Feeling great

[Jeremias]

http://http://carltonfc.com.au/default.asp?pg=news&spg=display&articleid=315411


After three years of frustration brought about by a chronic knee complaint, Jason Saddington is entering this season with unbridled enthusiasm and optimism thanks to an uninterrupted summer training program.

The tall defender has had three operations on his troublesome knee following a complete reconstruction in 2004 with the last of those, involving surgeons drilling into the bone to aid the regrowth of new cartilage, ruining his first year with the Blues.

At 27 years of age and having played just 23 games in the past three seasons, Saddington could be forgiven for feeling some anxiety heading into what shapes as a crucial year for him, but the reality is quite the opposite.

"The way I'm feeling at the moment, I actually feel like a bit of pressure's off me because the body's feeling so good," Saddington says.

"I'm not stressing about injuries and I'm just enjoying being out there for every training session because I haven't had that luxury for the last couple of years.

"The knee's been great, I haven't had a problem with it at all. I've done pretty much the whole pre-season and now I'm just flat out, straight into the games with no setbacks at all, so hopefully we can keep that going.

"Last year and even the couple of years before that, I've been battling with injury, especially the knee, but the way it's feeling now I just want to keep going with not having any problems with it and just going to enjoy my footy."

Saddington ticked another box in his bid to reclaim the form of years past when he played every minute of the Blues' second intra-club match at MC Labour Park and did well against spearhead Brendan Fevola.

"It was my first full game since halfway through last season and I was quite surprised that I pulled up really well," he explains.

"I played on Fev for the whole game and he didn't get too much of the ball, so I was pretty happy with that. It was my first hitout for so long, so I was just happy with the way I was moving around and competing."

After a year in which his own misfortunes mirrored those of the team, Saddington can finally see some light at the end of the tunnel for both himself and his team-mates in 2007.

"There's a good spirit there, so I'm pretty excited about what might happen this year," he says.

"There are a few blokes who are a chance to play down back and hopefully I'm one of them.

"It's pretty tough competition for spots down the back-line, but it is all over the ground as well which is good."
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Nice article that popped up on the CFC website this afternoon.

Looks like he is really hungry to get out there and play. He may be our wildcard in defense this year. To be honest, I'm not Saddo's biggest fan, but he may just be able to provide us with some stability and experience down back.

If he can recapture his best form with the Swans a few years ago, we could be laughing!

I wish him all the best.

 

[thylacine60]

Nice article that popped up on the CFC website this afternoon.

Looks like he is really hungry to get out there and play. He may be our wildcard in defense this year. To be honest, I'm not Saddo's biggest fan, but he may just be able to provide us with some stability and experience down back.

If he can recapture his best form with the Swans a few years ago, we could be laughing!

I wish him all the best.



Yep.

 

[audas]

Injury free :
saddington
fisher
waite
murph
kennedy
stevens


some nice additions to the list.

along with a plethora of recruits and at least 3 maybe 4 players who have come on from last season and we have a very, very different team from last year. This is the biggest upside many are forgetting when cautioning over the impact of our new recruits. It's not the new ones that are going to do the damage, its the lack of injuries and coming of age releasing so much potential that the new boys are just the strawberries on the icing on the cake.

nice.

 

[AndyWalkersGirl]

I remember how well he used to play up at Sydney a few years ago. Hopefully he's still got that ability and injuries haven't put a dampener on things.

I really think he will be handy for us this year.

audas - that injury free list could also be a surprise for us this year - imagine having a fully fit 22!

to go with Waite, fisher, Murphy, stevens, Kennedy, and Saddington, you can add an injury free O'hAilpin, Walker, Bentick, and Wiggins.


4 more sleeps to go!

 

[HBF]

As I have said in previous posts, I really think that Saddington could be a wildcard in 2007. A very very good player at the Swans before he did his knee, I really feel that he could provide some much needed experience down back.

Here's to a good year Saddo!

 

[blues4flag]

IF he could get back to his previous form that would be great, however that was three years and numerous knee operations ago. I'd love to see it happen, though it's highly unlikely, however if he can regain of his prior form than it'll be a bonus and will mean that we won't be forced to play kids who are not ready in defense.

 

[Monkey King]

Hope he can prove his worth to the team.

In my thinking, he currently belongs to a group of players who retained their spots in order to provide the numbers nesessary to meet delisting requirements at the end of the year. Along with: Bannister, Wiggins, Teague, McLaren, Bryan (now Cloke).

Really hope a couple of these can step up, ala Wiggins end of 06.

 

[BlueWorld]

Hope he prove his worth to the team.

In my thinking, he currently belongs to a group of players who retained their spots in order to provide the numbers nesessary to meet delisting requirements at the end of the year. Along with: Bannister, Wiggins, Teague, McLaren, Bryan (now Cloke).

Really hope a couple of these can step up, ala Wiggins end of 06.

Or because he was already contracted!

 

[Monkey King]

Or because he was already contracted!

And contracted players don't get given the arse?

So, hypothetically, if the only uncontracted players on the list at the end of 06 were Waite, Fevola, Stevens, Simpson and Walker, but Sporn, Davies, Prenda, Chambers et al. had contracts, you would keep the aftermentioned.

In the grand scheme of things, I think some players were retained for the purpose of filling a quota come years end. Perhaps one was chosen over another due to age or contract status (I mean we did have a heap who could have gone at the end of last year), but ulimately there is group for whom the writing is on the wall.

All I'm saying is I think Saddo is one of them, although I hope he can make it.

 

[AndyWalkersGirl]

As I have said in previous posts, I really think that Saddington could be a wildcard in 2007. A very very good player at the Swans before he did his knee, I really feel that he could provide some much needed experience down back.

Here's to a good year Saddo!

Yeah i think so too! Fingers crossed

 

[Mr.Kennedy]

A while ago I mentioned that if Saddington was to get over his injuries that he could be more than a handy player for us.Very few people agreed with me,so Im glad to see that he is doing well healthwise and that he is being noticed.

 

[BlueWorld]

And contracted players don't get given the arse?

So, hypothetically, if the only uncontracted players on the list at the end of 06 were Waite, Fevola, Stevens, Simpson and Walker, but Sporn, Davies, Prenda, Chambers et al. had contracts, you would keep the aftermentioned.

In the grand scheme of things, I think some players were retained for the purpose of filling a quota come years end. Perhaps one was chosen over another due to age or contract status (I mean we did have a heap who could have gone at the end of last year), but ulimately there is group for whom the writing is on the wall.

All I'm saying is I think Saddo is one of them, although I hope he can make it.

Which contracted player was given the arse? Why were Sporn, Davies, Prenda, Chambers, Longmuir etc retained in 2006? Why is Teague still on the list? Why is Pagan still coach? We can't afford to pay them to do nothing!

 

[Andyt30]

Injury free :
saddington
fisher
waite
murph
kennedy
stevens


some nice additions to the list.

along with a plethora of recruits and at least 3 maybe 4 players who have come on from last season and we have a very, very different team from last year. This is the biggest upside many are forgetting when cautioning over the impact of our new recruits. It's not the new ones that are going to do the damage, its the lack of injuries and coming of age releasing so much potential that the new boys are just the strawberries on the icing on the cake.

nice.

lets have everyone injury free And especally no reports they should no tolerated back let the opposition players get reported don't get sucked into Fights
we should be lookingfoward and not in the past what's happen happend we can;t change history wish we could

 

[Monkey King]

Which contracted player was given the arse? Why were Sporn, Davies, Prenda, Chambers, Longmuir etc retained in 2006? Why is Teague still on the list? Why is Pagan still coach? We can't afford to pay them to do nothing!

All true for the present. I'm not disagreeing, but it's not my point.

In the past, when money wasn't as much of an issue, we most certainly have delisted contracted players (see Mansfield). As other clubs still do today ie Austin Lucy - Bombers.

As already stated, we had a load of players who could have gone last year. Take your pick. We couldn't get rid of all of them at once, even for the 'Super Draft', or we would have been forced to delist players with real potential come this seasons end.

So before moving on any players who could conceivably be tossed, we had to weigh up the pros and cons of each. Contract Status, Age, Future Potential/Injury Restrictions. I have no doubt that those with current contracts, such as Teague, were safer than those without, such as McGrath.

My point is that there are players at the club who could easily have been given the flick last year. They were retained for varying reasons. I believe Saddo falls into this category and should he not perform this year he should be looking over his shoulder.

 

[BlueWorld]

The last player who was delisted that was contracted was O'Reilly. I'm sure I don't have to tell you how costly that was!!!

AFAIK Saddo & Teague are both out of contract this year. Retained because of that & will be make or break to be recontracted at end of season.

 

[Bluebear]

My point is that there are players at the club who could easily have been given the flick last year. They were retained for varying reasons. I believe Saddo falls into this category and should he not perform this year he should be looking over his shoulder.

Do you really believe that Saddo was in line to be given the flick last year, his first year on our list, were it not for some other factors (as previously mentioned)?
In a strange way, had he been fit and not played well it may have been thus, but having an injury gave him an excuse.

Fortunately, it seems to be paying off as he look to be training well (despite what some posters have to say on the matter).

he will give us depth and experience down back. Fingers crossed for a good year injury wise all round.

 

[Monkey King]

The last player who was delisted that was contracted was O'Reilly. I'm sure I don't have to tell you how costly that was!!!

Kind of rams your point home, but I thought the last contracted player we delisted was Michael Mansfield (could be wrong) and IMHO it would have been more costly to keep him.

 

[Monkey King]

Do you really believe that Saddo was in line to be given the flick last year, his first year on our list

No I don't. But if our list was stronger and we were having trouble finding players to delist, perhaps he may have been.

Let's face it, there were so many players who could have gone last year. Even after the final cull many posters were still baying for the blood of some remaining on the list.

 

[BlueWorld]

Kind of rams your point home, but I thought the last contracted player we delisted was Michael Mansfield (could be wrong) and IMHO it would have been more costly to keep him.

Mansfield & the club came to a mutual agreement. I don't think he was delisted.

 

[Monkey King]

Mansfield & the club came to a mutual agreement. I don't think he was delisted.

The possible player fall-out started today with Michael Mansfield being delisted after a compromise because the 31-year-old had another season of a four-year contract remaining.

The Age, 26 Nov 2002.

Form memory it was announced as an agreement between the two parties and therefore termed 'retirement'.

No bones about it, Mansfield was dirty on the club, who he felt had led him to believe he would line up for the blues again in 2003. I think he even had a shot at the club through the press in the months following his retirement/delisting.

Besides, he was more delisted than O'Reilly, who retired due to injury.

 

[BlueWorld]

The possible player fall-out started today with Michael Mansfield being delisted after a compromise because the 31-year-old had another season of a four-year contract remaining.

The Age, 26 Nov 2002.

Form memory it was announced as an agreement between the two parties and therefore termed 'retirement'.

No bones about it, Mansfield was dirty on the club, who he felt had led him to believe he would line up for the blues again in 2003. I think he even had a shot at the club through the press in the months following his retirement/delisting.

Besides, he was more delisted than O'Reilly, who retired due to injury.

I don't know the inside info. My understanding is that he was contracted but knew his opportunities were going to be limited so thought it would be better for him to retire than spend most of the year in the VFL. I don't know what happened re paying him out but I imagine he must have been paid part of what he was originally contracted for. A lot of it is bad management by the club. I think he was given a 4 year contract at age 29. Why do that? I think we gave McKernan a long term contract also & were still paying it when he was back at the kangaroos! Beaumont was also still being paid by us while he played for Hawthorn. But I doubt he would have been paid out had we not traded him.

AFAIK O"Reilly was told to retire & promised some money, which was paid under the table, the consequences of which are still being felt by the club!

 

[Monkey King]

I don't know the inside info. My understanding is that he was contracted but knew his opportunities were going to be limited so thought it would be better for him to retire than spend most of the year in the VFL. I don't know what happened re paying him out but I imagine he must have been paid part of what he was originally contracted for. A lot of it is bad management by the club. I think he was given a 4 year contract at age 29. Why do that?

AFAIK O"Reilly was told to retire & promised some money, which was paid under the table, the consequences of which are still being felt by the club!

Let's hope those days are gone, but wasn't Teague recently given 3 years. I mean I know he had just won the B&F and wasn't 29, yet I had my doubts at the time.

Seriously, I'd prefer better list management, but if they are dead wood, contract or not, CHOP CHOP!

 

[HBF]

The last player who was delisted that was contracted was O'Reilly. I'm sure I don't have to tell you how costly that was!!!

AFAIK Saddo & Teague are both out of contract this year. Retained because of that & will be make or break to be recontracted at end of season.

Teague is pretty much gone IMHO. A one trick pony with no pace. As for Saddington, this would clearly be a make or break year for him, but I wouldn't have thought they would have put a line through his name just yet.

 

[BlueWorld]

Let's hope those days are gone, but wasn't Teague recently given 3 years. I mean I know he had just won the B&F and wasn't 29, yet I had my doubts at the time.

Seriously, I'd prefer better list management, but if they are dead wood, contract or not, CHOP CHOP!

AFAIK this is the last year of his 2 year contract. If it's 3 he'll probably be running around for the Bullants all of next year.

 

[Monkey King]

Teague is pretty much gone IMHO. A one trick pony with no pace. As for Saddington, this would clearly be a make or break year for him, but I wouldn't have thought they would have put a line through his name just yet.

Perhaps not, but the pen is hovering.