What is the merit...

[BigMart]

Of Shane Birss not playing this weekend???????

In fact anytime an Emergancy that does not play at all for a weekend, how does that help their footy.....Ferg would love to have played last week, and had an opportunity to impress.....Birss would have got Casey over the line today.....perhaps secured 10 young players a second final, giving them experience you cannot buy......

If a player is NOT 100% on a Friday.......why play him on the weekend with a crap preparation.....if they are Fit......play the other boys in the two's.....many of them are playing for their career's....hard to do watching whilst 100% fit.....

Cannot see the merit of a paid professional footballer, fit and watching....

Also
Stephen Milne playing with zero good preparation (a three day drive) is very St.Kilda.....they would rather play an injury clouded star, rather than back depth.......(finals 2006 come to mind)

[Huzzad]

The saints medical team have been fantastic this year. I highly doubt they are going to make stupid decisions like playing unfit players simply because of their name or previous contributions.

As for emergencies, better safe than sorry. Never field an unprepared team.

[chook23]

If x is in for milne

Is Birrs then not an emergency if someone else falls ill etc.

prob of reserves not playing same day

[Huzzad]

If x is in for milne

Is Birrs then not an emergency if someone else falls ill etc.

prob of reserves not playing same day

Exactly. Which is stupid, if someone pulls up at the last minute, who do we want to feild? Some b-grade player or someone who can handle himself?

Complaining to the selectors about emergencies is stupid. Who cares if Casey wins or not, St Kilda is the priority, and if Saints need a good back up player for worst case scenario, I'd rather have Birss, X etc as emergencies any day than someone unproved or unable to handle the workload.

[saintsRrising]

If x is in for milne

Is Birrs then not an emergency if someone else falls ill etc.

prob of reserves not playing same day

Exactly.

Milne is either already not playing (as Lyon is prone to do), or is in genuine doubt still. Either way you need two emergencies.

What would be unprofessional would have been only keeping one emergency rather than the two.

This is a vital game and you would not want to suddenly be playing guy that had already played on Saturday.

[chook23]

And bigMart did not read it that way?

[Bernard Shakey]

This is a Saints forum, not a Scorps forum.

The only thing that matters is that the Saints have the best available team tomorrow.

Scorps are Demons next year, so who cares?

[saintly_safes]

I can sympathise with both parties . I realise we are giving Steve Milne every oportunity to come up but to have X & Birss not playing at all 2 weeks before a possible finals berth is not in our best interest either. I definately agree that St.Kilda should look after their own destiny first but if we have the same type of situation next week what do we do then?As i said earlier in the week I really doubt that Milne will play, & they are keeping Adelaide guessing with match ups which is fine as long as we dont out smart ourselves in the process.

[casey scorp]

There are two issues:

* a fit player not getting a run
* the VFL team being short-changed of a player.

Both are significant issues - the attitude of "it's the VFL team who cares" isn't too helpful to a relationship (any alignment whether it's the Scorps this year or the Zebs next year).

I know that the AFL juggles all sorts of matters in preparing the fixture, but another considerations should be, as much as possible, having the VFL match after the AFL match.

A bit of co-ordination necessary, but shouldn't be too hard to achieve it most of the time with Fri/Sat or Sat/Sun combinations. The only problem would be when St Kilda plays on the Sunday pm (which there would obviously have to be some of, but minimise the number of them).

[Con Gorozidis]

i kind of like birss. he is slow is treacle i know - but so is obree and he gets a game. at least birss is competitive and has a dip.

[BigMart]

Missed the point completely (as per usual for some)......

Yes St.Kilda is a priority.....do St.Kilda players play in the reserves??????


Would Howard, Allen, Armitage, McEvoy, Geary, Steven etc.....benefit from playing finals footy???????......our future depends on the development of these players....

I let you know that half of Geelongs Premiership team in 2007 played in a VFL premiership in the VFL in 2002......and that Geelong also won the VFL premiership in 2007.......

Playing is PARAMOUNT for players development......


Why do we take players into a senior game with a cloud over them???? (Nick Dal Santo vs WCE)
and
If we have a fully fit 22 on Saturday (for a Sunday game) what are the odds of a fully fit player not getting over the line on Sunday???????......

Generally late withdrawals are players who had a pre-existing injury and should not have been named in the first place ......giving them to the last minute is a crock.....if they cannot complete the last training session they should not be considered....

Luke Ball - early 2007.....

And saying the medical staff have done a wonderful job is crap...

Ask
Matt Maguire - Foot
Xavier Clarke - Hamstring re-injured twice
Raphael Clarke - Back
Sam Gilbert - fitness
Jayden Attard - reinjured knee
Michael Gardiner - re-injured calf
Steven Baker - re-injured knee
Nick Dal Santo - played whilst ill
Who were all re-injured or suffered form a form slump for coming back to training or playing before they were 100%