The uplifting finish to the 1930s was swiftly undercut by the largely unsuccessful 1940s.

St Kilda slumped to register four wooden spoons between 1940-1949, failing to finish above seventh place for the entire decade and recording a meagre 34 wins and four draws from 174 matches.

Even with the inspiring performances of St Kilda stars Harold Bray, Keith Drinan, Peter Bennett, Allan Killigrew and Keith Miller, the Saints continued to languish down the bottom of the ladder.

It was during this time however that St Kilda surprisingly added its first achievement its long-empty silverware cabinet.

The VFL Lightning Premiership, or Patriotic Premiership, held in 1940 was organised between Rounds 14-15 to raise funds for the wartime effort, which had broken out the year prior.

The one-day knockout competition saw all 12 teams compete in 20-minute matches, with the last team standing awarded a “fine cup” in reverence of their accomplishment. 

Mohr recovered sufficiently from injury to take part in the tournament, playing a hand in steering St Kilda to victories over Hawthorn, Carlton and Richmond.  The round-robin competition raised £3,500 and remained as the Saints’ only acknowledgement of success for another 26 years.

But there would be little cause for celebration as the Second Great War stretched across the ensuing years, with debate about whether Australian Rules football should continue during this time raging across the land.

While football was surrounded in a state of contention during wartime, overseas, it became a uniting force for those far away from their homeland.

The Changi Football League, played at Changi Prison in Singapore, brought in excess of 15,000 Australian prisoners of war together during a time of incomprehensible suffering, with the football league purportedly boasting some of the best talent ever seen.

Among them was two-game Saint Leslie ‘Peter’ Chitty, who championed the competition, even in the worst conditions imaginable.  Chitty was awarded the one and only Changi Brownlow after he led a side of Victorians against the best players across the rest of Australia.  The No. 36 Saint was awarded the medal in front of 10,000 spectators, including his captors, as a sign that the Anzac spirit would never be broken. 

Chitty returned home in 1945, but tragically, not all shared his fate. Ten Saints were killed in service during World War II, including best-and-fairest Harry Comte, who fell at the Battle of Tarakan. 

Back home, St Kilda briefly moved from Junction Oval to Toorak Park when the former ground was commandeered.  It wasn’t the only change, with the club briefly adopting the short-lived moniker of the ‘Panthers’ in 1945. The nickname of the ‘Saints’ was restored shortly afterwards, but it was the only facet the red, white and black were able to rekindle as victories became few and far between.