Preview St Kilda Saints vs. Fremantle Dockers, Round 1 2023

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arsesmart said:
It was a pretty generic statement though "I think over the past few weeks he's been one of our best players...". The sort of statement that could be thrown out there for any number of players. Especially given it was in response to a specific question about Hughes.

I reckon, because Hughes is such a balls-deep battler, everyone gets a thrill from seeing him in the frame. His bar is set accordingly though and is weighted strongly towards effort.
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I reckon NOD with a disrupted PS will need more conditioning. He only played a half and missed some of the early part of the pre-season.

I reckon Walters with a disrupted PS will also need more conditioning and doubtful to get a game this weekend.

I reckon Freddy other than his recent leg issues had been flying and not missed a beat. He sounds like he is back up at full speed and should get some mind this weekend.

After considering all of that Hughes and Henry to win selection on the wings with support (rotations) from Aish and Freddy. Walters and NOD will have two weeks of proper WAFL pre-season games against West Perth and Subiaco to get up to speed. One of Henry/ Hughes will be watching their back as I expect NOD to be in the selectors preferred side.
 
Superkoops said:
I reckon NOD with a disrupted PS will need more conditioning. He only played a half and missed some of the early part of the pre-season.

I reckon Walters with a disrupted PS will also need more conditioning and doubtful to get a game this weekend.

I reckon Freddy other than his recent leg issues had been flying and not missed a beat. He sounds like he is back up at full speed and should get some mind this weekend.

After considering all of that Hughes and Henry to win selection on the wings with support (rotations) from Aish and Freddy. Walters and NOD will have two weeks of proper WAFL pre-season games against West Perth and Subiaco to get up to speed. One of Henry/ Hughes will be watching their back as I expect NOD to be in the selectors preferred side.
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It will be interesting to see just how many selection points O'Driscoll has in the bank. He can tend to be one who's AFL form is often much stronger than his WAFL form. Up to the point he was injured, I'd put Henry's form in front of NOD's and Henry has held if not got better.

As far as Hughes' standing goes, I guess that might depend on back stocks, cause his versatility is a factor in selection.

Would be happy with O'Driscoll/Henry/Aish combo on the wings.
 
Ross will come at us with a plan, and it will be a good one. Yes St Kilda have a weak forward line, but so did Freo for a lot of Ross's tenure, yet he still maintained a winning average. Having no forward line for Ross is frankly his bread and butter.

So if I were Ross Lyon, what would I do?

Well, I would come up with a plan to negate our every strength, statistically, for the entire game.

I'm no Ross Lyon, but I can safely bet on the following:

I would have a very quick half forward and half back line. I would use it to both pressure young, Ryan and Walker in defense constantly when they have possession in defense, or else use them to help out in the midfield and try to fill the passing lanes with a mobile zone...no easy exits from defense = no quick transition.

I would target Walker if he plays - Walker is a little down on form currently and any turnover at half back is a goal opportunity waiting to happen.

I would work hard to block / body up on Jackson immediately after every ruck tap he attends. His follow up work is fantastic, and equates him to an extra midfielder. Take his influence out of the equation however and the midfield battle becomes a bit more 50/50.

I would tag Brodie at stoppages, and alternate between tagging Serong and Andy everywhere else - keep them quiet and our effectiveness at stoppages goes down - it also our midfield leadership become less visible.

Everywhere else, the game plan is maul maul, maul, clog clog clog, and niggle niggle niggle. Slow down the play and frustrate our guys like there's no tomorrow. We're the more skillful side, so Ross needs to do whatever he can to take our skills edge out of it, and even up the contest. And I would also prey like hell for rain.... for obvious reasons.

I'm still tipping Freo as we have too many weapons -- but this upcoming game won't be a walkover, nor some ultra dazzling skills fest...

Frankly I reckon it'll be more like watching 22 guys fighting their way out from under a two-tonne, dripping wet doona.

Freo by 22.
 
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Gekko71 said:
Ross will come at us with a plan, and it will be a good one. Yes St Kilda have a weak forward line, but so did Freo for a lot of Ross's tenure, yet he still maintained a winning average. Having no forward line for Ross is frankly his bread and butter.

So if I were Ross Lyon, what would I do?

Well, I would come up with a plan to negate our every strength, statistically, for the entire game.

I'm no Ross Lyon, but I can safely bet on the following:

I would have a very quick half forward line. I would use it to both pressure young, Ryan and Walker in defense constantly when they have possession in defense, or else use them to help out in the midfield and try to fill the passing lanes with a mobile zone...no easy exits from defense = no quick transition.

I would target Walker if he plays - Walker is a little down on form currently and any turnover at half back is a goal opportunity waiting to happen.

I would work hard to block / body up on Jackson immediately after every ruck tap he attends. His follow up work is fantastic, and equates him to an extra midfielder. Take his influence out of the equation however and the midfield battle becomes a bit more 50/50.

I would tag Brodie at stoppages, and alternate between tagging Serong and Andy everywhere else - keep them quiet and our effectiveness at stoppages goes down - it also our midfield leadership become less visible.

Everywhere else, the game plan is maul maul, maul, clog clog clog, and niggle niggle niggle. Slow down the play and frustrate our guys like there's no tomorrow. We're the more skillful side, so Ross needs to do whatever he can to take our skills edge out of it, and even up the contest. And I would also prey like hell for rain.... for obvious reasons.

I'm still tipping Freo as we have too many weapons -- but this upcoming game won't be a walkover, nor some ultra dazzling skills fest...

Frankly I reckon it'll be more like watching 22 guys fighting their way out from under a two-tonne, dripping wet doona.

Freo by 22.
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Good thing it's under the roof at Marvel ;)
 
Dump Truck said:
This is why I'm so *in thankful Carlton shat the bed when it came to making him coach. IMO would've finished top 4 last year and won the flag this year if he had that cattle.
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The game has gone past him. He is not as good as you think imo. I'll have to wait and see if anything has changed this season with the Saints.
 
PS: Nathan Schmook over at AFL.com is tipping the following lineup:

FREMANTLE

B: Heath Chapman, Alex Pearce, Luke Ryan
HB: Jordan Clark, Brennan Cox, Hayden Young
C: James Aish, Jaeger O'Meara, Liam Henry
HF: Michael Frederick, Matt Taberner, Sam Switkowski
F: Luke Jackson, Nat Fyfe, Lachie Schultz
Foll: Sean Darcy, Andrew Brayshaw, Caleb Serong
I/C: Will Brodie, Sam Sturt, Ethan Hughes, Nathan Wilson
EMERG: Bailey Banfield, Josh Treacy, Brandon Walker, Matthew Johnson

Personally I wouldn't mind this line up much at all, only change being I would have Bailey over Sturt, as Nathan is tipping Sturt to be a midfield rotation, whereas I view him more as a pure forward.

Bailey is the better midfielder IMO, whereas Sturt is the better forward. I really love Sturt's x-factor and chase-down speed, but given it's Ross and St Kilda we're playing, it's going to be a low scoring game with the ball being tied up in the midfield a lot.

Bailey would be the more handy inclusion to my mind, as he is just more likely to see more of the pill, and is also a semi-reasonable tagger if push comes to shove. Give him the tagging role allows Aish to play more on-the-ball, where he can be extremely damaging in bursts.
 
Gekko71 said:
PS: Nathan Schmook over at AFL.com is tipping the following lineup:

FREMANTLE

B: Heath Chapman, Alex Pearce, Luke Ryan
HB: Jordan Clark, Brennan Cox, Hayden Young
C: James Aish, Jaeger O'Meara, Liam Henry
HF: Michael Frederick, Matt Taberner, Sam Switkowski
F: Luke Jackson, Nat Fyfe, Lachie Schultz
Foll: Sean Darcy, Andrew Brayshaw, Caleb Serong
I/C: Will Brodie, Sam Sturt, Ethan Hughes, Nathan Wilson
EMERG: Bailey Banfield, Josh Treacy, Brandon Walker, Matthew Johnson

Personally I wouldn't mind this line up much at all, only change being I would have Bailey over Sturt, as Nathan is tipping Sturt to be a midfield rotation, whereas I view him more as a pure forward.

Bailey is the better midfielder IMO, whereas Sturt is the better forward. I really love Sturt's x-factor and chase-down speed, but given it's Ross and St Kilda we're playing, it's going to be a low scoring game with the ball being tied up in the midfield a lot.

Bailey would be the more handy inclusion to my mind, as he is just more likely to see more of the pill, and is also a semi-reasonable tagger if push comes to shove. Give him the tagging role allows Aish to play more on-the-ball, where he can be extremely damaging in bursts.
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I think that line-up makes the most sense from a balance perspective, even if it would be a bit unpopular. You could make an argument for any of those emergencies to play over the last three on the bench as well
 
Joao said:
Swap Walker for Wilson and its what I reckon will happen. Treacy the most unlucky.
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Same.

Also, I'm trying really hard to limit my negative posts on certain players BUT, I would be a little... confused if the match committee somehow squeeze both Banfield AND Hughes into the side when we are basically full strength
 

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Snuffaluphagus said:
Same.

Also, I'm trying really hard to limit my negative posts on certain players BUT, I would be a little... confused if the match committee somehow squeeze both Banfield AND Hughes into the side when we are basically full strength
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I thought that too but then I realised that although its getting near meme levels, Banners actually is a gun sub and is my genuine preference for that role.
 
Snuffaluphagus said:
Same.

Also, I'm trying really hard to limit my negative posts on certain players BUT, I would be a little... confused if the match committee somehow squeeze both Banfield AND Hughes into the side when we are basically full strength
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Fair call actually.

Would really like to see at some point if Hughes could be a tagger. He has the wheels, grit, strength and tank to be a midfielder, but lacks the skills and polish of a Serong or Andy.

Personally I think being tagged by Ethan would be an absolute friggin' nightmare for opposing players, but maybe that's just me.
 
Joao said:
Swap Walker for Wilson and its what I reckon will happen. Treacy the most unlucky.
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Treacy would be very unlucky, agreed.

Given how surprisingly good Treacy is as a back-up ruck, I'm asking myself where ELSE Jackson could play besides just as a ruck, mid or forward. With Fyfe in the side, and the rest of the team firing, Treacy may never get a look in, even though he clearly deserves it.

If however Treacy could be the back-up ruck, and Jackson then either left forward, played in the midfield, or even (realistically) switched to a wing or help out in defense, he could really provide the mother of all mismatches wherever he goes.

There's gotta be SOME new ways to leverage Jackson's all-round ability which we haven't thought of yet... not just for team performance sake, but also to recognise and reward Treacy's sheer bloody effort and enormous forward potential. (He also runs the 20 in 3 seconds flat, so he's probably faster than Fyfe, Tabs and Jackson. Leading speed like that is always handy to have up forward)
 
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Gekko71 said:
Treacy would be very unlucky, agreed.

Given how surprisingly good Treacy is as a back-up ruck, I'm asking myself where ELSE Jackson could play besides just as a ruck, mid or forward. With Fyfe in the side, and the rest of the team firing, Treacy may never get a look in, even though he clearly deserves it.

If however Treacy could be the back-up ruck, and Jackson then either left forward, played in the midfield, or even (realistically) switched to a wing or help out in defense, he could really provide the mother of all mismatches wherever he goes.

There's gotta be SOME new ways to leverage Jackson's all-round ability which we haven't thought of yet... not just for team performance sake, but also to recognise and reward Treacy's sheer bloody effort and enormous forward potential.
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I'd honestly prefer to put him on the wing and ruck if he's fit enough. He could be an awesome option on the wing
 
Gekko71 said:
Given how surprisingly good Treacy is as a back-up ruck, I'm asking myself where ELSE Jackson could play besides just as a ruck, mid or forward. With Fyfe in the side, and the rest of the team firing, Treacy may never get a look in, even though he clearly deserves it.

If however Treacy could be the back-up ruck, and Jackson then either left forward, played in the midfield, or even (realistically) switched to a wing or help out in defense, he could really provide the mother of all mismatches wherever he goes.

There's gotta be SOME new ways to leverage Jackson's all-round ability which we haven't thought of yet... not just for team performance sake, but also to recognise and reward Treacy's sheer bloody effort and enormous forward potential. (He also runs the 20 in 3 seconds flat, so he's probably faster than Fyfe, Tabs and Jackson. Leading speed like that is always handy to have up forward)
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I think there is plenty of scope to try with Jackson long term, but thats not what we've trained so I doubt it.
 
Snuffaluphagus said:
Same.

Also, I'm trying really hard to limit my negative posts on certain players BUT, I would be a little... confused if the match committee somehow squeeze both Banfield AND Hughes into the side when we are basically full strength
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You cannot exclude one of Treacy or Amiss. Fyfe is not a KPF and Jackson is not a dedicated forward. If Treacy and Amiss are our future, we need to start figuring out now how they can fit into our b22. Amiss I'm okay to leave out for now but you can't leave Treacy out.
 
I would really love to see both Treacy and Sturt in the line-up, just to see if that bit of dare or boldness paid off.

I don't think it will happen, one or the other; but I'd love to see it. Likely Treacy misses out as the unlucky man.

Bummer the interchange isn't 6 men, or 8
 
wakojako said:
You cannot exclude one of Treacy or Amiss. Fyfe is not a KPF and Jackson is not a dedicated forward. If Treacy and Amiss are our future, we need to start figuring out now how they can fit into our b22. Amiss I'm okay to leave out for now but you can't leave Treacy out.
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Whether everyone wants to admit it or not, the balance is better with Sturt rather than Treacy. Whether that's enough to overcome the current performance gap or long term benefits would be another thing
 
I've said it before but we could have an entire team of James Aishs with a ruckman, a tall forward and defender and we would play finals every season while every pundit rates us a bottom ten side because we don't have the xfactor. He just gets it done and moves the ball on effectively.
 

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Preview St Kilda Saints vs. Fremantle Dockers, Round 1 2023

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