Why doesn't anyone rate our kids?

[Buckets]

It's starting to bother me how most 'Football Commentators' know little to nothing about our young players coming through and automatically assume that we don't have anyone coming though???

Is it a case of me wearing my rose-coloured glasses and seeing something that really isn't there?

IMO I like what I see coming through and can't wait to see Ledger and Ross get a crack and if the opportunity arise to elevate Dunnell because he looks like an absolute gem. On top of that Cripps, Siposs, Saad, Milera, Stanley are getting game time which is great and they are showing that they can make it.

Or am I just going crazy?

[Old Mate]

Quite a few commentators have made positive remarks about Milera and Stanley....The others haven't played enough senior footy to gain applause. Actually I noticed Newnes impressed a few commentators as well.

[Buckets]

Quite a few commentators have made positive remarks about Milera and Stanley....The others haven't played enough senior footy to gain applause. Actually I noticed Newnes impressed a few commentators as well.

Maybe I'm reading too much into it but it just seems that ours haven't been rated highly because they haven't been seen.

[Old Mate]

Quite a few commentators have made positive remarks about Milera and Stanley....The others haven't played enough senior footy to gain applause. Actually I noticed Newnes impressed a few commentators as well.

Maybe I'm reading too much into it but it just seems that ours haven't been rated highly because they haven't been seen.

I think you're spot on.

[Con Gorozidis]

Commentars seem to love Milera and Stanley and now Simpkin. They also dont mind Jack (they seem to love the fact he is from Lorne and always mention it).
Think you are being a bit sensitive.

[Bayside Nick]

Commentars seem to love Milera and Stanley and now Simpkin. They also dont mind Jack (they seem to love the fact he is from Lorne and always mention it).
Think you are being a bit sensitive.

Hahah yes I notice that they mention him being from Lorne all the time too. Annoys me when many of our players come from interesting areas - e.g. Tassie, Adelaide, Perth, Gold Coast etc...

[chook23]

The point is I think that none a real cream................

[The Redeemer]

Quite a few commentators have made positive remarks about Milera and Stanley....The others haven't played enough senior footy to gain applause. Actually I noticed Newnes impressed a few commentators as well.

Maybe I'm reading too much into it but it just seems that ours haven't been rated highly because they haven't been seen.

I think you're spot on.

I cannot rate a player after less then half a dozen games. Yes they might show signs but big whoop. After a few seasons then maybe hence why plenty of erections over Siposs, Newnes and Cripps are a bit premature and the erections should return to flacid pretty soon.

[AnythingsPossibleSaints]

Not sure about how those commentating on our games rate them, but the general football public don't seem to rate them, but I think that's largely through ignorance.

Here is one of the exceptions, a classy post, by HFF_07, one of the Essendon "mods", on the Sandy thread on BF:

"G'day guys

Sorry to intrude, caught the second half of the Sandringham v North Ballarat Roosters game (development team).

Just on a couple of guys I noticed.

Jay Lever absolutely dominated the ruck. Tried to put his taps to advantage of his small men. Took a really nice grab in the third quarter as well.

Minchington may be small, but boy is he a livewire. Always on the move and presses hard up the ground.

Oh, and Chris Irving is simply TOO GOOD for VFL reserves football, a class and a half above the kids. Straight back into the ones next week.

Onto the main game and I would just like to say that the St.Kilda future is not as grim as most on the outside say. The guys I saw on display today should keep the St.Kilda faithful excited for years to come.

Warick Andreoli is a jet, absolutely ripped us apart with his run and carry. Looks a very, very good player in the making.

Jamie Cripps showed his poise with a couple of courageous acts and showed his class with 3 long goals. A real player to watch, surprised to see he wasnt named in the bests tbh..

Add to that the glimpses that the young guys like Daniel Markworth showed delivering the ball inside fifty, Seb Ross working hard in close with his quick hands and Tommy Ledger showing that no matter how small you are, its how good you are that matters with a near best afield performance.
And one last shout out to you talls that severely exploited our lack of height down back. Between the 3 talls (Wilkes - 1, Archer - 3 and Coleman - 5) they showed that a big man can severely change a match. Archer in particular showed that promise that saw him debut early. His strong marking a real feature (I wont lie, I often mistook Archer for Coleman on at least 3 occasions )

Overall guys, be happy and stay strong, the future midfield/flankers looks really good for the future, so stay strong and it will all click."
__________________

[BigMart]

Because they would be comparatively the poorest in the AFL

Just a common perception

[Foz]

Nice write up but a few points of difference from being at the game
* Andreoli ain't a "jet" but is improving and has a penetrating left foot.
* Not sure how Coleman and Arch could get mixed up!

I saw a quarter of development game and Staley took a huge contested mark in the middle. Runs a bit like Keefe from Collingwood. Early days though.

Seb Ross next year should be a series mid. Add Ledge and Jack and its getting there. Talls are the big question mark IMO.

[White Winmar]

You're on to something here, BM, but the explanation may not be too palatable for the average saints fan. The reason they are not rated, I believe, is two-fold. Fistly, under RL, they really didn't get much opportunity to show their wares. It's hard to make judgements on a handful of games and our kids haven't had a lot of exposure. The signs are that SW seems determined to change that, so let's see where we are at season's end.

As supporters, we've been desperate to see signs of potential and development, so much so that we leap on the flimsiest of evidence that we've unearthed some "gems". Take Arryn Siposs as an example. He showed glimpses of great natural talent last year, but some of the reactions on here were completely over the top. He played a handful of games, kicked a few goals and like most first year players, had some injury problems. His lack of senior appearances early on this year puzzled some, but the coaching staff obviously, and I believe rightly, think he has a terribly long way to go. Same applies to Ledger, who has been described by some as the "next Hayes" (Don't put pressure on the kid), and every time Cripps runs ahead of the ball and kicks a "Joe the Goose" goal, we swoon in anticipation that he will be an answer to our problems.

Truth is most of the kids on our list now have come from selections 24 and down. While there is always plenty of talent around, after pick 10 or so it becomes a lottery of sorts, with your ability to develop talent internally becoming the major determinant of success (for example Geelong and the Swines). If we have got some potential "guns" in our current crop, it is going to take a while for them to emerge. We just haven't had any "instant" players, as these generally come from the upper end of the draft. We are paying the price for some truly awful recruitment and selection decisions that go all the way back to 2003. I'm afraid we're in for some genuine short-term pain, because at the moment, our kids aren't good enough to make a significant impact at senior level. That will probably change, but it will take time and patience.

I just hope we trade sensibly over the next couple of years, with a view to grabbing a couple of top ten picks, who will both make an immediate impact and will be the basis of our ongoing rebuilding. Fingers crossed.

[BigMart]

Good assessment...

We have got a few good ones IMO ...... Newnes, Markworth, Ross, ledger, Siposs, Stanley, Steven, McEvoy, Saad..

But to compare with with some kids taken first rounds over the past 3 years... A mile off

[BigMart]

Good assessment...

We have got a few good ones IMO ...... Newnes, Markworth, Ross, ledger, Siposs, Stanley, Steven, McEvoy, Saad..

But to compare with with some kids taken first rounds over the past 3 years... A mile off

[saintspremiers]

Good assessment...

We have got a few good ones IMO ...... Newnes, Markworth, Ross, ledger, Siposs, Stanley, Steven, McEvoy, Saad..

But to compare with with some kids taken first rounds over the past 3 years... A mile off

Yep indeed they are ok but none are stars as yet or even look like they will be at this stage. May change. Jack is on the way to star category but is taken 3 years to get there.

[AnythingsPossibleSaints]

I think we've done very well with the picks we've had in the past couple of years (and the rookie picks) but I don't necessarily expect any of them to become "elite, A-graders". One or two might, but the rest could contain a lot who are good to very good, at AFL level, which is good, considering the picks we got a lot of them with.

[saintsRrising]

Because it has only been AFL standard in the last 2 seasons..... and too early for anyone to know much about the last draft, and only a little about the year prior as most of the better ones got injured and miss large chunks of the year.

[cwrcyn]

The reality is that it is really early in the piece to make a proper call on these guys. I loved the look of Steven when he played his first couple of pre-season games and was confident he would become a player for us. However, that took well over two seasons to come to fruition. If you apply the same rate of development to our current crop of youngsters, then Siposs, Ledger, Newnes, Cripps, & co won't show the obvious signs of being decent players until 2014. Remember when Seven kicked those 3 goals against Geelong? Well, that was 2010 and he hardly played any more games for the rest of that year. That was after being drafted at the end of 2007!!!!!!!

Don't forget that after 12 months on our list, Sam Fisher was struggling and looked like he wasn't quite up to AFL standard. How long did it take Gwilt to develop?. Jason Gram spent two years on the fringes at Brisbane, then came to us and looked shaky in his first season before blossoming. Montagna spent 2 seasons with us before getting a regular game and I can recall he looked no better than Siposs or Cripps in his first half a dozen outings. Stephen Baker looked like he couldn't play at all, but after 18 months he finally became a regular.

Of course, there is the flipside, where guys look like they can play and then never live up to expectations. We've had the odd one of those, as have all the other clubs in the competition.

So basically, at this stage, we just don't know for sure who's going to be the one to develop into a quality AFLplayer. But I am prepared to stick my neck out and say that Newnes, Ledger, Siposs, Cripps, Stanley, Markworth, and Ross will play at least 100 games of AFL football. It's just a matter of when they get to that zone where they're comfortable and ready to be dependable regulars.









.

[mr six o'clock]

The simple reason is that " the media " are morons who do little research . They sum up a young player in two or three points .
So if your not a first round draft pick , they'll know bugger all about you .
This of course changes once a young player becomes established in the senior team , but because you may not have any outstanding atributes , they look for the quirky instead !
This applies to most of our younger players .

[Johnny Favier]

I must say I've been impressed with Simpkin - not overwhelmed, but I reckon he seems to be making steady progress each week and is learning the small things soundly, like running the angles and timing a spoil.

One spoil in particular (in the second quarter I think) looked so much like what Maxy would have done back in the day, so I think our young fellas have some good mentors to lean on while they go through this learning phase.

[Con Gorozidis]

geez BM you are grumpy.
YOu are obviously being entirely dismissive and disrespectful to the bomber poster. I guess like everyone else hes not as good a judge of footballer as you.
I notice he commented on cripps courage. who according to you sleeops with the lights on.
i can only assume cripps had sex with one of your close family members. the vitriole is highly irrational.
the fact is sadny are doing ok this year. lately sandy and casey were always battlers.
heck at least leaver is playing now. sounds ok.

[Bernard Shakey]

And one last shout out to you talls that severely exploited our lack of height down back. Between the 3 talls (Wilkes - 1, Archer - 3 and Coleman - 5) they showed that a big man can severely change a match. Archer in particular showed that promise that saw him debut early. His strong marking a real feature (I wont lie, I often mistook Archer for Coleman on at least 3 occasions )

I would have to think you have no idea who Coleman is. He has black hair, Archer and Wilkes are blond. Noboby could ever mistake Coleman for Archer, not even on one occasion.

[AnythingsPossibleSaints]

Who me, or him? I didn't say that, as I said. It was a quote from someone at the match.

[Animal Enclosure]

Make a judgment when Sippos & co have played 50 games.

I'm always amazed that young players are written off after playing a handfull of games (let alone our kids who are all mid to late round picks & some of whom should be considered speculative/project players). IMO Sippos & Ledger especially have shown indications that they will be super players by the time they reach 50-75 games. Cripps may be a little behind them but reminds me a bit of Heath Shaw in his first few years. These kids have talent (you can see that in flashes) they now only need experience & to develop physically.

I have a strong suspicion that Watters & Pelchen will move on one or two senior players (that have some trade currency) & load up on 1st & 2nd round picks in a reportedly mega-strong draft.

I think we're in a good position currently to reboot & have another crack at top 4 within 3 years... look at how quickly West Coast rebounded from bottom 2 finishes to be a top side again (& who would have thought they'd be able to do it without Cousins & Judd).

Losing Judd obviously was key to their rebuild... maybe BJ's situation will provide us with a similar opportunity.

[Bernard Shakey]

Who me, or him? I didn't say that, as I said. It was a quote from someone at the match.

Sorry, meant to mention it was HFF-07.