Unofficial Preview Round 0 St Kilda vs Collingwood MCG 08-Mar 7:30 pm Selection and Discussion

[Digsby]

If anything I could take out of the Adelaide game is that Sidey needs to be a predominantly a small forward this year especially with Bobby under a uncertain cloud

 

[Harry O]

Could McStay play CHB and West forward ?

 

[Peters_Nuts]

Could McStay play CHB and West forward ?

They way he was clunking them in the praccy match, I think we need him forward.

Saint's backline is their strength so we need to put them under pressure.

 

[Cousin of Daicos]

I’m not expecting much from us in 2026 and St.Kilda will want to come out pretty full on given all their signings

Given we’ll also be missing Moore, Howe and god knows who else by then

I just want us getting games into kids. It’s gonna hurt for a season but it’s for the greater good long term

 

[stormskye]

You know that Walker and Fogarty play taller/stronger than their heights suggest.

And itts not a matter of all three dominating. They just need to create a mismatch so one of them can get off the chain.

I'm looking forward to seeing Cochran though. We need to fast-track a Howe replacement. Hopefully he seizes the opportunity.

Maynard and IQ both play tall and are strong overhead. You are to focussed on match ups. We play team defence, if we are one out in the goal square then that’s because we are losing up the ground. Nobody can curtail thilthorpe he’s a beast. But it’s not about Frampton by himself.

You’ve also mentioned this many times over pre season. End of the day our defence has never been an issue.

It’s the midfield that we’ve gotten beaten in which in turn causes issue for defence. Midfield again will be our issue this season unless degoey stays fit and Long/allan show improvement.

If we allow teams to transition like GWS did in the practice game it wouldn’t matter who our back 6 was. Hopefully that wasn’t a sign of things to come and we tighten up against north

 

[LuckyLee]

Played on him 3 times in 2025. Thilthorpe kicked 1 goal (pretty sure from the Cox 50m penalty in the QF).

Wow, I didn't know that. Great record! Go Bill!

 

[Peters_Nuts]

Wow, I didn't know that. Great record! Go Bill!

Haha to be honest neither did I! I assumed he kicked more.

I think it's less about Bill though and more about our pressure up field. We killed Adelaide in the middle in all three games and our pressure was elite.

If our midfield half forwards are at full strength then we'll be sweet.

 

[sr36]

I can't think of a game where all 3 talls dominated a game. It's usually just Thilthorpe. The other 2 are 193cm and 192cm, hardly giants.

I watched them a bit last year. With bench and ruck rotations, they only really play two of their tall forwards together except for very short periods of the game. And for close to half of it the two talls are Walker and Fog who are lead and mark uncontested more often than doing blokes in the air.

 

[LuckyLee]

Maynard and IQ both play tall and are strong overhead. You are to focussed on match ups. We play team defence, if we are one out in the goal square then that’s because we are losing up the ground. Nobody can curtail thilthorpe he’s a beast. But it’s not about Frampton by himself.

You’ve also mentioned this many times over pre season. End of the day our defence has never been an issue.

It’s the midfield that we’ve gotten beaten in which in turn causes issue for defence. Midfield again will be our issue this season unless degoey stays fit and Long/allan show improvement.

If we allow teams to transition like GWS did in the practice game it wouldn’t matter who our back 6 was. Hopefully that wasn’t a sign of things to come and we tighten up against north

Interesting. You think our midfield is our weakness and I think its our talls at both ends of the ground. Let's hope that we're not BOTH right!

I expect our midfield to be notably stronger this year. A fully-fit Jordy makes us more dangerous and helps take pressure off Nick, as does having Josh and McCreery as on-ballers more often. By all reports, Long has taken another step forward over the pre-season (perhaps even found a bit more speed?) and Allan too, although some doubts on him still remain. Crisp and Perryman can rotate through, and perhaps even Shooter for bursts.

It should be a hell of a lot more dynamic and dangerous than it was at times last year, including a couple of dreary games where we had all of Mitchell, Pendles and Long in the centre square.

 

[stormskye]

Interesting. You think our midfield is our weakness and I think its our talls at both ends of the ground. Let's hope that we're not BOTH right!

I expect our midfield to be notably stronger this year. A fully-fit Jordy makes us more dangerous and helps take pressure off Nick, as does having Josh and McCreery as on-ballers more often. By all reports, Long has taken another step forward over the pre-season (perhaps even found a bit more speed?) and Allan too, although some doubts on him still remain. Crisp and Perryman can rotate through, and perhaps even Shooter for bursts.

It should be a hell of a lot more dynamic and dangerous than it was at times last year, including a couple of dreary games where we had all of Mitchell, Pendles and Long in the centre square.

Not saying our tall stocks don’t need improving but end of the day games are won in the midfield battles. I think Moore will be fine for the saints based off training vids.

 

[Robroy22]

Not saying our tall stocks don’t need improving but end of the day games are won in the midfield battles. I think Moore will be fine for the saints based off training vids.

'Cept the coach said this morning that he and Howe would miss the early rounds.

 

[stormskye]

'Cept the coach said this morning that he and Howe would miss the early rounds.

That’s interesting. Looked pretty good to me. Ah well king isn’t playing so levels the playing field a bit

 

[cfc19902010]

Looking one week past the Saints game for a moment, with Moore and Howe out (and perhaps Reef not back too), who do we imagine standing Thilthorpe, Walker and Fogarty when we play the Crows? Frampton to Thilthorpe, perhaps Maynard to Fogarty and…….???

mcstay has to go back then

 

[Timmy from Thomastown]

Why all the talk about Thilthorpe and Walker? Did they move to StKilda in the off-season and I missed the email?

 

[Fruit]

St Kilda without King and Adelaide at the G followed by a bye gives us a chance of starting well despite having the injured defenders. The fixture definitely could have been worse.

 

[Finnishpie]

I’m not expecting much from us in 2026 and St.Kilda will want to come out pretty full on given all their signings

Given we’ll also be missing Moore, Howe and god knows who else by then

I just want us getting games into kids. It’s gonna hurt for a season but it’s for the greater good long term

Hurt for a season….. I like the optimism. I have us 4 years from competing with the best. Next year will be more pain. Then there’s Tassie and compromised drafts. You have to mix in early draft picks with bringing in top end talent from other teams. We only chose the latter the last couple of years.

 

[JLC]

is Steene a genuine chance to play?

Steene is almost a certain inclusion imo - the new rules and no sub have opened the door for two ruckman. We allowed Mason Cox to leave who played in our finals series.

That told me that the club (we) have faith in Steene.

Saints have potentially one of the best ruck duos in the competition. Then you consider our backline is depleted, so surely Cameron will drop back into defence and help.

Time to pump games into this kid and get his career going.

 

[JLC]

And common sense would say rest Frampton and Maynard this week against the kangaroos.

 

[Pies_10]

Our last two OR games have been very poor, don't expect different tbh unfortunately

 

[thebaldfacts]

Our last two OR games have been very poor, don't expect different tbh unfortunately

Nah, that means we are due to win one

 

[Peters_Nuts]

Our last two OR games have been very poor, don't expect different tbh unfortunately

I think with the bye in round 2, we’ll come out of the blocks stronger for this one. The way we’re managing players in these praccy games tells me we’re locked in on this.

Could be an early statement game against a team that’s gone all in.

 

[Robroy22]

That’s interesting. Looked pretty good to me. Ah well king isn’t playing so levels the playing field a bit

They'll still play at least three talls

 

[timokane]

Weather forecast at this stage some 14 days out.

Cooler conditions SW breezes.

Might in the morning get a light shower or 2.

Mostly cloudy for the game.

On the cool side might get a spot during the game.

Ground might be a tad greasy.

Breezy and might pick up at times.

Cool but nice though wear a light coat and pants type of weather.

 

[domus]

Maynard and IQ both play tall and are strong overhead. You are to focussed on match ups. We play team defence, if we are one out in the goal square then that’s because we are losing up the ground. Nobody can curtail thilthorpe he’s a beast. But it’s not about Frampton by himself.

You’ve also mentioned this many times over pre season. End of the day our defence has never been an issue.

It’s the midfield that we’ve gotten beaten in which in turn causes issue for defence. Midfield again will be our issue this season unless degoey stays fit and Long/allan show improvement.

If we allow teams to transition like GWS did in the practice game it wouldn’t matter who our back 6 was. Hopefully that wasn’t a sign of things to come and we tighten up against north

When 10 or 11 of your starting 23 are missing it's silly to make any judgements on a scratch match like that.

 

[domus]

Steene is almost a certain inclusion imo - the new rules and no sub have opened the door for two ruckman. We allowed Mason Cox to leave who played in our finals series.

That told me that the club (we) have faith in Steene.

Saints have potentially one of the best ruck duos in the competition. Then you consider our backline is depleted, so surely Cameron will drop back into defence and help.

Time to pump games into this kid and get his career going.

He can take a big pack grab. I wouldn't mind seeing Steene in the forward line for ten minutes to see if he can take a grab or two when he is resting from his ruck duties.