Discussion Round 1, Best 22

[aussierulesrules]

Yeah, there's definitely a strong argument for him playing forward, to use his precise kicking for goal (although he was a bit wayward at times this year from his set shots) and we would have loved him (next year's version) there 3 years ago, that's for sure. If he plays forward next year and does really well you won't see me complaining, but I'm confident that the club will want to get Lee in there ASAP and he was also very accurate this year and that will mean we can use Sip in that role across HB that I've been talking about.

As we are likely to have Roo, Wilkes/Kosi and possibly Stanley up front, I don't see that we would have both Arryn and Tom up there and as I've said previously, I'm exceptionally confident that we didn't get Tom to play for Sandy.

 

[hayes]

Yeah if we go with the three talls then I can't see us going with a medium as well. But then where does Dunell fit? If the backline and forward line are taken that pretty much leaves only the wing. Is he a winger? I think he could be but it might take some time to get used to a new position.

 

[aussierulesrules]

Yeah if we go with the three talls then I can't see us going with a medium as well. But then where does Dunell fit? If the backline and forward line are taken that pretty much leaves only the wing. Is he a winger? I think he could be but it might take some time to get used to a new position.

I think Dunell would have spent some time on the wing in his senior games this season and to me he looks perfectly well suited to it because of his running abilities. He is pretty quick and apparently has very good endurance, so I see no reason at all why he couldn't play on the wing and just run up and down the ground all game and rack up the touches. If Gilbo can play on the wing, Dunell sure can, IMO.

As I said in his thread the other day, he just seems to run really hard and get in the right spots over and over again and I'm pretty sure that when BJ was suspended the club said they wanted him to go up to the Gabba for our game v Brisbane so that he could advise Sam how to play the HB, HF and wing roles he has played, so they obviously see him being able to play all those areas.
(Here it is: "In particular, Goddard is likely to help elevated rookie Sam Dunell in his debut game after his consistent form in the VFL earned him a spot on the senior list.
Dunell will assist to fill the space left by Goddard, playing varied rolls across the wing, forward line and half-back.": http://www.saints.com.au/news/2012-07-13/goddards-mentoring-role.default? )

I didn't watch for where he was lining up specifically, but in the senior games he played this year he seemed to be playing a wing type role to me in some, if not all of them, just going by the fact he seemed to be getting most of his possies around the middle part of the ground and even down across HB. He was getting quite a lot of possies for the short time he was on the ground and not many of them seemed to be in the forward line, or leading up to the ball, so I just figured he was playing high HF, with a license to roam, or wing.

To me he is like a slightly taller version of Farren Ray, but with even better overhead marking strength and more ability to also play a lead-up role up forward, or a defensive role down back (thanks to his extra height).

 

[hayes]

Him and Siposs look like clones to me. Similiar height, similiar skills and strengths. It's nice having two of them.

 

[stkildathunda]

Dunell played alot on wing in VFL and I remember hearing one coaches mention it early in year it's where they see him playing in future. Give him full preseason to get more endurance and he'll be able run out games.

At this stage and with fully fit list I probably wouldn't have him in round 1 side, he'd be in group of about 10-12 that fighting for 5-6 spots

 

[aussierulesrules]

Him and Siposs look like clones to me. Similiar height, similiar skills and strengths. It's nice having two of them.

Yeah Dunell is definitely going to be one I'll watch with a lot of interest next year, as he is someone who has a lot of positive attributes (and they reckon he has a fantastic attitude and work ethic to go along with them), so he is someone that I could genuinely see having a good career if things go well for him.

I was reading something on him the other day that said he had mainly focused on cricket until not that long ago, as he was so small and thin growing up, but that he then really shot up in height all of a sudden and that brought footy back into the frame and so he focused on that again and has gone from ammos to senior AFL within 12 months!

I think he may have only been played as the "sub" as he doesn't have the tank yet (through not enough pre-seasons of any substance except last year), but if he is able to get as much of it per quarter as he did this year, once he starts playing 4 quarters, then he could be very good indeed in the future and very versatile.

By the sounds of it he's going to give himself every chance with his attitude and work ethic, so that is a hell of a big help.

 

[Defacto]

revised best 22
B Geary Gilbert Gwilt
HB Dempster Fisher Siposs
C Milera Armitage Montagna
HF Hyphen Reiwoldt Wilkes
F Milne Stanley Saad
R McEvoy Dal Santo Stevens

I/C Ray Newnes Schneider
SUB Curren (hehehe)

 

[Manimal_Dunstan]

revised best 22
B Geary Gilbert Gwilt
HB Dempster Fisher Siposs
C Milera Armitage Montagna
HF Hyphen Reiwoldt Wilkes
F Milne Stanley Saad
R McEvoy Dal Santo Stevens

I/C Ray Newnes Schneider
SUB Curren (hehehe)

No idea what you have against Tom Simpkin, he is clearly best 22.. I expect him to be most improved next year. Almost played the full year this year to get his body more use to it now i expect him to be even better next year. Similar to Daniel Talia played in 2011 then won the Rising star award the next season. Different players i know and Simpkin can't win the rising star award but i still think he is Best 22 and will show why next year.

 

[aussierulesrules]

If Simpkin was 3-4 cm taller and/or a bit more solidly built, he'd be a bloody ripper, I reckon. As it is I think he's terrific in the "3rd tall" role and I think if he'd come along 15 years ago he'd have had a Maxy type career.

He's very good value as it is though, with his very strong and very reliable overhead marking and his courage to put himself in harm's way and also his long and penetrating kicking.

Will be interesting to see what happens with all of Fisher, Gwilt, Simpkin and Gilbert next year though, if someone like Stanley, or Lee ends up playing down back. Hard to see them all fitting in back there (although I expect Gilbo will probably play a lot on the wing again).

Tom is one of several (eg. Saad, Milera, Dunell, Wilkes, Siposs, Newnes, Ross, Ledger) who I think will benefit immensely from getting another preseason under their belts though. He reportedly had chronic shin splints prior to about 12 months ago and as such had never done a proper preseason until last year, so another one and maybe another kg or two could be very beneficial for him.

 

[Defacto]

No idea what you have against Tom Simpkin, he is clearly best 22.. I expect him to be most improved next year. Almost played the full year this year to get his body more use to it now i expect him to be even better next year. Similar to Daniel Talia played in 2011 then won the Rising star award the next season. Different players i know and Simpkin can't win the rising star award but i still think he is Best 22 and will show why next year.

i like him, exactly the type of player i like to see run out in our jumper. solid and courageous. but if i had to choose between gwilt and simpkin. i'd go for gwilty only because he's a bit more versatile and i love him!!! hahaha

like aussierulesrules said my worry is who we leave out of the side now that we have some serious depth. nothing against simpkin, just my love for gwilty

what will be more interesting is who we delist at the end of the year to make room for more kids and a possible KPD

 

[Defacto]

If Simpkin was 3-4 cm taller and/or a bit more solidly built, he'd be a bloody ripper, I reckon. As it is I think he's terrific in the "3rd tall" role and I think if he'd come along 15 years ago he'd have had a Maxy type career.

He's very good value as it is though, with his very strong and very reliable overhead marking and his courage to put himself in harm's way and also his long and penetrating kicking.

Will be interesting to see what happens with all of Fisher, Gwilt, Simpkin and Gilbert next year though, if someone like Stanley, or Lee ends up playing down back. Hard to see them all fitting in back there (although I expect Gilbo will probably play a lot on the wing again).

Tom is one of several (eg. Saad, Milera, Dunell, Wilkes, Siposs, Newnes, Ross, Ledger) who I think will benefit immensely from getting another preseason under their belts though. He reportedly had chronic shin splints prior to about 12 months ago and as such had never done a proper preseason until last year, so another one and maybe another kg or two could be very beneficial for him.

likewise gwilt should be alot better after his first season back from his first serious knee injury

feels good to have some serious depth

 

[FlyingSledghamer]

hey are we going to upgrade a rookie with Markworth long term inured?

 

[aussierulesrules]

Yes.

 

[FlyingSledghamer]

Curren or Ferguson? Man I want to see Curren play senior footy bad. Although if Fergs is ready tall defenders is probably our weakest position. Plus if CJ has really improved a lot, that would make it harder for Curren.

 

[aussierulesrules]

I think we will probably wait until whoever we are going to upgrade is going to play that very week, otherwise we might upgrade say Curren, but then the next week someone from the backline gets injured and we might wish that we'd upgraded Shenton or Ferguson instead, so I think we'll only do it when they are to play that week. At this point Curren would have to be red hot favourite, I imagine. Having said that, Ledger is very similar and ought to get a crack at it, form and fitness/attitude permitting and then there is also Seb Ross who we will probably want to get games into.

Ferguson would have a few in front of him (Fisher, Gwilt, Gilbert, Simpkin, Siposs) so unless he's playing key defence and doing really well I'm not expecting him to get upgraded early.

Shenton will probably be a chance as he might provide us with some of the speed out of defence that we've lost with Gram leaving, but he will also have Roberton and Gilbo and so on in front of him, so he'd probably have to prove that he can do some really good shut-dwon jobs to be considered, I reckon.

Minchington is a bit of a smokey. Apparently Watters really rates him and he's meant to bring some real speed and skill and "x-factor", but he also has a lot in front of him like Milne, Saad, Schneids, Milera and TDL, so that is alot to go past! I wouldn't be at all surprised if he has the best career out of all of them, but he may not be ready yet.

 

[Defacto]

Curren or Ferguson? Man I want to see Curren play senior footy bad. Although if Fergs is ready tall defenders is probably our weakest position. Plus if CJ has really improved a lot, that would make it harder for Curren.

i reckon they will wait to see how the rookies go in the NAB cup, but if they were going to decide now, it would have to be curren to reward his form last year.

having said all that squizzy and aussiethunda would have some good thoughts given the amount of vfl they have watched

 

[Manimal_Dunstan]

i reckon they will wait to see how the rookies go in the NAB cup, but if they were going to decide now, it would have to be curren to reward his form last year.

having said all that squizzy and aussiethunda would have some good thoughts given the amount of vfl they have watched

Curren at the moment i agree.. But apparently Ferguson plays a bit like Fisher? Maybe if Fisher becomes the lock down Defender, Fergo could come in and try and play Fish's role?

 

[Defacto]

Curren at the moment i agree.. But apparently Ferguson plays a bit like Fisher? Maybe if Fisher becomes the lock down Defender, Fergo could come in and try and play Fish's role?

can we fit him in. if people are talking about dempster, geary, simpkin, gilbert, siposs in the backline. thought siposs would be the obvious replacement to fish, given the transition that happened last year

anyways i havent seen much of ferg so i cant really comment

 

[hayes]

Shenton would be a long, long way off for mine. He improved for a few games at the end of last year but there's a few who have been performing a lot better for a much longer time.

Curren would probably be the best performed out of the rookies, but we have plenty of midfielders already. Watters went for the more versatile player in Dunell last year and while Ferguson probably isn't as versatile I think he'd get the nod. Would be pretty harsh on Curren though who couldn't have done much more, but like I said before we have enough midfielders pushing for spots and we need to see what we have with Fergo.

Would be nice if we could upgrade both at some stage because we really need to get some sort of idea what we have with those two as this is the last year they can be on the rookie list.

 

[hayes]

revised best 22
B Geary Gilbert Gwilt
HB Dempster Fisher Siposs
C Milera Armitage Montagna
HF Hyphen Reiwoldt Wilkes
F Milne Stanley Saad
R McEvoy Dal Santo Stevens

I/C Ray Newnes Schneider
SUB Curren (hehehe)

I like that you have Gilbert playing in defense. That's where I'd prefer to see him play to keep our better kicks in the midfield. If he can't get it sorted this year I think he should go back to permanent defense, lets not forget being a good defender is what got him into the team in the first place. The offensive stuff came later.

No idea what you have against Tom Simpkin, he is clearly best 22.. I expect him to be most improved next year. Almost played the full year this year to get his body more use to it now i expect him to be even better next year. Similar to Daniel Talia played in 2011 then won the Rising star award the next season. Different players i know and Simpkin can't win the rising star award but i still think he is Best 22 and will show why next year.

Here's a better question, who would you take out to get Simpkin in there?

 

[Manimal_Dunstan]

I like that you have Gilbert playing in defense. That's where I'd prefer to see him play to keep our better kicks in the midfield. If he can't get it sorted this year I think he should go back to permanent defense, lets not forget being a good defender is what got him into the team in the first place. The offensive stuff came later.


Here's a better question, who would you take out to get Simpkin in there?

My team is in the first comment..

 

[hayes]

My team is in the first comment..

Ah I see, so you'd have Siposs to the bench and Curren out. My point with Simpkin though was backline spots are pretty tight right now, particularly medium defenders who are better creators and ball users than Simpkin so if he can't play key defense then I don't think there's a spot for him.

 

[FlyingSledghamer]

Simpkin is probably a better 1 on 1 tall defender than Gilbert. Lets not forget it was only his first senior season really. Gilbert is a better rebounding defender, Gilbert can also swing forward and apply crucial frontal pressure.

Why not put our better 1 on 1 players at full back like Dempster Simpkin Gwilt
Put our better rebounding defenders that can play 1 on 1 at half back like Geary Gilbert Fisher
and play Sipposs where he can do most damage and thats at Half forward flank.
Rotate Newnes TDL and Ray through the back flanks.
Hickey and McEvoy to play/rest through out the year. I couldnt fit 2 ruckman in the starting 22.

I'd prefer to see Roo play on the other HFF flank now that we have so many tall forward options
Stanley at FF and Lee at CHF.

Dempster Simpkin Gwilt
Geary Gilbert Fisher
Milera Armo Stevens
Sipposs Lee Roo
Saad Stanley Milne
McEvoy Montagna Hayes
IC: TDL Roberton DalSanto S: Newnes

Notable absentees are: Shcnider, Jones, Ledger, Blake, Dunnell, Wilkes.
Blake Jones and Schnider should be used sparingly to keep them fresh.
Dunnell has the potential of stepping up and cementing spot in a fight with Milera Roberton TDL Newnes.
I think a lot of people are going to be surprised by how good Robertons going to be.
Ledger still has a way to go to merit Senior selection IMO.
Wilkes needs to work on his versitility to merit selection IMO and if I had to choose between him and Hickey I'd go with Hickey every time. He has the potential to be a star and the more game time the better.

 

[Sunshine Saint]

Why has'nt anyone got Kosi in?

I have a draft Sandringham team started and Kosi is the only name I have pencilled in so far.

 

[The Chiefton]

In order, can you saints fans rank the pecking order for med-small forwards?

It's going to be interesting to see the competition for spots & Schneider is no longer guaranteed a spot in the 22.