
George
Premium Platinum








- Aug 17, 2015
- 45,307
- 127,301
- AFL Club
- St Kilda
- Other Teams
- Phi Eagles & Phillies, Liverpool, PAO FC
- Banned
- #1,126
Follow along with the video below to see how to install our site as a web app on your home screen.
Note: This feature may not be available in some browsers.
Weekly Prize - Join Any Time - Tip Round 0
The Golden Ticket - MCG and Marvel Medallion Club tickets and Corporate Box tickets at the Gabba, MCG and Marvel.
North can GAGF
Where's our help? Where's our compo for McCartin? Why does Cam McKenzie play for Hawthorn? Where's our priority picks for the Watters/Richo dark ages?
1 finals series in 12 years is as much of a basketcase as any. North have finished in the top-8 four times in that same period, including 2 prelims.
North can GAGF
Where's our help? Where's our compo for McCartin? Why does Cam McKenzie play for Hawthorn? Where's our priority picks for the Watters/Richo dark ages?
1 finals series in 12 years is as much of a basketcase as any. North have finished in the top-8 four times in that same period, including 2 prelims.
If Mackenzie was available to us then I think we would have pushed up from pick 9(10). In that scenario it might cost you quite a bit to even get up to 6 or 7, but it would still be worth it given how we would have paid for Mackenzie.Under the old system we couldn't have got Phillipou AND McKenzie, but we could have traded our first round pick for a good play and taken McKenzie with later picks. However i'm still pretty happy with all the players we picked up in the draft last year.
All clubs attempt to improve the list every year hopefully we continue with picking up talented kids in the draft.We are not in a ‘gut the list’ rebuild, we’re in a ‘cut the dead-wood’ position.
You still need senior leaders, and we’ve seen before to take us forward and help develop the younger players in combination with the coaches.
However, we’ll start to put a line through those senior players who don’t provide a consistent line of form, and continue to make the same mistakes.
Players like Howard, Gresham, Seb, Battle, Webster & Hill will be in strife over the next two years and should be moved on.
These are the players that are stunting the development of a kid, but not moving the needle themselves.
If Mackenzie was available to us then I think we would have pushed up from pick 9(10). In that scenario it might cost you quite a bit to even get up to 6 or 7, but it would still be worth it given how we would have paid for Mackenzie.
You would hope it’s at least 2Surely out of JVE, Hots, Adam’s and Keeler we end up with a couple of players.
In the media thread mate
No current season stats available
Stat | 2023 rank |
Points for | 15th |
Socre per inside-50 % | 18th |
Inside 50 differential | 10th |
Forward half intercepts | 5th |
Forward half intercept score % | 14th |
Two of my personal faves.
1. Steel “backs”. He said “probably fair enough”. Ie, if the boss is pissed then whatever he said.
2. Seems to be nothing at all that links Hayes as an in other than journo licence.
Forgotten forward Jack Hayes is in the frame to be called upon to fix St Kilda’s scoring woes as Saints skipper Jack Steele says criticism of his club’s list by coach Ross Lyon is “probably fair enough”.
The Saints have a golden opportunity in the next fortnight to shore up their flailing attacking game, which Steele pointed to as a primary concern after Saturday’s bitter 26-point loss to Gold Coast.
St Kilda remains in sixth spot on the ladder, with North Melbourne and Hawthorn to come in the next two weeks, but Steele said missing the finals from here would not mean a failed season.
![]()
Jack Hayes is set to return to the Saints’ side. (Photo by Michael Willson/AFL Photos via Getty Images)
Lyon brutally said post-match on Saturday that “there is not enough quality” in the St Kilda team to pick up the slack when star performers aren’t at their best and Steele agreed the role playing Saints needed to step up.
Running defender Nasiah Wanganeen-Milera and hard worker Marcus Windhager have performed in recent weeks for St Kilda but the likes of Liam Stocker, Anthony Caminiti, Mason Wood and Dan Butler didn’t have enough impact against the Suns.
St Kilda's scoring wobble
Source: Champion Data
Stat 2023 rank Points for 15th Socre per inside-50 % 18th Inside 50 differential 10th Forward half intercepts 5th Forward half intercept score % 14th
“It’s probably fair enough,” Steele said of Lyon’s assessment.
“Our best performers probably need to just keep things going and keep driving he standards but we probably need the second tier or third tier to lift even more.
“We probably haven’t had that in the last six or seven weeks of football. We saw early in the year when we were contributing evenly to our performances but that has definitely tapered off the last couple of months.”
An undefeated first month marked a brilliant start to Ross Lyon’s second stint at Moorabbin but the Saints have gone 5-8 since as their offensive game has fallen to pieces.
St Kilda still sits in sixth on the ladder but only the bottom three clubs (West Coast, North Melbourne and Hawthorn) have scored less this season.
![]()
The Saints are at risk of a second straight year of missing the top eight after a blistering start to the season. (Photo by Bradley Kanaris/Getty Images)
Lyon bemoaned mistakes kicking inside-50 against the Suns and Steele said he “can’t pinpoint exactly what went wrong but I think our ball movement wasn’t great”.
The Saints rank 10th for inside-50 differential, so they get the ball forward enough, but sit dead last for scores once inside-50.
More Coverage
Bunnies for big hauls: Which teams goalkickers dominate
16 and done: Is Brodie Grundy finished as a Demon?
Crying out for winners forward of centre, the Saints will weigh up bringing Hayes in for his first game since rupturing his ACL in round 6 last year, with subsequent foot and hamstring injuries keeping him out of action in 2023.
Hayes played in a VFL scratch match at Casey on Saturday and Steele said he “has put his hand up” and “I would love to be able to play with him”.
Livewire forward Jack Higgins (knee) also trained on Tuesday and is set to return if he gets through a test, while Jack Billings (thumb) is an outside chance.
Yep great point. Also raised my eyebrow. Who exactly is our top tier by the way? Who is Ross talking about? Sinclair, Wilkie, Steele, Marshall? Surely he’s not putting Hill in there.If the captain thinks its the '2nd tier' players who need to lift then he needs to take a long hard look in the mirror.
If the captain thinks its the '2nd tier' players who need to lift then he needs to take a long hard look in the mirror.
I'll take the eye test over fantasy points & the captain is as big a culprit as any in my book.Gresham, Ross, Wood, Phillpou , Stocker, Byrnes the main culprits in my book.
Not that they do anything in particular wrong, just that their output has declined more and more since those early wins.
AFL Fantasy points are just that, a fantasy, but they are a measure of stats, and i think its safe to say that if a player goes from scoring 100 points per week to 80, unless they have changed their role significantly, they have gone backwards.
So if i graph out the AFLF points through the year, its an indicator of whether that player is better, worse or just all over the shop.
So i looked at our players. I took their average after their bye and compared it as a percentage to their average before the bye.
That's not the whole story, because several of our players played their guts out in the first few weeks and coasted the rest of the season.
So i also included the trend , up or down over the season.
I didn't count games where the player was injured early.
Wanganeen-Milera 123% Up.
Howard 117% , up.
Crouch 111% , up
Sinclair 110% , up.
Marshal 106% , Slightly up
Butler 105% ,Slightly up.
Wilkie 102% , Flat
Steele 100% , Flat
Hill 100% , Down
Caminiti 98% , Flat
Battle 95%, Slightly Down
Gresham , 94% Down ( from a very low starting point ).
Ross , 93%, Down
Owens , 92% ,Down
Wood , 90% , Down
Phillipou, 83% Down.
Higgins , 80% , Down.
Stocker , 74% , Down
Byrnes , 65% , Down
You want him to contradict his coach ?I'll take the eye test over fantasy points & the captain is as big a culprit as any in my book.
Yes he's playing hurt but throwing other players under the bus when your own performance is below par is very poor leadership in anyone's language.
Yes.You want him to contradict his coach ?
You want him to contradict his coach ?
He seems to have come up with the second statement himself though - the list question and the probably right answer was just a response. Might echo the coach, but not sure he specifically needed to choose those words.You want him to contradict his coach ?
I'll take the eye test over fantasy points & the captain is as big a culprit as any in my book.
Yes he's playing hurt but throwing other players under the bus when your own performance is below par is very poor leadership in anyone's language.
I look for cause and effect.I'll take the eye test over fantasy points & the captain is as big a culprit as any in my book.
Yes he's playing hurt but throwing other players under the bus when your own performance is below par is very poor leadership in anyone's language.
Surely out of JVE, Hots, Adam’s and Keeler we end up with a couple of players.
Wouldn't be like him to drop his bundle would it...I look for cause and effect.
Steele is an inside mid who's game is built on the contest - his drop off coincides with a loss of weight to supposedly help improve the running side of his game.
Add the injuries and you might get a very frustrated captain.
Slim pickings to be building a team around. Faaaark.From 10 to 70 games currently we have:
King (23 years old)
Paton (24)
Coffield (23)
Byrnes (22)
Stocker (23)
Wanganeen-Milera (20)
Windhager (20)
Sharman (23)
Owens (19)
Bytel (23)
Phillipou (18)
Caminiti (19)
and then below that
Connolly, Hayes, Peris, Adams, Allison, Van Es, Hotton, Keeler, McLennan, Heath
IMO it's very clear that we need to build a team around this bunch because I've given up on the older guys, except maybe Wilkie, Webster, Sinclair, Crouch, maybe a couple of others.
That means imo we trade out anyone we can get a good price for above this cutoff and try to bring in guys from 20 to 23 years old, to add to this group. Flanders obviously perfect, De Koning fits into this group pretty well, Bailey Smith is a good age, etc.