Autopsy Round 21, 2021: St.Kilda v Sydney *PRIDE GAME* *COFFIELD 50TH*

[gringo2011]

Yeah his early season form was decent but both Byrnes and Leo have gone past him and their best is now better than his best. This is just my opinion though. Billings has not shown any elite skills for the 2nd half of this season, in fact I'd have him on about par with Ross this season. Give me youthful exuberance ahead of lazy, soft outside football Billings has dished up this year.

Well that sounds a bit like hyperbole. Billing way ahead still. Maybe close to injured Billings. They have more upside but not there yet.

Jack Billings and Leo Connolly AFL Stats Comparison

Jack Billings and Leo Connolly AFL Stats Comparison.

www.footywire.com

Jack Billings and Ryan Byrnes AFL Stats Comparison

Jack Billings and Ryan Byrnes AFL Stats Comparison.

www.footywire.com

 

[Sully111]

The one thing you can’t knock with Ross is effort. And I’m always surprised by his quickness for someone I have been watching for nigh on 10 years.

That clanger at the end was more about no one presenting I thought.

Dunstan looked tired last night. Like he could really benefit from a week off.

Ive never questioned Seb's effort.

 

[Noidenous]

To put this into a bit more perspective, Port Adelaide are going to be two wins clear of 5th, inside the top 4, after this round, yet they’ve only won 2 games against current top 8 teams (v Sydney in Adelaide, and GWS at Marvel), and have lost 5!

Wins v current top 8 teams:

Brisbane- 3 (Port, GWS and Geelong, all at Gabba)
West Coast- 1 (Port, in Perth)
Essendon- 1
Freo- 2 (Sydney and GWS, both in Perth)
Richmond- 3
GWS- 3
Carlton- 0

Don't get too ahead of yourself.

Those 4 games of ours were against the bottom 4 teams of the 8 and will remain so even after today's results.

 

[LennyHayes77]

If Billings is good so there would be Clubs chasing him, but no one else wants him either
Has no hurt factor

That's why I've said we'll be lucky to get a late 2nd rounder for him. Other teams know what they'd get and aren't going out of their way for an ordinary but sometimes solid player!
We either keep him as depth, or just bail and take whatever we can get.

 

[gringo2011]

I'm with you happy to move Billings on, and free up some salary cap and a draft pick and offer Ross no more than $400k if he doesn't want that show him the door. Billings - Ross and Dunstan will take us no where last 6/7 years has shown that, be brave back some youngest in and bring in a couple of players

To be fair we went nowhere because they were literally our best players. When GOPs are your stars that's what you get. If we keep cutting out players we start to get dangerously close to North Melbourne. We won't have much experience as it is. Plan to phase them out but I wouldn't cut the cord yet.

 

[ScrappyDo]

The last thing we need to do is lose 2 genuine regulars. We will most likely lose Dunstan though. Hanners isn’t going anywhere. Why would he.

I moved Hanners to the depth list.
Dunstan will likely be gone, agreed.
JB didn't play last night.
Ross was replaced with Byrnes.

So far as the future goes I'd be taking Coffield and Byrnes and an improved trade/draft hand above JB and Seb. Whilst it does leave us a bit thin on depth next year it's a better long term position.

Each to their own but 2 of our best wins this season were without JB so we clearly don't "need" him for success. Any argument over that just got put firmly to bed last night.

I'd like Dunny to stay though.

 

[LennyHayes77]

Well that sounds a bit like hyperbole. Billing way ahead still. Maybe close to injured Billings. They have more upside but not there yet.

Jack Billings and Leo Connolly AFL Stats Comparison

Jack Billings and Leo Connolly AFL Stats Comparison.

www.footywire.com

Jack Billings and Ryan Byrnes AFL Stats Comparison

Jack Billings and Ryan Byrnes AFL Stats Comparison.

www.footywire.com

Stats aren't everything. I already said Billings early season form was decent. I get he has averaged more disposals than both of them but like I said earlier, it's not a talent issue it's a playstyle issue. Byrnes and Leo just offer a better more exciting brand that is going to pay off more than a slow outside, seagull with slightly above average skills.

 

[Mowman]

To be fair we went nowhere because they were literally our best players. When GOPs are your stars that's what you get. If we keep cutting out players we start to get dangerously close to North Melbourne. We won't have much experience as it is. Plan to phase them out but I wouldn't cut the cord yet.

Don't do what we did with Richo and hold on for to long. Sometimes it pays to be brave and take a chance, maybe 2 of them go and it frees up some money for say a Luke parker type

 

[St Neil]

If Billings is good so there would be Clubs chasing him, but no one else wants him either
Has no hurt factor

Play him as a crumbing forward. Dangerous near goal and regularly bobs up to kick a big goal, especially in close games.

We just have to stop thinking he’s going to transition into the midfield or further up the ground. He’s a weapon close to goal, but not so much away from the big sticks. It is what it is.

 

[gringo2011]

I moved Hanners to the depth list.
Dunstan will likely be gone, agreed.
JB didn't play last night.
Ross was replaced with Byrnes.

So far as the future goes I'd be taking Coffield and Byrnes and an improved trade/draft hand above JB and Seb. Whilst it does leave us a bit thin on depth next year it's a better long term position.

Each to their own but 2 of our best wins this season were without JB so we clearly don't "need" him for success. Any argument over that just got put firmly to bed last night.

I'd like Dunny to stay though.

One game doesn't mean you've arrived though. You need a deep squad to get through 23 games plus finals.

 

[Mowman]

Play him as a crumbing forward. Dangerous near goal and regularly bobs up to kick a big goal, especially in close games.

We just have to stop thinking he’s going to transition into the midfield or further up the ground. He’s a weapon close to goal, but not so much away from the big sticks. It is what it is.

Like the 2 shots that he had in the last quarter against Carlton last week, he misses more often than not

 

[St Neil]

Like the 2 shots that he had in the last quarter against Carlton last week, he misses more often than not

But then you watch the West Coast game at Docklands earlier this year. He bobs up there and scores or is involved in several others.

 

[pebblesofsand]

Very impressive. We can clearly see he has good forward 50 footy IQ but it looks like he is quick off the mark, has a really nice leap, a strong pair of hands and can kick the footy.

His only knock would be that he is light.

Coopers selection is a real feather in the cap of the recruitment department. And when you stand him next to Highmore and Heath it looks like we are finally bringing in players who actually know how to play the role that they will be asked to fill.

It seems like such a simple but effective approach.

Allison is the outlier. We seem to be trying to turn him into something the team needs (a tall back).

The more I see of Wilkie, Highmore and now Sharman the more I have faith in the Allison selection.

The other three were mature agers who had been in the system a while but the recruiters still saw talent.

Allison is very very young, playing back is part of his development. I certainly wouldn't be worried ATM about a young player who has just finished growing, has played bugger all footy in the last 18 months and is effectively starting from scratch.

 

[gringo2011]

Don't do what we did with Richo and hold on for to long. Sometimes it pays to be brave and take a chance, maybe 2 of them go and it frees up some money for say a Luke parker type

I reckon Lethers is brave, He's literally culled down 2/3 of the list since he arrived and more will be going next year. The kids develop better with older guys around them. Under Richo we would have destroyed Sharman and Byrnes types because we would have tried to overload them and train them to play risk free. I'm feeling a lot more positive about next year than I was. Worst case we trade them away if we have too many kids come on. Billings would be at his lowest value right now so shoving him out for pocket change sounds like an unnecessary risk and exactly the type of shit I lose it about every year. Injury will give opportunity, no side gets a clean run at it. You have to have a good pool of talent to pick from. It's different if he wants crazy money but then we would get compensated for that.

 

[plugger66]

It's not a talent issue, it's a play style issue. Billings can average 28 touches by running around by himself on a wing/forward flank. It's the fact he has no defensive pressure, his so called elite skills have dropped right off and he just takes the easy option every time. He isn't bad by any stretch and he certainly could be part of a premiership side but the issue is he doesn't make us better than what we've been the past decade. Leo or Byrnes have the potential to actually elevate us to that next level.

No idea why all 3 can’t play.

 

[CaptainRisky]

Don't do what we did with Richo and hold on for to long. Sometimes it pays to be brave and take a chance, maybe 2 of them go and it frees up some money for say a Luke parker type

Parker has been mentioned on here before , why do you think he would want to come to us ?

 

[plugger66]

Hi early season form is seemingly always better than his late season form. Makes you forget when it comes to trade period that he's not always a meek bedwetter.

Get rid of him.

Losing him doesn’t make us better. It makes us worse. Obviously the club see that.

 

[#gosaintas]

Losing him doesn’t make us better. It makes us worse. Obviously the club see that.

Maybe, maybe not. We'll see.

 

[LennyHayes77]

No idea why all 3 can’t play.

Because he's not best 22 anymore with a full squad to choose from.

 

[plugger66]

I moved Hanners to the depth list.
Dunstan will likely be gone, agreed.
JB didn't play last night.
Ross was replaced with Byrnes.

So far as the future goes I'd be taking Coffield and Byrnes and an improved trade/draft hand above JB and Seb. Whilst it does leave us a bit thin on depth next year it's a better long term position.

Each to their own but 2 of our best wins this season were without JB so we clearly don't "need" him for success. Any argument over that just got put firmly to bed last night.

I'd like Dunny to stay though.

Luckily for us the people in charge of the club don’t just look at 2 games to decide the future of players.

 

[plugger66]

Because he's not best 22 anymore with a full squad to choose from.

Well the club 100% disagree. If it was a choice of Connelly or billings at the moment billings would play every time.

 

[Noidenous]

Luckily for us the people in charge of the club don’t just look at 2 games to decide the future of players.

No, but they do re-sign Richo for 3 years.

 

[Mowman]

Parker has been mentioned on here before , why do you think he would want to come to us ?

I mentioned Parker a few times
One of the fox Footy shows mentioned how much pressure that the Swans Salary Cap is under because of Buddy 2.5 mill over the next 2 years. Parker isn't signed and and its rnd 22 he is getable. If we got Parker and moved 2 of Ross Billings Dunstan on it would be a win imo, Parker has missed 1 game in 5years they said last night. Why would he come to us ? $$$ and maybe he wants to come home

 

[ScrappyDo]

One game doesn't mean you've arrived though. You need a deep squad to get through 23 games plus finals.

To me its a simple equation with a fit squad.
JB, Seb, Dunny V's Byrnes, Coff, Bytel

I'll put money that the latter 3 end up better players than the former and so it's a matter of other considerations. If it means we get a CHB from trading or perhaps another FRDP off the Dogs or the like then you'd be mad not to.

 

[pebblesofsand]

Spoke to someone at the club regarding Allison, asked about the drafting strategy behind it. Was told he was incredibly raw, but showed some serious traits of being an excellent CHB as a junior and its starting to show now. Apparently his ability to out position an opponent one on one is elite.

His coach at Calder Cannons was going to play him across hb to help his development.


Allison is another that could blossom in a professional environment.

The Strathmore junior has an elite running capacity of his size and has been working closely with Geelong premiership star and outgoing Calder talent manager Tom Lonergan.

“Matt has really come into calculations after playing half the season as a 17-year-old in 2019,” Smith said.

“He runs a 6.25 2km, so he’s got an unbelievable running capacity, and he really grew – he’s up to 195cm.

“He showed a lot in the three practice games, we played him deep forward, his capable of playing on a wing and we were going to play him across half-back this year to expand his range.

“He’s trained his guts out this year, done a power of work with Tom Lonergan through 2019 and into 2020, and with his tank and speed he’s a really interesting prospect.”