Training Pre season training

[Veer Right]

What’s the read on Carroll? GOP or something else?

Gut says Jack Newnes in reverse.

Hope i am wrong and he tears it up.

 

[tomjoad]

It does block development of young rucks…to justify putting him on the list he’d be first choice ruck for Sandy!
What then happens to Heath & Dodson?

Do we even count Dodson as a ruck this year though? He may chop out here and there, or if he's as much a Luke Jackson as touted, he may be put in the forward line to ruck and kick a few goals for confidence and an easy first year or so of learning. Heath to go between forward and ruck (ala RoMa) Boyd to be the mature body to protect our next gen of mids for Sandy, with maybe the odd game in the seniors. Keeler (if reports are accurate) to make the jump into the seniors, or alternating forward and back with Sandy.

 

[akaifu]

What’s the read on Carroll? GOP or something else?

Next-man-in-type GOP for the midfield/HF imo

A player that's good at a lot of things but not excellent in anything that'll make him any more than a B-grader at best

 

[Jay Beast]

We need to find another 2 goals per game and our defence to hold up to simply compete for finals next year.
Struggling to see where it comes from atm.

Development needs to take a big step forward.
.

 

[jwint43]

Can't believe people are arguing against getting a replacement for Tom Campbell.

We have one genuine ruckman!!!!

3 years, zero games and a one year contract says that unless Heath comes on spectacularly this year he's gone.

Dodson is twig. Keeler is not a ruck.

We've been incredibly lucky Marshall hasn't been seriously injured in the last few seasons, and he plays hurt most weeks.

 

[dudeintheswamp]

What's Todd Goldstein up to these days?

View attachment You Guessed It .mp3

 

[gringo2011]

Midfield ramblings.

The last few years we’ve really struggled to break even in the midfield let alone dominate.

I have to say thinking about who we have running through next year I think we have a little bit of hope.

Steele
Macrae
Pou
Windy
Garcia
Dow
Jones
Carrol
Clark
Wilson
Wood
Henry
Hill

I think their is some real potential their and we should be able to find a good mix of grunt and pace.

Our midfield has been thin and then every year seemed to get a few injuries. Last year we bulked out the midfield and then had mass injuries to them again.

We have a really good outside squad and an adequate inside brigade. There should be more than enough to be competitive and a heap of potential in there to take it to another level.

 

[gringo2011]

Gut says Jack Newnes in reverse.

Hope i am wrong and he tears it up.

You are more likely to be right than wrong but there are heaps of recycled players who have had excellent careers. Hopefully he's more Blake Acres.

 

[saintmike65]

Do we even count Dodson as a ruck this year though? He may chop out here and there, or if he's as much a Luke Jackson as touted, he may be put in the forward line to ruck and kick a few goals for confidence and an easy first year or so of learning. Heath to go between forward and ruck (ala RoMa) Boyd to be the mature body to protect our next gen of mids for Sandy, with maybe the odd game in the seniors. Keeler (if reports are accurate) to make the jump into the seniors, or alternating forward and back with Sandy.

Heath’s been in the system for 3 years now, long enough for him to shoulder the ruck burden with Dodson & Keeler giving a chop out!

 

[BrutThough]

The two elephants in the room for me - our tweeners in the forwardline, and replacing Battle.

Owens and Sharman. We all love them and consider them Best 22, however I think they are hurting our structure on two fronts - an inability to provide pressure and lock the ball into our forward line, and not being able to play a clear supporting ruck option.

King is locked in, you'd have to say Higgins is too based on performance, leaves 4 spots for pressure forwards and a 2nd ruck support, and I think having both Sharman and Owens are crippling one or both of these.

I must say, unlike others, I consider these two specialist forward roles as critical in a modern structure, whilst others won't have that view.

I won't harp on about the Battle replacement because others have covered it well. I actually thought the most important free agent for us to lock up next year was Balta until he re signed.

Thoughts on the Owens/Sharman point?

The 'supporting ruck role' is not important or something that should impact the forward line structure.

Pick the best forwards we have and if that includes someone who can chop out ruck, then great. If not, it's on the mids to break even for a few minutes a quarter.

 

[JimmyR20]

We ain't winning the flag next year without immense luck.

For that reason Heath and potentially Boyd are more than sufficient backup if RoMa goes down.

Those writing off Heath obviously haven't paid much attention to the ages a lot of rucks 'come to hand'.


It is a similar story with our backline.

We have time to develop our 3rd tall back man and several who can fill that role to a good enough standard whilst developing. Barrat is taller than Battle, he won't replace his output next year but next year isn't the focus.

 

[saintmike65]

Gut says Jack Newnes in reverse.

Hope i am wrong and he tears it up.

Watching Carroll at training he does have some handy attributes!
Has some acceleration out of traffic, kicks it well & is a good size at 188cm…we’ll know a bit more when match sim and trial games start post Christmas

 

[gringo2011]

We need to find another 2 goals per game and our defence to hold up to simply compete for finals next year.
Struggling to see where it comes from atm.

Development needs to take a big step forward.
.

A full year from King and Butler makes that a lot more likely.

 

[dudeintheswamp]

A full year from King and Butler makes that a lot more likely.

Yeah Butler impacted with injury early last season hurt us a lot more than people think imo. If he can get back to the fitness and form of previous years we'll be a much more dangerous team.

 

[saintmike65]

Yeah Butler impacted with injury early last season hurt us a lot more than people think imo. If he can get back to the fitness and form of previous years we'll be a much more dangerous team.

He’s looking very fit and energised at training

 

[saintmike65]

A full year from King and Butler makes that a lot more likely.

There’s certainly more goals out of Owens, Sharman & Phillipou you’d think!
Big Ro was hitting the scoreboard late this season too which helps

 

[Saintbloke]

Our midfield has been thin and then every year seemed to get a few injuries. Last year we bulked out the midfield and then had mass injuries to them again.

We have a really good outside squad and an adequate inside brigade. There should be more than enough to be competitive and a heap of potential in there to take it to another level.

Our midfield will hopefully be a little better in structure next season, but can't see us challenging deep into the finals. We can only hope one or two have take a big step and have a standout season

 

[Saintos The ITK]

We should have hung on to Stanley.

 

[beside the seaside]

He’s looking very fit and energised at training

That's awesome. A fit and firing Butler will make a huge difference.

 

[SteeleSaints]

Gut says Jack Newnes in reverse.

Hope i am wrong and he tears it up.

Newnes was decent player, it was just his kicking that let him down. Im hoping Carroll can play a bit more inside and from what has been reported his kicking is quite good. There arent too many left footers who cant hit a target.

 

[SteeleSaints]

The 'supporting ruck role' is not important or something that should impact the forward line structure.

Pick the best forwards we have and if that includes someone who can chop out ruck, then great. If not, it's on the mids to break even for a few minutes a quarter.

All the stats suggest we need to improve by at least two goals a game to match the best teams. Macrae and improvement from others will help our midfield, but mostly the improvement needs to come from conversion of our forward 50 entries.

I believe if Marshall can play 10 minutes a 1/4 forward, it gives King a real chop out and will stretch defences. All of a sudden defences have to worry about a second tall rather simply triple teaming Max. I think when Marshall is forward even Higgins & Butler look better. During the Ryder era when Marshall played the majority forward he didnt hit the score board enough, but he has improved significantly since then and has become a real leader.

IF Keeler can step up it will be huge for our team balance. He is just as competent around the ground as Marshall and can kick some freakish goals. It will also allow us the flexibility to play Caminiti in defence if required.

I see that genuine tall forward/2nd ruckman as a significant a piece to our improvement and hopefully Marshall & Keeler can become a real forward/rucking weapon. So in summary I forsee our forward structure operating a lot better if we can release Marshall forward more than we have over the past couple of years.

There is no doubt thats why we targetted Soldo, but not coming to fruition gives Keeler a huge opportunity to take his chances and it sounds as if he is showing something at training.

 

[akaifu]

We need to find another 2 goals per game and our defence to hold up to simply compete for finals next year.
Struggling to see where it comes from atm.

Development needs to take a big step forward.
.

King at full flight makes us a 3+ goal better team as long as we work out how to use him properly

Sharman showed when he was flying, our team was winning. If he maintains that for a full season, who knows how much he and King will improve us

A semi-fit midfield makes us at least a goal better too - probably 2-3 depending on Pou/Garcia's development and Macrae

Battle makes us worse but his replacements we don't know enough about yet to make a judgement. Considering we're very structure-based could have anywhere to a 0-4 goal difference

If things go to plan, we definitely have that 2 goal net positive covered imo

 

[SaintsSeptember]

We should have hung on to Stanley.

If we'd have hung onto McEvoy and Stanley we wouldn't have needed to use the word "Ruck" on here for around 6 years.

 

[SaintsSeptember]

All the stats suggest we need to improve by at least two goals a game to match the best teams. Macrae and improvement from others will help our midfield, but mostly the improvement needs to come from conversion of our forward 50 entries.

I believe if Marshall can play 10 minutes a 1/4 forward, it gives King a real chop out and will stretch defences. All of a sudden defences have to worry about a second tall rather simply triple teaming Max. I think when Marshall is forward even Higgins & Butler look better. During the Ryder era when Marshall played the majority forward he didnt hit the score board enough, but he has improved significantly since then and has become a real leader.

IF Keeler can step up it will be huge for our team balance. He is just as competent around the ground as Marshall and can kick some freakish goals. It will also allow us the flexibility to play Caminiti in defence if required.

I see that genuine tall forward/2nd ruckman as a significant a piece to our improvement and hopefully Marshall & Keeler can become a real forward/rucking weapon. So in summary I forsee our forward structure operating a lot better if we can release Marshall forward more than we have over the past couple of years.

There is no doubt thats why we targetted Soldo, but not coming to fruition gives Keeler a huge opportunity to take his chances and it sounds as if he is showing something at training.

Sharman kicked 1 goal less than Max this year, just saying. Membrey kicked 10 on top of that.
If other teams are triple teaming Max and leaving Cooper and Mitch Owens off the leash, and it doesn't go well for us, its not what they are doing, its who our team is kicking to. An unmanned Sharman is a weapon.

 

[Joffaboy]

If we had hung on to Stanley he would have been delisted in 2017. His only saving grace was being in a perpetual top 4 team.

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