List Mgmt. The Midfield Thread

[STK2020]

Bonts only 20 too...and many think Stringer will become more mid...he's 22 as is Macrae...interesting times.

 

[CHBench]

Steven
Armo
Ross
Billings
Gresham
Acres
Dunstan?
Newnes?
Weller
Lonie
Membrey?

Add Steele and perhaps Hartlett, and that group bats quite deep, on "potential". Although it is heavily reliant on the development curve continuing quite sharply for some, we desperately need some stars to rise, but probably isn't too far off where the dogs midfield brigade were 2 years ago. Freeman coming on would be a massive bonus.

 

[Ricmel]

Add Steele and perhaps Hartlett, and that group bats quite deep, on "potential".
.

Whilst I would like us to get Steele, he does not add what this midfield needs - explosive pace. Other than Steven, most of these players are fairly one paced and a lot are downright slow - Dunstan, Acres, Armo.

A fit Feeman would be a massive bonus and might be enough to take this midfield from pedestrian to elite in one hit. I'd like to see the Saints make a big play for a big name.

 

[aussierulesrules]

I'm very comfortable with where things sit at the mo, especially given that we'll be going all-out to add to this area from now-on as well.

As I said yesterday, you can pretty much forget Armo went around this year I reckon and if he has a full enough preseason and stays relatively injury-free next year, I expect him to be playing much closer to his 2015 form (when he had no sub-20 disposal games), than his 2016 form (when he had 10 sub-20 games!) and that alone could make a big difference to our midfield next year (all things being equal).

Him, Steven and Ross are the main 3 at the mo on the inside of course and then we have Acres, Dunstan and Gresh coming through, who I expect a lot from going forward and if we land Steel then that's a pretty talented main inside group of 7 that we're building and if we get a Hartlett or Rockliff as well, then by as soon as next year our midfield could be a hell of a lot better than it was this year, and getting better by the month.

On the outside we of course have Sir Nick- who was good enough for 19 Brownlow Votes playing mainly on a wing- for the time being and Newnes on the other wing and I'm very happy with him as well and I'm also still very hopeful that Billings will end up damn good on the wing, once his tank is better, and then there's the big ?? called Nathan Freeman (although I'm not really expecting anything at all from him anymore and see anything we get out of him as a bonus).

Then there are all the others who I expect will or could go through the midfield or wings, like Weller, Gilbo, Sinclair, D-Mac, Lonie, Minch, Webster, Robbo and Savage, giving us a potentially very deep and talented group going forward.

If we do get Steele and Hartlett this year and are then able to add someone of the Shiel/Rockliff/Dusty or even Fyfe calibre next year then I reckon we'd have a killer midfield by 2018 or 2019.

If Freeman doesn't come good I do think we'd need to find someone good with blistering linebreaking speed though, although I will watch with great interest how D-Mac progresses with another preseason under his belt, as he is someone who can definitely break the lines. Savage also did a lot of that when he was first moved down back, so I'm a bit mystified as to why his linebreaking run seems to have dried up a fair bit since then.

 

[Red White Black]

Freeman could be anything, bang or bust. If he was potentially to go bang and become an A grade mid (like his potential suggests) then our shot at a GF turns from dream to reality

The new breed of mid is tall, fast, strong. Fyfe, danger, Bont, kennedy are all around the 1.9m mark. This is who we're missing. Strong on the ground and in the air. Steele is 187 so hopefully we can pick him up and retain pick #10 somehow

Along with the above we also require another KDP player to help out down back... Thoughts on Riewoldt as a KDP? Turn our General into a defensive wall with some run out of half back and we're on our way to a GF

 

[JG22]

Whilst I would like us to get Steele, he does not add what this midfield needs - explosive pace. Other than Steven, most of these players are fairly one paced and a lot are downright slow - Dunstan, Acres, Armo.

A fit Feeman would be a massive bonus and might be enough to take this midfield from pedestrian to elite in one hit. I'd like to see the Saints make a big play for a big name.

We would love some pace.
But we still need another tall inside midfielder such as Steele, he's a great get if we can.
Ollie Florent at 10 would be a nice fit as an outside runner.

Gresham will start to play mid this year and he's got the agility and acceleration that will very much help.

 

[Saintbloke]

Freeman could be anything, bang or bust. If he was potentially to go bang and become an A grade mid (like his potential suggests) then our shot at a GF turns from dream to reality

The new breed of mid is tall, fast, strong. Fyfe, danger, Bont, kennedy are all around the 1.9m mark. This is who we're missing. Strong on the ground and in the air. Steele is 187 so hopefully we can pick him up and retain pick #10 somehow

Along with the above we also require another KDP player to help out down back... Thoughts on Riewoldt as a KDP? Turn our General into a defensive wall with some run out of half back and we're on our way to a GF

I think Roo at this late stage in his career is just cream on the cake, and we should not be building any structure around him, just needs to be floating around midfield- forward. Height isn't everything as a mid- it's skill and ability, but as Acres gets better, and we get Fyfe, then that area will be covered. We have lost a lot of games over the last few seasons due to being killed by opposition outside run- and I got sick of listening to Richo say this in pressers..must be something in what he says!

 

[Persevering Saint]

If we get Pickett, that will mean two things. Pace is starting to improve... and Nathan Freeman will be looking over his shoulder most of next year.

 

[hayes]

A bit surprised that people still think we need run and carry when we have very few actually capable of winning it first to give it off to those runners.

15th for contested possession this year and if you look at recent flag winners over the past few years they've gone pretty well in that area.

Our biggest need for mine is at least 2 more guys who average 10+ contested possessions and use it well. Can't rely on the other team turning it over all the time to get the ball. Short...tall...whatever just as long as they win it.

Surprised we're not throwing the big bucks at Mitchell TBH.

 

[JG22]

A bit surprised that people still think we need run and carry when we have very few actually capable of winning it first to give it off to those runners.

15th for contested possession this year and if you look at recent flag winners over the past few years they've gone pretty well in that area.

Our biggest need for mine is at least 2 more guys who average 10+ contested possessions and use it well. Can't rely on the other team turning it over all the time to get the ball. Short...tall...whatever just as long as they win it.

Surprised we're not throwing the big bucks at Mitchell TBH.

He wants to go to Hawthorn. We're going after Steele.

Everyone has to be able to crack in but we have many young players who need to improve their bodies and consistency in this area. Billings, Acres, Dunstan, Gresham. The mids are young, so they aren't strong inside.

 

[gringo2011]

He wants to go to Hawthorn. We're going after Steele.

Everyone has to be able to crack in but we have many young players who need to improve their bodies and consistency in this area. Billings, Acres, Dunstan, Gresham. The mids are young, so they aren't strong inside.

Yeah the game has evolved to be more a dish out quick and run game. The old Sydney and Ross Lyon way of forcing ball up after ball up made inside ball winners a high priority. These days you need to win the ball at ground level still but run is nearly the most important trait a player can have...even taller players. Blake Acres should be the prototypical footballer until someone invents a new way of playing the game. He's big, pacy and elusive in traffic.

 

[puppy_dog7]

A bit surprised that people still think we need run and carry when we have very few actually capable of winning it first to give it off to those runners.

15th for contested possession this year and if you look at recent flag winners over the past few years they've gone pretty well in that area.

Our biggest need for mine is at least 2 more guys who average 10+ contested possessions and use it well. Can't rely on the other team turning it over all the time to get the ball. Short...tall...whatever just as long as they win it.

Surprised we're not throwing the big bucks at Mitchell TBH.

Run and carry is something we don't really need. We have Jack Steven, Savage, DMac and JWebb and possibly White who will be providing the bulk of our run and carry..
Leg speed isn't necessarily as important as such these days.
It's more about the speed of ball movement which is what makes the dogs look so quick.
Johannieson is they're only real explosive run and carry player. They're midfield with Bont, Libba, Macrae etc aren't that quick. Geelong aren't quick. Sydney (Besides Rohan) aren't quick..

yes you need to at least 1 or 2 players off halfback/through the middle that have some breakaway pace as you don't want to be 1 dimensional but it's more about having good quick decision makers more than anything.

Look at Nathan wright for example. Started down back as an explosive player, but couldn't hit a target out of defence. Now he's playing forward where his average kicking is less noticeable and where his speed is good in pressuring the opposition defence into making mistakes.

 

[Jade Buddha]

If we get Pickett, that will mean two things. Pace is starting to improve... and Nathan Freeman will be looking over his shoulder most of next year.

In the rehab room?

 

[Luke_sainters]

2017 is a huge year in terms of finding out if we have blokes who will turn into A graders

Newnes & Ross in 6th year
Dunstan, Acres, Billings 4th year
McKenzie mid/hb 3rd year
Steele 3rd year
Sinclair 3rd year
Gresh second year

Newnesy just needs to probably work on finding more of the footy and instead of getting 22 possession a game on ave. Try push to 25-26 average
Ross has only got upside, just keep improving.
Dunstan/Acres the same as Newnes find more of the footy instead of getting 15-20 possessions per game try get the tall up to 24-25 per game.
Steele we know he can play hopefully he can give us something
Freeman - just get the bloke on the park
Sinclair hopefully can get a few games
Gresh and Billings will be A graders possibly both breakout next year.

But I do agree perhaps 2 x 'A' grade mids off contending for a flag.

 

[hayes]

Edited to add Steele. Wasn't really sure where to put him and didn't want to get carried away too early so just went with the second category.

 

[TheEnsign]

Starting to get bullish about next season. Stevens and Steele in means we've got some nice depth developing, and if we lose Steven/Armo/Ross to injury for a portion of 2017 it will no longer be catastrophic (just bad), we'd still be competitive.

Not related to this thread, but North definitely out of the 8 next year, and you could see West Coast and even Hawthorn sliding after their trading debacle.

 

[SaintsSeptember]

Montagna was an A grade mid though?

At what point did he become one.

 

[SaintsSeptember]

Maybe we should trade Armitage, Templeton and pick 23 to the Gold Coast, In exchange for pick 10.
Hawks get O'Meara.

 

[SaintsSeptember]

In 2015 Billings averaged more contested possessions than Ross. He also gets the odd clearance and is credited with plenty of tackles.
His "soft" reputation is not founded imo.

 

[hayes]

At what point did he become one.

At the absolute earliest you'd say 2007 but it probably wasn't til 2009 that he cemented himself as one. So yes it took him plenty of time. Goddard pretty much the same.

 

[L_W_P]

Looking at the list of FA players I would be going after -

David Zaharakis
Nat Fyfe
Rory Thompson
Dusty Martin

Zaka might be a little left field but he was very good this year and passes the no dickhead test by being smart enough to turn down the drugs. Stick him on the wing/hff and he could be top shelf I think.

 

[puppy_dog7]

At the absolute earliest you'd say 2007 but it probably wasn't til 2009 that he cemented himself as one. So yes it took him plenty of time. Goddard pretty much the same.

Agree. Whilst we had Dal, Lenny, Ball and Roo who became A graders early on in their career. Players like Joey, Goddard and Fisher (purely cos he was drafted at a later age) didn't become A graders til their mid 20's.

I think we put unfair expectations on some of our young players because of how good our previous batch in the 00's were early in their careers. As well as the Bulldogs with Bont, Stringer etc.

Once they all get to 50-100 game mark. We should have plenty of A grade talent on our list.

 

[JG22]

Dusty will always have that element of risk.
Fyfe would be insanely good.

Interesting that Thompson is on there as it's only his seventh year.
Not sure if that's a mistake or if he qualifys due to not being in the top 25% of paid players or something

 

[12Chill]

Dusty will always have that element of risk.
Fyfe would be insanely good.

Interesting that Thompson is on there as it's only his seventh year.
Not sure if that's a mistake or if he qualifys due to not being in the top 25% of paid players or something

Was Rory Thompson pre-selected as a 17 year old, thus the 8 years tied to the club?

 

[JG22]

Was Rory Thompson pre-selected as a 17 year old, thus the 8 years tied to the club?

Perhaps, think he was zone.
Even still wouldn't think that would qualify as free agent