Luke Ball

[On the March]

Its a good possibilty we may see Armo v's Ball in the NAB cup.

How can anyone talk negative of R Lyon? He turned this club around from going south down the ladder from 7th to 4th to 1st and a grand final.
He's also revolusionising the game with HIS "frontal pressure" tactics.

100% agree with this but every coach makes mistakes and he has made some huge ones over the offseason.

Even some Geelong supporters believe Thompson has erred at times and he contributed to the loss against Hawks in 2008. However on balance I think theyd take what they have!

 

[Persevering Saint]

"Hi, I'm Mick Malthouse, and we acted totally legitimately during the 09-10 off-season... and NOW we're going to win a flag!"

what a load of turnip...

 

[Fehring]

Apparently Ball hardly got a touch last night.

 

[Smoky]

Which is fine, but you didn't get a bargain like most think.

This has been been discussed already. Go the main board please.

 

[StFly]

Stick to the main board circle jerk there champ, you won't get much ego gratification round these parts for trade dicussion #4.6million.

 

[goodie23]

"Hi, I'm Mick Malthouse, and we acted totally legitimately during the 09-10 off-season... and NOW we're going to win a flag!"

If you do believe that, I've got some emails from some very nice Nigerians that might interest you

 

[SaintsSeptember]

Jolly will be a good ruckman for 4 or 5 years. Luke Ball is obviouly under the belief that he will be more in demand at Collingwood than at StKilda. At the moment he might be, but unless he can perform at a higher level ( and maybe he can work back to it, who knows ) he will end up under pressure by younger players coming through, just like he was at StKilda.

In the end a couple of draft picks don't count for much. It's more the pattern of drafting over a period of time that matters. Having said that, St Kilda went through a pretty dry period between 2002 and 2005, resulting in only seven player's still regularly playing in 2009 ( Including Gwilt , McQualter, and Raph ), and if we don't want to do the super bottom out for many year's trick, we need to avoid making a habit of this sort of thing.

How would we be if we hadn't been lucky with picks like , Chips, Gilbert, and Jones.

 

[bob down]

There's no luck involved in recruiting my boy, we work tirelessly at it. Those dry periods were when one G Thomas ruled his iron fist everywhere and insisted particular players were drafted. Luke Ball Blaa Blaa, who cares, lets move on.

 

[SaintsSeptember]

When I said "Luck" I meant that we were lucky those players were available and that we selected them. Face it, if was known at the time how Sam Fisher, Sam Gilbert and Clinton Jones, would perform with a few years on them, they would not have gone so late in their respective drafts.
Mind you, I'm not sure who was responsible for the carefully planned and tirelessly worked out recruitment that was "Brad Howard"

Most of our early picks in those day's were either traded for magic beans, or used on such gun first round picks as Andrew McQualter, Raph Clarke.

I've been reasonably happy with the first round ( and later ) picks over the last few years, until this year obviously.

 

[Persevering Saint]

When I said "Luck" I meant that we were lucky those players were available and that we selected them. Face it, if was known at the time how Sam Fisher, Sam Gilbert and Clinton Jones, would perform with a few years on them, they would not have gone so late in their respective drafts.
Mind you, I'm not sure who was responsible for the carefully planned and tirelessly worked out recruitment that was "Brad Howard"

Most of our early picks in those day's were either traded for magic beans, or used on such gun first round picks as Andrew McQualter, Raph Clarke.

I've been reasonably happy with the first round ( and later ) picks over the last few years, until this year obviously.

Now, now, we got Barry Brooks for next to nothing, didn't we? And just look how great that turned out!

... oh wait...

 

[Signd Sealed Saint]

Coulda have Steven Salopek with that pick too.....

Anyway, i don't see why Ball went there because not only is he taking a pay cut but also the hard tackling, in and under, short kicking Luke Ball is suited to the small ground of the Dome. While the big expanses of the MCG exposes his lack of speed and kicking penetration. I don't get it.

 

[SaintsSeptember]

Maybe it's because he's been promised more "Footy Show" time.

It's interesting that RL has stated he wants more pace in the midfield. The question is, who would be the slow players to make way for the hypothetical ( due to events ) Andrew Lovetts. Players I would consider fast enough are Montagna, Gram , and Jones.
Players not so fast, but with ability to make up for it are Hayes , Dal Santo, and Goddard, and probably Baker.
So who are these slow players?
IMO Ball , along with Schneider, McQualter, and Ray, would have been pretty much in the hot seat.

 

[sauce_head]

Coulda have Steven Salopek with that pick too.....

Anyway, i don't see why Ball went there because not only is he taking a pay cut but also the hard tackling, in and under, short kicking Luke Ball is suited to the small ground of the Dome. While the big expanses of the MCG exposes his lack of speed and kicking penetration. I don't get it.

I must say I disagree. Collingwoods style of play is hug the boundary, push it forward 10 metres and then out of bounds again. It is perfectly suited to ball, shirt contested possessions. I just don't think it suited us or will win the pies the flag. Suited better to them: yes. Tried to take everything and leave us with nothing: achieved. Saints justified in wishing him the worst as a result: Definately.

 

[Big Ted]

I must say I disagree. Collingwoods style of play is hug the boundary, push it forward 10 metres and then out of bounds again. It is perfectly suited to ball, shirt contested possessions. I just don't think it suited us or will win the pies the flag. Suited better to them: yes. Tried to take everything and leave us with nothing: achieved. Saints justified in wishing him the worst as a result: Definately.

best part is that with that game plan, they have sweet all chance in hell of them winning a flag

 

[The Royal Sampler]

Having said that, St Kilda went through a pretty dry period between 2002 and 2005, resulting in only seven player's still regularly playing in 2009 ( Including Gwilt , McQualter, and Raph ), and if we don't want to do the super bottom out for many year's trick, we need to avoid making a habit of this sort of thing.

We're in much the same boat, except our window of discontent (yes, I know, it's actually "winter" but I liked this version) is 2001-2004. We have only Heath Shaw, Dane Swan and Travis Cloke to show for this period.

We're still playing catch-up and in a sense, Luke Ball helps us in bolstering this range in our demographic.