Where does our midfield improvement come from?

[Ghost Like]

Caldwell chose Essendon OR as with Shiels, Essendon's offer chose Essendon. Which paints quite a poor picture of where St Kilda was at, when we had a supposed "war chest" that's been squandered on Godfather (superannuation) offers to Hannebery & Hill.

I am slightly more confident about our list management since. Perhaps Hanners & Hill were the eggs we needed to break to get to this point? My fingers are still firmly crossed their recruitment has not been in vain.

I disagree with the bit about Hannas and Hill. Two different kettle of fish there.

Hannas was a forced buy..we had to spend the cash to sign off the books that year. Everyone knew it was a s*** show.
With Hill, it was more legit..a real attempt to bring class in.

While Hannas has predictably been a disaster that needs reflection, on the strategies that we employed in the first place, that got us into that desperate situation where we had no choice* , Hill has been pretty good. I think he was very useful from about the 40 % mark last season. Hannas was useless.

Useful vs useless kinda thing.

Of course, no one knows what will go down in ‘22. Hill might drop off, Hannas might be re-born as captain fantastic…

* based on the media feed.

There was nothing forced about the Hanners buy, nothing. Sydney did not want him, they wanted salary cap relief. Our money could have been absorbed into other player's contracts, to safeguard that "warchest", nothing forced.

It was a show to claim some pseudo credentials to being a destination club and possibly a show by one or two that they could land a supposed "big fish".

Hill was coming back to Victoria because his girlfriend was. We paid a lot of coin plus threw in steak knives (again).

Time will tell but time is also running out. Still, my fingers are crossed, they have been for some time. I hope that's arthritis causing them to be but I doubt it.

[saynta]

Caldwell chose Essendon OR as with Shiels, Essendon's offer chose Essendon. Which paints quite a poor picture of where St Kilda was at, when we had a supposed "war chest" that's been squandered on Godfather (superannuation) offers to Hannebery & Hill.

I am slightly more confident about our list management since. Perhaps Hanners & Hill were the eggs we needed to break to get to this point? My fingers are still firmly crossed their recruitment has not been in vain.

I disagree with the bit about Hannas and Hill. Two different kettle of fish there.

Hannas was a forced buy..we had to spend the cash to sign off the books that year. Everyone knew it was a s*** show.
With Hill, it was more legit..a real attempt to bring class in.

While Hannas has predictably been a disaster that needs reflection, on the strategies that we employed in the first place, that got us into that desperate situation where we had no choice* , Hill has been pretty good. I think he was very useful from about the 40 % mark last season. Hannas was useless.

Useful vs useless kinda thing.

Of course, no one knows what will go down in ‘22. Hill might drop off, Hannas might be re-born as captain fantastic…

* based on the media feed.

There was nothing forced about the Hanners buy, nothing. Sydney did not want him, they wanted salary cap relief. Our money could have been absorbed into other player's contracts, to safeguard that "warchest", nothing forced.

It was a show to claim some pseudo credentials to being a destination club and possibly a show by one or two that they could land a supposed "big fish".

Hill was coming back to Victoria because his girlfriend was. We paid a lot of coin plus threw in steak knives (again).

Time will tell but time is also running out. Still, my fingers are crossed, they have been for some time. I hope that's arthritis causing them to be but I doubt it.

The only thing I have against those two trades was the steak knives, We could have hung on to Acres who didn't want to leave Moorabbin anyway.

Hill is not a bust and we could still get value out of Hanners.

[The_Dud]

Hanners would have to win the Brownlow this year for us to even get close to breaking even on him.

[skeptic]

I was loathe to lose Acres too but he hasn’t exactly set the world on fire at Freo.

Looks more like a case of another talent we overrated.

[Wayne42]

Acres was definitely over rated by some.

[Impatient Sainter]

I was loathe to lose Acres too but he hasn’t exactly set the world on fire at Freo.

Looks more like a case of another talent we overrated.

He like a number of our players at the time we HOPED would reach their potential, but it seems the club made the right decision on Blake. Freo continue to try him as a wingman, he has had some good games but he is no where near consistent and was in and out of the team.

[skeptic]

I was loathe to lose Acres too but he hasn’t exactly set the world on fire at Freo.

Looks more like a case of another talent we overrated.

He like a number of our players at the time we HOPED would reach their potential, but it seems the club made the right decision on Blake. Freo continue to try him as a wingman, he has had some good games but he is no where near consistent and was in and out of the team.

A developing theory is that IMO… the single most important feature of a coach, is their ability to accurately assess the quality of players on their list.

Judge a player’s performance, the standard they could reach and their ability to get there.
This was Richo’s downfall. He persevered with way too many players that were promising at times but not capable of consistently producing closer to their better games.

Jury is still out on Ratten at this stage

[saynta]

Acres was definitely over rated by some.

He will, along with Newnes and Nick Hind, probably play finals this year, whereas, we may not.

Make of that what you will.

[shanegrambeau]

Caldwell chose Essendon OR as with Shiels, Essendon's offer chose Essendon. Which paints quite a poor picture of where St Kilda was at, when we had a supposed "war chest" that's been squandered on Godfather (superannuation) offers to Hannebery & Hill.

I am slightly more confident about our list management since. Perhaps Hanners & Hill were the eggs we needed to break to get to this point? My fingers are still firmly crossed their recruitment has not been in vain.

I disagree with the bit about Hannas and Hill. Two different kettle of fish there.
…

…
…. they have been for some time. I hope that's arthritis causing them to be but I doubt it.

They, them???


No, nup…

You are still conflating them…
They are vastly different kettles of fish…and provide and have provided entirely different values, both realized and potential.
Completely separate players.. or rather, player and non-player.

Arthritis can get us all…
Although it is a nice afterthought to add it in attempt to conflate the players again.,

[Ghost Like]

Caldwell chose Essendon OR as with Shiels, Essendon's offer chose Essendon. Which paints quite a poor picture of where St Kilda was at, when we had a supposed "war chest" that's been squandered on Godfather (superannuation) offers to Hannebery & Hill.

I am slightly more confident about our list management since. Perhaps Hanners & Hill were the eggs we needed to break to get to this point? My fingers are still firmly crossed their recruitment has not been in vain.

I disagree with the bit about Hannas and Hill. Two different kettle of fish there.
…

…
…. they have been for some time. I hope that's arthritis causing them to be but I doubt it.

They, them???


No, nup…

You are still conflating them…
They are vastly different kettles of fish…and provide and have provided entirely different values, both realized and potential.
Completely separate players.. or rather, player and non-player.

Arthritis can get us all…
Although it is a nice afterthought to add it in attempt to conflate the players again.,

That's possibly the greatest selective quoting or misquoting of a poster I've witnessed on here but each to their own.

"Nup" it is, I guess???

[bigcarl]

Other than Jones our midfield is one paced and I'd like to see Gresh, Clark, Billings & even Higgins at centre bounces to try and change things up.

Yes and Butler might be worth a shot, too.

Ryder/Marshall will make a big difference and, unlike last year, we now appear to have some actual ruck depth. Campbell looked ok and I think possibly Hayes is someone who will be able to pinch hit.

I’m no particular order Steele, Gresham, Jones, Crouch, Hannebery if fit, Ross, Clark, Bytel, Billings, Hill, maybe Higgins, maybe Butler, I’m sure there there are others who can do it at a pinch.

Not going to write the season off on be basis of one practice game. I’m hopeful and optimistic.

[Beno88]

Other than Jones our midfield is one paced and I'd like to see Gresh, Clark, Billings & even Higgins at centre bounces to try and change things up.

Ryder/Marshall will make a big difference and, unlike last year, we now appear to have some actual ruck depth. Campbell looked ok and I think possibly Hayes is someone who will be able to pinch hit.

This is it. If Marshall plays all year and Ryder plays 12+ games, the midfield will prosper. Their strength in the air and over the ball is enormous.