Discussion Our Top 5

[the emergency]

I have nearly blown up my own brain trying to think of our current top 5 players.. it is bloody hard..
My list is as follows:
-Riewoldt
-Goddard
-Hayes
-Fisher
-Dal Santo
But players such as Gram, Montagna and Gilbert spring to mind as well...

Fellow Sainters, who are your top 5??

 

[TheLastEmperor]

as far as importance to our team goes, our top 5 players in order as follows:

1. riewoldt
2. hayes
3. goddard
4. jones
5. gilbert

very tough. obviously riewoldt and hayes are at the top of the list, then there's about 6-8 other players around the same mark.

goddard is our most effective player and has very little weakness. he's an all-round player - great disposal, wins the hard ball, kicks a few goals, hard at it and a decent mark.

over the last 1-2 yrs, jones has become the competitions best (or second best) run with player. lately he's become a lot more effective with his disposal as well as picking up plenty of the ball.

gilbert has surpassed fisher as our number 1 defender and is very important to our structure down back. he's a great reader of the play, has poise under pressure and a penetrating kick.

fisher, dal santo, montagna and gram would come next on the list. you could make a valid arument for any of those players being in the saints top 5.

 

[Tom12]

My list of our top 5 players.

1. Riewoldt
2. Goddard
3. Fisher
4. Montagna
5. Hayes

 

[paul of tuval]

Riewoldt
Hayes
Goddard
Fishbert
Dal Tagna

 

[dan0z]

Riewoldt
Hayes
Goddard
Gilbert

5th spot is between Montagna, Dal Santo, or Fisher.

 

[stkildathunda]

Roo
Goddard
Hayes
Dal Santo
Gilbert/Jones/Montagna/Fisher too hard to split

 

[Plugger35]

I think there was a similar thread to this last year. It was damn hard to pick our Top 5 then and it's probably even harder now. Probably a good sign as it shows the great depth of quality players we have.

Riewoldt, Hayes and Goddard are still locks for the Top 3 but then it gets trickier. I think I included Fisher last time but I reckon he has almost been overtaken by Gilbert now, at least on current form. Really the last couple of places in the Top 5 could be anyone of Fisher, Gilbert, Dal Santo, Montagna, Jones, Gram, Gardiner or Stanley. Very hard to split them.

If I had to choose 5 I'd probably go for,

Riewoldt
Hayes
Goddard
Gilbert
Dal Santo

 

[Kildonan]

I have trouble just naming our best 22 players - there's so many I want to squeeze in.

Riewoldt is our best player - biggest work rate, beautiful hands, great kick for goal

Goddard is probably next - the most skilled player by foot in the league

Hayes is our gutsiest hardest worker and awesomeness personified

Dal Santo is Mr Smooth - sublimely talented, cool in a crisis, superb skills

Montagna is a stats machine - he works hard all day and his career has mirrored one of our greatest ever in Robert Harvey.

Sam Fisher and Sam Gilbert are the two best offensive backmen in the league and are probably the reason St Kilda have such a superb record over an ever increasing time period in defence. Both are worthy of being included in our top 5 on talent alone - let alone performance.

Comment:
Our team has undergone a radical change under Ross Lyon. Our most talented players were always going to be great footballers. The beauty of Lyon's game plan is that it capitalises on these greats and it makes less talented players very important too.

Look at Jason Blake. He has always been one of our fittest players, yet he struggled to find a spot in our best 22. Blake is of that middling height; too small for a key position and too tall to have the speed of a midfielder. Traditionally these type of players only succeeded if they were sublimely talented (Koutifides, Goddard). Blake was so determined to play that he was willing to do anything to stay in the team. Thomas used him as a ruckman because he made a contest in the ruck and was able to contribute in the midfield, but in reality it was just a compromise. Posters were continually calling for his sacking or criticising him. Under Lyon, Blake has thrived. Lyon has found a player that would willingly crawl over broken glass for him, Blake has found a coach that can use his attributes to their maximum effect. He has fitted seamlessly into our defence and is Mr Reliable. He was second on our list for marks last year. He can take a key position or play as an offensive "quarterback" when Ross needs him to.

Now that Roo is down, he has been named as CHF. I think he will line up here and do a decent job of it. His marking skills and fitness will do him in good stead and his accuracy in front of goal is actually quite good.

Our team has no slackers, but any coach would love to have players with the attitude of Jason Blake - he is the type of person you want in the trenches with you if you are fighting a war. Maybe these unheralded players are in our real "best 5" simply because it is the efforts of these type of players that make the difference. When that last effort is required and everyones reserves are so low that it takes everything they've got, I would have my money on Blakey finding enough to get the job done.

 

[Zagg]

The top 3 seem to pick themselves:

Riewoldt
Goddard
Hayes

I think in that order as well.

Next two I'd probably go for:

Gilbert
Montagna

But it's so difficult to leave out Dal Santo and Fisher! They'd be 6 & 7.

Gram, Jones & Gardiner to round out the top 10 for this season.

 

[TheLastEmperor]

I think there was a similar thread to this last year. It was damn hard to pick our Top 5 then and it's probably even harder now. Probably a good sign as it shows the great depth of quality players we have.

Riewoldt, Hayes and Goddard are still locks for the Top 3 but then it gets trickier. I think I included Fisher last time but I reckon he has almost been overtaken by Gilbert now, at least on current form. Really the last couple of places in the Top 5 could be anyone of Fisher, Gilbert, Dal Santo, Montagna, Jones, Gram, Gardiner or Stanley. Very hard to split them.

If I had to choose 5 I'd probably go for,

Riewoldt
Hayes
Goddard
Gilbert
Dal Santo

i hope that's a typo. stanley certainly has some talent but right now he not in our best 22.

 

[AFLOnline]

Riewoldt
Goddard
Gilbert
Fisher
Jones

This is based on order of importancy. Blokes like Dal Santo, Hayes and Montagna are genuine superstars, but midfielders are a dime a dozen and although we have the picks of the crop, I think the list I made really are the most important but not necessarily the best players in our line up. It's too hard for me to do a top 5 on who is the best, because our top 22 are all as brilliant as each other

 

[Look2Me4Guidance]

I base this on who is most valuable to us in a game sense.

1 - Riewoldt. One of a handful of players in the league who can single handedly determine a result.

2 - Hayes. This man is our midfield general. Is what I hope Armo can aspire to.

3 - Goddard - Is a winner no matter where he plays, which makes him nearly impossible to stop.

4 - Gardiner - His ruckwork is paramount to us defeating Geelong, Bulldogs, etc.

5 - Fisher, Samuel - A beautiful user and probably more important given the current form lapse of Dawson, given that he can mind the big gorillas if they are getting out of control.

 

[LordJimmy]

1. Hayes
2. Goddard
3. Gilbert
4. Riewoldt
5. Fisher

 

[Rough_Edges]

Best;

1. Riewoldt
2. Goddard
3. Hayes
4. Gilbert
5. Dal Santo

Most Important

1. Riewoldt
2. Gilbert
3. Goddard
4. Jones
5. Gardiner

 

[Armitage2Riewoldt]

You think Gilbert is more important than Goddard? Interested in hearing your reasons. I mean, Gilbert is undoubtedly one of the best half-back 'quarter back' kinda players in the game. And his ability to read the play is fair proper phenomenal.

But Goddard's a freak, and can play anywhere. KPP back, stops goals. Creates run out of defense, stick him in the middle and he'll win you clearances and hit your forward on the tit 98% of the time. Or you can cut out the middle man and he can do it himself and kick a lazy bag.

Agree with your top 5 but reckon BJ edges out Gilbert.

 

[Leaping Larry]

Why is Zach Dawson not in the top 5 calculations?
He has excellent skills
Great decision making
and never gets beaten...........
Hell, i cannot continue the facade any longer....as a keen footy follower, HOW IS HE IN YOUR TEAM? You have an awesome team except for him. Watching him is cringe worthy and if i was a Saints supporter I would be very scared, he may just cost you guys another flag.

 

[TheLastEmperor]

Why is Zach Dawson not in the top 5 calculations?
He has excellent skills
Great decision making
and never gets beaten...........
Hell, i cannot continue the facade any longer....as a keen footy follower, HOW IS HE IN YOUR TEAM? You have an awesome team except for him. Watching him is cringe worthy and if i was a Saints supporter I would be very scared, he may just cost you guys another flag.

he had a fantastic year last year. he seems to be lacking confidence this year and if he doesn't find some form he'll be out of the team, no doubt.

 

[Armitage2Riewoldt]

Why is Zach Dawson not in the top 5 calculations?
He has excellent skills
Great decision making
and never gets beaten...........
Hell, i cannot continue the facade any longer....as a keen footy follower, HOW IS HE IN YOUR TEAM? You have an awesome team except for him. Watching him is cringe worthy and if i was a Saints supporter I would be very scared, he may just cost you guys another flag.

It was a decent post until you got to here.

If the ball he punched missed Scarlett's foot...we would have been calling him a hero as Kosi runs into an open forward line to put us in front and win our 2nd flag.

Now onto why he's still in the team. Namely cos he's our FB and we don't have a lot of coverage. Sure he's been a bit crap in the last couple weeks, but he's probably better than what we've got in reserve.

Miles and Simpkin are injured. Gaertner's too raw. Can't really comment on Johnson. But I'm happy with Zac being in the team for now.

 

[surfer1605]

Why is Zach Dawson not in the top 5 calculations?
He has excellent skills
Great decision making
and never gets beaten...........
Hell, i cannot continue the facade any longer....as a keen footy follower, HOW IS HE IN YOUR TEAM? You have an awesome team except for him. Watching him is cringe worthy and if i was a Saints supporter I would be very scared, he may just cost you guys another flag.

I've been pretty disappointed in Dawson this season, makes a lot of silly errors and never seems to have his eye on the ball when he's defending. However, when they put him up forward the other night against Freo, I was very impressed, granted he didn't kick any goals, he created some good contests and took a couple of good marks. He just needs his confidence back.

 

[samwise]

Best:
1. Riewoldt - 8km warm up enough said
2. Goddard - top 5 players in the league by the end of the year
3. Hayes - when fully fit he will not be stopped
4. Dal Santo - beautiful skills
5. Gilbert - surely all australian this time

Most Important:
1. Riewoldt - although get back to me at the end of the season
2. Hayes - just look at last years finals
3. Goddard - God...can do anything
4. Gilbert - especially with Fisher & Goddard playing forward now he is an important general down back.
5. Dawson - cant see us winning a GF without him. Was massive in the Bulldogs prelim last year and on a big MCG ground I don't think the rest of our defense would be able to cope without him. Lots of big forwards in other teams.

Jones, Gardiner, Fisher also great but I'm happy with those lists.