Blake confirmed as staying for 2013

[bobmurray]

All those options equal the same weak defence we had in 2012..never mind , we have 20 forwards so we should still win

[mad saint guy]

All those options equal the same weak defence we had in 2012..never mind , we have 20 forwards so we should still win

We mainly had issues in defence early in the year when Fisher was injured, Gwilt was super-rusty, Blake had to ruck, Wilkes was tried down back, McEvoy was out and couldn't drop back and Simpkin was having his first real taste of AFL footy. Crap form from Gram and Gilbert didn't help either.

It still wasn't an ideal setup at the end of the year (Fisher had to become the FB), but it wasn't one of the worst defences going around. Fisher is a very competent full back, but we want a gorilla-minder so he can put his offensive skills to better use.

[bigcarl]

Fisher is a very competent full back, but we want a gorilla-minder so he can put his offensive skills to better use.

In an ideal world, yes.

Trouble is there's a number of guys who can play the creative half back (perhaps not to Fisher's standards), but very few who can hold down full back against most opponents.

[plugger66]

Fisher is a very competent full back, but we want a gorilla-minder so he can put his offensive skills to better use.

In an ideal world, yes.

Trouble is there's a number of guys who can play the creative half back (perhaps not to Fisher's standards), but very few who can hold down full back against most opponents.

I dont think we have anyone as common as Chips. Depending on who we play I would usually always play Sam as a running HBF.

[rexy]

Hope we try to cover the bigs with Simpkin Fisher Gwilt before we resort to Blake. I admire and respect the man but feel our first option needs to be to try and move on from Blake as a best 22 player, if he is needed to either cover a deficiency that can't be covered by the other 3 or because of injury, then I know he will give his all!

[mad saint guy]

Hope we try to cover the bigs with Simpkin Fisher Gwilt before we resort to Blake. I admire and respect the man but feel our first option needs to be to try and move on from Blake as a best 22 player, if he is needed to either cover a deficiency that can't be covered by the other 3 or because of injury, then I know he will give his all!

I think if Blake is in the team, it will be to free up Fisher and Gwilt. We're better off letting Blake scrag away against a forward then have our most skilled rebounders do it. And he'll do a pretty good job against most, it's just the A-grade forwards like J. Riewoldt, Petrie, Cloke etc that are concerning, But he has no problem playing an effective shut down role on the middle-rangers like Reid, Westhoff, Hale, Tarrant etc.

I'd rather have Simpkin and Blake taking the best two tall forwards with Fisher and Gwilt free to roam around cutting off entries and getting 20+ disposals. We may well get hurt by the gun forwards but without a star defender like Rutten or Glass, that's inevitable. Unless of course we resort to the old Lyon team defence and go back to only kicking goals in 2 of the 4 quarters.

[rexy]

Hope we try to cover the bigs with Simpkin Fisher Gwilt before we resort to Blake. I admire and respect the man but feel our first option needs to be to try and move on from Blake as a best 22 player, if he is needed to either cover a deficiency that can't be covered by the other 3 or because of injury, then I know he will give his all!

I think if Blake is in the team, it will be to free up Fisher and Gwilt. We're better off letting Blake scrag away against a forward then have our most skilled rebounders do it. And he'll do a pretty good job against most, it's just the A-grade forwards like J. Riewoldt, Petrie, Cloke etc that are concerning, But he has no problem playing an effective shut down role on the middle-rangers like Reid, Westhoff, Hale, Tarrant etc.

I'd rather have Simpkin and Blake taking the best two tall forwards with Fisher and Gwilt free to roam around cutting off entries and getting 20+ disposals. We may well get hurt by the gun forwards but without a star defender like Rutten or Glass, that's inevitable. Unless of course we resort to the old Lyon team defence and go back to only kicking goals in 2 of the 4 quarters.

If Blake Simpkin Fisher Gwilt Dempster are all in our best 22 then who isn't? Gilbert Geary Gram? Probably only one of those 3 can play! We didn't get our monster FB so we need to be the most skilled BL we can be IMO!

See your point though!

[mad saint guy]

If Blake Simpkin Fisher Gwilt Dempster are all in our best 22 then who isn't? Gilbert Geary Gram? Probably only one of those 3 can play! We didn't get our monster FB so we need to be the most skilled BL we can be IMO!

See your point though!

Geary back pocket, Gilbert on the wing and Gram can sit at home watching basketball.

[The Redeemer]

If Blake Simpkin Fisher Gwilt Dempster are all in our best 22 then who isn't? Gilbert Geary Gram? Probably only one of those 3 can play! We didn't get our monster FB so we need to be the most skilled BL we can be IMO!

See your point though!

Geary back pocket, Gilbert on the wing and Gram can sit at home watching basketball.

Lol

In hindsight why did we not get rid of Polo and Peake and use the cash to keep Dawson and pick up another rookie?

My point is that surely we did not need to keep on an awful insider as Polo and an outsider with poor skills as Peake in the first place.

What was our main issue? If Dawson let then who would play fullback?

Now I dislike Dawson as much as the next person however he would and would still be a much better option than Jason Blake at full back or having to give our most of our run from Sam Fisher.

[mad saint guy]

Lol

In hindsight why did we not get rid of Polo and Peake and use the cash to keep Dawson and pick up another rookie?

My point is that surely we did not need to keep on an awful insider as Polo and an outsider with poor skills as Peake in the first place.

What was our main issue? If Dawson let then who would play fullback?

Now I dislike Dawson as much as the next person however he would and would still be a much better option than Jason Blake at full back or having to give our most of our run from Sam Fisher.

Watters was very slow to make changes when he got to the club, which was an understandable approach. Better than Lyon sacking Troy Schwarze after one training session, despite the fact that he had been playing pretty decent footy. I think he wanted to give everyone there a chance to prove themselves, but in hindsight he should have cleared out Peake, Polo and Jones, kept Dawson and chased a mature ruckman. We almost certainly would have made the finals if that had happened.

[The Redeemer]

Lol

In hindsight why did we not get rid of Polo and Peake and use the cash to keep Dawson and pick up another rookie?

My point is that surely we did not need to keep on an awful insider as Polo and an outsider with poor skills as Peake in the first place.

What was our main issue? If Dawson let then who would play fullback?

Now I dislike Dawson as much as the next person however he would and would still be a much better option than Jason Blake at full back or having to give our most of our run from Sam Fisher.

Watters was very slow to make changes when he got to the club, which was an understandable approach. Better than Lyon sacking Troy Schwarze after one training session, despite the fact that he had been playing pretty decent footy. I think he wanted to give everyone there a chance to prove themselves, but in hindsight he should have cleared out Peake, Polo and Jones, kept Dawson and chased a mature ruckman. We almost certainly would have made the finals if that had happened.

Agreed however anyone either internally or externally must have been able to see that at the very least Peake and Polo were not worth keeping on.

Jones is bloody ordinary and if he is not overtaken next season then we have some issue.

We should have played finals this season however our lack of a defensive option cost us.

We need someone to man the fort or at least attempt to and we should win a few more games.

Hell a few more wins on 12-10 becomes 14-8 and that certainly is a good year...

[bigcarl]

Fisher is a very competent full back, but we want a gorilla-minder so he can put his offensive skills to better use.

In an ideal world, yes.

Trouble is there's a number of guys who can play the creative half back (perhaps not to Fisher's standards), but very few who can hold down full back against most opponents.

I dont think we have anyone as common as Chips. Depending on who we play I would usually always play Sam as a running HBF.

So who plays FB? Please don't say Gwilt. Raph would do it better.

[plugger66]

In an ideal world, yes.

Trouble is there's a number of guys who can play the creative half back (perhaps not to Fisher's standards), but very few who can hold down full back against most opponents.

I dont think we have anyone as common as Chips. Depending on who we play I would usually always play Sam as a running HBF.

So who plays FB? Please don't say Gwilt. Raph would do it better.

Tom Simpkin. Our only choice at this stage.

[ace]

OUT OF CONTRACT
Raphael Clarke - Unrestricted Free Agent -
Jason Blake - Unrestricted Free Agent
Tom Ledger
ROOKIES
Tom Curren .
Jackson Ferguson
Warrick Andreoli
Sam Dunell
Darren Minchington
Cameron Shenton
Jordan Staley
Senior list is 38 and Rookie list is 4 next year do the math, some deep culling coming I think.

Er NO!

Primary list must be 38.
"Veterans not on primary" list can be up to 2
Normal rookies can be up to 4 (except that an extra rookie can be added for every "veteran not on primary list", short of 2)
Rule 21.1.2 rookies can be up to 3 (Jackson Ferguson is presently a rule 21.1.2(a) rookie - former NSW scholarship)

Let me do the math 40 senior players instead of 38.
5 rookies if Ferguson remains a rookie, 4 otherwise.
A further 2 off Rule 21.1.2 rookies possible but unlikely.

St Kilda has 4 second round picks 25, 26, 41, 44 then all the way back to 77.
If they use all 4 second round picks only they will have 40 seniors.
But if they want to upgrade any rookies say Curren and Dunnell they must cut senior players.

Put simply with 4 national draft picks we end up with 47 this must be reduced 45 or (44 if Ferguson is promoted to a senior)
Then further cuts must be made to rookies to allow any rookie picks.

Example: Curren & Dunnell to be upgraded requires 2 seniors to be cut, 2 rookies picks then requires 2 existing rookies to be cut.

Yes it is ouch time, AFL football makes all other bad employers look like saints by comparison.

[bigcarl]

So who plays FB? Please don't say Gwilt. Raph would do it better.

Tom Simpkin. Our only choice at this stage.

I rate him very highly as a stopper. The only query is whether he's big enough.

[mr six o'clock]

Blakey became a man of letters this year !
perhaps scott wants him to help engineer future success

[Teflon]

It's not ideal but Blake is staying because we have holes in our list. It needs to be spelt out to some of the simpletons on here. I can think of at least two who have posted on this thread.

If those "simpletons" already know this.... and posted accordingly.......whose the "simpleton" who keeps reiterating a point we ALL already know?

Ive read only 1 simpleton post this thread...ofcourse, you'll think I mean someone else...

[Con Gorozidis]

Watters just said on SEN that they have informed Blake he will get another contract as of today. Looks like his career really did hinge on getting Brown.

im disappointed. pretty conservative. id rather blake retire and promote ferg.

[defacto]

Watters just said on SEN that they have informed Blake he will get another contract as of today. Looks like his career really did hinge on getting Brown.

im disappointed. pretty conservative. id rather blake retire and promote ferg.

yeh its not looking good. watters obviously is after a crack at the flag rather than a rebuild. just going to take a spot of a younger player.