Armitage, Allen & Pick9 - Our Future!

[carn_sainter]

What we lacked then, was the 'core' that all flag teams have had. What we appear to be lacking now is the bookends - the youth and the veterans. As I said earlier, if Allen, Armo and Pick 9 come in this year - we'll have the ideal balance in 2009.

we lost the 2004 prelim final because riewoldt's birth certificate said a couple years too early?

these ideas about the right list composition are crazy...you don't need 24 yr old players you need good players...if they happen to be 24, then that's called a red herring...

i understand you need some young etc as far as having a list that will continue to improve but for one year in isolation, you're saying that allen is more important than say, birss, because he is younger...?

the most important one is whoever is better...you need 22 good players for success in one isolated year...whether they're all 20 or all 30 doesn't matter

paul williams was a much better player at 31 than he was at 21 or 24...

if i had 5 guys over 30 already, i'd still take paul williams at 31 over some 24 year old because the 24 year old is the 'right age'...


rodgerfox, didn't you have some big problem for months about people creating footy myths...? and now, here you are saying you need this exact proportion, like some chemical reaction, to win a flag?


i doubt rolss lyon sits around on a thursday night and says 'alright, player x is in better form than player y but hang on, if i leave out player y we'll only have 3 guys under 21 this week and you need 4...player y is in'

he selects the best players...age is irrelevant...it may be associated with improved ability, but it is not cause and effect and there are many things which determine ability...pick the best players, don't go concocting some doc. brown flux capacitator of a footy team

A couple of things.....

When you build a list, you don't build it year by year. You outline where you're at, where you want to head, and roughly when you expect to arrive there.

Therefore, in your best 22 each week you select the best players. However, when recruiting you are looking at the balance of your list.

I know this...what i was saying was one year in isolation...you claimed we lost the 04/05 prelims because we were too inexperienced...that's what i don't agree with...in isolation, this age thing doesn't matter and i acknowledged the need for youth as a long term proposition (in yellow)

Are you suggesting that if you have twenty two 31yo's in your team, that's Ok? That if another one was available that was better than your draft selection, you'd trade for them?

Not trade for...but for a game you select the best players...if they're old, they're old...taking this further, for one year in isolation (which was my whole post) the age of the list doesn't matter, it's how good they are

Brisbane were average until their list developed the balance I talk about.

Sydney were.

West Coast were too.

Geelong ditto.

And so on, and so on.

but the balance is a red herring

When you're surrounded by players at their peak, with a sprinkle of experience and youthful exuberance, you generally fair well.

because they're good players, not 23 year olds

[Oh When the Saints]

Terrific point about experience rodgerfox.

Peckett, Powell, Thompson, Harvey, Voss, Jones and Gehrig were the players who repeatedly got us over the line in finals.


Everyone laughs at me when I say that the loss of those players was the reason St Kilda has declined.

"You have the best talented young guys" they would say. Rubbish.

Our experienced element stood up when the chips were down in 04/05, and the last twelve months we have lacked that.

It won't be until the Riewoldt generation are 27/28 that we start to get the same level of experience in the side, and that is why it is crucial to keep drafting kids underneath.


Adelaide are a good example ... a young McLeod, Ricciuto, Goodwin, Hart and Edwards were part of the 97/98 sides.

They then dropped off a bit until 05/06, when the older McLeod/Roo etc. were the experienced members of the team.


Similar thing will/has happened to the Saints.