Time is right for Stanley

[SaintsPremiers08]

Time for Tommy Walsh IMO.
Apparently going very, very well in the 2's.
The kid is a FREAK. Surely would provide more than Kosi

 

[sculls_6]

Time for Tommy Walsh IMO.
Apparently going very, very well in the 2's.
The kid is a FREAK. Surely would provide more than Kosi

Would love to see Tommy Walsh, if for no other reason than to get a glimpse of the future. I think Ross would be far more reluctant to throw in Tommy than Rhys however, confidence is a huge thing for someone who is just learning the game. If he were to come in and have a shocking game it could prove extremely disheartening to the big irishman, whereas for Rhys he would have a greater idea of what he would need to work on to improve.

Fingers crossed we will get a glimpse of Tommy before the end of the season, I don't believe it will happen anytime soon though.

 

[Persevering Saint]

If you want Rhys to end up an injured hack like Kosi, bring him in. He is still quite a few kilos from being ready to be the main target in our forward line. Cahill is stronger, and would be a better option. Stanley's time will come, but seeing him as the next messiah when he's barely 20 and did some cute things in 20 minutes of football during preseason matches - that is just crazy talk.

 

[sculls_6]

If you want Rhys to end up an injured hack like Kosi, bring him in. He is still quite a few kilos from being ready to be the main target in our forward line. Cahill is stronger, and would be a better option. Stanley's time will come, but seeing him as the next messiah when he's barely 20 and did some cute things in 20 minutes of football during preseason matches - that is just crazy talk.

No one is expecting Rhys to be the messiah in any shape or form, if you look at the squad on the weekend he was named on the extended bench and an emergency so obviously the match commitee think he is close. As pointed out earlier we have a fairly soft run coming up in terms of opposition size in the backline and their ability to intimidate and indeed injure opponents. Essendon have a young and maturing backline as does West Coast. I'm not expecting him to come in and dominate, but a tall forward to come in and create a contest for the likes of Milne to crumb is what we need. Milney is looking in terrific nick at the moment, despite the odd brain fade in front of goal, and we need to make the most of this.

 

[Plugger35]

I know Stanley is only 19 (cue Redgum song) and ideally we should let him develop in the VFL this year. However with Riewoldt out and the team crying out for other tall forward options I think we need to take a punt on him.

It's not like he will be the only 19 year old running around at AFL level. Teams like Essendon, Richmond, West Coast, Melbourne, North have a heap of youngsters and most teams have the odd one or two. Even the Dogs played Grant and Roughead against us who would be around the same age.

Stanley looked fine in the NAB Cup and he was up against big bodied experienced AFL players then. He seems a confident kid too and I reckon he would jump at the chance to play AFL and it might be the spark he needs to gain some form.

 

[SaintsSeptember]

Jack Watts - Born 26/3/91 - Debut 2009
Hurley - Born 1/6/90 - Debut 2009
Tyrone Vickery - Born 31/5/90 9 games 2009, all games 2010.
Jackson Trengove ( Port Power) Born 2/11/90, Debut 2010.
Ryan Shoenmakers -Born 8/11/90, Debut 2009.
Phil Davis - Born 30/8/90, Debut 2010.

Tom Lynch - Born 18/9/90 , Yet to debut
Rhys Stanley - Born 1/12/90 , Yet to debut.
Paul Cahill - Born 18/8/90 , Yet to debut.
Nick Heyne - Born 22/7/90 , Yet to debut.

Other teams have obviously decided to be more desperate than the Saints.
No the players above may not have set the world on fire, but in many cases they have filled a role with their team.
Its no big deal to choose a forward that is most match ready and give him a run. It would help if our team could provide a decent supply though.

 

[sainter]

Obviously I can see that we have not been scoring enough. I just think the main reason for this has been the dilution of our backline (in an overcompensation to get our attack going) which then reduces the number of effective forward movements we are able to generate. I am not overly concerned about the personnel we have up forward. Without Riewoldt they lack the obvious target and have to be more discretionary in who they give it to and how they deliver it. It may take us some time but we will get that right. We will become a better team because of it.

My concern is that an opponent has, for the first time in 18 months, invented a way to get through our defence. This is the most vulnerable we have been - effectively with holes blown out of our attack and our defence. To complete the picture, Robert Harvey did a number on our midfield. I just have to admire the man. He is a champion at no matter what he does.

I don't want to make wholesale changes to our squad, but I would like to see a defender with pace developed to fill this gap. If we come up against a similar structure to that of Carlton's in attack, with our current personnel we may have to get Clint Jones to take the most dangerous quick so we can play Steven Baker (who struggled to hold Betts to 5 goals and 21 disposals) on the second quick. Carlton have three quicks in attack and we were forced to put Clarke on one (Yarran) and I'm not even sure who was on Garlett (4 goals) was it Gilbert? If we do rob the midfield of Jones to help out in defence then we will need another midfielder.

I agree that our backline struggled. As I said in my last post it's why we need to end the experiment of throwing our defenders forward and instead select a key forward out of the VFL like Stanley. Let's leave the defenders in the position where they excelled last season.

It's all very well to say that we need a defender with pace to fill the gap but that's not going to happen overnight. We've got Jesse Smith back in the VFL and Alastair Smith played as a rebounding defender according to Squizzy so there are options down the track.

However as I said, that was the first time our defence has been breached in such a major way for a very long time.

As of today, the problem is with our forward structure and kicking a winning score.

Did you read the article in the Herald Sun today?

The statistics since losing Riewoldt speak for themselves:-

- Marks inside 50 - 5.8 (ranked 16th)
- Efficiency (conversion of forward entries into goals) - 21.6 (ranked 16th)

That's worse than Richmond.

With the structure we've gone with in recent weeks I have grave doubts whether we can turn it around. That's why I want to see Goddard forward permanently, I want Kosi moved to the ruck and I want Stanley to make his debut.

It's not to say our midfield hasn't struggled in recent weeks either. In fact we've dropped to 14th in the league with an average of only 45 per game. That doesn't make scoring easy but we're still ranked last for goals once the ball gets in there.

I'm not saying to make wholesale changes either but we do need to change things around.

 

[LordJimmy]

I think a general fitness/mobilty/speed/agilty/form assessment on all players who could have been judged to underperform is in order. Then compare them to players on the sidelines who could fill that role.
I don't think a lot of the team is 100% at the moment. Obviously we aren't playing like it.

 

[RTTF]

Stanley did some lovely things in the NAB Cup, Lyon should give him a shot