Training Pre season training

[stfan]

It's in the past now, but giving away a 1st, second + Acres for Hill because he nominated us was absolutely crazy. Acres didn't even want to go back to WA, the club just basically disrespected him by throwing him in. Hill is a good player but he only came to us because we could offer the most money, it was a purely financial decision.

It was not just the money.

Family tends to be very important to most indigenous people, and it certainly is to Hill.

Our location was attractive as his partner wanted to return to live where she grew up (This was the main reason why Hill wanted to return oi Vic) which was bayside near Moorabbin. So "family" and "lifestyle" was also an important factor.

In terms of "family" add in hat we lured the cousins Paddy Ryder and Hill to to Saints in the same year and unlike some cousins they had a relationship which was pretty close..

I would also tend to believe that our strong focus on, and support of, indigenous players at the time we were trying to lure him across would also have been most helpful.


Then lastly add in that Hill had already won three AFL premierships. He won the premiership in 2013, 2014, and 2015 while playing for Hawthorn. This is important as the reason why many elite/very good AFL players choose a new club is to win an AFL Premiership. As he already had three, this would most likely have not deterred him in choosing St Kilda.

 

[stfan]

Yes. The GOAT was on 500k at the time and it was a perfectly good decision. The Hill trade worked out to be reasonable value when all accounts were finalised, even though it looked poor at the time.

Hill also helped in landing Ryder that year as well (Dons were keen to get him back).

And since then Hill has proven to be a great asset in our indigenous players being comfortable at St Kilda. There is strong value in this. Just as Wood has proven to have had enormous off-field value as well. With some players their value is not just what they achieve during each game.

 

[Joffaboy]

Is Macrae a chance at taking out your BnF this year?

He is a multiple AA from a Bulldog midfield that had many more stars than ours.
He has been played out of position for two years because of the Bulldog midfield strength.
If he can recapture his midfield form, he would have every chance to be a top 5 finisher.
We can't tell who will break out. Phillipou might shine, King might kick 70 goals, etc.

One thing we know, we certainly needed a big bodied inside mid the calibre of Macrae to help Steele and compliment Phillipou and Clark in the guts.

On SM-S908E using BigFooty.com mobile app

 

[Joffaboy]

It's in the past now, but giving away a 1st, second + Acres for Hill because he nominated us was absolutely crazy. Acres didn't even want to go back to WA, the club just basically disrespected him by throwing him in. Hill is a good player but he only came to us because we could offer the most money, it was a purely financial decision. Acres has since grown into a very good player and we gave away 10 and 23 also. Desperate list management that hopefully is a thing of the past.

Totally out of context.
We needed to get 5 nom'ed players through the door with one first and a second and a couple of futures.
4 of those players are still on the list, all in our first 23.
Cost us Bruce, Steven and Acres. Two are retired one traded from Freo to Carlton.

We kept our first for 2020 (used it on Alison which was a mistake), but also picked up Byrnes who is continually selected in the 23.
So easy to label it 'crazy' but in the fullness of time it was shown all the players selected plus Byrnes had been successful.


On SM-S908E using BigFooty.com mobile app

 

[Saintbloke]

He is a multiple AA from a Bulldog midfield that had many more stars than ours.
He has been played out of position for two years because of the Bulldog midfield strength.
If he can recapture his midfield form, he would have every chance to be a top 5 finisher.
We can't tell who will break out. Phillipou might shine, King might kick 70 goals, etc.

One thing we know, we certainly needed a big bodied inside mid the calibre of Macrae to help Steele and compliment Phillipou and Clark in the guts.

On SM-S908E using BigFooty.com mobile app

The Macrae situation is interesting, considering all the Dog's midfield strength, they haven't won a premiership for 8 years due to other deficiencies across the field, and we probably have them covered in certain positions. The addition of Macrae to our lineup, will definitely help our strengths, but I fear that Clark will need to step up a lot this season, as we can only fit so many in the midfield or on ball.

 

[BrutThough]

Is Macrae a chance at taking out your BnF this year?

Any good player is a chance.

But players like Sinclair, Wilkie, Marshall, Steele, Nas aren't going to make it easy for him.

 

[Zzzed]

A lot of the time when Windy played mid this year, it was as the second mid behind Steele which is a lot of responsibility for a kid

I feel like with Macrae coming in and Pou overtaking him, it relieves pressure and hopefully allows him to really nail down his contest work rather than having to focus on a variety of things at once and not really becoming very good in any of them

If he can really elevate the contested ball-winning side of things, then it sets him up to develop into a ball-winning pig given his elite two-way running ability on the outside - Lachie Neale mould (high standards but Neale was a late pick too with similar attributes)

Complements Pou and Travaglia perfectly

If I'm not mistaken , broke a bone in his hand the past 2 pre-seasons just prior to season start.

Shown enough in patches to suggest he could be a really solid contributor if he puts it together on a regular basis.
I'm hoping he has a breakout year.
If we are going to make finals consistently, then Windy, Owens, Pou all need to deliver consistently like Nas already has, and another 3 youngsters at least need to join them in the next year or 2. I think the cattle are there, just going to need some luck on the injury front.

I'm not overly confident we make finals this year as I think our depth is still developing but it's the most optimistic I've been for a few years that we are finally on the right path to being a perennial finalist.

On SM-X820 using BigFooty.com mobile app

 

[stfan]

The Macrae situation is interesting, considering all the Dog's midfield strength, they haven't won a premiership for 8 years due to other deficiencies across the field, and we probably have them covered in certain positions. The addition of Macrae to our lineup, will definitely help our strengths, but I fear that Clark will need to step up a lot this season, as we can only fit so many in the midfield or on ball.

I think too that the game plan has at time been very ineffective. They aften would win heaps of the ball, but just go around in circles with it.

 

[saintmike65]

Any good player is a chance.

But players like Sinclair, Wilkie, Marshall, Steele, Nas aren't going to make it easy for him.

Don’t forget Wilson, Phillipou & Owens