Is Armo Cooked?

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I've been thinking about this alot, and sadly I think he is done.

Others have said it, Steele Stevens and Ross just owning their positions at the moment and with more players still to come over next years trade period (and if things go as planned 1 big name to command a spot instantly) it just keeps pointing to Armo moving on. His body is just cooked and his speed is horrendous, and the true shame is as the OP mentioned he had to watch on during his formative years as the club played Grand Finals with cloggers galore, and now as the club looks to be priming itself for some competitive years his body is falling apart after taking the brunt of the rebuilding years.

Sad to see such a committed clubman facing this and I hope he can have a few more cracks and get well enough to play a final with us but my gut feeling is as someone above said, traded away for a 2nd/3rd rounder or retirement.
 
TassieSaint said:
WTF is this thread he is 28 not 32. Will be straight back in the 22 as soon as he's over his injury.
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I'm just not sure he will ever completely get over his injury. My fear is that he may get back on the field but I never be 100% again.
 

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austinnn said:
Maybe Dunstan isn't at Armo's best level yet, but he's got time to improve. Dave has run out of time, and chances. At the end of this year if he hasn't had a few games at his 2015 level, he will be out, if we are serious.
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I think that's harsh with out knowing his medical assessments. It's just guess work from any of us to try to guess where he is at. He's a nice bonus if he gets back more than a write off.
 
Sadly I don't think it's a coincidence we've looked most damaging as a midfield unit without Dubstan and Armitage in the side

Great servant

I would look for a second rounder from Gold Coast/Brisbane
 
Ian Dunross said:
Sadly I don't think it's a coincidence we've looked most damaging as a midfield unit without Dubstan and Armitage in the side

Great servant

I would look for a second rounder from Gold Coast/Brisbane
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Could have got a lot more than that for him last trade period when they were desperate to bring in some mature players!
 
TassieSaint said:
WTF is this thread he is 28 not 32. Will be straight back in the 22 as soon as he's over his injury.
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Who would he replace though? Ross, Stevens and Steele have been playing better then him.
His disposals and tackles this year have been similar to Dunstan and he got dropped.

If he got back to his 2015 form I don't think anyone would have an issue with him going straight back in but he hasn't been anywhere close yet.

He very well may go straight back in but it would be very harsh on whoever gets dropped for him.
 
Richo loves him. Refers to him as Dave. Hope I'm wrong but IMHFO, Dave is charcoal. 2019 what the living *.
 
Be nice to see how he comes back from injury before we get Tobin Brothers in to cart him off. By the way the Tobin Brothers saying is you kill em we chill em and your grief is our joy.
 
Quixote said:
Richo loves him. Refers to him as Dave. Hope I'm wrong but IMHFO, Dave is charcoal. 2019 what the living ****.
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Richo has a mad boner for Dave, come 2019 I wouldn't be surprised to see the campaigner line up in a fwd pocket with a Zimmer frame. Imagine the fwd pressure fmd
 

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U need to be somewhat quick (or have a perfect skill set like sam mitchell) if u want to play mid in todays game tbh

We can see it in the rise of Seb ross' game, imo hes a-grade and ive never seen him burst away (hes also hitting targets with ease, bloody NDS like) from players before this season.

Armo simply not quick enough now

Been a great servant of the club, always wore his heart on his sleeve. That stretch of games at the start of 2015 oh my goodness the campaigner was ****ed it was beautiful

Wont see him play again unless one of our inside mids gets hurt. Our midfield has been on another level past couple of weeks, and thats cos all of our midfielders have a wide skill set and set of attributes. Completely different dynamic. Sinclair and koby in the middle
 
Glen Buterol said:
Richo has a mad boner for Dave, come 2019 I wouldn't be surprised to see the campaigner line up in a fwd pocket with a Zimmer frame. Imagine the fwd pressure fmd
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"I was relatively pleased with Dave's contribution today. campaigner had 0 disposals, -14 score involvements and his leg fell off midway through the 2nd, but that was all part of a wider team issue. I think Dave really stood up. For a while."
 
AuntieBarrels said:
U need to be somewhat quick (or have a perfect skill set like sam mitchell) if u want to play mid in todays game tbh

We can see it in the rise of Seb ross' game, imo hes a-grade and ive never seen him burst away (hes also hitting targets with ease, bloody NDS like) from players before this season.

Armo simply not quick enough now

Been a great servant of the club, always wore his heart on his sleeve. That stretch of games at the start of 2015 oh my goodness the campaigner was ****** it was beautiful

Wont see him play again unless one of our inside mids gets hurt. Our midfield has been on another level past couple of weeks, and thats cos all of our midfielders have a wide skill set and set of attributes. Completely different dynamic. Sinclair and koby in the middle
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If we had come off a loss or two people would be thinking different. I doubt Sinclair is good enough to play every game from now on but I could be wrong. If we were to lose to WB and Adelaide I can just about bet people will see a spot for Armo in the side but coming off beating GWs most people think our side is at its best at the moment.
 
jonathons11 said:
Who would he replace though? Ross, Stevens and Steele have been playing better then him.
His disposals and tackles this year have been similar to Dunstan and he got dropped.

If he got back to his 2015 form I don't think anyone would have an issue with him going straight back in but he hasn't been anywhere close yet.

He very well may go straight back in but it would be very harsh on whoever gets dropped for him.
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Stevens and Sinclair both had ripper games last week (Stevens especially) but Armo is still ahead in the pecking order for mine. Or if you were to do some jumbling he'd be ahead or Wright also.
 
freebloke said:
Said it earlier as well... peaked, and done. It's a pretty steep decline for him and he's lucky that he's contracted to 2018. I think it ends for him there.

Had an ordinary 2016, and after a supposedly great pre season, he's been down on form, and injured again at 29.
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He had an ordinary 2016 because he missed most of the preseason because his back was rooted and he consequently didn't have the fitness base to get the ball on the outside like he did the year before (which is what made him so much better in 2015).

Was going better by the last couple of games of the 2016 season though and then was meant to have had his best preseason in years (his outstanding time trial results would attest to this) and to be mostly on top of his back issue.

Looked to be going fine in the JLT (presumably not busting a gut, as he knows to save himself for the actual season), including having a 26 disposal (11 contested), 7 tackle, 4 clearance, 1 goal game (from just 74% game time) in JLT3 against Sydney. Nothing whatsoever wrong with that. You'd take that every single week and say "thank you very much".

Then he apparently injured his groin before half time in the R1 game against Melbourne and to half time he'd had 13 disposals and kicked a goal, which again is perfectly fine, if not better. Had just 3 disposals in the 2nd half though, on one leg and presumably battling through considerable pain and missed the next couple of games.

Then he came back for one game and it was pretty clear that he still wasn't right and as such he had just the 17 disposals. Was then put in for an operation.

So yes, he was "down on form", while playing with a significant injury that required surgery!

Prior to that, he was going perfectly fine and if he gets back to that sort of form, once he returns from injury, it will be very, very handy to have him up our sleeves, or in the team.

Gilbo was meant to be "cooked" a couple of years ago and Chips Fisher was a year or two before that as well, yet they both returned to play good footy for us and I'd be very surprised if Armo doesn't as well.
 
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mad-saint-guy said:
David Armitage arrived at St Kilda after being taken at pick 9 in the 2006 draft and struggled for senior games during his mandated 'four-year apprenticeship' under Ross Lyon (despite being BOG in his 17th game in a gusty 2009 win over Hawthorn in Tasmania). He watched on from the VFL in our Grand Finals years while the seasoned guns Andrew McQualter, Brett Peake, Clint Jones and Robert Eddy tore it up in the midfield before finally breaking into the regular team in 2011 after Eddy got the boot. He was a mainstay in the seniors and steadily built his form each year before exploding and producing a stellar 2015 season in which he was arguably unlucky not to take out our B&F and win AA honours. However 2016 saw a significant dip in form for Armitage, particularly in the second half of the season. And after some underwhelming form at the beginning of 2017 he has succumbed to injury and doesn't have a clear timeframe for his return. This combined with the continued improvement of Seb Ross, the strong form of new recruits Jack Steele and Koby Stevens and Jack Sinclair's impressive return to the seniors leaves me wondering if there is going to be a place in our 22 for Armitage going forward. He is almost 29 and by all reports has a chronic, debilitating back condition as well as a serious groin injury which is currently keeping him out of the side. His break out year in 2015 was largely a result of a newfound running power which came on the back of a great pre season and he clearly isn't going to have that leg up at any point this year, and bad backs don't generally get better as your approach your thirties as a professional athlete.

Personally I don't see Armo pushing past Steele, Stevens and Sinclair to reclaim his permanent midfield spot. I'd love to be wrong and see him get back to his best, but given his history and his age I can't see it happening. Most midfielders play until they are 31-33 so that would give Armo another 2-5 years, but I wonder whether the coaches are planning for Armitage to be part of our finals push over the next few years. If not, should he be kept on the list next year and beyond?
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As I have said many times, if the offer from Richmond of pick 12 was real a couple of years ago we should have taken it. Nothing against Armo but for where we were at in the rebuild at the time his age demographic was wrong for us. If the trade was done (and the recruiters nailed the pick), we would have had a gun mid with 60 games under his belt come the start of next year. Whereas we now have Armo who will be 30 who is injured and even if he does get over his injuries he will have been overtaken next year by our young'uns.
 
NeXus Nick said:
As I have said many times, if the offer from Richmond of pick 12 was real a couple of years ago we should have taken it. Nothing against Armo but for where we were at in the rebuild at the time his age demographic was wrong for us. If the trade was done (and the recruiters nailed the pick), we would have had a gun mid with 60 games under his belt come the start of next year. Whereas we now have Armo who will be 30 who is injured and even if he does get over his injuries he will have been overtaken next year by our young'uns.
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Well it probably wasn't real. I'm playing your game but changing it to the recruiters didn't nail the pick and he has played 12 games and about to be delisted.
 
No I don't think we should've traded Armo a few years ago unless a mammoth offer came like the (very dodgy) rumour of Melbourne's Frawley pick in I think it was 2014 or 13

Those wins that he was instrumental in are worth so much more to the rebuild. The Dogs win in 2015 wouldn't have happened and that belief is worth so much more than an extra pick, you don't want to end up being a Melbourne.
 
I think he's clearly a one season wonder but even without that he's still a decent midfielder who gets his 9-10 contested possessions a game which will be handy come finals time.

I wouldn't be writing him off just yet. Will be kept for depth at the very least IMO.
 
As it stands right now, he is not best 22. If we bring in one or two or even three elite midfielders over the off season then he will find it near impossible to make the team. His injury has probably saved us from having to make the tough decision to drop who many thought was our next captain. He might be next year's Scott Thompson.

That said, it is not crazy to presume that he recovers from his injury, plays a couple of dominant Sandy games, we lose a couple of games, someone gets dropped or injured, and he finds himself back in the team. And once he is in the 22 again, it won't be easy to drop him.

In any event, this is a good position for the team to be in.
 
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