Matthew Kennedy

[Killa]

All of Steele, Sinclair and Wilkie are former All Australian players

In 2024 St Kilda provided no All Australian player

And in the wake of criticisms of our recruiting of players departing other Clubs there is no mention of Wood from North Melbourne

If the likes of Stocker and Dow can match Wood we will be much improved

Then there are our kids who need some experience around them

[SAINT-LEE]

Macrae

Would be the only triple AA - D Grade midfielder in my knowledge?!

I like McRae but ya gotta stop calling him a AA player.

He WAS a AA. He hasn't had anything near a AA season in 3 years.

Still an asset but not a AA anymore, not even close.

He was in the AA squad in 2022.

True, I was thinking he won in 2019, 20, 21.

[lewdogs]

So he wasn’t a triple AA

I think you’ll find Luke Beveridge’s ridiculous coaching has more to do with his drop in output

Beveridge is the reason why WB have the second best list and finished 7th

His coaching record with an elite list is horrible

He is triple AA 19-21. He was then in the squad in 22.

In 23 he was moved out of the midfield because Bevo is a fool.

I genuinely see no reason why he can't be an AA player for us next year. He's only 30.

[Scollop]

.

I genuinely see no reason why he can't be an AA player for us next year. He's only 30.

Jack Mcrae was 27 in 2021 when he won his last All Australian jacket.

Taylor Adams was 27 when he won an All Australian jacket in 2020.

Three years later Adams was struggling with his groins throughout the year and missed Collingwood's Grand Final due to a low grade hamstring.

He was vice captain of the club from 2020 onwards up until he requested to be traded to Sydney. In 2024... he's struggling to get a senior game

Incidentally...Mcrae was the vice captain of the Bulldogs for a few years but lost the vice captaincy and was voted out of the leadership group at the start of 2024.

[B.M]

How many of our current mids could, should, would have been AA level at any stage of their career

Steele - past

Phillipou - future

The rest struggle to get 20 per game

Macrae doesn’t have to be AA next season - he just needs to contribute 25+ and add to our poor midfield

[SAINT-LEE]

How many of our current mids could, should, would have been AA level at any stage of their career

Steele - past

Phillipou - future

The rest struggle to get 20 per game

Macrae doesn’t have to be AA next season - he just needs to contribute 25+ and add to our poor midfield

If he can give 80% of his best I'd be happy. Particularly his ability to hit targets, he has always made sharp decisions, back with accuracy. We need that bad.

[Scollop]

Macrae doesn’t have to be AA next season - he just needs to contribute 25+ and add to

our poor midfield

Correction...our midfield was NOT poor in the last 8 rounds of the year.

What's the point of looking at how St Kilda was performing in the early rounds of the year?

There's no point saying that Brisbane were in poor form at the start of the year. They're now in a Grand Final

[B.M]

We are not in the GF

We are not even in the finals

I look at the entire year as a whole and the statistical information on our mids

We do not have a good midfield

Ross continues to say ‘we need to build it out’ because it’s not good enough

[Scollop]

That's crap

The most recent form is what matters... not what happened in round 10 or 11.

We won our last 6 out of 8 matches. We played awesome footy in those games and our mids were up against two top 4 teams and a top 8 team as well as the teams fighting to make finals like Essendon.

Ratts lost his job mainly because we couldn't get our best players on the park...especially Jack Steele

We were top 4 in 2022 and travelling well until Hunter Clark and Jack Steele suffered long term injuries. Other players also had interrupted seasons including Marshall.

[Otiman]

Our 85 point loss to Brisbane says we are not close.

[Beno88]

Our 85 point loss to Brisbane says we are not close.

So what does Sydney's 112 point loss to Port say?

[Otiman]

Not a lot when you're minor premiers and top 2 already sewn up.

[Beno88]

Not a lot when you're minor premiers and top 2 already sewn up.

But it wasn't. Sydney could've missed the top four with three games remaining.

You can't base a team's progress on one match.

[SinCitySainter]

Our 85 point loss to Brisbane says we are not close.

So what does Sydney's 112 point loss to Port say?

That Port are the most schizophrenic team in the competition.

I must admit I agree with Otiman, are not close to a flag with the current list.
Unfortunately, adding a 30 year-old Macrae and Ivan Soldo does not change that either.
Unless we are willing to trade out our first-round pick or picks for proven, mid-age A graders, say Bailey Smith for example we will not get there before Steele, Wilkie, Sinclair etc... are on the decline.
The choice is simple, go hard for a flag now which means trade in 25-27 year old A graders and ignore the draft.
Alternatively, aim for a few years which maybe means lose some older stars and commit 100% to the draft for a couple of years.
This one foot in both camps approach means we stay where we are.

[Scollop]

The choice is simple, go hard for a flag now which means trade in 25-27 year old A graders and ignore the draft.
Alternatively, aim for a few years which maybe means lose some older stars and commit 100% to the draft for a couple of years.
This one foot in both camps approach means we stay where we are.

That's brilliantly explained

That's the essence of what I've been trying to say. You can't be half pregnant...can you?

What did the President say in that letter back in April?

"The club wants to do it the right way... not the easy way?" I think Bassat added in the week following that he meant we wouldn't be going too early for Free Agents.

I think they’re panicking. I think Ross is desperate to make finals regardless of whether the list is anywhere near the calibre of a top 4 team. I think we are just going 1 step forward and then it’s 2 steps backward again. We need to allow this current crop of youngsters to learn through games experience. Give them the responsibility and let them grow instead of importing experience.

2 or 3 years into Freo's rebuild ...and before they were ready as a team to challenge for finals, Lyon was desperate to make finals. Over a 12 month period (trade periods 2017/18) they brought in Brandon Matera, Nathan Wilson, Reece Conca, Trav Collyer, Jesese Hogan and Rory Lobb. Those last 2 are very good footballers and still playing but NOT at Fremantle FC. The trades didn’t help save his job. Ross Lyon was looking to import ready made players which held back the progress of the Fremantle team.

With the move to bring in Mcrae...it confirms that Ross Lyon hasn't changed

[B.M]

There is no guarantee going to the draft gets you success

North are crippled from doing it

Gotta nail the picks first
Develop well
Have a good run with injury

We get a X on all fronts since 2012

[spert]

That's crap

The most recent form is what matters... not what happened in round 10 or 11.

We won our last 6 out of 8 matches. We played awesome footy in those games and our mids were up against two top 4 teams and a top 8 team as well as the teams fighting to make finals like Essendon.

Ratts lost his job mainly because we couldn't get our best players on the park...especially Jack Steele

We were top 4 in 2022 and travelling well until Hunter Clark and Jack Steele suffered long term injuries. Other players also had interrupted seasons including Marshall.

Agree, also we had Paddy not available for games which stuffed team balance as a well. There was no need for stupid panic stations to sack Ratten, causing more disruptions, but hey.. we're the Saints. I just hope we can build a finals-worthy midfield from here.

[saynta]

Well, I believe we can Spert. We were pretty good in the latter part of the season when we had most of our players available. Add Windhager and Henry plus a player or two from this years draft and we should be looking good. Don't need 30 year old rejects from other teams either.

[Dave McNamara]

Gotta nail the picks first
Develop well
Have a good run with injury

We get a X on all fronts since 2012

Draft picks:
Key defenders aside, I reckon we've been very good the last few years. (Just hope the loss of Chris Toce doesn't derail things.)

Development:
Is now also finally showing signs of turning the corner.
The way we handled The Poe this season, giving Garcia, Hastie and Arie some senior exposure, and Wilson playing all games in his first season, and playing most of them pretty well. And not forgetting Ronnie Byrnes finish to the seasaon. Ticks, I reckon.
The challenges now, as I see it... our getting things right with Keeler and Lancey Boy.
The worry as I see it now... no surprise here... getting the most out of Max King.

Injury:
Yep, an 'X". But not sure if that's the club's fault? I mean, we got rid of Roughead...

[B.M]

I was referring more to our list rebuild of 2012-2014

Our recent drafting has been excellent
Besides Allison

[Dave McNamara]

Oh yeah. Good point. I forgot about Allison.

Has all the tools to succeed as an AFL footballer, but is lacking, how shall I put it...?

Is lacking in the 'attack on the ball' department.

[Banger9798]

Oh yeah. Good point. I forgot about Allison.

Has all the tools to succeed as an AFL footballer, but is lacking, how shall I put it...?

Is lacking in the 'attack on the ball' department.

...and skills

[D.B.Cooper]

We have 4 live draft picks (including) the Battle compensation.

As long as we use 4 picks on young talent (particularly the first 3) I don’t have an issue with picking up a couple of senior players as long as they don’t negotiate like that halfwit Gallagher or Lethlean .

I’d rather all youth but if we want to roll out 7 - 9 of our list (which is standard turnover for us) we have to bring in some value players who do not cost much.

I dislike being linked to fringe players or players past their prime but the reality is if we want to go to the draft and focus on young talent it leaves us with little capital to trade for decent mature aged players.