Preview Round 11, 2024: Melbourne v St.Kilda - MCG - Sunday 26th May, 3.20pm AEST

[Hubnester]

Game Day - Round 11, 2024: Melbourne v St.Kilda - MCG - Sunday 26th May, 3.20pm AEST

https://www.afl.com.au/afl/matches/5992

www.bigfooty.com

 

[Saint Watto]

Brad Crouch been Luke Balled

I believe that his knee was giving him a little grief after Tuesday's session.

 

[pebblesofsand]

Been very sad and boring, team selections since Lyon came back, refreshing to see the return of the selection melts from the surviving few still posting after the Bigfooty deep state purges.

On SM-S908E using BigFooty.com mobile app

Hardly a deep state purge - chose to leave because he couldn't get his own way.

As for the others - posters come and go.

 

[CaptainRisky]

I'm not sure this club has any idea what its doing at times , you all know I don't rate Byrnes as a footballer ( so none of the pathetic hate comments) but can anyone who watched him last week honestly say he deserves to get back in this week

 

[BrutThough]

I'm not sure this club has any idea what its doing at times , you all know I don't rate Byrnes as a footballer ( so none of the pathetic hate comments) but can anyone who watched him last week honestly say he deserves to get back in this week

He at least performed better than what Collard got selected off the week before.... our standards for selection have gotten very low.

But on a serious note, the VFL review highlighted his running power so that must be what has gotten him selected. We want another runner for the wider spaces and despite his large flaws as a player, he is the best runner who played at Sandy.

 

[Pardon me]

We’ll all look like fools if we manage to pinch the win.
I’ll be tuning in to what I expect will be a midfield flogging, high turnover and low skill filled game from our point of view.
Oh, I’ll also add inaccurate.

Hopefully Higgo and Crouch have an impact.

Pretty meh feeling in our house for the footy this week.

 

[True Believer]

It was a gross mistake to bring Lyon back out of retirement, and drag back former popular Saint players in an attempt to recapture past glories..it was delusional by Bassat who pretty much saw it as a marketing opportunity as much about himself as it was for the club.

How long are you going to keep regurgitating this same, unsubstantiated drivel? I would love to know what basis you make this, frankly, slanderous statement? Did you have a conversation with Bassat where he confessed to you that he was solely motivated by his desire for personal glorification?

Are you his priest and in breach of the sanctity of the confessional?

 

[CaptainRisky]

He at least performed better than what Collard got selected off the week before.... our standards for selection have gotten very low.

But on a serious note, the VFL review highlighted his running power so that must be what has gotten him selected. We want another runner for the wider spaces and despite his large flaws as a player, he is the best runner who played at Sandy.

Yep the collard one was a beauty , its a wonder they didn't pick Allison after one good game against a bunch of Ammos .

Byrnes might be able to run but he just doesn't do any damage at all as his kicking is worse than mine and I'm a fat old man

 

[CaptainRisky]

I'm happy with a bloke with a decent tank, who can at least get the ball at AFL level, rotating off the bench so that ALL our midfielders can play with more intensity.

Plenty of blokes can get it , its what you do with it is more important

 

[Cairnsman]

The ins might not be champions but there’s a common denominator, they bring some much needed experience.

I can see the logic even if I think there might have been a better option.

Winter is coming and the young players are going to need some cover over the next 2 months.

This game can only be won if our forward half get on top as their midfield will be breathing fire after having their pants pulled down by the kids last week.

Who’s confident about our forward line having a day out?

 

[Sainter1873]

We’ll all look like fools if we manage to pinch the win.
I’ll be tuning in to what I expect will be a midfield flogging, high turnover and low skill filled game from our point of view.
Oh, I’ll also add inaccurate.

Hopefully Higgo and Crouch have an impact.

Pretty meh feeling in our house for the footy this week.

Crouch wasn’t picked but we could sure use him. Or Clark. Our midfield is crying out for some guys who can win clearances. Marshall will keep trying to do his thing of grabbing the ball and booting it but that won’t work very well against Gawn.

 

[Saintos The ITK]

The way I read it, all those selected on the extended interchange are heavily on notice.
Membrey gets managed and then quietly omitted, see if he plays for Sandy this week. Should be a decent side.
Somehow Ross scrapes his way back in.

 

[L_W_P]

Had a chat about the selection on Saints TV last night -

The form stacks up, even if the results dont.

We ave more inside 50s than Melbourne. We ave more marks inside 50 than Melbourne and Collingwood. We are just horrible when it comes to the ground ball and then our accuracy when we finally get a shot at goal.

We've also lost 4 or 5 games by less than 10 points.

Reverse those and we are sitting top 4 BUT...

I think people need to get away from the week to week results for the rest of this year. RTB is clearly going for a rebuild on the run and putting pieces together for 2-3 years' time, rather than right now.

Win or lose, I'll be watching how the likes of Dow, Henry, Nas, Wilson etc are gelling together.

 

[Remboy]

So the majority of the managed players are back, we are playing conservatively with crouch who is one game back from knee surgery, we have chosen to give Collard another chance at AFL level when 2 weeks ago you were all frothing about not playing a small forward when we needed one, Hayes and Caminiti are playing for the same position obviously and Caminiti was really good last week.. oh what else... Garcia played a really good game vs a genuine 2nd rate VFL team and is now the saviour?

Have I missed any other melt?

We didn’t pick the reincarnation of Plugger who kicked five in the VFL last week. The club’s stuffed!

 

[gringo2011]

Agree with the above. Would rather a half fit crouch over a fit Ross . Screaming out for mids especially against Dees and we leave crouch , Clark and Garcia in the twos . I was half looking forward to sun . Now not so much

Seeing Carlton bring in guys under done and seeing them break down makes you realise why they don't rush them back though.

 

[Nutsngum]

Seeing Carlton bring in guys under done and seeing them break down makes you realise why they don't rush them back though.

Yes and we already did this with Crouch and Butler earlier this year and both failed to make an impact. Ross after a break is probably going to have a 20+disposal good game.

 

[gringo2011]

I'm not sure this club has any idea what its doing at times , you all know I don't rate Byrnes as a footballer ( so none of the pathetic hate comments) but can anyone who watched him last week honestly say he deserves to get back in this week

Someone said against the Hawks he'd been asked to sit on Jaith to stop him tearing us apart. Last week he was out on a wing and must have played role they wanted him too. Sometimes the possession count isn't the marker that it is for the fans.

 

[gringo2011]

Yep the collard one was a beauty , its a wonder they didn't pick Allison after one good game against a bunch of Ammos .

Byrnes might be able to run but he just doesn't do any damage at all as his kicking is worse than mine and I'm a fat old man

Collard is lucky that we don't have many specialty small forwards on the list. Butler and him would the the only 2. Garcia looked okay as a small pressure forward but still looked like a mid playing forward.

Allison is in a pack with Pou, Owens, Sharman, Caminiti, Hayes, King, Membrey etc. He's not only going to have to dislodge one of them from the senior side, but probably play a few games in a row where he knocks the door down to even move up the order.

 

[gringo2011]

Plenty of blokes can get it , its what you do with it is more important

When you watch him at the ground, he runs to every contest at both ends the ground. He's an ordinary player but those guys that are fit enough to defend and then run forward to help spread the forward line and be an overlap option are like having extra players on the ground. Lyon would rather an absolute work horse than a sometime brilliant but slightly lazy X factor guy.

 

[The_Steadier]

Apparently Marshall, as the sole ruck, is an integral part of the game plan and if we played two rucks, the whole plan falls apart and we turn into an absolute s***show where we struggle to score.

I love this because it is so very true.

Remember when we had plugger kicking bags of goals every week in a team that would be thrashed every week?

Not quite on the same scale here (yet)- but the hero worship over roma's individual stats etc is missing the point of football entirely.

We are in no position as a team to have any sacred cows who are immune from changes (big or small).

 

[SG34]

If we should tank, why shouldn't 10 other teams who won't make the ladder, also tank?
Shouldn't we have the 'Tanking Olympics'?
The "covert ladder" becomes a 'U' shaped thing instead of a vertical scale.

We know (or think we should know) by now that us and North Melbourne, and perhaps even the Bulldogs in a few years, are not going to attract players. I suspect we think or even know our fixturing will be unfavourable by dint of our lowly status as minnow clubs and welfare clubs. So the appeal of dropping into the bottom 6 in order to get a "better fixture" next year is compromised. On the other hand, a Sydney, say, could be rewarded nicely. Not to mention, if other teams are tanking too, you end up mixing it up with teams expecting a 'bounce' the following year.

All in all, I would be wary of the sink-to-the-bottom-to-catch-the-fish approach. I think we will (be) flounder forever. Flounders Fields!

 

[malevu]

My vote for the most repeated but waste of time post on here goes to all the calls for Seb's axing every season.

Whilst I get people's frustration and sentiments about his selection clearly a succession of coaches don't think the same. Richo and Ratts both rated him and now RTB obviously does too.

Call for his omission as much as you like but he'll be playing till the wheels fall off his wheel chair. Just get used to it FFS.

 

[Pardon me]

Crouch wasn’t picked but we could sure use him. Or Clark. Our midfield is crying out for some guys who can win clearances. Marshall will keep trying to do his thing of grabbing the ball and booting it but that won’t work very well against Gawn.

He…wasn’t picked???
Well that’s interesting, and further reduces my excitement level for this match.
Be interesting to see if we adopt any of west coasts tactics, although with our skill level the plan will probably be to lock it up and have a rolling maul like junior footy.

 

[The_Steadier]

but more importantly to help us woo some uncontracted players or free agents. No one will want to come to us if they see us as a basket case, no matter how much cash we throw at them.

Normally I'd agree with you on that-
yes, it's important not to fully tank or you'll never trade targets (like Henry for instance) or RFA targets.

However the following 2 factors are crucial (and specific to us) I think:

1. We are never going to land the kind of RFA targets we need (eg degoey etc), regardless of whether we tank or not- it's simply never going to occur.
So us tanking this year changes nothing in that regard.

2. Yes- tanking this year would hurt our chances of luring over Henry types (ie non RFA trade targets).
BUT- maybe we wont need to target Henry type trades for the next few years?

We've got a huge warchest of unallocated salary cap space over the next few years- if the AFL bring in the ability to buy extra picks using cap space... who cares if we can't attract Henry type players while we bottom out this year (and maybe next year too?)

Instead of chasing trades for Henry type players- we can simply use our spare cap space to buy (hypothetically) ~ say pick 15 or so in the 2024 and 2025 drafts??!!

League open to pick purchasing as part of trade changes

AFL player movement boss Ned Guy says the League is open to introducing pick purchasing, allowing clubs to use their salary cap money in exchange for draft picks

www.afl.com.au

Roll out the tank I say!

 

[sauce_head]

This Saints player was another student in the coaching course or one of the "teachers"?

Teacher.

 

[Saintos The ITK]

Normally I'd agree with you on that-
yes, it's important not to fully tank or you'll never trade targets (like Henry for instance) or RFA targets.

However the following 2 factors are crucial (and specific to us) I think:

1. We are never going to land the kind of RFA targets we need (eg degoey etc), regardless of whether we tank or not- it's simply never going to occur.
So us tanking this year changes nothing in that regard.

2. Yes- tanking this year would hurt our chances of luring over Henry types (ie non RFA trade targets).
BUT- maybe we wont need to target Henry type trades for the next few years?

We've got a huge warchest of unallocated salary cap space over the next few years- if the AFL bring in the ability to buy extra picks using cap space... who cares if we can't attract Henry type players while we bottom out this year (and maybe next year too?)

Instead of chasing trades for Henry type players- we can simply use our spare cap space to buy (hypothetically) ~ say pick 15 or so in the 2024 and 2025 drafts??!!

League open to pick purchasing as part of trade changes

AFL player movement boss Ned Guy says the League is open to introducing pick purchasing, allowing clubs to use their salary cap money in exchange for draft picks

www.afl.com.au

Roll out the tank I say!

So what you’re saying is, we’re going to end up having to use our war chest to make our plethora of gops multi millionaires because no one will come to us.