In the Mix...Round 1

[saintsRrising]

So post NAB.....who is a ceratainty..and who is in the MIX?

Certainties for Round 1.

Gilbert Max ??????
Gram S Fisher ?????
Schneider Hayes Joey
Charlie Roo X
Milne Kosi GTrain

King Dal Ball

M Gardiner Harvey ?????? ??????

?????? = Fiora, Jones, Armo, L Fisher, Blake, Geary, Raph (Edited in and Birss). 3 will miss out.

Back Pocket/ Back Flank

Geary, Blake, Raph and L Fisher are all in the mix. They are battling for 2 perhaps 3 spots in the team.

Geary has been very good in the NAB. wasa little quiet in the GF, but I did ot that late in the game that his wrist was heavilly strapped and so this may have restricted game time.

Raph has again won lots of ball, but has offset this with some brain fade turnovers and often dreadful use of the ball. with Goose and Max often being out he has often played asa key defender though.

L Fisher has been quiet but has steadily improved.

Blake was very quiet in the GF, but was good in the backline in the other games.

Baker is out suspended and Dempster has not played a game due to injury.

Blake I think will gain a nod as he can play flank or key position as well as do a run with tagging role on Goodes.

If it was me I would also take in Geary and L Fisher and omit Raph.


Rucks

King has been good throughout.

M Gardiner in the Intraclub looked rusty but has steadily improved and in the Gf played a very good last quarter.

Both will be in round 1 team.


Midfield

Schneider in his two games has played beautifully asa mid come half forward. Lock him in.

X has spent more time as a mid and would sem destined to bea regular part of our midfield rotations.

Armo played well in the NAB, though was very quiet in the GF. The Saints did however have our best team though in the GF.

Jones had three good games with the game against the Dons being very good. His GF though was very quiet...though he did nothing wrong in it.

Bally has now played two games...and has shown enough to reveal that he is fitter and can play at an effective AFL standard.

The good form of Schnieder, Milne and x sees them all in front of Jones who will be left battling as a worthy candiadte for a last slot in the team with say Fiora and Armo.

Forwards

Charlie has been a pleasant surprise. Would have been nce if he could have snaggeda goal or two more and his kicking at goal remains a concern. However his work around he ground asa mini-roo has been superb and he has done enough to securea place.

Milne stil has critics...mainly unfair from what I have seen. His tackling has improved and he seems destined to play more time near goals where he dangerous. His 3 goals in the Gf were telling.

Roo, Gtrain and Kosi will play as 3 big forwards. Schneider will be mid come HF.

Jones has played well....but would seem to not have a place available.




Not likely to be ready

Goose and BJ are both definate first 22 players, but both will not be fully match fit and preacticed by Round 1. It would seem likely now that both will come back via Casey and BJ repoertedly played for an hour with Casey last night. The club could rush them back, but so far the club has all been about be caustious and in only playing fit players. It would seem likely thete fore that oth would miss round 1 selection.

[Solar]

Our backline will be IMO

geary Max L.Fisher
raph Chips gram

geary playing as a small running back allows gram more scope to push into the midfield running off half back with geary starting deeper. Geary to take buchanon, max to take o'laughlan and chips takes Hall. Fish takes O'keiffe and raph plays on the midsizedforward (not suprised if we see a much younger swans team this year so it's hard to get an idea of who else will play forward.).

The midfield name themselves

King Ball Hayes
Joey Dal X

For mine this is our best midfield, would like to see king hold the marks when he falls back a kick behind play. I think the player that has slipped under the radar has been luke ball. I thought he had regained his speed and started to get some penetration in his kicks. Get some games under his belt and he might be the big dark horse. Hayes, joey and dal are all class, really impressed that dal seems to be winning the big moments in games now. Awesome sign. Xavier can work in with schneider at half forward/wing. Needs to add polish to his game and kick those goals but he is looking really great and this could be his break out year

The forward line is the interesting one.

Kosi, roo and Gehrig name themselves. Add milne and schneider you have a very balanced forward line. The sixth forward is important. Schneider moving up into the midfield means that we could be a little top heavy down forward so the ground level work from charlie gardnier will be important

gardiner Roo schnieder
milne kosi Gehrig

So then you get to the bench, 7 players (including the emergencies) will be very hard.

Gardiner slots in as the back up ruck and hopefully he keeps going from strength to strength. Underbelly needs to keep working hard as a link man off half back.

Gilbert gets the second bench spot. If we don't go with raph down back gilbert can start there but he seems to give us the best value through working him off the bench. If raph plays at HB (and ross seems to like using him) gilbert could play on the wing or even give the swans a match up headache at 190 odd cm's down forward.

Harvey gets the third bench spot and once the heat is off the game harvey is still fantastic. So smart with the ball and still after 21 years get to the position of gain the ball.

The final spot goes to a midfielder as part of the rotation and this is where I have the biggest problem. In the end IMO it comes down to armo and birss. Both give us something different but I can't split them. Armo had a great first three NAB cup games, has lost the puppy fat from last year and was makign a great impact. Big booming kick, awesome tackler and AFL ready body. Birss on the other hand is a more experienced inside midfielder. He also can play at half forward with good hands on the lead.

So my bench is

Gardiner Harvey gilbert birss

emergency
armo jones allen


(note: I did not consider BJ, Goose, dempster and baker)

[mad saint guy]

B: R.Clarke, Hudghton, L.Fisher
HB: Gram, S.Fisher, Gilbert
C: X.Clarke, Hayes, Montagna
HF: Schneider, Riewoldt, C.Gardiner
F: Koschitzke, Gehrig, Milne

Foll: King, Ball, Dal Santo
Int: Blake, Harvey, M.Gardiner Geary

Emg: Fiora, Armitage, Jones

EDIT: Thanks solar. Supposed to be Gards.

[Otiman]

B: R.Clarke, Hudghton, L.Fisher
HB: Gram, S.Fisher, Gilbert
C: X.Clarke, Hayes, Montagna
HF: Schneider, Riewoldt, C.Gardiner
F: Koschitzke, Gehrig, Milne

Foll: King, Ball, Dal Santo
Int: Blake, Harvey, Geary, Gilbert

Emg: Fiora, Armitage, Jones

That interchange is quite back-heavy.

[saintspremiers]

B: R.Clarke, Hudghton, L.Fisher
HB: Gram, S.Fisher, Gilbert
C: X.Clarke, Hayes, Montagna
HF: Schneider, Riewoldt, C.Gardiner
F: Koschitzke, Gehrig, Milne

Foll: King, Ball, Dal Santo
Int: Blake, Harvey, Geary, Gilbert

Emg: Fiora, Armitage, Jones

Sounds very close to me....doubts on Max's fitness thoug and not sure Geary would make the final 22.....I'd be thinking Armitage is almost ready and could sneak a spot on the bench.

The big question is can we carry M.Gardiner given the extra intensity/pace of the real season? He may still be too slow especially on a fast Dome track.

[markinUSA]

Jones will be in the side, I think.
Ross obviously likes his speed, and his chasing/tackling has been terrific.

[Solar]

B: R.Clarke, Hudghton, L.Fisher
HB: Gram, S.Fisher, Gilbert
C: X.Clarke, Hayes, Montagna
HF: Schneider, Riewoldt, C.Gardiner
F: Koschitzke, Gehrig, Milne

Foll: King, Ball, Dal Santo
Int: Blake, Harvey, Geary, Gilbert

Emg: Fiora, Armitage, Jones

you have gilbert in there twice, I know he's good but not that good!

[maverick]

From the 26 that played Sat night

Definites
Roo
Hayes
Ball
Dal
Harvs
King
M Gardiner
S Fisher
X
Joey
Kosi
Gram
Schnieder
Milne
Blake


Maybes
Charlie
Armo
Jones
Geary
L Fisher
Gilbert
Fiora
Raph
Birss

Struggle
Allen

Out
Bakes

Add in Gehrig and Max as definites with Dempster, BJ and Goose not fit enough to be considered.

That has 17 definites with 5 spots to be filled from 9 blokes.

[hAyES]

Posted this in another thread, but more appropriate here:

B: Baker Max S.Fisher
HB: Gram Goose Gilbert
C: Joey Ball Goddard
HF: Clarke Roo Schneider
FF: Gehrig Kosi Milne

Foll: King, Hayes, Dal Santo

Bench: M. Gardiner, Harvey, Armitage, Jones.

Replace Baker with another tagger until he comes back.

[saintsRrising]

?????? = Fiora, Jones, Armo, L Fisher, Blake, Geary, Raph. 3 will miss out.

ooops...as pointed out by Solar...I forgot about Birss

He flies under the radar a bit, but pumps out effective but understated football.
He has the ability to shut down players and will definitely be in the mix too.

[awesome_days]

B: LFisher Hughton Blake
HB: Gram SFisher RClarke
C: Motagna Hayes XClarke
HF: CGardiner Riewoldt Schneider
F: Gherig Koschitzke Milne
Foll: King DalSanto Ball
Int: Harvey MGardiner Gilbert Birss

Emerg: Armitage Geary Allen

Go for the most experienced team we can.

Conservative approach for Rd1.

[hAyES]

People still putting Raph in their best 22? Ugh.

[jonesy]

Now onto the real stuff!

My side would as follows,for a nice change it's a tough gig trying to fit them all in..

B- L.Fisher M.Hudghton J.Blake

HB- J. Gram S.Fisher S Gilbert

C - L. Montagna L.Hayes X.Clarke

HF- A.Schneider N.Rewoildt R.Harvey

F- J.Kositchke F.Gehrig S.Milne

Foll- S.King,L.Ball,N.Dal Santo

Inter-M.Gardiner,D.Armitage,C.Gardiner,C.Jones

Emerg- A.Fiora,S.Birss,R.Clarke


Presuming Goose and Goodard are still coming through the two's,will be very handy additions in a few weeks!

Blake gets a gig as he may also be an option to run with Goodes if no one decides to pick him up. Fiora hasn't done enough for mine to get into the 22 so far this year,make him earn a spot. Same go's for Birss.

R.Clarke is still not ready and makes some horrid mistakes,but if max doesn't come up he can come into the side.

C.Jones can rotate off the bench on the half forward flank for some added forward line pressure that may be an issue down there for us.

Our half back line is brilliant in terms of rebound run with those 3. Main concern with the backs is spoiling,unfortunately apart from Max the rest of them are poor at spoiling and one on one. This is a large concern for the season. Hopefully we can pressure the oppositions supply to the forwards,making it easier for the defenders.

Roos is brilliant at flying the Swans under the radar,and this year is no exception. No talk or expectations of Sydney at all ,however they will be no walk in the park! We'll have to be right on our game to beat them

[nicko016]

B: Blake, Hudghton, L.Fisher
HB: Gram, S.Fisher, Gilbert
C: X.Clarke, Hayes, Montagna
HF: Schneider, Riewoldt, C.Gardiner
F: Gehrig, Koschitzke, Milne

Foll: King, Ball, Dal Santo
Int: Armitage, Harvey, Geary, M. Gardiner

Emg: Fiora, R. Clarke, Jones

Blake has never really been in my best 22 and may not be in it if Goddard, Baker and Maguire were playing but his consistency carrying on from last year has earned himself a spot.

Armitage and Geary slot in ahead of Jones because I think they can have more impact with reduced game time because the three of them would get much less opportunities in a Home and Away match. Jones would probably be restricted to midfield rotations and across HF. In the NAB cup he did very wel but got good opportunities as a midfielder but yesterday he didn't have much impact because he had reduced game time. Armitage was the same,but it seems because he is more of an inside player he is the type of player who could go into the midfield for 10-15 minutes and get some real meaningful clearences and possessions. He also has the ability to have an impact with a goal or two. Because Geary can go back he may be able to get more opportunities because he can be rotated throgh the midfield as well as played across HB and the BP. His versatility would give him more chance to have an impact than Jones.

Fiora was still in my 22 prior to the final yesterday, but another quiet performance means he's an unlucky one to miss out. Raph Clarke has had some good patches but also shown that he's not quite ready to be a permanent best 22 fixture. Also unlucky, is Birss who would be the 4th emergency if there was one.

[borderbarry]

Just how differently we see things.......
I would have Raph in before L.Fish any day. Great pack mark he took in last quarter which was'nt paid. Fish now too slow.
I would have Charlie starting on the HFF with Harvs on the bench (Not for long)
Young Geary (if his arm stands up) in instead of C.Jones. Great mark Geary took over their captain in the last quarter.
I thought Fiora was terrific in the dying minutes of the game. Gilbert did not have a great game. Maybe swap the two.

This is based on Jonesy's team.
Other than that, good team.

[Huzzad]

People still putting Raph in their best 22? Ugh.

Was just thinking the same thing. Forget rose coloured glasses, these are pure raph-coloured glasses.

[mad saint guy]

That interchange is quite back-heavy.

Going by the positions they've been playing in the NAB Cup, yes. But I don't think Blake or Geary will play their best footy in defence. Once Geary has a bit of experience I'd expect him to move into the midfield and Blake was only really in defence becuase we were missing Max, Goose and BJ (plus the depth players Gwilt, Dempster and Ferguson).

[Sainterone]

Given we are playing the swanettes and Max is still in some doubt, I think it is very likely that Blake will be one of the first chosen.

If he doesn't line up on goodes, (most likely given his strong performances in that run-with role), then he'll certainly be required as a potential back-line player. If Max does play, that may mean that the last backline possy will be filled by Raph or Leigh Fisher.


I think I'd have Birss in before Armitage - given that Bakes will be out, a tagging role may be on the cards for Birss. With crouch unlikely to play (hamstring), a tagger may be a useful player to have (particularly v swanettes) and Birss is the logical choice.