Would love to have Shoey as the 3rd tall but he looked exposed when needing to defend aerially (noting it was only his 1st year). If he can improve his defensiveness to blanket his direct opponent, then I think he'll be a lock. His attacking ability is top notch and with that boot of his he can kick over a zone.
Training Pre season training
- Thread starter saintmike65
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- May 3, 2017
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Hopefully becomes a little more than our last great White hope haha
I’m anticipating this year is the year our young talent finally gets their dues with all Hugo, Keeler, Travaglia, Tauru & Shoey getting rising star noms
Considering Bonner played 19 games last year, I think we could play Shoey in that role and still play another taller intercept defender - there's lots of decent players to fit into the back 6 this year!
If we have a decent bill of health, there's no excuse for Sandy this season, there will be a bunch of talented hungry kids there every week.
If we have a decent bill of health, there's no excuse for Sandy this season, there will be a bunch of talented hungry kids there every week.
CursingFijian
Island Vibe, Sainters Tribe
Losing Battle makes it doubly hard to carry a Bonner type.
Saintos The ITK
Premium Platinum
Has anyone bought one of the new players polos? Are they really long?
I don’t like the nb sizing.
Actually they started out alright but its changed.
I don’t like the nb sizing.
Actually they started out alright but its changed.
Saintos The ITK
Premium Platinum
I’d say the great white hopes for next year are:
Schoey
Keels
Ugo
Pooey
Lancey Boy could be a smokie.
No pressure yet on TnT
Schoey
Keels
Ugo
Pooey
Lancey Boy could be a smokie.
No pressure yet on TnT
I'm a big fan, but at some stage others will move past Webster. There will be spots available. Considering the additions to our midfield capability, two of the defence seven should still be Sinclair and NWM. Wilkie and Howard take another two.
Yes Bonner gone, but in 2025 I would see that Sincs will resume mainly playing across the HB line again.
Sincs played so much midfield time this year as we lacked mids, and of those we had several had interrupted preseasons.
So a quick fix that made sense was to try Sincs as a mid more, and Bonner to fill in.
Bonner did not work out despite looking like a star in the preseason. And Sincs while good as a mid is elite across HB.
And that was made worse by losing Crouch, our best mid in 2023, for most of 2024.
We now have more mid options with Macrae and the extra Blues Boy both acquired. Clark is going into next season fit without face fractures and Pou, Windy and Garcia should all be that bit better. Henry too when fit. Jones is also looking in ripper nick as well, and there are other options like Hall and Stocker. So our midfield should not need Sincs to prop it up, though he will still rotate through it.
So Sincs and Nas should both play HB for mine, giving us the most offensive HB line in the AFL with both also being good interceptors and defensive as well.
Arie for mine is a potential Battle replacement. But the club could well also opt for Caminiti down back to complement Wilkie, Webster and Howard. Or even one of the new kids.
Arie needs to up his intercept and defensive game.
hayes
Brownlow Medallist
I think it’s almost alarm bell time for Henry’s knee. He did it in July and they still don’t have a timeline for him. Why can’t we have nice things.
beside the seaside
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Not so sure. He had surgery in September I think. It's frustrating but let's see how it unfolds now he's running again.
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I’m tipping Barrat to play 15+ games.
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Sent from my iPhone using BigFooty.com
- Oct 10, 2012
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Yep, I can’t see Shoe ever playing a proper third tall role (or even to play a role with something of a defensive component as a 4th/mid tall).
I suspect it would be either as a free wheeling - but kicking not running - HBF if they would like him to distribute from that part of that ground. OR perhaps start back but free licence post clearance to essentially play through the middle of the ground or on wings (but not being the traditional winger) and fire it in to the F50.
Shutting out a man is likely to never be his go and either we use the weapon and take some of the downside or hold him back in the scoobs and forever frustrate us!
Trying to fox people’s weaknesses has tended to be our method IMO rather than use what they have. I would say there are plenty similar across the top clubs (DAmbrosio, Farrell, C Daniel, and Amon come to mind)
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St Kilda vs Port Adelaide, Saturday March 1 2025, RSEA Park, 3.10pm
Can't wait!!
Can't wait!!
MarchingIn
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What do people make of Harry Boyd?
I'm tipping he is a big surprise and gives Ross a real dilemma where he might consider playing two Rucks.
I'm tipping he is a big surprise and gives Ross a real dilemma where he might consider playing two Rucks.
akaifu
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If Ross plays two rucks, it'd be because he wants to, not because Boyd game him a dilemma
dudeintheswamp
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From memory I think #SteeleSaints is a big fan?
We do build these boys up to fail. A 3rd year tall is doing ok to get 5 games so long as he keeps improving. If it's more then its a blessing.
MightySaintas
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He had post season surgery
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Haven't been paying attention to our preseason at all, is anyone looking decent at training? Heard Pou had put on size?
The other thing with Keels is I have said for a while I think he'll benefit from playing at AFL grounds with AFL skilled players. Some of the stuff he was dealing with as a forward at Sandy was lets just say below amature level.
Jimmy won't let it go easily. The kids will have to take it off him.
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There is a corner of the St Kilda locker room where untold riches and fortune are hidden. Let's call it The Hillburn Cavern. The four most important players to turn a promising team into a top 8 team next year all have lockers together nestled tightly between Hilly and Byrnes.
Steele was shaping to be an elite mid at one stage under Ratts, but his form plummeted after Ross came in for some mysterious reason. He started kicking a few goals late in the season and finished 2024 as one of our best performed players. He has still got potential to finish his career in a high and go out swinging. With Macrae and Carroll plus our rising stars Phillipou and Garcia helping out in the centre, he could get forward more and do more damage. One for now rather than later though.
Mitch Owens was talked of a year or so ago in the manner we have talked up any manner or potential messiahs, from Ross and Billings, to Gresham and Nas. Dynamic, explosing, bruising and unstoppable his higlights reel was so good it still has oppposition fans paying rare respect to the St Kilda samurai.
He had a poor 2024 and there's no hiding from that fact. Many have speculated about the reasons for that, but undoubtedly his onfield difficulties at least partly stemmed from an ugly kicking style, so it's great news that he's changing it and hopefully clunking a few more can build his confidence back to '23 levels where he was primed to rip the game apart. He's got time on his side unlike the other 3 on my list but he could just fade into the reaches of GOPland like the names I just listed, and so many more that we have too quickly put our hopes into without that spark, solid development, a level head and of course, so much luck.
Clark is an enigma. The sole representative remaining from our part of the literally star-studded 2017 (apart from our retrospective additions Dow and Higgins), he should be absolutely in his peak as an established midfielder twisting and turning like grease in the engine room, both everywhere and nowhere, slowing down time with his wily ambidextrocity in the way we watched young Jagga Smith in his pre-draft vids... and yet... he is far from that.
A fringe player with a dadbod and string arms (note to self: people in glass houses...) with low TOG and hardly any profile in the AFL at all. Is it the horrific injuries, a lack of hunger, or is he just not the player we thought he was when we picked him at pick 7? Who knows, but the bottom line is his career could either be over in a matter of months or he could finally deliver on the above-mentioned promise, and wouldn't it just be great for the Saints if it were the latter? His upturn in form could be so influential, it's agonising to wonder if we will succeed in unlocking it in the coming season. When Lenny Hayes returned to Moorabbin he cited Clark as the player he was most excited about tutoring. That was then, but if he can unlock the beast in Hunter, I'll build him a statue myself. I'm sceptical personally that he'll ever be more, but hope springs eternal.
But the big kahuna in N°12 is the main event. His first name and last name are synonymous with elite and his potential evolution into that bracket of key forwards could absolutely destroy any opposition. We have been waiting on Max King since before he was drafted, we dreamt for so long about the King twins ripping apart the AFL like some kind of mad wrestling spectacle, with every bag of 4+ goals we told ourselves that finally, he's going to do what Paddy McCartin promised to do, what Spencer White promised to do, what Tom Lee... alright that's too far, but you get my point!
Alas, a stray golf ball, a range of bad injuries and a lack of development have left us with an elephant in the room which i will now proclaim as if there were any doubt: our forward line functioned a he'll of a lot better when he left it late last season. Our forwards did what he was supposed to be doing, what we'd being crying out for him to do, and lo and behold inside 50s improved, marks inside 50 improved and our goal count moved from "abysmal" to "standard".
The promise of the real Max King still enticed us to lock him down to a contract most of the AFL landscape would describe as "suicidal" and dissuaded us from picking up any of the straight-up key forwards available in the most recent draft. We have that much faith in him we have literally thrown our lot in with him. Will he ever deliver? I wish I knew, but if he does deliver it must be now. He's put on size, he's had time out of the game to get back to full fitness and hopefully reflect on what he needs to do to evolve as a player in 2025. At his best, he will surpass his twin brother, surpass everyone and make us a top 4 team. Again, I hate myself for being sceptical but I fear he'll always be somewhat of a tease, more a Kosi than a Roo which would be a deep shame - but I hope very badly to be wrong.
Steele, Owens, Clark and King could be MVPs of St Kilda, even the AFL with the right development and a lot of luck. So far they haven't even got close. We fans have shifted our focus to other players as our expectation fades (with the exception of Mitch) but it wouldn't take much more than a few good games for us to believe again.
Steele was shaping to be an elite mid at one stage under Ratts, but his form plummeted after Ross came in for some mysterious reason. He started kicking a few goals late in the season and finished 2024 as one of our best performed players. He has still got potential to finish his career in a high and go out swinging. With Macrae and Carroll plus our rising stars Phillipou and Garcia helping out in the centre, he could get forward more and do more damage. One for now rather than later though.
Mitch Owens was talked of a year or so ago in the manner we have talked up any manner or potential messiahs, from Ross and Billings, to Gresham and Nas. Dynamic, explosing, bruising and unstoppable his higlights reel was so good it still has oppposition fans paying rare respect to the St Kilda samurai.
He had a poor 2024 and there's no hiding from that fact. Many have speculated about the reasons for that, but undoubtedly his onfield difficulties at least partly stemmed from an ugly kicking style, so it's great news that he's changing it and hopefully clunking a few more can build his confidence back to '23 levels where he was primed to rip the game apart. He's got time on his side unlike the other 3 on my list but he could just fade into the reaches of GOPland like the names I just listed, and so many more that we have too quickly put our hopes into without that spark, solid development, a level head and of course, so much luck.
Clark is an enigma. The sole representative remaining from our part of the literally star-studded 2017 (apart from our retrospective additions Dow and Higgins), he should be absolutely in his peak as an established midfielder twisting and turning like grease in the engine room, both everywhere and nowhere, slowing down time with his wily ambidextrocity in the way we watched young Jagga Smith in his pre-draft vids... and yet... he is far from that.
A fringe player with a dadbod and string arms (note to self: people in glass houses...) with low TOG and hardly any profile in the AFL at all. Is it the horrific injuries, a lack of hunger, or is he just not the player we thought he was when we picked him at pick 7? Who knows, but the bottom line is his career could either be over in a matter of months or he could finally deliver on the above-mentioned promise, and wouldn't it just be great for the Saints if it were the latter? His upturn in form could be so influential, it's agonising to wonder if we will succeed in unlocking it in the coming season. When Lenny Hayes returned to Moorabbin he cited Clark as the player he was most excited about tutoring. That was then, but if he can unlock the beast in Hunter, I'll build him a statue myself. I'm sceptical personally that he'll ever be more, but hope springs eternal.
But the big kahuna in N°12 is the main event. His first name and last name are synonymous with elite and his potential evolution into that bracket of key forwards could absolutely destroy any opposition. We have been waiting on Max King since before he was drafted, we dreamt for so long about the King twins ripping apart the AFL like some kind of mad wrestling spectacle, with every bag of 4+ goals we told ourselves that finally, he's going to do what Paddy McCartin promised to do, what Spencer White promised to do, what Tom Lee... alright that's too far, but you get my point!
Alas, a stray golf ball, a range of bad injuries and a lack of development have left us with an elephant in the room which i will now proclaim as if there were any doubt: our forward line functioned a he'll of a lot better when he left it late last season. Our forwards did what he was supposed to be doing, what we'd being crying out for him to do, and lo and behold inside 50s improved, marks inside 50 improved and our goal count moved from "abysmal" to "standard".
The promise of the real Max King still enticed us to lock him down to a contract most of the AFL landscape would describe as "suicidal" and dissuaded us from picking up any of the straight-up key forwards available in the most recent draft. We have that much faith in him we have literally thrown our lot in with him. Will he ever deliver? I wish I knew, but if he does deliver it must be now. He's put on size, he's had time out of the game to get back to full fitness and hopefully reflect on what he needs to do to evolve as a player in 2025. At his best, he will surpass his twin brother, surpass everyone and make us a top 4 team. Again, I hate myself for being sceptical but I fear he'll always be somewhat of a tease, more a Kosi than a Roo which would be a deep shame - but I hope very badly to be wrong.
Steele, Owens, Clark and King could be MVPs of St Kilda, even the AFL with the right development and a lot of luck. So far they haven't even got close. We fans have shifted our focus to other players as our expectation fades (with the exception of Mitch) but it wouldn't take much more than a few good games for us to believe again.
Last edited:
gringo2011
Premium Platinum
Schoenmaker was in his first season and playing more of a role like Bonner as a long kicking rebound back. His role would need to be as a Battle replacement to walk into the third tall role. Battle was a bit of a hybrid of interceptor but still able to play tight when needed. We either get someone to play that role and Ari goes into Bonner's role or split the role up.
