Preview R1 v St Kilda @ Marvel Stadium (Sunday, March 24)

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SnusCG

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Jack Steven taking time away from football to focus on mental health. Not looking good for saints round 1
 
Sep 25, 2012
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Jack Steven taking time away from football to focus on mental health. Not looking good for saints round 1

Possibly no Steven, Hannebery, Carlisle.

....Interesting.

EDIT: Forgot to say.... thoughts are with Jack. A lot has been said in the past couple of days. I hope he gets all the help he needs, and the public gives him the time and space he requires to overcome whatever he is going through.
 

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gcsunsfc

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I'm glad our club has had the ability to step up its player welfare support the last year or so.
Professional sport is a demanding job.
These players are not immune to mental health issues as is any member of the general population. Wish him the best. It would be horrible if someone at our club were going through their own issues and didn't have the right environment to enable them to talk through things and get the required help.
 

gcsunsfc

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The bookmakers either don't think Steven is as influential as I do, or they are a bit slow on the uptake.
Suns still paying $4.35 to win.
Line @ -27.5
 

gcsunsfc

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Fair enough if it is a good team but I find it funny St Kilda fans thinking they are so far above us.
We won the same number of games last year!

We had about 25 players to chose from for the last 2 months
 

eppo67

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I actually think St Kilda are going to be pretty poor this year, I don't think Hanners is going to add what they want on field for him as well as them missing a raft of key defenders for this game and I think they will struggle.

However, this will be a challenging game for us away from home. We are in this up to our eyeballs though. Lads are going to want to crack in early.
They are my second team but I agree l think they will be awful. Hanneberry is absolutely cooked. I see very little improvement if not backwards.
 

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gcsunsfc

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They are my second team but I agree l think they will be awful. Hanneberry is absolutely cooked. I see very little improvement if not backwards.

Like all teams they've got a few young guys who should improve Gresham has potential to take his game to another level, Hunter Clark in particular should build in his second year - apparently had a fair bit of puppy fat to lose during his first year. Ben Long, Daniel Mckenzie also look pretty talented. Membrey, Steele only 24ish and could become more consistent but don't see the ceiling.

They don't have the Rankine, Luko, Ainsworth level talent.
 
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The bookmakers either don't think Steven is as influential as I do, or they are a bit slow on the uptake.
Suns still paying $4.35 to win.
Line @ -27.5
Steven usually tears us a new one with his run. Sorry to hear about his health issues and I hope he makes a swift recovery but it’s good news for us chasing a win.
 
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I often don’t put money on us because it mostly ends up in added heartbreak, but gee those odds were too generous to pass up. If it were at Metricon I’d almost have us favourites (after last years game as well).
The Saints will want to start the game strongly. Give this young Suns team a sniff under perfect conditions at Marvel, with fresh legs, in front of the football media, and they’ll be licking their lips. Get Weller, Martin, AhChee, Bowes, Ainsworth, Rankine, Hanley, etc. up and running downhill with plenty of ball and we are a real chance.
 

Jirik13

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I often don’t put money on us because it mostly ends up in added heartbreak, but gee those odds were too generous to pass up. If it were at Metricon I’d almost have us favourites (after last years game as well).
The Saints will want to start the game strongly. Give this young Suns team a sniff under perfect conditions at Marvel, with fresh legs, in front of the football media, and they’ll be licking their lips. Get Weller, Martin, AhChee, Bowes, Ainsworth, Rankine, Hanley, etc. up and running downhill with plenty of ball and we are a real chance.
St Kilda will most probably miss Longer in the ruck, then 2 best defenders Carlislie and Brown, midfielder Hanneberry and now it looks like Steven. Arguably missing 3 best players. It's definitely a good chance for Sun especially if Witts can take advantage of backup ruckmen. I suspect Suns will not be fielding very young team, probably around 24 yr average age (including Rankine, Lukosius, Ballard).
 
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St Kilda will most probably miss Longer in the ruck, then 2 best defenders Carlislie and Brown, midfielder Hanneberry and now it looks like Steven. Arguably missing 3 best players. It's definitely a good chance for Sun especially if Witts can take advantage of backup ruckmen. I suspect Suns will not be fielding very young team, probably around 24 yr average age (including Rankine, Lukosius, Ballard).

I think it’s possible we could see Dew go with a more mature line-up to begin the season with a few winnable games there, getting the more experienced bodies. E.g maybe Lemmens instead of Lukosius, Collins instead of Ballard, Holman/Young in early. Not that I am saying they should be best 22, but they may give us a better chance of winning early with their experience in Dews eyes, and we filter the kids in after a couple of weeks once the season starts taking a toll/injuries/they smash the NEAFL.

Just a possibility.
 
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I think it’s possible we could see Dew go with a more mature line-up to begin the season with a few winnable games there, getting the more experienced bodies. E.g maybe Lemmens instead of Lukosius, Collins instead of Ballard, Holman/Young in early. Not that I am saying they should be best 22, but they may give us a better chance of winning early with their experience in Dews eyes, and we filter the kids in after a couple of weeks once the season starts taking a toll/injuries/they smash the NEAFL.

Just a possibility.
I can see us wheeling out more mature line ups early on over playing all the first years except Rankine, he is a lock for Round 1. Can see Lukosius, King, Mclennan maybe being filtered in after a few weeks.
 
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Fat Pizza

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I think it’s possible we could see Dew go with a more mature line-up to begin the season with a few winnable games there, getting the more experienced bodies. E.g maybe Lemmens instead of Lukosius, Collins instead of Ballard, Holman/Young in early. Not that I am saying they should be best 22, but they may give us a better chance of winning early with their experience in Dews eyes, and we filter the kids in after a couple of weeks once the season starts taking a toll/injuries/they smash the NEAFL.

Just a possibility.
I can definitely see us doing this. What was the point of us recruiting the State League players, if we're not going to play them? The start of a season is often frantic. As much as I want to see the talented youngsters, the mature bodies will handle the physicality better & give us a better chance of an early win. There's room for an exceptional talent like Rankine though. :)
 

Jirik13

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I expect Rankine (definitely), Lukosius and Ballard play in round 1.
From mature recruits I expect definitely Miles, Hombsh and Murdoch to play and possibly Collins, Burgess, GHS.
JLT games should tell us more.
 
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SnusCG

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I expect Rankine (definitely), Lukosius and Ballard play in round 1.
From mature recruits I expect definitely Miles, Hombsh and Murdoch to play and possibly Collins, Burgess, GHS.
JLT games should tell us more.
Not sure about Ballard. Got a lot of exposure because of injury last year but I don't think he's a guaranteed starter
 

Jirik13

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Not sure about Ballard. Got a lot of exposure because of injury last year but I don't think he's a guaranteed starter
Definitely not guaranteed. In practice match against Lions, he made some mistakes early but as match progressed he looked better and better at HB. He also put some extra kg on. Collins/Burgess could play instead of him for sure.
 
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Ballard will be a bit like the big Goober. Probably introduced before their time. I would expect to see Charlie introduced to the fold at some point, but I would be surprised if he played over 10 games IMO. Can see Dewy not wanting to go too young. Not a slight on Ballard though, he was mightily impressive last year.
 

gcsunsfc

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I think Rankine is the only guy <21 to play
Maybe Lukosius

Bowes, Fiorini, Ainsworth, maybe Joyce the next age group
 

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