Preview Round 21, 2021: St.Kilda v Sydney - Marvel Stadium, Saturday 7th August, 7:40PM AEST *PRIDE GAME* *COFFIELD 50TH*

[Sully111]

Dunstan hasn't warranted being dropped. Neither has Ross.

I think him playing full games in the midfield in the VFL and earning his spot back is better for his development than bringing him in and sticking him in the forward pocket as a Kent replacement.

I wasn't suggesting playing Bytel as a forward.

When I said move magnets around i'm saying look at putting someone else forward... or to the wing... whatever.

But i'd just drop Ross.

Regardless, hasn't Bytel been playing well in the VFL?

You act like getting AFL games into young players is some wild foreign concept.

We're not playing finals.

Let's get some AFL games into some guys who are the future of our club.

Ross isn't the future of our club.

Not with his pathetic decision making and hospital handpasses anyway.

I want us to do what is going to get us closer to winning a flag. That's it.

 

[Ephemeral Hope]

I wasn't suggesting playing Bytel as a forward.

When I said move magnets around i'm saying look at putting someone else forward... or to the wing... whatever.

But i'd just drop Ross.

Regardless, hasn't Bytel been playing well in the VFL?

You act like getting AFL games into young players is some wild foreign concept.

We're not playing finals.

Let's get some AFL games into some guys who are the future of our club.

Ross isn't the future of our club.

Not with his pathetic decision making and hospital handpasses anyway.

I want us to do what is going to get us closer to winning a flag. That's it.

Let Steele go more forward and back in the dunstan, crouch Bytel brigade to get it down without him. In case of emergency throw Steele back into the midfield for some guaranteed clearances

 

[tomjoad]

Let Steele go more forward and back in the dunstan, crouch Bytel brigade to get it down without him. In case of emergency throw Steele back into the midfield for some guaranteed clearances

Great move. Steele is generally good for a couple of goals whenever he goes in there. I'd like to see how he'd go in a full game. Guaranteed to cause a few headaches for any defence.

 

[stfan]

Might be an unpopular opinion but I'd love to give Dunstan's midfield minutes to Bytel for the last 3 weeks.

Dunstan in many ways sums up where the Saints are at present.

We have a lot of players who individually can be best 22 and who justify their selection.

But put them all together and collectively we just have too many poor users of the ball. And poor ball use can be 1/ a poor choice of who to give the ball to, and/or the actual execution of the lick or handball. It is lack of enough of these qualities in the team as to why we lost to Carlton and why we have lost several more games.

Not have Sinclair in our backline was a huge loss in both aspects.

We just have too many poor kickers and handballers. Howe often to we see a player on the break, but we handball behind them.
Individually say in the midfield we have Steele, Crouch, Dunstan and Jones.

Only Steele is the complete package. The other 3 are less down by both poor foot and hand skills and poor choice of who to give it to. Two you can get away with, but three? Jones has a point of difference in his pace and physicality, but Dunstan and Crouch it is a face-off.

To become a better team, we need some better quality ball users in our team. There will always be room for role players in any 22, but we have too many of them and not enough cream.

I know Billings is playing injured, but for a guy that was recruited in part because of his goal kicker it is an ongoing disappointment of how many gettable set shots he misses.

 

[gringo2011]

Great move. Steele is generally good for a couple of goals whenever he goes in there. I'd like to see how he'd go in a full game. Guaranteed to cause a few headaches for any defence.

Might cost him a Brownlow and a heap of bonuses but if he's happy I'd push it.

 

[bergholt]

Clark will be out and Kent should be. Hunter too. There’s a spot for Bytel.

Hunter out, Bytel in? Play him as second ruck?

 

[Sully111]

With the outs this week, there could be a spot for him this week.

But the original comment I was replying too said he should have been in 3 weeks ago. Except, no one in the midfield group deserved to be dropped then.

No it didn't

It said he should be playing for the last 3 games... as in the last 3 games of the season. i.e.. the next 3 games.

 

[gringo2011]

Dunstan in many ways sums up where the Saints are at present.

We have a lot of players who individually can be best 22 and who justify their selection.

But put them all together and collectively we just have too many poor users of the ball. And poor ball use can be 1/ a poor choice of who to give the ball to, and/or the actual execution of the lick or handball. It is lack of enough of these qualities in the team as to why we lost to Carlton and why we have lost several more games.

Not have Sinclair in our backline was a huge loss in both aspects.

We just have too many poor kickers and handballers. Howe often to we see a player on the break, but we handball behind them.
Individually say in the midfield we have Steele, Crouch, Dunstan and Jones.

Only Steele is the complete package. The other 3 are less down by both poor foot and hand skills and poor choice of who to give it to. Two you can get away with, but three? Jones has a point of difference in his pace and physicality, but Dunstan and Crouch it is a face-off.

To become a better team, we need some better quality ball users in our team. There will always be room for role players in any 22, but we have too many of them and not enough cream.

I know Billings is playing injured, but for a guy that was recruited in part because of his goal kicker it is an ongoing disappointment of how many gettable set shots he misses.

I disagree on guys like Dunny and Ross being the problem. I thought both were going head first in the Carlton match. They weren't perfect but they were going in. About half the side were invisible. Membrey, Billings, Butler, Long were pure passengers. People have a perception of who they don't like and nail the negatives to them. Even young Connolly who has been fantastic all of a sudden started to miss all his kicks under more pressure that lead to direct turn overs but because we see him as a positive he gets a let off.

As Aussierulesrules said we win that if the two clubs kicked the expected score we would have won that match. Our midfield easily had more possession but they converted as well as any side this year and used the ball really cleanly. They pressured us and played us like we played last year. We couldn't keep up and made errors.

To me the guys that don't turn up when the heat goes up are much worse than the messy triers. I can take guys who go 100% but have shit skills much more than the ones that choose when to turn up. To me it looked like we were told to look for Hill at every opportunity and we gave it to him in stupid situations. Hill is getting much more of the ball lately but his disposal isn't much better than Dunny or Crouch to be honest, he's just got more spread and run and carry.

 

[CaptainRisky]

Problem is we've gone for a reno rather than a rebuild which tends to happen when you have ambitious ring-ins that are only at the club for a handful of years before they walk away with the club on fire.

We only have 5 players under the age of 21 and 2 of them came in the recent mid-season draft, if we go all in for Ben King as expected then we could be staring at an awful list profile if the King's aren't the twin messiahs.

I think your on the money there , Lethers only came as he got the ass from the AFL ,, Is he really invested or is this just a fill in job , id say the later

 

[gringo2011]

Hunter out, Bytel in? Play him as second ruck?

Maybe we could Silvagni Coffield. Play him as a ruckman against Hickey.

 

[gringo2011]

I think your on the money there , Lethers only came as he got the ass from the AFL ,, Is he really invested or is this just a fill in job , id say the later

It sounds like he's stuck here so he might want to start stamping the flames out.

 

[tomjoad]

Might cost him a Brownlow and a heap of bonuses but if he's happy I'd push it.

Not likely to get a Brownlow playing for the likes of us at the moment unfortunately, particularly playing like we do. Steele is a victim of other teammates around him tarnishing his output by their inconsistency and shitty decision making.
He may as well kick a few goals in the meantime. Everyone loves kicking goals, and whoever says they don't are lying.

 

[pebblesofsand]

At this point I’d honestly take the trainee receptionist to replace Kent in the team this week, gee-whiz.

Can't happen - they've already been told they are replacing Long.

 

[tomjoad]

I disagree on guys like Dunny and Ross being the problem. I thought both were going head first in the Carlton match. They weren't perfect but they were going in. About half the side were invisible. Membrey, Billings, Butler, Long were pure passengers. People have a perception of who they don't like and nail the negatives to them. Even young Connolly who has been fantastic all of a sudden started to miss all his kicks under more pressure that lead to direct turn overs but because we see him as a positive he gets a let off.

As Aussierulesrules said we win that if the two clubs kicked the expected score we would have won that match. Our midfield easily had more possession but they converted as well as any side this year and used the ball really cleanly. They pressured us and played us like we played last year. We couldn't keep up and made errors.

To me the guys that don't turn up when the heat goes up are much worse than the messy triers. I can take guys who go 100% but have sh*t skills much more than the ones that choose when to turn up. To me it looked like we were told to look for Hill at every opportunity and we gave it to him in stupid situations. Hill is getting much more of the ball lately but his disposal isn't much better than Dunny or Crouch to be honest, he's just got more spread and run and carry.

This feckin give the ball to Hill agenda wrecks my head. If he isn't in a position to have the ball then DON'T GIVE HIM THE BALL. This is a leadership problem. Any player with a brain, two eyes, and working limbs should be able to process when a guy is unable to receive the ball. At any given time when Hill is either surrounded by three opposition players, or has been worked over...there ought to be at least two free options or at minimum a fair contest to kick to. If these players need guidance to point out the glaringly obvious, then the leaders (such as they are) should be confident enough to override the coaches orders if such orders are impractical.
AFL is not a game for automatons...even if guys like Hocking are trying to choke the life out of the he game

 

[AirWinmar]

This feckin give the ball to Hill agenda wrecks my head. If he isn't in a position to have the ball then DON'T GIVE HIM THE BALL. This is a leadership problem. Any player with a brain, two eyes, and working limbs should be able to process when a guy is unable to receive the ball. At any given time when Hill is either surrounded by three opposition players, or has been worked over...there ought to be at least two free options or at minimum a fair contest to kick to. If these players need guidance to point out the glaringly obvious, then the leaders (such as they are) should be confident enough to override the coaches orders if such orders are impractical.
AFL is not a game for automatons...even if guys like Hocking are trying to choke the life out of the he game

Agree, but this also sits on the coach and also sits on Hill - Ratts has told players to look for and give the ball to Hill. Hill shouldn't call for it either if he isn't in a good spot. Cost us a few turnovers against Carlton

 

[_Maximus_12]

It would be common sense imo

So it won't happen then?

 

[_Maximus_12]

Let Steele go more forward and back in the dunstan, crouch Bytel brigade to get it down without him. In case of emergency throw Steele back into the midfield for some guaranteed clearances

Let's take our one mid who uses the ball well by foot, move him forward, and let the butchers hack it forward to the oppositions defenders.

 

[Saintbloke]

Sharman should get another game- looked comfortable at senior level, but what is his position..CHF, HFF? Very disappointed with our small forwards this season, and they let us down badly against Carlton, but we don't seem to have many options.

 

[Joffaboy]

Will be a speedy midfield if we have Steele, Crouch, Dunstan and Bytel in and Ross out.

Ross has his weaknesses but he at least can spread.

Put Dunstan forwsrd. Lets see if he can play more than inside pig. Dont sacrifice Steele

 

[Minga]

Should be interesting seeing the skeleton squad in against the Swans. Hardly any consequences with a loss, so it should be a very insightful game. Particularly with the youth in mind. But even if Hanners is thrown in (would rather Bytel) it’ll be interesting. That being said, Bytel could build in the VFL. Joyce and Clav in a depleted defence. I wonder if Sincs will be ready? Also Higgins may get a chance for goal-kicking redemption so keep an eye out for that. Will King continue his form? Hard to say if he isn’t getting the ball delivered to him. Will the midfield redeem its pressure? They’ll have to for us to be competitive. Some may disagree, but I reckon there is a lot to watch out for on Saturday night, even in a shot season.

 

[Diehard Saint]

Hunter out, Bytel in? Play him as second ruck?

Couldn't be any worse

 

[Pardon me]

Tom Hickey

31

Tom Hickey

Age

33

Ht

202cm

Wt

97kg

Pos.

Ruck

Career

Season

Last 5

D

11.9

3star

K

5.0

2star

HB

6.9

4star

CL

2.8

4star

HO

19.1

5star

D

4.0

1star

K

1.5

1star

HB

2.5

2star

CL

1.0

3star

HO

7.0

5star

D

11.2

3star

K

4.2

2star

HB

7.0

5star

CL

0.4

3star

HO

8.6

5star

to reignite the Hickey/Longer debate - absolute dead set certainty to happen during the game.

 

[Midfield Gun]

Debate dead in the water. Hickey in the frame for AA squad and Longer is no longer.

 

[Pardon me]

Debate dead in the water. Hickey in the frame for AA squad and Longer is no longer.

Maybe mate...Hickey never had this kind of guff though:



Thats some Michael Gardiner level confidence.

 

[Diehard Saint]

Maybe mate...Hickey never had this kind of guff though:

View attachment 1194916

Thats some Michael Gardiner level confidence.

Probably the best thing he did in his time with us