Preview Round 1, 2023: St.Kilda v Fremantle - Marvel Stadium, Sunday 19th March, 4:40PM AEDT *PHILLIPOU, CAMINITI DEBUT*

[plugger66]

Blimey ... 17k... we ain't Norf

Nearly had that many at Moorabbin the other day

Well our average against them is 21k and then you add in the time slot and the low chance of victory so I’m going 17.

 

[Borshk]

Sorry to intrude,

But if Campbell plays, what will be the ruck split with Marshall?

 

[plugger66]

With Membrey out for a month we need to play Sharman (need to be played every game up forward imo)

Have Campbell as our emergency if Marshall needs support or if one of the other forwards don't fire

Blind Freddy can see this and i hope this coaching panel can as well because match committee selections over the past 10 years have been shocking!

I hope we don’t use a ruck as 23rd man. Limits a lot. If he is the 22 you have more options. As for selections being shocking well maybe yours are. I wouldn’t play Sharman so if plays do I say selections are shocking. And I wouldn’t have Campbell as 23rd man do I say selections are shocking if he is? Maybe my selections are shocking

 

[plugger66]

Sorry to intrude,

But if Campbell plays, what will be the ruck split with Marshall?

Well that really depends what contests Campbell is giving as kpf. My guess is 70/30 but who knows.

 

[Circus]

Video

New season, same old Ross. Watch our Senior Coach's press conference ahead of Sunday's season opener against Fremantle.

www.saints.com.au

Great presser from RTB. The Hammer and Phillipou to debut. Great story about how Jack Silvagni told SOS that the Hammer had beaten Weitering silly at training and then SOS (as incoming list manager, unbeknown to Jack) gets the Hammer down to the Saints for training.

Excitement level doubled after the presser. RTB is hungry and committed 200%.

Very happy with this press conference and the players should be more so. Lyon knows what he is doing. I'm now confident we'll see a fair bit of experimentation during the season to determine who can do what when required. That will be the key to our improvement, drafting and recruiting from this point in time. I also expect to see a lot of development in quite a few players. If so our "lack of depth" might not be as bad as many currently think.

For instance, our lack of ruckmen. What Lyon said about Campbell was very positive and he could play an important role at times during the season. To me the major thing that Heath lacks is weight/strength and experience, which is exactly what you'd expect from a very young big bloke. However, Heath plays intelligent footy, he moves and marks around the ground very well and his reactions (to the contested ball) are fast. I think he's got a great future and would not be surprised if he doesn't get a run or two during the season.

Not at all confident we'll win on Sunday, but I do expect to see some very positive passages of play. Go you Mighty Saints!!!

 

[Diehard Saint]

Any predictions on the crowd?

Hope all this negativity doesn't hinder a big crowd from attending.

More likely the time slot, I think.

 

[lewdogs]

If we get over 20K I think we'd be happy.

To get over 30K to this timeslot with this matchup we'd have to be absolutely flying.

 

[Diehard Saint]

I'm going away for the weekend so there's that as well.

And me, I’m in the US.
Back for the Round 2 game though.

 

[DougalHoward]

Ross talked about Cordy and Dougal going forward in the presser

 

[Saintbloke]

Interesting to hear RL's interview. A lot of reading between the lines by me, but I get the impression that the guys with serious or chronic injuries are going to be looked at a bit harder in RL's vision going forward- a few names were mentioned there.

 

[gringo2011]

And me, I’m in the US.
Back for the Round 2 game though.

Just got a call from my mate who’s cancelled so now I’ll have to go and watch us instead. The weather looked magic. I’m pissed off now. We had better win to make up for my ruined weekend.

 

[MordySaint]

RTB joked that we have only 30% of our salary cap on the park this week.

That's some big chunk of our quality squad missing

The news on Members isn't great, a manky knee that went south very quickly

 

[jwikked]

RTB joked that we have only 30% of our salary cap on the park this week.

That's some big chunk of our quality squad missing

The news on Members isn't great, a manky knee that went south very quickly

It sounded like he could have played. Ross said he was fine but could feel something funny when getting in and out of the car, so got it tidied up

 

[Circus]

Just got a call from my mate who’s cancelled so now I’ll have to go and watch us instead. The weather looked magic. I’m pissed off now. We had better win to make up for my ruined weekend.

Expected him to cancel mate, because there were subliminal messages in Lyon's press conference. "We've got to save Gringo the Grouch from himself" and "prolonged drunkeness is overrated" were almost explicitly mentioned when he was talking about soft tissue injuries!!

 

[dudeintheswamp]

Yeah enjoyed the presser too, the Boss is a pro. Sounds to me the Dougal forward thing a bit of a ruse but it seems like Cordy over Campbell for this week. Always exciting to see some debutants so good luck to the young lads Hammer and Poo!

 

[Saint Ray]

But first crack at what role?

As it stands Sharman 193 is really competing more with Owens 190 and The Poo 190 plus the injured Membrey 188 for a spot in the team as all three are up for the role of "third tall" roaming forward. Owens and The Poo can also play other roles though whereas Sharamn is eithera forward or your "third tall" back (and we have Wilkie for that along with Battle).. The Poo is still very raw (but oozes class and talent).

Whereas Cordy 195 is competing with Hayes 193 and The Hammer 196 with Max 202 for the key position forward slots. Which makes their selection more obvious. The downside is that Cordy is a GOP and that The Hammer is raw and underdone. So that potentially could give Sharman look in. Countering that it seems that the coaches want bash and crash football from our two key forwards in order to bring Higgins, Butler Gresh into the game. And bash and crash is not Sharman's game. He is a leading player out in space.

The other option would be Campbell, but he does not have the forward craft that The Hammer and Cordy offer, and especially the Hammer.

There would be an argument to to play The Hammer and Campbell as Free have two tall rucks. But I supect that our coaches will scarifice some ruck contests in the hope that Cordy will offer more asa key forward than Campbell.

Owens and Phillipou closer to 191cm and King measured recently at 204.5cm

 

[MordySaint]

A; We had 8000 at Moorabbin
B; It wasn't a Sunday night
C; We don't often play at Moorabbin so people were always going to go ,
17 - 20k should see it out

Yeah, probably a bit (very) over optimistic.

But there has been a spike in people going to events.

Could surprise.

 

[Saints TV]

Here we go!

 

[plugger66]

Interesting to hear RL's interview. A lot of reading between the lines by me, but I get the impression that the guys with serious or chronic injuries are going to be looked at a bit harder in RL's vision going forward- a few names were mentioned there.

What do you mean

 

[Sun Ra]

What do you mean

Lyon said McKenzie has has 14 calf issues in the past two years. Said a few others with injuries now were hangover type things relating
to historical injuries that predated his second coming. I think Saintbloke is reading too much into these comments imo.

 

[Jesuswasacarpenter]

Only thing that will prevent the fans attending is the time slot, venue, opposition and injury list.

You forgot to mention the $11+ shit beers and the shitty food.

 

[Jesuswasacarpenter]

Yes of course but can anyone here actually say weather he'll work out as an effective KPD for the next couple of years?
I know he's very average, l just reckon it's smart to reserve judgment till he's had a chance.
My feeling is we won't be able to land a premo KPD and will have to develop Van Es and Adams. Cordy fills the hole.

Z. Cordy and B Hill are the only premiership players we have on our list!

 

[The_Steadier]

but I do expect to see some very positive passages of play.

I'll be watching to see how they respond as a group when (not if), they cough up some howler turnovers by either getting pinged holding the ball or missing a target with a tough kick/handball.

We'll know we are on the right track when those kinds of things (inevitably) happen- and we see them trying the same thing next time with confidence- rather than dropping their heads and disappearing into their shells.

 

[Saintscomemarchingin]

Lyon said McKenzie has has 14 calf issues in the past two years. Said a few others with injuries now were hangover type things relating
to historical injuries that predated his second coming. I think Saintbloke is reading too much into these comments imo.

Yeah, Jones & McKenzie's injuries, becoming chronic.

 

[gringo2011]

Z. Cordy and B Hill are the only premiership players we have on our list!

Only 5 players over 25 who were drafted in the ND by us left too (out of 19). Ross, Webster, Billings, DMac and Gresham. Sincs and Marshall off the rookies are the only others left over 25 that didn't start at other clubs or other leagues. Shows how bad our drafting was back then. Ross and Gresham the only ones close to A grade out of the drafted guys.