News 2023 St Kilda Media Thread

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Just Looking at Hoyney's Weekly Wrap this week, he goes into the reasons why the premiership race is the most open it has been in years.

About us, he mentioned that
"If you’re St Kilda and what they’re going to do come finals time, there’s no team that struggles to convert entries into scores more this year. That at some stage will be their undoing."

The main thing I look at, is we've probably had the most inexperienced and unsettled forward line of any team in the comp this season. We've had Max and Skunk play together once! which was incidentally was our best 4 qtr performance for the year.

So yes it's a concern, but I feel it's something much easier to fix than your defence, and our defence is 2nd in the league.
If you're a team that struggles defensively then that's a huge concern going into a finals campaign when games get tighter.

For Saints, I'm much more concerned about our midfield firing than our forward line.
 
puppy_dog7 said:
Just Looking at Hoyney's Weekly Wrap this week, he goes into the reasons why the premiership race is the most open it has been in years.

About us, he mentioned that
"If you’re St Kilda and what they’re going to do come finals time, there’s no team that struggles to convert entries into scores more this year. That at some stage will be their undoing."

The main thing I look at, is we've probably had the most inexperienced and unsettled forward line of any team in the comp this season. We've had Max and Skunk play together once! which was incidentally was our best 4 qtr performance for the year.

So yes it's a concern, but I feel it's something much easier to fix than your defence, and our defence is 2nd in the league.
If you're a team that struggles defensively then that's a huge concern going into a finals campaign when games get tighter.

For Saints, I'm much more concerned about our midfield firing than our forward line.
Click to expand...
Some of the forward line issues are also due to what the midfield have dished up at times with delivery and giving up field position. You're on the money, if the midfield produces we'll be hard to beat.
 

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puppy_dog7 said:
Just Looking at Hoyney's Weekly Wrap this week, he goes into the reasons why the premiership race is the most open it has been in years.

About us, he mentioned that
"If you’re St Kilda and what they’re going to do come finals time, there’s no team that struggles to convert entries into scores more this year. That at some stage will be their undoing."

The main thing I look at, is we've probably had the most inexperienced and unsettled forward line of any team in the comp this season. We've had Max and Skunk play together once! which was incidentally was our best 4 qtr performance for the year.

So yes it's a concern, but I feel it's something much easier to fix than your defence, and our defence is 2nd in the league.
If you're a team that struggles defensively then that's a huge concern going into a finals campaign when games get tighter.

For Saints, I'm much more concerned about our midfield firing than our forward line.
Click to expand...
Surely it has to be because of our kicking inside 50. Membrey probably would’ve had 3 goals if Higgins kicked it somewhere other than 5cm above the ground and Gresh has pretty much just given up trying to hit a target (have a look at the two kicks inside 50 he actually hit, he didn’t even look). We were moving the ball slowly for a lot of year as well which doesn’t help.

You’re right though you’d rather our defence working better but you don’t want to be dead last in any offensive stats. Finding the balance is what will determine whether Ross is ever a premiership coach, assuming we give him enough to work with of course.
 
Cro19 said:
Some of the forward line issues are also due to what the midfield have dished up at times with delivery and giving up field position. You're on the money, if the midfield produces we'll be hard to beat.
Click to expand...


With the inexperienced forward line you are going to have form and consistency issues. I'd rather defend Caminiti than Skunk or King because you know despite the excellent work rate he's not learn a lot of tricks yet. Same with Phillipou or Owens over either of them. You can push a kid around and get in their heads. Older experienced guys know the tricks from pushing you under a ball to drawing free kicks and body work.
 
hayes said:
Surely it has to be because of our kicking inside 50. Membrey probably would’ve had 3 goals if Higgins kicked it somewhere other than 5cm above the ground and Gresh has pretty much just given up trying to hit a target (have a look at the two kicks inside 50 he actually hit, he didn’t even look). We were moving the ball slowly for a lot of year as well which doesn’t help.

You’re right though you’d rather our defence working better but you don’t want to be dead last in any offensive stats. Finding the balance is what will determine whether Ross is ever a premiership coach, assuming we give him enough to work with of course.
Click to expand...


Funny enough I thought we looked a lot better when we munged the ball in than when we try to pick out passes.
 
Cro19 said:
Some of the forward line issues are also due to what the midfield have dished up at times with delivery and giving up field position. You're on the money, if the midfield produces we'll be hard to beat.
Click to expand...
Yeah I completely understand and agree with that. But sometimes its a two-way street. If the forwards aren't moving, getting to the right spots and creating space in the 50 it makes it hard for the mids to deliver it properly.
But you're right, there have been multiple times where we've ****ed up clear opportunities at easy goals this year
 
Sir Owens said:
Shows how highly rate Marshall is. Some nuffys want to trade him 😂😂😂

Just grab another one apparently.
Click to expand...
What would be damned handy is a big forward who could do 20% of the ruck work to give him a hand. Maybe Caminiti can build up physically to do this?

In any event don’t want the Rolls Royce’s (King and Owens) doing any part time ruck work.
 

St Kilda AFL ruckman Tom Campbell’s decade-long battle to rise beyond ‘back-up’ status​

At age 31, St Kilda’s Tom Campbell is still striving to add to his 56 AFL games. His journey of short-term contracts has been laden with persistence, resilience and endurance, writes PAUL AMY.


Hardly a mention of Tom Campbell passes without him being called a “back-up” ruckman.

The initial reference arose in 2016 at his first AFL club, the Western Bulldogs, when he was named as an emergency for the grand final team.
It stuck, following him to North Melbourne and now St Kilda.

Campbell is fine with the tag yet unwilling to play along with it; he is the back-up ruckman by description but not disposition.

At age 31, Campbell is still striving to add to a games tally that, after more than a decade in the AFL, stands at 56.

“If you’re a young player and you’re asked what sort of career you would hope for yourself, you don’t go, ‘Oh gee, I hope one day I’m the back-up ruckman on the list’,’’ he says.

“You want to be the No.1 guy. And I don’t think I’ve settled to be the back-up guy. I’ve always pushed to be the best I can be and to be the main man.

“I think the only way you can survive on an AFL list is to keep trying to be your best and pushing to improve. Because as soon as you take your foot off the gas and decide you’re the back-up guy, then you’re going to find your way out.

“There’s this really difficult piece about recognising where you sit in the pecking order. You could look at my current situation with Rowan Marshall, who I’d say is in the top-five ruckmen in the AFL. It’s very difficult to earn your selection when we only play one ruck but for me, I can still really have a big impact around the footy club and I can still play some great footy.’’

He adds that being an AFL player is “one of the great jobs in the world and I feel very lucky I’ve been able to do it for so long.’’

Campbell has been doing it since 2012, often on one-year contracts that leave him facing what he calls “my footy mortality’’.

North Melbourne gave him a two-year deal. “That was wonderful, actually,’’ he says. “It took a bit of pressure off.’’

Without ever being held up as a star of the game, Tom Campbell has had a worthy football career.

It’s defined by persistence, resilience and endurance rather than match-winning, Brownlow vote-gathering exploits.

After playing with the Sandringham Dragons in the old TAC Cup, Campbell was drafted from the Bendigo Bombers, with the Bulldogs taking him as a rookie.
In the years since, he’s played mostly in the VFL and at five clubs: Bendigo, Williamstown (which was then in an alignment with the Bulldogs), Footscray, North Melbourne and now the St Kilda-aligned Sandringham.

Campbell won Sandy’s best and fairest last season.

He won North Melbourne’s top VFL award and finished third in the JJ Liston Trophy in 2019, and figured in Footscray’s 2014 and 2016 premierships.
He has played 132 VFL games.

And, as St Kilda head of development Damian Carroll points out to CODE Sports, he’s played them with a commitment not always seen from AFL-listed players in the state league.

There are two things to that.

Campbell says he’s never forgotten the thrill of his VFL debut or the importance of the competition in his career, and his love for football probably reflects the enthusiasm with which he plays it.

“I’ve always tried to remember what it was like to actually get the chance to play in the VFL. I worked really hard to get that opportunity,’’ he says.
He had been “pretty much broken-hearted’’ when he wasn’t drafted after his final year at the Dragons (though now admits he wasn’t “emotionally ready’’).
An outstanding season at Old Scotch in the Victorian amateurs in 2010 was his ticket to state-league football.

He was named Bendigo Bombers’ best first-year player in 2011 and when Essendon assistant Brendan McCartney landed the Western Bulldogs’ senior coaching position, he decided to take Campbell with him.

In six seasons at the Whitten Oval, he managed 42 games, the bulk of his AFL tally. He played nine matches in the premiership year, from round five through to 13.

More than a few Doggies supporters will remember his performance against Adelaide at Docklands in 2013, when the big fellow clunked five marks and kicked four goals (his old Bendigo Bombers teammate Tory Dickson booted six).

If the roof had been open, it would have been his day in the sun.

But overall, he says, he struggled for consistency at the Bulldogs and there were injuries, too.

“I’ve had seasons derailed and pre-seasons derailed. It’s a reality of playing the game,’’ he says.

“If you’re going to put yourself out there, it’s a contact sport and sometimes you pay the consequences.’’

Delisted, Campbell found his way to the Kangaroos, where he had 12 games over three years.

He also made a friendship and a stand with teammate Jasper Pittard.

Campbell is passionate not only about football, but the environment.
With Pittard, he formed Footy For Climate.

As an AFL player, Campbell gets one day off a week during the season and he dedicates part of it to the not-for-profit project.

The Black Summer fires of 2019-20 were the spur for the two Roos to turn their concerns into something more meaningful.

“I don’t think anyone who was in Australia at that time wasn’t impacted by the images,’’ Campbell says.

“I know Jasper and I were having conversations in the locker room, which is not the usual thing, just about the communities right around the country. For us, that was the start, where we thought, ‘We’re AFL players, we have a voice, what can we do to be a part of helping and being part of the solutions?’’’

The AFL Players’ Association has backed them, reflecting the fact that more than 90 per cent of AFL and AFLW players are concerned about climate change.
The group supports the players in education and using their platforms to talk about the issue.

It also works with the AFL, which this year brought on Jo Gilbert as the head of sustainability. “That’s a really great step in our view,’’ Campbell says.

Footy For Climate has also sought to engage AFL fans, releasing a short film last year called “Our Local’’.

“It’s all about AFL players going back to their community clubs and talking about their great memories of learning to play the game, and the impact that renewable energy can have on protecting those clubs into the future,’’ Campbell says.

“We’re just trying to support a greater conversation within the broader community and finding ways we can give back to the grassroots of the game.’’

Delisted by North Melbourne at the end of 2021, Campbell found a third AFL club when St Kilda signed him as a delisted free agent to “provide cover’’ for Marshall and Paddy Ryder.

He played two AFL games last year and has played none this season.

Yet he’s still pushing himself and still enjoying football. No doubt he’ll give Sandringham’s best and fairest another nudge; he’s averaging 17.3 possessions and 27.8 hit-outs in the VFL.

Two weeks ago, Campbell was a “hold-over’’ for St Kilda and played only the second half of Sandringham’s VFL game.

He spent the first half giving advice to young Saints ruckmen Max Heath and Isaac Keeler.

“He does that a lot, on match days and during the week, putting time into the boys, going through ruck craft and extra vision with them,’’ Carroll says of Campbell.

“It’s such a specific role and it’s a real credit to him that he’s trying to develop others even if they’re going to step in front of him. The stuff he’s done with Max over the past two years, he’s been his best coach at the club, I reckon. He’s so selfless.’’

Campbell agrees that his resilience as much as his ruck work has helped keep him in the game.
“For sure. It’s been a massive trait that I’ve developed,’’ he says.

“I don’t think I was very resilient as a younger player. I needed a lot of support, a lot of hands-on mentoring. Upon reflection, being delisted a couple of times, it’s easy to say, ‘Oh well, I’ve had my go and that’ll do and I’ll go and do something else’.

“I’m proud of the fact I’ve thrown my hat back in the ring and taken the emotional risk to get out there and try to prove myself again. I’m incredibly proud of what I’ve achieved, AFL and VFL.’’

So how long can Campbell keep going?

He says his plan going into every season is to play well enough to be offered another contract “and then I get to make the decision’’.

“I’m really proud of the way I’ve attacked each year. Once I sign that one-year deal, I’m fully committed and I give a lot of myself to my footy and to my teammates and the club in general.

“I look forward to the next game, every time. How long it goes, who knows. I did an interview earlier in the year and they described me as a cockroach, I can’t be killed. Who knows how long a cockroach goes for.’’


www.codesports.com.au

CODE Sports

CODE Sports
www.codesports.com.au www.codesports.com.au
 
Mason Wood swearing in the presser 😂😂

Loved to see it tho, showed the passion

Edit: Here’s the link
 
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The Cobra said:
What would be damned handy is a big forward who could do 20% of the ruck work to give him a hand. Maybe Caminiti can build up physically to do this?

In any event don’t want the Rolls Royce’s (King and Owens) doing any part time ruck work.
Click to expand...

Apparently we had a bight at Hayden McLean prior to last weeks trade period, but I believe we have a couple of them on the list already. Jack Hayes (fitness) & Isaac Keeler (development). Both could play their roles at differing times moving forward. Keeler is possibly a year of two away from playing full time AFL, but with some luck with injuries and a solid preseason Hayes could fill the hole next year or earlier.

Also dont discard Max Heath he is a developing ruckman who is very capable when sitting at full forward.
 
SteeleSaints said:
Apparently we had a bight at Hayden McLean prior to last weeks trade period, but I believe we have a couple of them on the list already. Jack Hayes (fitness) & Isaac Keeler (development). Both could play their roles at differing times moving forward. Keeler is possibly a year of two away from playing full time AFL, but with some luck with injuries and a solid preseason Hayes could fill the hole next year or earlier.

Also dont discard Max Heath he is a developing ruckman who is very capable when sitting at full forward.
Click to expand...
Hayes is a good call (too long injured - out of sight out of mind- my bad!).

Keeler still very slight but agree huge upside.

Heath based on my observations at training is a hard worker and keen but a long way off AFL standard at the moment (but really hope he makes it)
 
Nutsngum said:
Massive waste of an interview there, barely a question to each of them. Adrian Cole, the NGA kid they had on with them, seemed to get the most time which was weird. Spoke well though.
Click to expand...
Spoke really well for a 17 year old!
Good size too. Let’s hope he shows talent but gets a “mysterious injury” to keep him out of the top 40 of the draft
 
nit.com.au

Young Indigenous Saints form a pact for AFL success

The moment Jack Peris arrived at Moorabbin to begin preseason before a 2022 rookie year, the young Iwatja, Yawuru and Gidja man, thousands of kilometres from country, felt right at home.Not because th...
nit.com.au nit.com.au
 
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