Team for round 1 - Early Speculation

[saintsRrising]

BJ could be a late entry.......based on tonights Casey game.

I don't know what his fitness level is.....but playing in the midfield he looked really crisp and ready to go!!!

[bigcarl]

there's been some talk that clinton jones will crack it for a gig on the forward line to provide "forward pressure"

i like him as a player but am not convinced he is a natural forward or even knows where the goals are. Only cold, hard goals on the board will persuade me otherwise.

my forward six would be all proven goal-kickers with the possible exception of c. gardiner who will be important in providing a foil for roo across half forward.

imo

HF: c. gardiner, riewoldt, rotation (dal santo/ball/schneider/montagna/maybe x)
F: milne, kosi, gehrig.

gram, bj and goose (if he can get back to his best) will be very important this season in pumping the ball down quickly and long to our big forwards. just doesn't give our opponents the time to cover all bases.

between them dal santo/ball/schneider/montagna/maybe x should be able to provide plenty of "forward pressure".

and milney has shown he is improving in that regard. his chase and tackle on mcleod in the nab final was a ripper and he kicked two vital last quarter goals to get us over the line

i'm not going to even attempt to pick a side as i don't know how far away bj, goose, max or even fraser are.

imo all are in our best 22, but it is good to have capable replacements and we can win without them

[bigcarl]

if fraser doesn't come up for round 1 then imo we should play young allen in his place.

this would maintain the intimidating tall forward structure that we hope will trump a lot of teams this season.

from what i've seen of him he's not far off.

importantly, he can kick a goal