Official Delistings

[SaintsSeptember]

Don't ever call young kids pathetic, especially ones that have been injured most of the year, you have NFI.

Thats what I was getting at though Brian. What did he do wrong to only rate one year on the list when others get a lot more of a shot at it? Why have they written him off already? What has changed since they rookied him in the first place? Shall we now get another rookie this year and ship him off in a year if he is not a champion yet?
And If another rookie gets 20 games in his first year and shows some promise, but hurts himself for a season, are we best to delist him as well?
You are 100% right I have NFI why we do these things.

 

[Plugger35]

Not really against any of those delistings, apart from maybe Birss. Thought he was a very handy back up player who could fill a role in midfield, half forward or half back. He was always quite a solid contributer with any opportunities he was given but for some reason seemed to fall out of favour towards the end of the year. I certainly would have preferred to keep him on the list ahead of people like Fiora.

 

[The Punter]

Yes, I know Eddy has been signed to a contract, but does that mean he cannot be retained as a rookie? Is McQualter too old to be sent back to the rookie list?

The more I think about it, the more I believe that when RL & AF made comments about six kids coming into the club, that he was including rookies. When Ben Cousins is allowed to nominate for the draft we'll delist Leigh Fisher, we'll keep Max Hudghton outside of the 38, and we'll draft three youngsters with picks 13, 47 & 48, Cousins with pick 63, and four rookies in the rookie draft.

 

[Squizz]

Sounds logical Punter (hey, get some friggin runs will ya!).

The rookie age is 23, so Mini is still eligible.

 

[CHBench]

Tough luck for Attard if he didn't do his knee he most likely would've still been around. Other than that nothing unexpected.

 

[TassieSaint]

Birss really was the cursed. Feel sorry for the guy, deserved better treatment than what he did I reckon and I hope someone picks him up, even though it's unlikely.

Attard unlucky too, but understandable and other than that pretty much the delistings we suspected all along.

 

[Armitage2Riewoldt]

Sif we delisted Birssy.

 

[beejay]

why did we bother keeping attard on rookie list this yr then? surely they knew that it was a small chance he would actually play and i assumed they were keeping him around for next yr due to his quite consistent yr before he got injured where he was quite handy. pretty disapointing think he could of still offered a fair bit but i guess hes a similar type to dempster. birssy was a bit of a shock and charlie well he was no good but who will be our 3rd tall now? putting a lot of pressure onto allen now to develop. heres hoping for the best...

 

[Armitage2Riewoldt]

Lol, yeah Attard just pocketed and easy 30k...

 

[StFly]

why did we bother keeping attard on rookie list this yr then? surely they knew that it was a small chance he would actually play and i assumed they were keeping him around for next yr due to his quite consistent yr before he got injured where he was quite handy. pretty disapointing think he could of still offered a fair bit but i guess hes a similar type to dempster. birssy was a bit of a shock and charlie well he was no good but who will be our 3rd tall now? putting a lot of pressure onto allen now to develop. heres hoping for the best...

Could be they were planning on keeping Attard if players didn't come on or perform as desired and thus he was then let go when his contract was up. Then again it could also be a mini thing in a delisting and then redrafting as rookie.

Also, McEvoy was used in a lead up forward role in his single game this year, so they could be thinking of using him or Allen as that 3rd scoring option, might not be such a bad proposition even if I agree that it's a bit of pressure for the both them if that's the case.

 

[jackmac7]

What did Birssy do wrong?

He would get 17 touches and 2 goals and completely tag out good opposition players like H Shaw get dropped then rack up 40 touches and a BOG for Casey the next week. What more did they want?

Geeeeeezzzz.............

Left Mini in his wake IMO

 

[goodie]

sorry to be rude but who the hell is Luke van Rheenan

 

[Kildonan]

van Rheenan is a South African born tall (albeit skinny) player recruited as a project player in the hope that he would develop into an AFL standard ruckman.

 

[Mazza44]

I know Luke (he went to my school, couple of years older) and it's a shame he didn't end up getting a run. The few times I spoke to him he seemed like a really top bloke.

 

[Persevering Saint]

Not much to add, just to concur with many of your thoughts, guys. Pretty dark on Birss going, but am certainly not surprised. I AM surprised by Attard being let go - that just makes no sense. I was really looking forward to his coming year, especially with Dempster out. At the very least, I thought he'd keep Ray honest for that half-back flank position. I HOPE we take him up again in the draft, but I suspect there'll be a few other teams licking their chops at getting Attard on their list.

 

[Ant_]

Especially when the likes of Fiora and McQualter remain?

Why the hell was Birss delisted?

Surprised with this one...oh well football clubs should know better than supporters I guess?

 

[Signd Sealed Saint]

Tearing my hair out.... NOW

 

[HoldenMCaulfield]

I feel for Birss (and also Rix who was always one of my favourites) - they give everything they got every single week (having seen a few Casey games, I know what I'm talking about) and, in the case of Birss, have not disappointed when playing for the Saints.

The Attard decision is also a bit unusual - I can only assume that his delisting is based on medical advice ?

I assume that Gardiner always knew that he needed a special 2008 to survive this year - which he did not provide, despite 12 (some of which, but only some, were very good) games.

Anyway, good luck to all the guys and thanks for all the effort for our club.

 

[Darkhour]

Thats what I was getting at though Brian. What did he do wrong to only rate one year on the list when others get a lot more of a shot at it? Why have they written him off already? What has changed since they rookied him in the first place? Shall we now get another rookie this year and ship him off in a year if he is not a champion yet?
And If another rookie gets 20 games in his first year and shows some promise, but hurts himself for a season, are we best to delist him as well?
You are 100% right I have NFI why we do these things.

lol.. nice backpedaling..

on the delistings... cant say I'm too shocked with any of them.. we need speed I'm afraid and less tagging players, more attacking players.. thats why players like Fiora and Howard stay on.. to get another chance at breaking those lines... if only..

 

[HBF]

Jayden Attard, Matthew Ferguson, Michael Rix, Shane Birss, Charlie Gardiner, Glenn Chivers and Luke van Rheenan.

From saints.com.au

No real shocks there. Although, I like the look of Chivers though. Wonder if another club might give him a chance.

 

[Fehring]

why did we bother keeping attard on rookie list this yr then? surely they knew that it was a small chance he would actually play and i assumed they were keeping him around for next yr due to his quite consistent yr before he got injured where he was quite handy. pretty disapointing think he could of still offered a fair bit but i guess hes a similar type to dempster. birssy was a bit of a shock and charlie well he was no good but who will be our 3rd tall now? putting a lot of pressure onto allen now to develop. heres hoping for the best...

Dempster and Mini had good years and went ahead of him.

What did Birssy do wrong?

He would get 17 touches and 2 goals and completely tag out good opposition players like H Shaw get dropped then rack up 40 touches and a BOG for Casey the next week. What more did they want?

Geeeeeezzzz.............

Left Mini in his wake IMO

Shane Birss is not the messiah. He was slow and, at a club like St Kilda he had a bunch of slow mids (Lenny, Bakes, Ball at least) and a few fast ones (Gram, BJ, Joey, CJ) in front of him. Couldn't justify keeping him on the list. I can't believe that anyone is het up about it.

 

[Squizz]

Shane Birss is not the messiah. He was slow and, at a club like St Kilda he had a bunch of slow mids (Lenny, Bakes, Ball at least) and a few fast ones (Gram, BJ, Joey, CJ) in front of him.

Don't disagree with the theme of this, but one of our problems was consistency of effort and our mids inability to kick a goal (yes, lack of pace is another issue). Even the players and the coaches kept raising the consistency thing (over and over again). I'm not saying Birss is in the best 22, but is/was a consistent player who was a worthy replacement player on a number of occasions. Had one ordinary game in his eight games in 2008, and even in that game he kicked 2 goals.

 

[SaintsSeptember]

I think in the end ( because of contracts ) it was Birss or Gwilt. Gwilt was saved by the fact that he had grown a bit taller than Birss and can play tallish roles, ie medium forward. ( My personal belief is that Attard would have been better in defence than both Gwilt and R Clarke who both manage to keep being put there ).

McQualter will be kept as a rookie IMO.

After those guys there is a big performance gap to the next ones up that have been discussed. ( Baker , X, Raph, Jones , Gardner ) or they are too young to write off yet ( Allen, Gilbert, Howard ).

I hope Birss manages to find another home, there are a lot worse around.

 

[Squizz]

And Leigh Fish?

 

[Signd Sealed Saint]

Fiora?? McQualter?? FIORA????

No Birss??? Why???

If you're not playing Leigh Fisher, why keep him????

So many things defy logic here.. I like Leigh Fisher personally, i think he's a very effective tagger (watch round 1) but he's very one dimensional imo. Yes he did get nearly 30 touches in the Hawthorn snooze fest, but i think that's one of those Jason Blake v Hawthorn games. Well Ross knows more than we, hope they work out. Sainters '09!