Prediction Changes for Saints

[Saintly Viewed]

Premiership player.
Better than you.
And unfortunately, me.

All true.

But same with Blair.

You’re not exactly kind when it suits you...

 

[Saintly Viewed]

Because we had a lot of top end talent and were very well coached. Dawes was a decent second forward for 1.5 years, but let's not pretend he was any more than an average forward at best. Not every premiership player is a star.

Mario Bortolotto was on TWO winning flag teams, an a more average conveyance is hard to find.

 

[grayza2018]

Happy with the ins, I'm on the Browny bandwagon so a shame to see him miss but I also know he had a quiet one last week so was on the cusp.

A few commenting on Howe forward - I hope not. Looking at the match ups, Howe could potentially do his own thing down back Saturday as third man up, take 20 marks and with his kicking, why wouldn't we have him setting up? Assuming he plays...

 

[Kick It 2 Me]

A saint on their knees...

Better a saint than a priest.

 

[Rusty Beam]

Given Carlisle is out I hope Mason drags Brown to the goal square.

With Brownies penchant for holding the man we could get half a dozen easy shots at goal.

 

[Scritchyscroony]

So who will be the late out for Blair?

 

[Scritchyscroony]

No worse than watching Mayne run on a treadmill constantly being second to the ball.

It's weird but I recall the Freo Mayne as having a lot of toe and doing chase down tackles. Now he looks like he's running up sand dunes all the time. Head bobbing around everywhere. With his inability to kick over 40m as well it's as if he's had multiple ACLS or chronic o.p. or something that has taken all the power out of his legs.

 

[Big Bryza]

Howe was a poor Melbourne forward.

If the opportunity arises to try him as a Collingwood forward then I support that move.

He played forward in his first half dozen games or so at Collingwood, and was still no good at it.

He's a perfect modern day defender. Wouldn't be against Langdon going forward.

 

[Big Bryza]

Well 3 Things Caused That.

1. Bucks Trying to make him Like Leigh Brown
2. Heard Surgery on his Hand(That Stuffed Them(
3. Going to Melbourne when they where a Joke

4. He had one good season mixed in with a lot of ordinary footy. If he was any good he would still be playing AFL.

 

[Scodog10]

A lot of inflection going on in this thread so just for another look what do we think of the Saints lineup? For mine it’s probably the weakest St Kilda line up since 2014.

They have five guys with sub ten games to their name that you can’t really judge yet (Clark, Coffield, Phillips, Rice and Marshall), a sprinkling of decent types like Membrey, Hickey, Webster, Gresham, Billings, Sinclair, Newnes, Dunstan, Steele and Savage, two A-B graders in Ross and Steven and the rest in Geary, Brown, Weller, Lonie and Armitage (due to injury) are bottom 6 types.

Structurally it’s the type of matchup on paper that holds no fears ala North late 2017 because if you bring the intensity and competitiveness you get the job done. IMO, it makes for your traditional Collingwood under Buckley frustration game where the players aren’t able to self motivate for whatever reason, they switch off at crucial times, make stupid decisions and give them a sniff instead of killing the contest.

This is the week to play as we did v Geelong in the first half. St Kilda’s intercept game isn’t strong without Roberton and Carlisle who carved us up last year so controlled ball movement as long as you’re hitting targets until your I75 is where it’s at as Brisbane did against us. Give ourselves deep entries to put the defenders under pressure and limit the damage they do from front half turnovers.

In terms of the result the momentum and stats will be with us most of the night, but I don’t expect the scoreboard to reflect it and would be surprised if the margin is greater than 4 goals either way. Also the late out to give Blair another shot, Phillips.

 

[jmac70]

Makes you blind though.

I liked Dawes, but he declined rapidly unfortunately.

 

[jonbe54]

I liked Dawes, but he declined rapidly unfortunately.

Agree always had hard hands and after the op was horrendous mark.

 

[BringouttheGimp]

I liked Dawes, but he declined rapidly unfortunately.

We got pick 18 from Melbourne for Dawes didn't we?

Unfbelievable re.

 

[MyManLynch]

I liked Dawes, but he declined rapidly unfortunately.

All I know is that he’s a Premiership player who contributed when it counted...
His Grandchildren will be proud...

 

[jonbe54]

All I know is that he’s a Premiership player who contributed when it counted...
His Grandchildren will be proud...

I think most of the angst can be traced to that tragic term 'potential'. We all saw what he was capable of in '10. But even at the height of his powers he was never a strong mark, coaches worked that out and planned for him accordingly.

A shame really - one of those coulda-beens, but as you say he had at least one year at the top of the tree and earned his medallion.

 

[BringouttheGimp]

I think most of the angst can be traced to that tragic term 'potential'. We all saw what he was capable of in '10. But even at the height of his powers he was never a strong mark, coaches worked that out and planned for him accordingly.

A shame really - one of those coulda-beens, but as you say he had at least one year at the top of the tree and earned his medallion.

I never thought he was a good player to be honest.. when he was out of form he was awful..

He was important in 2010.. that's what matters most.

 

[Timmy from Thomastown]

Not sure why we have a revisit of the Dawes abuse here. If anyone cares, I'm in the group that saw a very good forward destroyed by a hand injury that crippled his great marking. All he had then was a good sense for knock ons and a solid capacity as a hefty ground player. Not enough at his size, but he always gave 100%. When he lost confidence in his kicking it was all over.

A hand injury should not be career destroying. Back in 2011 we all hoped he'd be back to his best after it properly healed but it never happened. He just wasnt that good as it turned out.

And yes he was a clever team key forward and was a good solid contributor when we were a very good team.

 

[Finnishpie]

Daicos. Was carry over emergency last week and has been in good form. Can play on a wing/half forward and is a beautiful, and damaging kick. Much better on a wing.

He’s definitely the future. I wonder if he’s the present yet. And also, I’ve never seen him play on the wing - isn’t he usually in the forward line at vfl level? But the one thing the selection committee are is stubborn. A touch too stubborn for me.

 

[Finnishpie]

I think most of the angst can be traced to that tragic term 'potential'. We all saw what he was capable of in '10. But even at the height of his powers he was never a strong mark, coaches worked that out and planned for him accordingly.

A shame really - one of those coulda-beens, but as you say he had at least one year at the top of the tree and earned his medallion.

He dominated Reiwoldt in one of those finals. But it’s more a question of the game moving on rather than him not reaching potentential - he’s the defensive equivalent of paddy MacArtin. The game just doesn’t favour big bears anymore.

 

[Finnishpie]

There are a number of young players pushing for AFL selection that have form in the VFL. Pick anyone of them that you like and they will do just as good a job as Mayne but have the potential to improve unlike Mayne.

I would consider more than one young player replacing Mayne over the duration of the season and have little doubt it will impact the clubs ability to win games.

My guess is that at some stage we’ll see Sier replace Mayne - but only after Mayne plays a bad game or two. So that’s what we’re waiting for.

 

[Adz]

Anything other than a 6 goal win would be a disappointment. This is the worse team in the comp.

 

[jmac70]

Anything other than a 6 goal win would be a disappointment. This is the worse team in the comp.

I don’t know if they are the worst but we should win this comfortably. That being said I will take the four points gratefully.

 

[Timmy from Thomastown]

He played forward in his first half dozen games or so at Collingwood, and was still no good at it.

He's a perfect modern day defender. Wouldn't be against Langdon going forward.

Shaz.

 

[Vicky Park]

Very overrated by some too it seems. Had 1.5 good seasons and got a ludicrous contract from Melbourne for it.

And has since publicly admitted to being a bit embarrassed about it.

I've always liked Dawes for his sense of humour; and he knew he wasnt a great footballer.

 

[Vicky Park]

Really pleased to see Langdon back. He improves the way we play defence.