Prediction Saints Forward Set Up For 2019

[Brains Trust66]

Been trying to work out what our best forward set up will be for next year . Assuming that everyone will be fit and ready to go of course .

Our potential forwards will be -

Membrey , Bruce , Paddy , Marshall , Long , Billings , Lonie , Weller , Acres , Newnes , Gresham , Battle , Clark , Sinclair , Coffield , Paton . Plus possibly others as well .

What do you think our best set up will be ? Remember you can’t just say Gresham will be on the ball all the time , or Billings will play wing because other players will more than likely take those spots most of the time .

My preferred starting forward line up will be -

HF - Billings , Bruce , Gresham
FF - Long , Paddy , Membrey

There will be a three way battle between Paddy , Battle and Marshall for FF . Anyone of them could take that spot . There is an argument that we would be better off with Marshall because he can be thrown in to the ruck whereas Paddy , Battle and even Bruce will struggle as our second ruckman .

I would think that Gresham , Billings and Long will be certain starters up forward along with Membrey and Bruce .

I would imagine Clark and Acres will at least start on the bench . Lonie , Weller and Newnes might just become back up players if we have injuries .

Sinclair will need a big preseason otherwise he might start in the twos next year .

It will be interesting to see if they dump Coffield to a half back flank again or try him forward or on the wing .

Of course I haven’t allowed for any new recruits at this stage as who knows who that will be if anyone at all .

 

[Mowman]

Been trying to work out what our best forward set up will be for next year . Assuming that everyone will be fit and ready to go of course .

Our potential forwards will be -

Membrey , Bruce , Paddy , Marshall , Long , Billings , Lonie , Weller , Acres , Newnes , Gresham , Battle , Clark , Sinclair , Coffield , Paton . Plus possibly others as well .

What do you think our best set up will be ? Remember you can’t just say Gresham will be on the ball all the time , or Billings will play wing because other players will more than likely take those spots most of the time .

My preferred starting forward line up will be -

HF - Billings , Bruce , Gresham
FF - Long , Paddy , Membrey

There will be a three way battle between Paddy , Battle and Marshall for FF . Anyone of them could take that spot . There is an argument that we would be better off with Marshall because he can be thrown in to the ruck whereas Paddy , Battle and even Bruce will struggle as our second ruckman .

I would think that Gresham , Billings and Long will be certain starters up forward along with Membrey and Bruce .

I would imagine Clark and Acres will at least start on the bench . Lonie , Weller and Newnes might just become back up players if we have injuries .

Sinclair will need a big preseason otherwise he might start in the twos next year .

It will be interesting to see if they dump Coffield to a half back flank again or try him forward or on the wing .

Of course I haven’t allowed for any new recruits at this stage as who knows who that will be if anyone at all .

My preferred would be
My preferred starting forward line up will be -

HF - Billings , Bruce , Gresham
FF - Long , Battle/Marshal , Membrey

Don't see paddy making it if we can get anything for him pick 15 - 30 take it .

 

[Brains Trust66]

My preferred would be
My preferred starting forward line up will be -

HF - Billings , Bruce , Gresham
FF - Long , Battle/Marshal , Membrey

Don't see paddy making it if we can get anything for him pick 15 - 30 take it .

Hard to argue with that , as much as I want Paddy to succeed I do have my doubts .


Go Saints

 

[Saintbloke]

Saints forward setup 2018=
Saints forward setup 2019=

 

[WhiskySaint]

I’m very torn on the forwardline. To me if we play 3 talls then we have some cohesion issues.

Assuming Membrey is s lock.

Marshal and battle are inexperienced and i recon having 2 talls that are learning in the one forward line made us pretty disfunctioal this season. (Could be the game plan) Battle probably better suited to CHF as he isn’t super tall and probably won’t be super strong as he’s very young.

Bruce when played with other talls leads his man into the other tall, which does my head in.

Paddy has the smarts, but I think he is best suited to a CHF role. He just doesn’t have the tank for it though.

So for mine the two 3 tall forward lines we could run are.

FF - Marshal
CHF - Paddy (if he has a huge preseason)
And - Membery

Or

FF - Marshal
CHF - Battle
And Membery

HOWEVER

I think we would function better with a two tall pressure forwardline

Bruce always gets the ball to ground and if we deliver deep entries then we actually have some dangerous smalls. Especially if we draft Rankin.

Rankin Membery Gresh
Long Bruce Lonie

Acres and Steele to rest forward as 3rd tall options.

The answer to our best forward line queston will be answered after we ask, are we happy to have a development forward line or do we want to win games now?

Is Marshal a forward or a ruck? To me he is a Ruck and should be playing first ruck at Sandy (or Frankston as they seem better at developing rucks, ha)

Worst case scenario here is our forward line sucks again this year and I drown my sorrows an amazing whisky. Not that bad.....

 

[Moral Decay]

The thing is we just have no depth in small and medium forwards, we've delisted Connellan, Michington and Wright, by all accounts Lonie and Weller are gone, we have no depth so the choices of forwards is only a choice in the talls.


Of my many gripes for the season has been the dis-functional forward line, Bruce's injury was horrendous for us, the lack of quality small forwards that would justify the murder ball entry vs the lack delivery of skills needed to select a tall forward line, nothing we did worked, because we don't have the depth and quality we need.

At some point I'd love the selectors to pick our most talented six to nine forwards and then construct a game plane that makes the most of their abilities.

Locks.

Two talls:
Marshall - as a ruck forward he simply has to play and get games into him; we cannot afford Bruce or Acres as ruck relief.
Bruce - our best forward by some margin, his running ability and capacity to make a second and third effort elevate him above the rest.

Two mediums:
Battle - his best version is playing like Lynch and Gunston, needs to run the lines alternating with Bruce to provide a get out option down back.
Membrey - not a tall, a marking medium and needs to play that role to get the best out of him, he's not keen on contact in the marking contest, needs to tackle and pressure to elevate himself.

One small:
Long - realistically the only defensive forward we have with a taller forward line he needs to be more offensive and get to the feet of the contest to provide scoreboard pressure.

While the forward line looks tall at first blush, Marshall spends time in the ruck, Battle, Bruce and Membrey work up and down, one tall forward and one small stay home at all times. We need to back the midfield and HB to win the ball, we need Gresh and Billings in the middle or find someone that is better than them at that role.
If we play tall (Westcoast) we need massive improvement in delivery, if we go small (Richmond) we need massive improvement in talented and pressuring ball winning smalls in the forward line.

Rotators:

Gresham - we really need him to step up in the middle, we really need him forward …………………….. we need to make the most of his ability.
Billing - his best foot ball is on the wing but if he can get his kicking boots back on his value off hf skyrockets.
Newnes - God knows - a preseason wrecked and a season limited by shoulder injury, he'd have to show a lot more defensive and offensive pressure to earn a place but his best is good enough.

*
We need to draft and trade small and medium forwards, if we could get Wingard for next years first, if we can get Menzel, (but he'd need to chase and tackle), if we can get Rankine or Rozee in the draft, if one of legion of HBF can be developed to play HF (as well as Long) then we can have some depth. If we could trade Paddy to Richmond for one of their HF, I'd do it.

 

[Rors]

HF: Long Bruce Gresham
F: Marshall Membrey Rankine

Billings will be up on the wing. Paddy will be at Sandy. Battle will be our new utility roaming around the ground

 

[The Punter]

Pure tall forward: Bruce/Battle/McCartin
Hit up forward: Membrey/Battle
Ruck/forward: Marshall/Bruce
Pressure forward: Long
Goalkicking small forward: Lonie
Resting mid: Billings/Gresham/Acres

I think we still need either a goalkicking small forward or to commit to Lonie as that player. Long looms as the pressure forward but we have no back-up really - Weller and Newnes don't provide enough pressure on exposed form.

I'm very much an advocate of three marking forwards in the 22, so we have two on the ground at all times (barring in-game injuries).

 

[Mat Mann]

FF has to be able to take contested marks as the bailout, that's not Paddy or Bruce.
I really liked what Battle/Marshall brought, certainly seemed a bit more mobile than Paddy.

I'd expect Retcho to go for a now vs future setup so it'll be a Bruce Paddy Membrey + smalls
I think we'll see enough of Battle/Marshall think next year if Paddy/Bruce dont perform

 

[Saint12]

I think Paddy is a proven miss as a forward, but would definitely try him as a floating CHB next year

 

[JG22]

So much questioning of the forward line set up, which is fair.

But some of the individuals make it hard, McCartin is just a huge headache for the structure.
With the absence of any pressure and his extended spells he's just too inefficient atm.

Will be interesting to see if they persist with Newnes there.

 

[sainterryan]

Membrey mccartin long
Gresham Bruce battle

Billings on the wing , tall forward line but I would expect one to always be on the bench or back up ruck

 

[andolate]

F:. Lonie Paddy Membrey
HF: Gresham Bruce Battle

 

[plugger66]

I think you just need to look at most finals sides to see what works. 3 talls or marking forwards doesn’t work. You can have one or at the most 2 who can’t pressure. Paddy no pressure at all. Bruce limited. Membery limited. Marshall limited. Battle gives some but hasn’t the agility of good mediums. We need long and lonie and one or two others to come good who provide pressure especially as Gresham and billings are also one way runners.

Ideal forward line is billings long lonie Gresham battle Marshall membery. That’s 7 but Gresham will mainly play mid next year. Ideally we get another pressure small or medium to replace one of the 3 taller or marking players. As we don’t have one I’m sticking with this. And membery is a marking tall because that’s how he plays not because of height. We must keep lonie.

 

[WhiskySaint]

I think you just need to look at most finals sides to see what works. 3 talls or marking forwards doesn’t work. You can have one or at the most 2 who can’t pressure. Paddy no pressure at all. Bruce limited. Membery limited. Marshall limited. Battle gives some but hasn’t the agility of good mediums. We need long and lonie and one or two others to come good who provide pressure especially as Gresham and billings are also one way runners.

Ideal forward line is billings long lonie Gresham battle Marshall membery. That’s 7 but Gresham will mainly play mid next year. Ideally we get another pressure small or medium to replace one of the 3 taller or marking players. As we don’t have one I’m sticking with this. And membery is a marking tall because that’s how he plays not because of height. We must keep lonie.

+1

I think it was ARR in the trade thread that said the top 4 teams also were the top 4 teams for forward half tern overs.

On a defensive note, to me this is why we need to look at a back 6 that are better uses of the footy even if it weakens our defence. So many scores come from ternovers these days.

 

[The Punter]

Just on strategy as well, I am of the belief that if we copy Richmond we'll just be second best. They'll be better at it anyway. We need to develop the strategy that will blunt Richmond's, and if that involves three marking forwards that would be great considering who we have on the list.

 

[TheJackal]

HF - Billings , Bruce , Gresham
FF - Wingard , Lynch , Membrey

This would be my preferred option.

 

[pebblesofsand]

I think you just need to look at most finals sides to see what works. 3 talls or marking forwards doesn’t work. You can have one or at the most 2 who can’t pressure. Paddy no pressure at all. Bruce limited. Membery limited. Marshall limited. Battle gives some but hasn’t the agility of good mediums. We need long and lonie and one or two others to come good who provide pressure especially as Gresham and billings are also one way runners.

Ideal forward line is billings long lonie Gresham battle Marshall membery. That’s 7 but Gresham will mainly play mid next year. Ideally we get another pressure small or medium to replace one of the 3 taller or marking players. As we don’t have one I’m sticking with this. And membery is a marking tall because that’s how he plays not because of height. We must keep lonie.

If its all about "pressure" why are Richmond pursuing Tom Lynch?? He's surely not going to play two's until Riewoldt retires!!

So they clearly plan to go Riewoldt (195cm), Lynch (199 cm) and Caddy (187) next year. I would not call Lynch or Caddy any more defensive orientated than Membrey or Marshall.

Hopefully we can play Billings essentially as a winger to utilise his field kicking and decision making. Can't see Lonie going unless there's been an upgrade trade.

So I'm thinking

Lonie/Wingard Bruce Membrey

Gresh Marshall Long

 

[George]

I think Paddy is a proven miss as a forward, but would definitely try him as a floating CHB next year

I heard club was going to get him training with the backs over the off-season for a potential move there.

I think our best setup would be something involving Long, Gresham, Billings, Battle, Membrey.

That last spot in the forward line is a real toss up. I love Brucey, he is a workhorse but Marshall came on late last year so there's a bit of a question around that.

Plus if we end up keeping Lonie and change our forward structure similar to the Tigers with crumbing smalls it could just be Battle and Membrey as the "talls" with Long Gresham Billings and Lonie crumbing.

 

[Dr Spaceman]

Saints forward setup 2018=
Saints forward setup 2019=

Too often 2018 looked like


Which may translate to ️ depending on the device you're viewing it on

 

[hayes]

Can’t play any more than two marking forwards otherwise we give ourselves no chance. Obviously Membrey is a lock.
Even with the smalls if they don’t put pressure on then it doesn’t matter how much talent they have.

Basing it off our current list:

HF: Gresham Membrey ??????
FF: Lonie Marshall Long

Billings should be played up the ground to make use of his kicking so the ball actually gets to the forward line then we can lock it in, and bottom line he’s just not a pressure player at all. We need to either draft, trade or find someone from within to take that last spot in the forward line.

Paddy needs to kick more goals to take Marshall’s spot. What does he have one bag of 3? The relief rucking and injury cover from Marshall is too great to make way for one or two goals a game from Paddy.

 

[CaptainRisky]

I think Paddy is a proven miss as a forward, but would definitely try him as a floating CHB next year

That could work a treat for about 30 seconds until he is gassed

 

[CaptainRisky]

I heard club was going to get him training with the backs over the off-season for a potential move there.

I think our best setup would be something involving Long, Gresham, Billings, Battle, Membrey.

That last spot in the forward line is a real toss up. I love Brucey, he is a workhorse but Marshall came on late last year so there's a bit of a question around that.

Plus if we end up keeping Lonie and change our forward structure similar to the Tigers with crumbing smalls it could just be Battle and Membrey as the "talls" with Long Gresham Billings and Lonie crumbing.

Cant you just see Paddy chasing Buddy , you have got to be taking the piss Georgy boy

 

[plugger66]

Just on strategy as well, I am of the belief that if we copy Richmond we'll just be second best. They'll be better at it anyway. We need to develop the strategy that will blunt Richmond's, and if that involves three marking forwards that would be great considering who we have on the list.

Unless the talls or marking players are good to very good you are wasting your time. The game is about pressure. The days of room for talls to lead is over unless the game changes. We copy the tigers because we aren't good enough but to buck the trend is just being stubborn because that isn't how the game is played. Its like saying play to rucks with one coming off the bench because that is how it was played but every club knows that wont work.

 

[plugger66]

If its all about "pressure" why are Richmond pursuing Tom Lynch?? He's surely not going to play two's until Riewoldt retires!!

So they clearly plan to go Riewoldt (195cm), Lynch (199 cm) and Caddy (187) next year. I would not call Lynch or Caddy any more defensive orientated than Membrey or Marshall.

Hopefully we can play Billings essentially as a winger to utilise his field kicking and decision making. Can't see Lonie going unless there's been an upgrade trade.

So I'm thinking

Lonie/Wingard Bruce Membrey

Gresh Marshall Long

Firstly Lynch is a star and star forwards may or may not work if there are 3 of them. None of our talls come close to Jack, Lynch or even Caddy. Caddy plays different to membery who is solely a marking forward. Caddy isn't bad on the ground either. Anyway nothing will convince some that 3 wont work and unless we get good to very good marking players nothing will convince me it works in todays footy. Even good to very good players might not be good enough to work. Anyway the real issue still is with the midfield. The pies have shown that forwards and backs aren't that important.