeated Nunawading 101–77 behind Smith (32 points) and Barnett (15 points), with the Spectres led by Gary Fox (21 points) and Alan Black (18 points).

In the Grand Final on 15 June, St Kilda secured back-to-back titles with a 113–88 win over West Adelaide as Smith (26 points) led the way, supported by Morseu (19 points), Slusher (18 points), Sengstock (16 points) and Barnett (14 points).

West Adelaide leaned on Hodges (27 points), Richardson (20 points) and Trevor Maddiford (18 points), but St Kilda’s depth again proved the difference.

Santo Chirico played one season in the NBL. He averaged 0.5 points, 0 rebounds, and 0 assists in 4 NBL games.