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N.Riewoldt

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I dont think Nick will ever be the same as he was in 2008-9. I am a believer in Dermie's theory that the awesome CHF's only last a good 10 years... Look at Dermie himself, after 10 years he struggled & got traded through Sydney then Collingwood... Look at Carey, got traded through to Adelaide after the Kellie Stevens 'saga' but wasnt playing at the awesome level he had in the past at the time he was traded. Jon Brown is struggling with repeat injuries (this will be his 12th year), but if people think that he will still be doing what he was doing 5-6 years ago, they have rocks in their head. The same goes for Nick. Sure, he can still play a huge role for us & he needs to as he is Captain, but to expect him to kick 60 goals & dominate like the days of 2004-5, 2008-9 to asking way too much!

IMO, we should be asking, what are we gonna do post-Nick Riewoldt?

Rhys Stanley needs to really take it upon himself to STAND UP! At the moment, he still looks like he should be playing basketball or some sport with a little less physical contact... Does he realize how much pace he has? He should be burning defenders on the lead! He should be burning into space! The kid got skills, i just hope he starts to believe he does!
 
As Nick said last night on 'On the Couch', the side would be better off without him booting 60+ goals a season. As long as we can get an even contribution from our other forwards and scoring midfielders, Nick only has to bag his 30-40 for us to be a really potent offensive side. As noted, Justin Koschitzke is looking the best in a pre-season we can remember, Ahmed Saad was really exciting a few weeks back and you know what you'll get from Stephen Milne. Add in Arryn Siposs and Adam Schneider and we could have a real damaging attack.

Whilst we would all give anything to have the form of pre-2011 Rooey, it needs to be noted that with the ever changing evolution of the game, its going to less and less likely to see that domination from him.
 
Rors said:
Rhys Stanley needs to really take it upon himself to STAND UP! At the moment, he still looks like he should be playing basketball or some sport with a little less physical contact... Does he realize how much pace he has? He should be burning defenders on the lead! He should be burning into space! The kid got skills, i just hope he starts to believe he does!
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I totally agree. We've all seen the odd signs and flashes of excitment and skill from big Rhys Stanley. But he hasn't done anything in my observations that has said he wants to demand a spot in our best 22. I cant fit him in at the moment and until he does 'Stand Up' Im a tad worried if people are pegging their hopes that he can be an adequate Nick Riewoldt replacement.......or CHF replacement I should say perhaps, as I don't believe there ever could be an adequate Riewoldt replacement.
 
I thought Stanley put his hand up for a spot in our best 22 for Rd.1 with his game against West Coast. He worked hard and was involved in the game for the whole 4 quarters which is an improvement on his previous AFL performances where he flashed in and out of games. He was also quite handy in our games against Sydney and Geelong.

If Riewoldt plays more of a roaming role further up the ground then I think there is room for Stanley in the team to provide a forward marking target with Kosi and also give us a back up ruck option.
 

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I don't know the answer to the question.

Don't even know if Nick knows the answer.

What I do know, is he will give himself every oppportunity, and work the hardest he possibly can.

For mine, I would still like him to play deeper. Takes the defenders to where they are jittery, takes him away from where he is jittery.
 
I could see Roo being more effective up the ground. He's got a big enough tank and his field kicking is excellent, which is something we need out of the middle.

Teams know that we really have Dal and Goddard who can deliver the ball perfectly into the forward line so they crowd them and we end up with players like Polo executing that final kick (there was a stat on it last year). If Roo went into the middle then he would be a 3rd option for good delivery.
 
Whilst I ignored most of the dribble in this article, there was one point of note.

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/spo...riewoldt-forward/story-e6frg7t6-1226299732999

From eight possessions before he was finished for the night a minute before three-quarter time, only one was inside the Saints' forward 50-metre arc. And only two of the others were forward of the centre.

Interestingly, all three of Riewoldt's forward possessions directly resulted in goals to Adam Schneider, Rhys Stanley and Tom Ledger, and they only kicked seven in total.
 
Squizzy1970 said:
Whilst I ignored most of the driblle in this article, there was one point of note.

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/spo...riewoldt-forward/story-e6frg7t6-1226299732999

From eight possessions before he was finished for the night a minute before three-quarter time, only one was inside the Saints' forward 50-metre arc. And only two of the others were forward of the centre.

Interestingly, all three of Riewoldt's forward possessions directly resulted in goals to Adam Schneider, Rhys Stanley and Tom Ledger, and they only kicked seven in total.
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Cool, that backs up my point somewhat.

I noticed Roo having a lot of posessions on the half back flank in the WC game.
 
They spoke about Roo for a couple of mins on AFL 360 last night and it was interesting that Chris Grant suggested that a move to CHB would be best for Nick, just to free him up and get him simply playing footy again, without all the pressures associated with being our main avenue to goal and target up forward. He though that could really help him to "get his mojo back", after which he could be sent back forward again.
Conversely, David King thought he ought to be put onto the wing (where I would put him if he doesn't show dramatic improvement pretty quickly).
 
aussierulesrules said:
They spoke about Roo for a couple of mins on AFL 360 last night and it was interesting that Chris Grant suggested that a move to CHB would be best for Nick, just to free him up and get him simply playing footy again, without all the pressures associated with being our main avenue to goal and target up forward. He though that could really help him to "get his mojo back", after which he could be sent back forward again.
Conversely, David King thought he ought to be put onto the wing (where I would put him if he doesn't show dramatic improvement pretty quickly).
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I think our defence will be exposed and struggle with the new game style for some time, hence it would make sense to move one of our stronger marking players down back.

In all honesty I think our forward structure fuctions a lot better without Roo playing there permanently. A move to CHB would be good for Roo and the team IMO and they could always throw him forward when required.
 
I guess the issue with him playing down back is that he'll either get dragged away from the action or, as a ball-watcher (an instinctive trait), his opponent will get too many opportunities to slip away from him. As a permanent role I'm not overly keen.

But if we get caught out with match ups (ruckmen being thrown forward alongside other talls) against a particular team, I absolutely think he should play there. The alternatives, including playing an extra tall defender for structure even if he's not playing that well or Riewoldt playing as a forward but floating back (which robs us of structure in the F50), aren't that attractive for mine.

I like the thought of him being around stoppages in the midfield to give support to Macca - with his leap he'd be a real X factor in our game (third man up), and very complementary to the quicker ball movement which Watters seems to be trying to employ.

With some (not all) other teams seemingly being able to rotate defenders on him, along with the subtle tunneling tactics started by Sydney but more successfully employed by the filth - thanks Max :mad: (and arm chops needing to be pretty blatant which I accept is an issue for Franklin etc as well), a change in how he's used is appropriate.

I don't accept that he'll become less fit as he gets older. The issue is the burst sprinting power, which would also be impacted by confidence in his hammy (and not wanting to ever do that injury again). If he plays higher up the ground I don't see this as being as big an issue (compared to playing at full forward).
 
Im tipping him to have a huge year! What he needs is space in the forward line. One on one he will beat anyone. I think we need to spread our forward line so Roo can have room to lead and be in more one on one contests.

We also need our midfielders to deliver the ball properly to him! Last year delivery to Roo was disgusting, the worst ive seen in a long time. Either at his toes or over his head. Midfielders need to lift there disposal efficiency significantly.
 

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aussierulesrules said:
I agree that that was probably the best he'd ever played and was going brilliantly and while he went better than he did last year, when he came back in 2010, he's never really gotten back to that pre-hammy form.
He just seems a bit of shell of his former self to me. That game against North last year was just a bit of an exception, rather than the rule, unfortunately. The week after he was back to doing very little again and stayed that way for the rest of the season.
Not sure what it's going to take for him to get it back, really.
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I think Rooey needs a flying start for his own confidence. That will be only thing that will work on the back of what we all seem to agree was a disappointing season last year. New coach, new luck? Let's hope so. A restructured forward line should help take some of the pressure off.
 
Was in much better "nick" on Friday. Took contested marks and brought the ball to ground even when outnumbered. I'd be more worried about BJ's fitness (although it was reported that Roo was hobbling badly at the family day).

I really think we'd look more dangerous with Riewoldt pushing up the ground and two genuine forward targets. Wilkes and Kosi could work. Sippa is not showing good touch, and I'd rather see him try and kick a bag in the VFL. Rhys would round out a potent F50 with Milne & Schneider.

If Siposs is playing well, Roo could move further out (or Wilkes could go back to the VFL).

I raise Wilkes as he outjudged his opponent 4-5 times with the ball flight on Saturday as a forward (completely different to watching him as a defender), and his passing and kicking for goal was sound. People that saw him in the NAB Cup would have wondered if it was the same guy. Think we should make the switch with him and Archer).
 
Yeah BJ is a bit further behind everyone given he was on crutches for so long after his preseason OP.

I reckon he'll start firing about Rd 6-10 and finish strong though :cool:
 
hate to say it saints fans - but roos knees are totally gawn.
will hobble around again this year like last year.
we need to start scouring the country for 2 new key fwds.
 
sunshine_saint said:
hate to say it saints fans - but roos knees are totally gawn.
will hobble around again this year like last year.
we need to start scouring the country for 2 new key fwds.
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START ????
Matthew Fergason, Fergus Watts, Barry Brooks, Jarryd Allen, Khan Haretuku, Paul Cahill, Zac Dawson, Steven Gaertner, Adam Pattison, Tom Lynch, Tom Walsh, Jesse Smith.

We have been trying and failing to draft and trade for talls for 9 bloody years ,and all we have to show for it is Archer( who may be a better back than forward... if we're lucky ), Stanley ( who is a better ruck than forward ), Simpkin ( who is a little short for a storm trooper ) and Jackson Fergason who is still an unknown ( his profile says he has played as a forward, maybe they should try him ).

Hopefully there will be so many good talls at GC and GWS that the third teir ones will get pissed off at not getting a game and ask to come to StKilda.
 

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I hate to say it, but the club may be forced to trade/allow a player to go to GWS, so that we have the best chance to draft or trade for a forward.

Maybe we could be seeing a quality player traded for a solid pick, or possibly a decent player and our first pick traded for a better pick.

We almost have to do it, depending on where we finish this year, and how Free Agency pans out for us.
 

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N.Riewoldt

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