Premiership put an end to merger talk: Elliott Former Carlton president John Elliott. Photo: Andrew De La Rue Former Carlton president John Elliott says it was only the success of Carlton that scuppered merger bids with St Kilda and North Melbourne in the 1990s. "It wasn't going to be a takeover, it was going to be a merger," Elliott told SEN on Wednesday, referring to the little-known St Kilda deal. We had to play our home games at Princes Park and for our away games we'd wear the St Kilda uniform. And basically the board was going to be 50-50 - half Carlton, half St Kilda. It was done very amicably and you've got to remember back in those days the AFL was offering incentives for mergers. Elliott was responding to revelations from the soon-to-be-released Russell Holmseby history of St Kilda, Strength Through Loyalty, that Carlton had tried to pay St Kilda's debt and merge with it in order to grab stars Tony Lockett and Nicky Winmar. Holmesby quotes late St Kilda president Travis Payze as saying, "You can imagine how long the St Kilda badge would have lasted!" But Elliott painted Carlton's suitors as happily reconciled to joining the Blues, only for premiership success to derail the plans. It was the beginning of '95 and, of course, the reason we couldn't proceed was because it was the best season Carlton's ever had and we finished up winning the premiership. And the St Kilda president, Andrew Plympton, he and I got on very well. He said, 'I just can't get this over the line, they'll all see it as a takeover, because you're playing so well, we're not going at all well'. Carlton's original merger target had been North Melbourne. Elliott said former Kangaroos president Bob Ansett "stymied" the first bid, but the late Ron Casey put the deal back on the table in 1999 Elliott said Carlton abandoned its entreaties to other clubs because the AFL changed its policy. Instead of wanting clubs to merge they basically decided they were going to expand the competition.