Sainters

[Atomboy]

but guys like Gilbert and Fiora cant be getting a consistent game if they want to improve. .

you lost me here.

Gilbert has been awesome for us this year, and is exactly the type of player we need coming through. Unless you're saying we shouldn't be playing youngsters

Fiora has had a solid year as well and I think can be pretty pleased with his output. Have been pleasantly surprised by him.

 

[thepower]

i think theyre going south in a hurry.
They were alost certainties to win a premiership but a few factors have kicked in to rob them of a genuine opportunity.
There is alot of trash on that list
A few retirees.
Some bad drafting.
Terrible trading .

Now some boardroom fighting ...

Interesting times ahead.

carlton board.

Terrible trading .

not so much trading, but picking up players like lappin, scotland, saddington, teague, bannister, ackland, mclaren, cloke

 

[Orangewhip]

Gilbert has been awesome for us this year, and is exactly the type of player we need coming through.

I agree. Gilbert is a shrewd, (and young...) defender with great dash. His rawness is both a blessing and a pitfall at present but he'll iron that out. Reads the play well and rarely shirks.

Saints will be there abouts next year. 2007 was scrappy on and off the field for them but they still have a strong list and should make the finals in 2008. If they can recruit a smokey forward like Edwards at the Roos it will help them immeasurably with Gehrig now gone.

 

[Medstar]

Gilbert looks a great young talent, he went at 33 in the 05 draft, i wish we got him with the pick we took ryan cook at.

 

[dan warna]

st kilda are terrible, nothing to worry about for opposition fans.

Im sure you will cater very well for smashing a midfield consisting of goddard, ball, hayes, dal santo, montagna, gram, and even young birss is showing a bit of form.

our defence is pathetically built around max hudghton who will continue to luck out thrashing dealt to forwards over a 10 year career if he can geet a decent preseason, maguire, sam fisher, gilbert and baker, ordinary at best

Reiwoldt, Kosi, milne and Vossy never kick goals or take marks...

and with watts kicking a few bags in the magoos, and brooks bulking up at long last, nothing to see down there either.

nope nothing to worry about at all

 

[The Spike]

Oh yeh, we're gone

Expect a BIG improvement next yr from:
- Hayes (first season back from knee reco)
- Mcguire (first seaosn back from a major broken leg)
- Max Hughton (missed virtually the whole season...He is our equal best defender)
- Ball (Crippled by OP related stuff this yr, but in for operation to get it fixed & will be right for next)
- R. Clarke & X. Clarke (Both had virtually no pre-season, especially r. clarke)
- Kosi (With a big pre-season he will improve heaps and dominate games again...)
- Goddard (back from injury)
- Gilbert
- Gram (inconsistent yr with some injuries)
- Gardner (didn't play, but is now fixed and with a big preseason will contribute postively as a genuine ruckman)
- Coaching & game plan (RL has had his first yr under his belt now, and the game plan & structures will improve further next year)
- A few surprises from some other players coming through...

Combined this with a big pre-season (this yr was our worst), there will also be greater fitness base across all players....
.

 

[NeXus_Helen]

I've barracked for St.kilda for over 30 years and I to reckon we are headed South.

Next year I can see the following teams overtaking us........

Brisbane, Bulldogs and Richmond with no teams above us falling under us, (although Adelaide are ageing and are also heading South). That being the case, that will place us down in 12th position.

 

[dan warna]

no relation to nexus nick are you?

nexus nick predicted a bottom 4 finish in every year from 2003 to 2006....

 

[St DAC]

I've barracked for St.kilda for over 30 years and I to reckon we are headed South

Onya Chicken Little. What a sad little voice of doom you are ...

 

[ShinSplints]

Only idiots would think stkilda are heading south. Injury plagued season with bets players eithing coming back through in jury or getting injured and still managed 9th. Need to improve fitness. new coach and game plan.

Premiership favourite next year no worries.

 

[ShinSplints]

Oh yeh, we're gone

Expect a BIG improvement next yr from:
- Hayes (first season back from knee reco)
- Mcguire (first seaosn back from a major broken leg)
- Max Hughton (missed virtually the whole season...He is our equal best defender)
- Ball (Crippled by OP related stuff this yr, but in for operation to get it fixed & will be right for next)
- R. Clarke & X. Clarke (Both had virtually no pre-season, especially r. clarke)
- Kosi (With a big pre-season he will improve heaps and dominate games again...)
- Goddard (back from injury)
- Gilbert
- Gram (inconsistent yr with some injuries)
- Gardner (didn't play, but is now fixed and with a big preseason will contribute postively as a genuine ruckman)
- Coaching & game plan (RL has had his first yr under his belt now, and the game plan & structures will improve further next year)
- A few surprises from some other players coming through...

Combined this with a big pre-season (this yr was our worst), there will also be greater fitness base across all players....
.

Bingo!! spot on!! Not to mention Armitage, Geary and Howard 3 very good youngsters to be released next year!!

Gilbert and R.Clarke IMO will own half back next year.

No way are the saints going south. how??

If all goes well for raphael I can see him getting ALL AUSTRALIAN you heard it here FIRST!

 

[The Punter]

I think there are some myths that are being bandied around on here that are simply not true. They are:

- You cannot win flags win players like Fiora (ask Port Adelaide with Schofield)
- Gilbert is no good (Step 1 - open eyes to watch football)
- R Clarke is no good (just produced best month of football)
- Gehrig's goals cannot be replaced (Riewoldt, Koschitzke, Watts will do this)
- The list is old (Only Harvey & Hudghton now over 28)
- We don't have enough midfield depth (Harvey, Hayes, Ball, Dal Santo, Montagna, L Fisher, X Clarke, Baker, Fiora, Goddard, Armitage, Birss, Blake, Howard, McQualter)

Sure, we have our problems, like lack of tall defender depth, but if Gwilt can develop that might not be as much of a problem. We draft and trade well we will there abouts next season.

Remember Selwood fell into Geelong's laps because of underage injuries. Anything can happen.

 

[Qsaint]

Gone, and their fall is going to be commensurate with our rise.

And the amount of dribble JD and his boyfriend have plastered on these boards over the years is going to make it oh so sweet.

You aiming for 3rd last next year?

Our core group of early 20's players will keep us there abouts for the next couple of years. We definately need to add a few players, but so do most other teams

 

[dan warna]

You aiming for 3rd last next year?

Our core group of early 20's players will keep us there abouts for the next couple of years. We definately need to add a few players, but so do most other teams

we need to get our players fit and have a fair run with injuries in 08

even excluding hamill and gardiner with a team that doesn't break collarbones, legs, arms etc we are quite a dangerous outfit.

also confidence is a big issue.

we certainly dropped in 07 a fair bit.

 

[Falchoon]

I think there are some myths that are being bandied around on here that are simply not true. They are:

- You cannot win flags win players like Fiora (ask Port Adelaide with Schofield)
- Gilbert is no good (Step 1 - open eyes to watch football)
- R Clarke is no good (just produced best month of football)
- Gehrig's goals cannot be replaced (Riewoldt, Koschitzke, Watts will do this)
- The list is old (Only Harvey & Hudghton now over 28)
- We don't have enough midfield depth (Harvey, Hayes, Ball, Dal Santo, Montagna, L Fisher, X Clarke, Baker, Fiora, Goddard, Armitage, Birss, Blake, Howard, McQualter)

Sure, we have our problems, like lack of tall defender depth, but if Gwilt can develop that might not be as much of a problem. We draft and trade well we will there abouts next season.

Remember Selwood fell into Geelong's laps because of underage injuries. Anything can happen.

Fiora is the type of player who would excel in a very good team

Gilbert is brilliant

Raph has the skills to pay the bills, fitness and desire are still unproven

Gehrig only kicks goals against bad teams

List is not old, but not young either

Our 2nd midfield rotation is below standard, as soon as Hayes went off the ball on Sat we got smashed, he went back in there we smashed them and so on and so forth, obviously Ball is a huge loss, but if our no.1 rotation is Dal, Ball and Hayes (first class) our 2nd isn't Baker, Birss Harvey/Montagna.

Luke Penny would be handy

 

[MarkT]

Seems to me that St. Kilda stopped building from the ground up which is what gave them their shot in the first place. Once they finished higher up the ladder the draft talent dried up. Same happened to my club but it got addressed. It didn’t at St. Kilda. Lyon coming in may or may not be a good move but I am confident in list management terms it was a set back. Taking Gardiner has proven a mistake and he along with Clarke were always a gamble on short term opportunities. The idea to get rucks was good but the execution was poor. Circumstances, namely injuries, conspired but that life and when you go into a season with a number of injury prone players on your list you gamble on the rest of the list standing up.

Saints have a fair bit of work to do to restock the list from player 15 to 30 via the draft IMO and still need a ruckman.

Time to make some delist and trade calls on:
Hamil, Gardiner, Rix, Blake, Fiora, Clarke x 2, maybe Kosi.

 

[The Punter]

MarkT - if you're not going to identify your club on your BF ID, then you've got to give us more information than "it happened at my club". Man U? Benfica? Indy Colts?

 

[thepower]

MarkT - if you're not going to identify your club on your BF ID, then you've got to give us more information than "it happened at my club". Man U? Benfica? Indy Colts?

collingwood.

 

[SurreyBlue]

Hope some-one is dusting the "premierships" cabinet daily. It would be waisted otherwise.

 

[thepower]

Hope some-one is dusting the "premierships" cabinet daily. It would be waisted otherwise.

huh?

 

[JeffDunne]

What really makes me laugh about this thread is that obvious trolls and personal insults are ok, but the word 'moron' is edited out.

Talk about someone having an axe to grind.

 

[The Spike]

Hope some-one is dusting the "premierships" cabinet daily. It would be waisted otherwise.

LOL!.....Is that the best you can do?

Another great season by the blues this year....aiming for 14th next year are we?

 

[MarkT]

MarkT - if you're not going to identify your club on your BF ID, then you've got to give us more information than "it happened at my club". Man U? Benfica? Indy Colts?

Yeh sorry. I never did get around to that. I am a very biased, one eyed, feral Collingwood supporter if that helps.

 

[Saint Corin]

We'll be ok next year. Thomo is a great clubman, but played an insignificant role in 07(not his fault), Mathew Clarke going isn't much of a loss as he didn't play that many games or star either, same with brett voss if he decide's to go.

Fraser is a big loss, and it's a shame to see him go. Though we can finally restructure, not saying we are better off without Fraser, but there are still positive's about him moving on.

I think the saints have the potential to finish in the top 8 and possibly have a crack at the flag. We had our moment in the sun during a few good years which we didn't capitalise in, I think teams like the Hawks, Adelaide, will fall, everyone worked us out and we struggled, same happened to the dogs this year, and the Hawks have had a poor 2nd half. Adelaide in the same sitatuation as us, but were better are made finals. So I think we could be right up there next year.... people forget a year ago how geelong were.

 

[NeilElvis]

A few very correct points here & a few that are a fair way off the mark.

Firstly with the Gardiner issue, it's been very disappointing that he didn't get on the park with his foot issues (which are apparently all sorted out now). Keep in mind that we gave up very little to get him (basically a 3rd round pick recruited Gardiner & Birss), so it was definately worth the risk (which still may pay off). Recruiting a GOOD ruckman needs to be our #1 priority, as Kosi will be needed to play deep forward more often.

Mark T suggested 'Time to make some delist and trade calls on:
Hamil, Gardiner, Rix, Blake, Fiora, Clarke x 2, maybe Kosi'...well I believe that Hamill will make a decision prior to the final list deadlines depending on how his recovery from the latest op goes. Rix is an adequate depth player but has severe limitations. Fiora has been very good overall this season, if he had kicked better at goal the football world would be talking about Fiora finally arriving. Both Clarkes just need a pre season. They show flashes of brilliance but have been victims of the injury curse. Kosi finally put together close to a full season & showed he is finally starting to live up to expectations. There's others that are more expendable than that lot & combined with all of our retirements, there will already be a large turnover (Sweeney, Raymond, Brooks, etc delisted as well as Gehrig, Thommo, M.Clarke, Voss?, Harvey?)

I agree that St.Kilda needs to seriously rejuvenate the list & should look at being aggressive at the trade table & drafting a batch of the best available kids.

Geelong, Port & North have shown what having a good pre season, trading & drafting intelligently & having luck with injuries can result in.