Traded Nicholas Coffield

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R17
St Kilda vs West Coast Eagles @ The Gabba
StK 6.14.50 def by WCE 9.11.65

Another consistent game by Coffield this week perhaps a bit down on previous weeks and definitely undersized when he found himself on Jack Darling.
 
R18
St Kilda vs GWS Giants @ The Gabba
StK 12.10.82 def GWS 3.12.30

Great finish to the Home and Away and then Away even for Home Games season by Nick Coffield. He has become a very consistent player under Ratts this year. It was really good to see Hunter doing well in the midfield and Coff in the backline. That will prove to be a good draft for us.
 

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H&A Season Review

Back in February after the first Marsh Series match against Hawthorn at Moorabbin I wrote ...

I thought Coff went OK last night. He did some good things but had a few howlers. Disposal and decision-making need to be better. He linked up well in the backline in the last quarter and helped us steady when the Hawks threatened to get within a couple of goals. It was probably his best quarter despite a very obvious clanger, but he was trying to take the game on so you can't fault him too much for that given it was just a practice match.

That turned out to be the only time I saw him (and the Saints) in person this season but it is fair to say that I saw his potential but also what many were saying that he could be a liability at times. Obviously he needed to improve and only the coaches knew if he had done enough to keep playing.

I didn’t see much of the second Marsh Series match against Collingwood in Morwell but from what others said, Coff only played the last quarter and I felt on that evidence that he probably wouldn’t get picked for R1 and that proved to be the case.

After the enforced break he was picked in the side. There was certainly not unanimous support for his inclusion and he made one horrific clanger (early in the game from memory) but otherwise did OK. I wrote at the time that 'He needs to play to improve and maintain/build his confidence’

The Collingwood (big) loss was not a good game for many Saints players. My summation of Coff included 'I liked that he still backed himself and didn't panic. He always tries to play his way out of trouble (like his draftmate Hunter Clark) rather than kick blindly and make it someone else's problem. We have had too many players play like that in the recent past and we need to back The Nick Coffield types to develop their skills and always look for the disposal to advantage. That's how Collingwood outplayed us. Flicking it around until they could get a controlled possession. That's our target. That's what we must become. I think Ratts has that vision and I'm confident Coff will hold his spot.’

Coff kept his spot and IMO played his most composed game to date with the senior side in the (big) win against Richmond.

He backed that up against Carlton the following week and was featured by the club's Social Media - '20 disposals (90% efficiency), nine marks and 461 metres gained. Can we talk about Nick Coffield.’ Even his harshest critics on BF were starting to come around to him being OK and perhaps ’not a bust’.

That terrible game against Freo followed then that first nervous 2020 visit to Adelaide Oval. Coff played one of his best games for the club and there was nothing but support for him on BF.

I wouldn’t say the followup visit to Adelaide against Port was particularly good for Coff but having put in a few good ones previously his spot was not in danger. Good games followed against Sydney and The Suns, and then the disappointment (as a team) of the Geelong game.

Good games resumed against Essendon and Brisbane and he wasn’t the worst against Melbourne and then was brilliant against Hawthorn.

He was good against West Coast but never should have been isolated 1-on-1 against Jack Darling. That was never going to end well.

Coff finished the year, like the rest of the team with a very even performance against GWS and marched into the finals.

I feel this is the definition of a break-out year. Early on, nobody was sure he would make it as an AFL player and some were quite prepared to declare him ‘a bust’. He looked nervous in his first few games and made a few blues but he always backed himself and over several games he got more accustomed to the speed of the game at the highest level and now after just 34 games he has cemented his spot in the backline and is probably one of the first picked in the 22 each week. We are seeing his dare and skills each week and he is setting up more and more attacks from half back and taking more and more intercept marks.

Now he gets to chance to play in finals. It is a just reward. He is one of the main reasons we are back in the Eight.

Well done Coff. Looking forward to what will hopefully be a 200+ game career with St Kilda.
 
dct66 said:
H&A Season Review

Back in February after the first Marsh Series match against Hawthorn at Moorabbin I wrote ...

I thought Coff went OK last night. He did some good things but had a few howlers. Disposal and decision-making need to be better. He linked up well in the backline in the last quarter and helped us steady when the Hawks threatened to get within a couple of goals. It was probably his best quarter despite a very obvious clanger, but he was trying to take the game on so you can't fault him too much for that given it was just a practice match.

That turned out to be the only time I saw him (and the Saints) in person this season but it is fair to say that I saw his potential but also what many were saying that he could be a liability at times. Obviously he needed to improve and only the coaches knew if he had done enough to keep playing.

I didn’t see much of the second Marsh Series match against Collingwood in Morwell but from what others said, Coff only played the last quarter and I felt on that evidence that he probably wouldn’t get picked for R1 and that proved to be the case.

After the enforced break he was picked in the side. There was certainly not unanimous support for his inclusion and he made one horrific clanger (early in the game from memory) but otherwise did OK. I wrote at the time that 'He needs to play to improve and maintain/build his confidence’

The Collingwood (big) loss was not a good game for many Saints players. My summation of Coff included 'I liked that he still backed himself and didn't panic. He always tries to play his way out of trouble (like his draftmate Hunter Clark) rather than kick blindly and make it someone else's problem. We have had too many players play like that in the recent past and we need to back The Nick Coffield types to develop their skills and always look for the disposal to advantage. That's how Collingwood outplayed us. Flicking it around until they could get a controlled possession. That's our target. That's what we must become. I think Ratts has that vision and I'm confident Coff will hold his spot.’

Coff kept his spot and IMO played his most composed game to date with the senior side in the (big) win against Richmond.

He backed that up against Carlton the following week and was featured by the club's Social Media - '20 disposals (90% efficiency), nine marks and 461 metres gained. Can we talk about Nick Coffield.’ Even his harshest critics on BF were starting to come around to him being OK and perhaps ’not a bust’.

That terrible game against Freo followed then that first nervous 2020 visit to Adelaide Oval. Coff played one of his best games for the club and there was nothing but support for him on BF.

I wouldn’t say the followup visit to Adelaide against Port was particularly good for Coff but having put in a few good ones previously his spot was not in danger. Good games followed against Sydney and The Suns, and then the disappointment (as a team) of the Geelong game.

Good games resumed against Essendon and Brisbane and he wasn’t the worst against Melbourne and then was brilliant against Hawthorn.

He was good against West Coast but never should have been isolated 1-on-1 against Jack Darling. That was never going to end well.

Coff finished the year, like the rest of the team with a very even performance against GWS and marched into the finals.

I feel this is the definition of a break-out year. Early on, nobody was sure he would make it as an AFL player and some were quite prepared to declare him ‘a bust’. He looked nervous in his first few games and made a few blues but he always backed himself and over several games he got more accustomed to the speed of the game at the highest level and now after just 34 games he has cemented his spot in the backline and is probably one of the first picked in the 22 each week. We are seeing his dare and skills each week and he is setting up more and more attacks from half back and taking more and more intercept marks.

Now he gets to chance to play in finals. It is a just reward. He is one of the main reasons we are back in the Eight.

Well done Coff. Looking forward to what will hopefully be a 200+ game career with St Kilda.
Click to expand...
Great review,

A few things to mention espeically with Coff early on and I think this can translate to most of the develpoing guys who were out of the team is that essentially the reserve games were a write off. So for Coff, who had essentially not played an AFL game in close to 12 months when he came into the team, his timing was off. However it is so obvious to see simmilary to Clark that everytime they pull off some kind of trick or move with in the game they gain confidence and just keep backing themselves. A moment that sticks in my mind is when Coff saw Sam Walsh try and tackle him and ran straight through him. The arrogrance and confidnce is something that anyone who watched Coff in the under 1's knew that he played with but that moment was a turning point for him at AFL level. We've seen and much faster thn I could ever have imagined his marking improve greatly. Defensively he still has a way to go but he is chalk and cheeze to last year.

I'll finnish with in his draft year I belived that Coff had the most potential out of anyone to become a superstar
He not only has amazing awarness, skill and smarts (which took some time to become evident at afl level but is now plain to see). For instance I think his handballing and kicking is honestly top 3 in the team. He combines this with insane size and atheletcism. Despite the porformances of Cerra, LDU, Rayner Brayshaw etc I still belive this to be true. Cannot wait for him to spend some time in the midfield. Super excited for him and watch how much confidence Coff take from this season/finals into next year.
 
Finals Week 1
St Kilda vs Western Bulldogs @ The Gabba
StK 10.7.67 def WB 9.10.64

Another step forward in the development of Nick Coffield. A final and a win. It is invaluable that his 35th game was a cut-throat final. And game 36 will be another one against the reigning premiers.

No doubt the nerves showed in the early part of the game but he got better the longer the game went and was a rock in defence in the last quarter. Even when he was forced to take a rushed kick in Q4 he made sure it went out of bounds to give us time to regroup and sure enough he marked the ball that came back into the 50. It was a classic 'hit the boundary line' play.

And it was Coff who got his hands on the ball in the dying minutes. And how many times in the past have we seen Bruce with an ill-timed clumsy tackle give away a free kick. Even then Coff was busy punching the ball to his chest in a 'genuine attempt' to dispose the ball just incase the umpire decided to give the Doggies yet another shot at goal.

Nick Coffield has played 17 games this year. He missed R1 against NM but has played all the games since from Bulldogs R2 to Bulldogs Elimination Final. We have seen him grow before our eyes alongside his defensive teammates. The future is bright.
 
Finals Week 2
Richmond vs St Kilda @ Metricon
Rich 12.8.80 def StK 6.13.49

Disappointing result in the end. They were much better for most of the night and when we got our chances we couldn't take them. Nineteen scoring shots to their twenty but we never got close enough to put any scoreboard pressure on them.

Coffield was good again. He's been very consistent this year apart from his first few games. Definitely a break-out year with two finals to put into the memory bank over the pre-season to know what is required to win finals.

To top it off, Best Emerging Player and fifth in the overall B&F on 119 points. Just 1 point behind Marshall, 3 behind Howard and 7 behind Butler who finished second. Congratulations to Jack Steele, was a deserved winner by a clear margin.

It's been a pleasure to be Nick's advocate this year. Look forward to him taking his game further next year.
 
Last edited:
Brains Trust66 said:
Coffield played really well against the Hawks with 17 disposals including 9 marks . He also drifted down to Mark and kick an early goal , only his second so far for the Saints .
Click to expand...
He’s really been building the last few weeks still wish we’d let him take kick ins
 
Surprised he was dropped for the Cats game but he played for Sandy instead and disappointingly had a quiet games with only 8 disposals.

“Coff took a little while to find his groove, but he worked hard all day.

“He had a great smother late in the game when things were tight, and while he didn’t get a huge amount of the footy, he was solid down back for us.”
 

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www.saints.com.au

Saints thank Coffield

St Kilda Football Club has finalised a four-way trade which has seen Nick Coffield depart for the Western Bulldogs.
www.saints.com.au www.saints.com.au
 
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