Discussion Round 1, Best 22

[Manimal_Dunstan]

Well there you go, i thought he did!! He played the full intra club week before....

Found it interesting he didn't play first 2 weeks, But i remember Watters saying he'll manage Tom if i remember correctly.

 

[SaintsSeptember]

To me Simpkin is pretty effective against talls that arent too big.
Your Hawkin's, Clokes, Tippetts are just too strong and tall for him.
But against for example, Dawes, Schulz, Darling, I think Simpkin would be fine.
Against Jack Riewoldt for example, I think both Simpkin and Stanley would struggle.

Last year
Against Port , Westhoff and Schultz scored 2 each. Simpkin didn't play.
Against Freo Stanley would have been handy against Clarke (2 goals ). Who was playing on Jack Anthony ffs?
Against the Hawks, I'm not sure Stanley would have been any good against Buddy. Sure as hell no help against Cyril.
West Coast was a disaster. Already with McEvoy out we lost Stanley. Had to reshuffle the backs and forwards. In hindsite it would have been better if Wilkes had rucked.
Richmond. Riewoldt kicked 8 on us. My only solution is to put Fisher on him. yeah Stanley on Vickery is a good matchup.
Crows. 5 to Tippett. Was Gwilt playing on him? 2 to Walker Simpkin not playing.
North. Yep Petrie got 4 with no Simpkin in the team. Stanley could have been handy.

Maybe I'll look at the rest of the season later.
To me Stanley would be good "sometimes" not sure about always.

 

[mysainters]

Yeah I thought it was weird, asked why he didn't...

Hopefully those shins have been behaving themselves.

 

[aussierulesrules]

Considering the fact we don't play till the 2nd weekend of the R1 split round, there would have to be a very strong chance that Rhys will be fit, as that is 5 weeks away, I think. Playing on someone like Sam Day would be an absolutely ideal way to ease him into it, if he's fit enough.

 

[SaintLex]

He stated in the recent article that its first time in years that he has had specific training onre rucking.

Well if that's true then that is a complete oversight from our assistant coaches/head coaches. C'mon, the number 1 ruckman not training specifically for his game day role?

 

[stkildathunda]

Considering the fact we don't play till the 2nd weekend of the R1 split round, there would have to be a very strong chance that Rhys will be fit, as that is 5 weeks away, I think. Playing on someone like Sam Day would be an absolutely ideal way to ease him into it, if he's fit enough.

He might be fit but won't be match fit. If he plays without any matches under his belt he will get injured, it always happens with him. Then he'll be out for longer.

It's only round 1 and its only Gold Coast, no point bringing him back early just for hell of it when could manage his game time in VFL.

You can't "ease" anyone into an AFL game. That is when shit turns bad.

 

[Defacto]

Well if that's true then that is a complete oversight from our assistant coaches/head coaches. C'mon, the number 1 ruckman not training specifically for his game day role?

i would love us to poach matthew burton from freo to be our ruck coach.

bloke is a legend and a great coach!!!! he has done really well at freo with sandilands and now griffin. would be a great get!!

 

[FlyingSledghamer]

maybe because he hasn't played NAB?
i put him in my 22 in the best 22 thread. the way i see it is alot of our drive usually come from defensive runners.
simpkin can cover for players when they're on a run. as long as his not covering buddy/cloke/the real big guys by himself he rarely gets beaten. just makes sense IMO.

Spot on. Simpkin proved he is a very servicable KP defender on a 3rd tall forward. I completley forget about him till i read this thread. He played some major roles on KPF's last year and should be better for it this year. I'm a huge fan.

 

[aussierulesrules]

He might be fit but won't be match fit. If he plays without any matches under his belt he will get injured, it always happens with him. Then he'll be out for longer.

It's only round 1 and its only Gold Coast, no point bringing him back early just for hell of it when could manage his game time in VFL.

You can't "ease" anyone into an AFL game. That is when shit turns bad.

I meant more to ease him into the role, as opposed to the season.

If he's going to be 2-4 weeks then there would have to be every chance that he would be able to get a game or two in at VFL level in weeks 3 and 4 of that 5 weeks. That would give him 2 and a half games prior to round one, if so, which is all he would have gotten had he not gotten injured, I presume (although he would have played two more games with us, compared to two games for Sandy).

If he's able to get a game or two in for Sandy prior to round one I imagine he will play against Gold Coast and as I said, ought to be ideally suited to playing on Day, just as he was ideally suited to playing on Reid last week. If the VFL play that week I wouldn't be opposed to him playing for Sandy that week as well and bringing him in for the Richmond game, though.

 

[SAINTsincebirth]

Spot on. Simpkin proved he is a very servicable KP defender on a 3rd tall forward. I completley forget about him till i read this thread. He played some major roles on KPF's last year and should be better for it this year. I'm a huge fan.

he gives us that hard nut that we have missed down back since Bakes was forced to retire.

 

[aussierulesrules]

I guess if we just went with Fisher on the back flank instead of Siposs (who could be very dangerous and attacking cruising from end of the ground to the other on the wing), then we could fit in all of Fisher, Gwilt, Stanley, Dempster, Simpkin and Geary.

 

[Jezzarayman]

My 2013 Best 22

B: Jarryn Geary, Sam Fisher, Tom Simpkin
HB: James Gwilt, Sean Dempster, Arryn Siposs
C: Leigh Montagna, Lenny Hayes, Nick Dal Santo
HF: Rhys Stanley, Nick Riewoldt, TDL
F: Ahmed Saad, Beau Maister, Stephen Milne
R: Ben McEvoy, David Armitage, Jack Steven
INT: Tom Hickey, Sam Gilbert, Farren Ray
SUB: Jack Newnes

EMERG: Nathan Wright, Seb Ross, Justin Koschitzke

It's a tough 22 to finalise as we have those 4-6 players that can go either way (sandy or seniors).
Of the mosquito squad I go with Milney, Saad and TDL with Milera and Schneider unlucky but lurking. Saad looks in ripper nick, TDL offers the crumbing and forward pressure but also overhead marking/leading plus a great shot, has had a solid nab cup and milney well no explanations needed if he stays fit and doesn't lose his pace. Maister has cemented full forward with excellent preseason form and riewoldt obvious CHF

The backline I see as pretty set, with simpkin's spot most likely under pressure with match ups/horses for courses. Siposs to play the quarterback role loose across half back/pushing through middle, kicking through the zones deep into forward 50. Rhys Stanley looked pretty solid against reid and I'd have him as a swingman rotating between forward line/backline depending on the opposition.

I see both Hickey and McEvoy playing in the same team each week (providing hickey maintains and improves on what we have seen already), and our midfield is set in stone with lenny, joey, dal, steven and armitage.
Went to the game on sunday and was really impressed with armitage, attack on the footy, poise and is very vocal and instructing on the field.
really admired joey tagging/yet offensive game last year ala andrew carrazo, when tagging is necessary joey/ray are my choices.

Farren and Gilbert make great bench players as they are solid contributors and very versatile. Prefer Gilbert playing up the ground so those shanks don't cause too much carnage! with newnes the versitile impact sub and ray to play tagging roles if required.

Nathan Wright comes in with any injuries to the back 6, seb ross comes in for injuries to lenny/armitage. Clint jones comes in for any injuries to joey/dal/steven. kosi replaces tall forward injuries and schneider to replace mosquito fleets broken wings.

GAME PLAN: get it long and quick to Maister/Riewoldt with the mosquito fleet to gather the crumbs, get the footy to siposs when's he's free and have second man up/good options for the opposition power forwards: riewoldt, cloke, hawkins, buddy etc. If only it was that simple!

 

[Sunshine Saint]

How has Tom Simpkin gone from our best defenders and one first picked by Watters to appearing in about 1 out of 5 teams!!

Out of sight, out of mind. He will reappear on team lists once he is visible again and people appreciate how good he is.

 

[azza77]

Will Farren Ray play 22 games this year if fit? looking at drafting him in my DT league. And what can you expect him to average this year??

Also, is Steven in for a big year? looking at him too.

 

[Tongue In Cheek]

Will Farren Ray play 22 games this year if fit? looking at drafting him in my DT league. And what can you expect him to average this year??

Also, is Steven in for a big year? looking at him too.

Ray's had good form lately but his problem has always been consistency. Might be a bit of a risk to expect 22 games.

Big year expected of Steven.
http://www.saints.com.au/news/2013-02-28/watters-praises-maturing-steven

 

[stkildathunda]

I meant more to ease him into the role, as opposed to the season.

If he's going to be 2-4 weeks then there would have to be every chance that he would be able to get a game or two in at VFL level in weeks 3 and 4 of that 5 weeks. That would give him 2 and a half games prior to round one, if so, which is all he would have gotten had he not gotten injured, I presume (although he would have played two more games with us, compared to two games for Sandy).

If he's able to get a game or two in for Sandy prior to round one I imagine he will play against Gold Coast and as I said, ought to be ideally suited to playing on Day, just as he was ideally suited to playing on Reid last week. If the VFL play that week I wouldn't be opposed to him playing for Sandy that week as well and bringing him in for the Richmond game, though.

Sandringhams season starts week after Easter so will actually be interesting to see if Saints send players down there from this week for the practice matches. I'd assume they would as guys not in Nab Cup squads need game time somewhere you'd think.

 

[aussierulesrules]

Yeah, I'm sure they'll be getting games in somewhere. Pretty sure I heard that Joe Daniher played in some sort of VFL game (for Bendigo, I presume) last weekend, so I expect there will be some games they can play in, especially in the 2 weeks between R4 of the NAB Cup and our first game (in week two of the split round one). If Joey is not able to play some sort of game between R4 of the NAB Cup and R2, he will have gone 3 weeks without a game!

 

[Manimal_Dunstan]

Yeah, I'm sure they'll be getting games in somewhere. Pretty sure I heard that Joe Daniher played in some sort of VFL game (for Bendigo, I presume) last weekend, so I expect there will be some games they can play in, especially in the 2 weeks between R4 of the NAB Cup and our first game (in week two of the split round one). If Joey is not able to play some sort of game between R4 of the NAB Cup and R2, he will have gone 3 weeks without a game!

Essendon VFL team actually.

 

[mysainters]

Interesting Scott said on 360 tonight that Schneider knows he has to earn his spot back.

 

[Manimal_Dunstan]

Interesting Scott said on 360 tonight that Schneider knows he has to earn his spot back.

Just watched it then, also added Adam is doing everything right to earn it back, I'd expect him to be Best 22.

 

[Defacto]

Just watched it then, also added Adam is doing everything right to earn it back, I'd expect him to be Best 22.

if fit he is in the best 22. i have doubts that we will see him much this year

 

[The Punter]

Remember Schneider can play up the ground. We can play Schneider, Milne, Saad and another "small forward" all in the same side. And don't be surprised if Saad starts to spend some time in the middle.

But right now, Schneider isn't in the best 22.

 

[aussierulesrules]

Fully fit and in form he is, IMO, based on what he can do on the wing.

 

[stkildathunda]

Scott Watters was just on SEN and very Interestig wordig when talking about Tom Lee. Said "we expect him to force his way into side DURING the year" so to me sounds like they aren't expecting to see him early in year bit like Maister last year.

 

[aussierulesrules]

Noticed that Gold Coast's Tom Lynch is out for 6 weeks, so won't be playing round one. Bock and McKenzie also not expected to be playing, as they are eased back into the team.