Best side in 2010

[Vdubs]

Totally disagree with that. I think St.Kilda have an excellent gameplan, that allows their best 6-8 to flourish and keeps the rest to effective roles in the team. Don't forget that they had virtually no injuries all season, so we don't know what their depth is like. King and Gardiner (who both had poor Grand Finals, King's was at least as bad as Blake's in 2008) are both another year older, and both have historically been pretty injury prone.

We also saw Grand Final day what happens when their two tall forwards aren't dominating - they struggle to score (especially in the last quarter). There are more than enough crap teams to ensure they should be up there, and I would expect a top 4 finish. But I'm not prepared to hand them the cup just yet.

I don't know about anyone else, but I think way too much importance is being placed on the word "hunger". Just because they're hungry to atone doesn't mean they will. A motivated crap player is still a crap player. Put a "hungry" Steven Milne next to Ablett and tell them to get the ball. I know who I'd back, hunger or not.

Who from the Saints is really a crap player? They were up at 3/4 time in our GF. Look back at 08 and we had "crap" players everywhere who did turn it around this year. And the guys Saints have recruited could easily displace those players like McQualter, Dempster, Clarke.= Lovett, Peake, +/-Smith ??. We were pretty lucky it wasn't out of our reach by 3/4 time, given the conditions, but we all know what happened and why. We wanted it more and had last year's agony to remind us of how CRAP it does feel to lose. That's what will spur the Saints. They do have the talent everywhere. What chance of another wet GF? If we are all ok and Ablett is still "with us", we should be good enough. But ...

 

[Wheelybin]

Who from the Saints is really a crap player? They were up at 3/4 time in our GF. Look back at 08 and we had "crap" players everywhere who did turn it around this year. And the guys Saints have recruited could easily displace those players like McQualter, Dempster, Clarke.= Lovett, Peake, +/-Smith ??. We were pretty lucky it wasn't out of our reach by 3/4 time, given the conditions, but we all know what happened and why. We wanted it more and had last year's agony to remind us of how CRAP it does feel to lose. That's what will spur the Saints. They do have the talent everywhere. What chance of another wet GF? If we are all ok and Ablett is still "with us", we should be good enough. But ...

I think the difference was our socalled lesser lights were better contributers when it counted than the saints eqivalent players

 

[Vdubs]

I think the difference was our socalled lesser lights were better contributers when it counted than the saints eqivalent players

"our" / Essendon, pls explain

 

[winty]

"our" / Essendon, pls explain

You know what he meant.

The difference between Geelong and St.Kilda on grand final day was that our team across the park was a lot more even than St.Kilda's. If you kept a star like Riewoldt quiet, which we did, they had no-one else to stand up and be counted. Kosi didn't, Milne tried to but didn't, as did Schneider. Whereas with Geelong, SJ was quiet all game, yet Chapman played well, Hawkins continued with his late season improvement and kicked a goal at a crucial time, and Byrnes and Varcoe did their part in the last term when it was required.

People talk about St.Kilda topping up their depth by trading and drafting players like Lovett and Smith. Those players haven't played in the St.Kilda side yet, so have no idea about what is required of them, nor do the Saints know if they could be the same type of players in their system.

Yet Geelong have young players like Gillies, Hogan, Laidler, Gamble, Djerrkura and West waiting in the wings who have been at the club several years, know what the game plan entails, and have all had a taste of senior football, so the players know what's required of them and the coaching staff know what each player can bring to the table if they have to be called upon.

It's all well and good bringing in four or five rejects from other clubs, but if you have them all in the side at the same time trying to adapt to a new game plan, it only takes one of them to do the wrong thing at any given time to bring the whole thing undone. Then there's the impact on the playing group of bringing outsiders in. We all know several of the Saints players weren't exactly members of the Andrew Lovett fan club while he was at the Bombers, and he hasn't exactly endeared himself to the club since he arrived there. What will happen if it gets to the stage that none of the players want to play with him? Looks like a carbon copy of Justin Murphy's stint at Catland several years ago if you ask me.

 

[magic_johnson!]

Selwood?

Doesn't deserve a game IMO

 

[Wheelybin]

"our" / Essendon, pls explain

Point taken let me explain i am geelong born and bred my whole family are geelong and i guess i adopted them it was a slip sorry but i endorse my comments