Luke Van Rheenen

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Thread starter Moderator #1
hey guys,

i saw this guy yesterday at the local footy in Croydon and jeez he is one MASSIVE bloke.

Just wondering what you guys reckon of him?
trade bait? or a lot of potential???
 

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goodie23

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#2
Can't trade him, he's on the rookie list.

I have nothing against him, but I don't like his odds. He's coming to the end of his second year on the rookie list, and injuries haven't been kind. We've got McEvoy developing, a scholarship kid called Khan Hartaku in his first year on the rookie list and I'm pretty sure Blake McGrath, a 208cm NSW scholarsip kid is going to be available at the end of the year.

Elevation-wise, Eddy would be ahead of him, Attard will be if his knee comes good, Miles too probably.

So odds are he'll be let go at the end of the year. We might re-draft him in the rookie draft, but I don't think so
 
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Moderator #3
Please keep footballer's private life off the boards.

I reckon that talls are an exception to the rule - they are often given more time to find the strength and fitness required of the big time.

He may have some time yet - the injury was at the wrong time to strengthen his career prospects - but the club will have a very good idea of where he is at.
 

Squizz

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#5
We've had a great year with McQualter, Eddy and Miles all performing at the moment and Attard to come back. Agree the big guys get time, but think that we should maybe look at some other guys. Possibly a Silvagni as backup in case of issues with Max/Goose. I also like Daniel Connors who played for Coburg (fast, massive leap and long left foot kick).
 
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#6
The thing is he is a promising young player who can go straight onto our list without a draft pick.
It wont stop us taking a full compliment of new rookies.
It wont stop us taking a full draft.
All we need to do is make room on the list.
Unless you want to hold onto all the duds we already have on our list.
 
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#7
The Saints have their fair share of Duds. With the retirement of Gehrig, and perhaps Harvs, how many Duds would you delist, and which ones in order?
 

Squizz

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#8
Too much time left in the year to make absolute calls, but I'd like to see Eddy, Attard and Miles on the list.

For mine, Leigh Fisher, Raph, Fiora, Fergie, Chucky, and Gwilt are up against it. Howard one more only. Eljay maybe to rookie list unless he can get back and play some decent footy at Casey.

Just speculating of course, as Ross Lyon has a special love of Gwilty. Fisher and Fergie are no hacks but along with Chucky I'm not sure they will be key to us turning our fortunes around.
 
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#9
The Saints have their fair share of Duds. With the retirement of Gehrig, and perhaps Harvs, how many Duds would you delist, and which ones in order?
In Order
R Clarke - Poor performance , injury prone
Rix - Poor performance - spare ruck no longer necessary.
Gwilt - Mediocre AFL performance - has until eoy to prove otherwise.
McQualter - As for Gwilt
Ferguson - As for Gwilt
Fiora - poor form this season
L Fisher - poor form this season.
Dempster - Nothing flash
C Gardner - Not quite good.


With the young players coming up we really don't need this much mediocrity on the list.
From Fiora up may be a possibility for future trade. Unless the Gold Coast want to start with a really green team they may be interested in trading draft picks for experienced players.
 

Look2Me4Guidance

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#10
In Order
R Clarke - Poor performance , injury prone
Rix - Poor performance - spare ruck no longer necessary.
Gwilt - Mediocre AFL performance - has until eoy to prove otherwise.
McQualter - As for Gwilt
Ferguson - As for Gwilt
Fiora - poor form this season
L Fisher - poor form this season.
Dempster - Nothing flash
C Gardner - Not quite good.




With the young players coming up we really don't need this much mediocrity on the list.
From Fiora up may be a possibility for future trade. Unless the Gold Coast want to start with a really green team they may be interested in trading draft picks for experienced players.
Settle down. We're hardly going to delist Dempster and Gardiner after one season with us. Some people are awfully quick to sink the boots in.
 

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#11
I see the two as reasonable depth players who probably aren't getting big dollars.

However, as experienced players they need to stump up in their first year. No point hanging onto dead wood (which I don't believe they are at this point) which has dogged the Saints in the past.

We need to make tough calls on players at times to get the right list.
 

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#12
Settle down. We're hardly going to delist Dempster and Gardiner after one season with us. Some people are awfully quick to sink the boots in.
Gardiner was a freebie who came with King, and Dempster was a freebie who came with Schneider. Neither of them saw much game time with their previous clubs. They have been handy this year but now that we are seeing the potential of our younger players they may struggle to get game time next year.

We are not obliged to keep them at the Saints, unless their contracts say so. Why should we be more loyal to these guys than ( for example ) Fish, who has worked hard for the saints over the last couple of years.

They are exactly the type of recycled player we tend to clog our list with.

Having said that, there are seven ahead of them on my list so even if three rookies are elevated and four draft picks are made and Gehrig or Harvey or Max dont retire, there is no immediate need to delist them.
However they could be good to trade, for example if another team wanted to people they could play right away in exchange for a draft pick.
 

Squizz

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#13
SS - you always open yourself up by putting a list together (in order no less), but it's a good discussion point. I don't really disagree either even though I think the club has got Rix in the wrong position and treated him poorly (if they are going to continue like that no point keeping him). I suspect Fiora is closer to the head of the list now, and would be surprised if he plays with the Saints again.
 
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#14
SS - you always open yourself up by putting a list together (in order no less), but it's a good discussion point. I don't really disagree either even though I think the club has got Rix in the wrong position and treated him poorly (if they are going to continue like that no point keeping him). I suspect Fiora is closer to the head of the list now, and would be surprised if he plays with the Saints again.
Yes you can move Fiora up at the top. When I looked up his stats from this year they were pretty dismal. Its really only his half decent performance last year makes me keep rating him a bit.

I can only remember Rix ever playing ruck for the Saints, and it may be that he would be better in another position, but if no-one is going to try him there seems little point in keeping him. As far as the rucking goes he had plenty of game time last year. It's a pitty since he is a gun iin the VFL and always tries hard.
 
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#15
In Order
R Clarke - Poor performance , injury prone
Rix - Poor performance - spare ruck no longer necessary.
Gwilt - Mediocre AFL performance - has until eoy to prove otherwise.
McQualter - As for Gwilt
Ferguson - As for Gwilt
Fiora - poor form this season
L Fisher - poor form this season.
Dempster - Nothing flash
C Gardner - Not quite good.


With the young players coming up we really don't need this much mediocrity on the list.
From Fiora up may be a possibility for future trade. Unless the Gold Coast want to start with a really green team they may be interested in trading draft picks for experienced players.
Thoughts now?? One an All Australian and one quite good when in form. ;)
 

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#18
Still think the discussion was worthwhile.

And be fair - alot of the players on that list did not help us in 2009.

Note that Gwilt didn't play in the GF team, and generally had a quite ordinary season.

Dempster had 5 possessions in the GF (personally I didn't like Mini's game either, including missing a shot from 15 metres).

One of his key points was that "we really don't need this much mediocrity on the list".

It was spot on.

What happened? Lyon proceeded to recruit more players from others teams, including delisted ones, and now our list is _ucked.

Gamble
Lovett
Begley
Pattison
Smith
Dawson
Peake
Polo

(and whilst I will concede that I didn't rate Gwilt as a best 22 player, there was some love for Boogie against the tide of opinion at the time. Even SS acknowledged that he had been handy)
 

tbarker

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#19
Thoughts now?? One an All Australian and one quite good when in form. ;)
Interesting reading.
I agreed with it all at the time. Spot on in fact. Gwilt has been great in the hey day but he is now up against it given the openness of games. Dempster was the big surprise and what a nice surprise. Hard to believe we held onto Raph Clarke for another 4 seasons...:confused:
 

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#20
Still think the discussion was worthwhile.

And be fair - alot of the players on that list did not help us in 2009.

Note that Gwilt didn't play in the GF team, and generally had a quite ordinary season.

Dempster had 5 possessions in the GF (personally I didn't like Mini's game either, including missing a shot from 15 metres).

One of his key points was that "we really don't need this much mediocrity on the list".

It was spot on.

What happened? Lyon proceeded to recruit more players from others teams, including delisted ones, and now our list is _ucked.

Gamble
Lovett
Begley
Pattison
Smith
Dawson
Peake
Polo

(and whilst I will concede that I didn't rate Gwilt as a best 22 player, there was some love for Boogie against the tide of opinion at the time. Even SS acknowledged that he had been handy)
I'd argue these three were worth the gamble, Begley had talent but lacked desire, Smith had loads of talent but just couldn't hold his body together and Dawson was a necessity that we could still use.
 
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#21
Seriously what is point of bumping this thread? Should we go back and bump all crap posts you've written about players?
Isn't it a free forum to look back at old discussions etc? or is it your forum? seems other are having a read of it as well....

And yeah wasn't having a go at him at all, just wondering what he thinks now. Not a complete crime is it?
 
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#22
Still think the discussion was worthwhile.

And be fair - alot of the players on that list did not help us in 2009.

Note that Gwilt didn't play in the GF team, and generally had a quite ordinary season.

Dempster had 5 possessions in the GF (personally I didn't like Mini's game either, including missing a shot from 15 metres).

One of his key points was that "we really don't need this much mediocrity on the list".

It was spot on.

What happened? Lyon proceeded to recruit more players from others teams, including delisted ones, and now our list is _ucked.

Gamble
Lovett
Begley
Pattison
Smith
Dawson
Peake
Polo

(and whilst I will concede that I didn't rate Gwilt as a best 22 player, there was some love for Boogie against the tide of opinion at the time. Even SS acknowledged that he had been handy)
Exactly.. Nothing wrong with going back and having a look at old threads and old posts.
 

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#24
I'd argue these three were worth the gamble, Begley had talent but lacked desire, Smith had loads of talent but just couldn't hold his body together and Dawson was a necessity that we could still use.
Begley was a very odd pick - even without hindsight. Another one off Lyon's half back flankers. Where was the need?

Lyon repeatedly made comments about other players he'd picked up being resilient to injury (Peake, Ray, Lovett).

To go for two guys (Smith & Pattison) who had injury problems flew in the face of that - and also the need (well, to everyone except him) to ensure there were some young players being developed for the future.

Dawson was a great pick. I didn't put his name on the list to emphasise the point (was just being fair). But he's not with us now.
 

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#25
I actually thought Gwilt was pretty stiff to be dropped in 09, but IIRC someone had to make way for Max and unfortunately it was him. He was playing a hell of a lot better than Eddy ever played.
 
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