Changes vs North Melbourne

[stkildathunda]

OUT: Siposs, Lenny, Fisher
IN: Ledger, Saunders, Curren


Lenny out injured, Siposs cos he is playing injured and cant run out game. Put him back into VFL to work on his fitness base. Fisher out cos he couldnt give stuff and needs serious wakeup call. We need more guts in middle, hence all the ins. All 3 can rest up forward as small forward. Maister stays in cos Lee aint fit enough yet as he's coming back from injury.

 

[Defacto]

Laid some very important tackles and spoils though. Made contest on several occasions and made opponent fumble mark etc. though he was alright considering coming on as sub is one hardest things to do.

he's so composed. has a bit of the young player syndrome where he can get caught being a passenger watching the play unfold, but i think he has to stay in IMO. getting better with each game

problem is we have so many like him that play in the back half, which means either geary or wright needs to be pushed into the middle or we drop someone like a dempster or gwilt

 

[Defacto]

Completely agree. I'm not a big fan of babying the young blokes either, when times get tough they can't get into the habit of looking for Hayes, Jones, Dal etc forever because soon they're not going to be there. The kids will learn, and while it might cost us a game or two here and there in time it will pay off. Let's face it, we're going to have to be patient.

In: Armo, Wright, Saunders.
Out: Jones, Maister/Hickey, Hayes.

Jones was a late in for Armo, if Armo is right then that's an obvious swap. Maister/Hickey, pick one. Hayes injured?

Would've liked to have got Murdoch in there but couldn't think of another out. Newnes maybe, just doesn't get enough of the ball but young players are going to have their ups and downs but we need to persist with them. Dunell is another I'd love to get in there but we've just got too many back flankers playing so can't get him in.

exactly

this is what i absolutely love about watters coaching right now. he is willing to take the heat and pressure now, to build a better future. theres absolutely nothing to be gained from winning games off the boot of dal, lenny, roo, jones, monty etc, because as you say they will be gone pretty soon

a win from the kids standing up is worth 10 fold a win from the older blokes. lets remember the pies game and how good it was with the kids standing up to 3 qtr time

 

[Confuscius]

I'm willing to irrationally place our bad performances of late on the absence of Wright. He's played 5 games and one of them was a poor result, he gets injured and suddenly we look rubbish. Get well soon Wright!

 

[boydie]

In: Armo, Ledger, Saunders, maybs Curren (Is this the time to do it?)
Out: Maister, Hayes, Ray, maybs CJ (I know people going to complain, but CJ is a downgrade on geary playing run with role and cannot be in the future plans as his disposal is just not AFL level and costs us too much)

1. Big Ben to play as Key forward for most of match (He is too slow to play CHB as some have proposed), should clunk few pack marks and kick a few, obviously can give chop out too Hickey. Also plant Milne at Big Bens feet, tip rat will be in his element scooping up any missed clunks from big ben
2. Therefore Hickey into the #1 ruck, might actually get first use to our mids
3. rotate, rotate, rotate through the midfield. all the kids get them in there for quick bursts with rests up forward

 

[CHBench]

In: About 3 or 4 mids
Out: Dont care. Actually I do, not mids.

Backline is going to get destroyed by Petrie/Daw/Black anyway, so might as well try and attack their foot speed. Not much else to do really.

 

[SaintsSeptember]

CJ came to the Saints and ( while he was 24) rapidly became the best tagger in the AFL.
While Geary is good at it , his skills are way above CJ's. How would Curran or Ledge go as taggers, have they got good tanks?

 

[Persevering Saint]

I'm struggling to see a point in discussing changes this week. Fact is, we all know essentially what needs to happen - we might argue about the finer details, but we all see the problems, and some of the solutions. And that makes it all the more frustrating, because we also all know that Watters won't do any of it. Not a thing. He has completely stuffed up selection since he became coach, from the moment he played Polo and a bunch of other inexplicables against Port, Round 1, 2012.

So, in a pointless exercise, here's my suggested changes:

Out:

• Newnes (tired, or just a weakling, I can't tell and don't care any more - he ain't getting enough ball).
• Hayes (injured when he shouldn't have played in the first place)
• Milne (is quickly becoming a parody of his former self)
• Ray (plenty of others can do what he does)
• Fisher (is clearly still hampered by his sore foot, it needs to be managed)

In:

• Ledger (give us grunt in the midfield)
• Curren (again, grunt in the midfield)
• Armitage (if fit, otherwise... well what can we do? I suppose bring in Saunders. Midfield grunt)
• Simpkin (to replace Fisher, and to bring some hardness to the backline, severely missing)
• Wright (again, a little hardness - if he needs to be brought back via the VFL, then Dunell)

Other heads might be looking like they should roll, but here's my thinking. There are four players that guarantee their spot every week: Riewoldt, Montagna, Roberton, Geary. There are players that will stay because they're safe enough, because they're not THAT bad, or nobody else can fill their role: Gwilt, Stanley, Saad, Steven. Then there's kids that are essentially just needing games: Ross, Webster. Then there is a list of people who are in the barrell: Maister, Siposs, Dal Santo, Jones. Jones stays because we need him to play inside - I don't care about his tagging ability, just get him winning some clearances.

That's as much as I can manage, in this, the most pointless post I've ever made on Big Footy (and that's saying something...)...

 

[Rors]

I'm struggling to see a point in discussing changes this week. Fact is, we all know essentially what needs to happen - we might argue about the finer details, but we all see the problems, and some of the solutions. And that makes it all the more frustrating, because we also all know that Watters won't do any of it. Not a thing. He has completely stuffed up selection since he became coach, from the moment he played Polo and a bunch of other inexplicables against Port, Round 1, 2012.

So, in a pointless exercise, here's my suggested changes:

Out:

• Newnes (tired, or just a weakling, I can't tell and don't care any more - he ain't getting enough ball).
• Hayes (injured when he shouldn't have played in the first place)
• Milne (is quickly becoming a parody of his former self)
• Ray (plenty of others can do what he does)
• Fisher (is clearly still hampered by his sore foot, it needs to be managed)

In:

• Ledger (give us grunt in the midfield)
• Curren (again, grunt in the midfield)
• Armitage (if fit, otherwise... well what can we do? I suppose bring in Saunders. Midfield grunt)
• Simpkin (to replace Fisher, and to bring some hardness to the backline, severely missing)
• Wright (again, a little hardness - if he needs to be brought back via the VFL, then Dunell)

Other heads might be looking like they should roll, but here's my thinking. There are four players that guarantee their spot every week: Riewoldt, Montagna, Roberton, Geary. There are players that will stay because they're safe enough, because they're not THAT bad, or nobody else can fill their role: Gwilt, Stanley, Saad, Steven. Then there's kids that are essentially just needing games: Ross, Webster. Then there is a list of people who are in the barrell: Maister, Siposs, Dal Santo, Jones. Jones stays because we need him to play inside - I don't care about his tagging ability, just get him winning some clearances.

That's as much as I can manage, in this, the most pointless post I've ever made on Big Footy (and that's saying something...)...

Living up to your name... The persevering saint... Personally, I think they should listen to you, everything you stated made sense

 

[HoldenMCaulfield]

Oh boy, watching Goldstein with Cunnington, Swallow and Ziebell do as they please against Adelaide, I really do not have a good feeling about next week, regardless who we bring in.

Harvey may be dempstered again, but what are we going to do with Daw, Petrie amd Thomas when their midfield is likely to win 95% or more of clearances ?

 

[Squizz]

Simpkin last played on 5 May - not sure a 4 week absence merits him being discussed in the context of this game?

In addition to Wright and Armitage (injured players who will hopefully be available), the emergencies in recent weeks have been Saunders, Milera, Dunell, Blake and Murdoch.

 

[Manimal_Dunstan]

Lenny Hayes (Calf) - Test
Tom Hickey (Hip) - Test

added to the St Kilda injury list, others not updated yet it looks like.(Don't trust St Kilda's injury list!!!!)

http://www.saints.com.au/stkilda/team/injuries

 

[SaintsSeptember]

Simpkin last played on 5 May - not sure a 4 week absence merits him being discussed in the context of this game?

In addition to Wright and Armitage (injured players who will hopefully be available), the emergencies in recent weeks have been Saunders, Milera, Dunell, Blake and Murdoch.

None of these give me confidence in terms of impacting the game.

 

[L_W_P]

North will be up and about next week.

Wells - game 200
Harvey - game 350

 

[Manimal_Dunstan]

North will be up and about next week.

Wells - game 200
Harvey - game 350

Leigh Montagna 200 games, Hopefully that can inspire us..... But yeah can see us getting flogged won't be great for Joey

 

[Manimal_Dunstan]

Club confirmed on twitter to me David Armitage is available for selection against North.

 

[SaintsSeptember]

North will be up and about next week.

Wells - game 200
Harvey - game 350

Tag Harvey, that's always good for a laugh.

 

[Sheeza69]

Well we're no longer in the race for the 8, we need to gain as many positives out of the year as we can..
I'd expect to see a number of the younger players getting game time into them from next week, & can't see any reason why players like Curren, Ledger, Ferguson, Dunell, Murdoch & Saunders aren't "rewarded" for their consistent efforts at VFL level.. Plus we look so slow & our run & spread in the second half was non-existent again..

Milne, Faz, Dal, & CJ (was playing well before he had his confidence smashed by being dropped undeservedly) are on shaky ground..I would drop all four next week & freshen up our line up with
Curren, Ledger, Murdoch & Dunell/Saunders..Got nothing to lose, but a stack to gain..

No point giving games to players who are just treading water at AFL level in 2013, & time to bite the bullett & look to the future..If we have to take a step back, prior to a few steps forward i'd back that philosophy..Fair Dinkum Dal Santo no tackles for a whole game..

 

[SaintLex]

Ledger gets a crack next week. I mean, we got so thoroughly smashed by a not-that-flash midfield that we can't really go further backwards much more than that abysmal effort.

I'm sick of seeing the opposition waltz out of the centre and bomb it forward. If the Dogs had slightly better foot skills/forwards, we would have lost by a whole lot more. We were constantly on the back foot and had to start our attack from HB.

 

[Latour]

North have once again choked. Christ imagine how the team and Brad Scott feels. In my opinion they are a much better team than us, and they will be fired up in this game. Will be a very interesting game!

 

[Stan_Darsh72]

North will be up for this game and they would want to make a statement. We need to get the selection right and turn this game into a scrappy dog fest of a game.

 

[lenny_07]

North will smash us.

B: Gwilt Stanley Dempster
HB: Roberton Fisher Geary
C: Webster Armitage Newnes
HF: Dunell Riewoldt Dal Santo
F: Siposs McEvoy Montagna
R: Hickey Steven Ledger

INT: Ross Saunders Curren
S: Saad

Simpkin if fit (has missed a lot of football) or Ferguson (with Gilbert put on LTI list) in to replace Fisher if he is indeed to sore to perform.
Wright for Dal or Ross if fit.

Put the onus on the kids to get the ball and get it forward.
Webster and Newnes are very good users of the ball, get the mongrel players in to get the ball out to them.
Saad to come in with speed.

Rotate all mids through forward line and bench.

OUT: Jones, Hayes, Ray, Maister, Milne (Fisher) (Ross/Dal Santo)
IN: Ledger, Armitage, Saunders, Dunell, Curren (Simpkin/Ferguson) (Wright)

 

[Sheeza69]

North will smash us.

B: Gwilt Stanley Dempster
HB: Roberton Fisher Geary
C: Webster Armitage Newnes
HF: Dunell Riewoldt Dal Santo
F: Siposs McEvoy Montagna
R: Hickey Steven Ledger

INT: Ross Saunders Curren
S: Saad

Simpkin if fit (has missed a lot of football) or Ferguson (with Gilbert put on LTI list) in to replace Fisher if he is indeed to sore to perform.
Wright for Dal or Ross if fit.

Put the onus on the kids to get the ball and get it forward.
Webster and Newnes are very good users of the ball, get the mongrel players in to get the ball out to them.
Saad to come in with speed.

Rotate all mids through forward line and bench.

OUT: Jones, Hayes, Ray, Maister, Milne (Fisher) (Ross/Dal Santo)
IN: Ledger, Armitage, Saunders, Dunell, Curren (Simpkin/Ferguson) (Wright)

Getting beaten by a side who's previous 20 games amounted to ONE win has left no other alternative..
Prefer to keep Ross over Dal, Dal has to now re-invent himself as either a defender or small forward..

 

[SaintLex]

Geary to Lindsay Thomas, for sure

Dempster usually goes to Boomer and shuts him down effectively but it will be interesting to see if he does the same next week, given Harvey is probably not their number 1 mid anymore, imo

 

[lenny_07]

Getting beaten by a side who's previous 20 games amounted to ONE win has left no other alternative..
Prefer to keep Ross over Dal, Dal has to now re-invent himself as either a defender or small forward..

My only concern with Ross is I thought he looked a bit tired and slow and turned it over a bit and might be in need of a rest. Most people on the forum seem to think he played a good game so perhaps I need to re-watch the game (which probably won't happen to be honest)