Our 2007 list..and some thoughts on each player

[Saints94]

Fraser's new theme song Thanks for the memories by fall out boy

[saintsRrising]

Fraser's new theme song Thanks for the memories by fall out boy

err...are you posting in the right thread????

This one is meant to be about players and football.

[saintsRrising]

well the pre-season is well underway...and the axe fell on sum.

a number of players are stronglr progressing whereas other such as Raph, L fisher and Fizz are teady ater.

The remaing NAB and practice games are going to be importnat to many...

Injury may have cruelled both Fergs and Minis chances as others have stood up and are now well in front of then in the queue for the senior team.....plus Eddy is chmomping at the bit asa rooke who could easiy be eleavted if we havean LTI.

[saintsRrising]

Well it is 9 months on since I wrote the OP..

Our team still has too may players that go missing and who do not deliver 4 quarter efforts week in week out.

We still lack midfielders...and pace. This realy biting us on the bum now as good teams run 10 players through the midfield. We simply do not hae enough quality mids, and when Hayes and ball start to tire the weight of greater numbers of oppostion midfields gets on top of them and the Saints fade.

Jones is one of the few players that has improved....but Jones is not a star player....and so this does not make a huge difference.

M Gardiner has rewarded the faith place in him.

Dal remains sublime at times, but does not deliver his best often enough. But again with Dal our lack of midfield numbers allow opposition teams to target him and limit him.


Roo has been the biggest surprise...and a bad one as his form has dropped off markedly including his shots on goal where he exhibits no confidence at all and he seeks to dish it off always rather than have a shot himself. His handball to kicks ratio has lifted which is further evidence of of his lack of faith in his onwn kicking. Is this due to dodgey knees..ora lack of form...ora bit of both???

Kosi has also declined too...and even though GTrain came back from retirement he to displayed a drop in form.

For all 3 big forwards the task has been made more difficult by poor delivery from a squad chock full of so many players with poor footskills.

Fiora sadly after quite a respectable 2007 has sunk.....which is a blow for the Saints as we desperately need more midfielders and especially quick ones. This has made our lack of midfielders even worse.

Gilbert after promising so much..started 2008 in quiet form with injury then taking him. We desperately miss his pace, run and tackling.

King, Charlie, Schneider and Dempster were gained.
So far King has looked good. Schnieder has been up and down (and with costing us pick 26 he needs to be delivering more). Demoster has been ok-ish.....but nothing to write home about. Charlie has shown he is what Cat's fans said he was. An "almost" AFL player who can deliver some weeks, but not every week.


Of the "kids". Armo has started to show something. But is still not there yet. He looks good for the future though. Allen has shown promise , but inconsistency with Casey. You would expect him to be given some senir games soon. McEvoy is great around the grouung, but very raw in the ruck. He will come good but do not expect to much in 2008. Steven "looks" likea player, but is lower age.

Unfortunately this years bunch of rookies has been cruelled by injury. It is good to see miles at last back...we need his pace..so lets hope that he can make it.


Overall

Our key forwards have declined, but it is our lack of midfield talent which is what is truly hurting us.

The last 4 years have seen our opponents expand and enlarge their midfield groups. To add pace and run.

The Saints have failed to do this and indeed have also have failed to replace Thommo, Powell and Pecket. Our midfield talent has declined....our major competitors have improved.....and this ata time when midfields are even more crucia than they traditioanally have been.

This leaves the Saints in an era of expanded midfields competing with too few....who sooner or later get overun with a weight of numbers.

1/ We do not have enough players that can run through the midfield.
2/ Of the ones we do have we lack pace and good footskills......and not just in passing, but in footskills.....which also means alack of goals from the midfield group as well as less accurate passes to forwards.


We Fiora having declined ..thee are few options. Gram has to be turned into a midfielder. Jones should be perservered with (no star, but he adds the pace and tacking you need). Armo also needs to be perserved with so that he can grow.

Mini may get another shot.....but he has no really demonstraed the qualities that we need.

Maybe sam Fisher should be run through the mifield too.....but our lack of tall defenders is a big problem too. But an underforming midfield is a bigger problem.

Roo is nota midfield solution though..he simply has not demostrated the ball skills.


Now all in all Lyon is obviously not motivating all of his players to give enough. But equally obviously, the list is no where as good as many have thought...and which I have been posting on for several years now.

The club needs to recognise and rework the midfield. I think Lyon knows this. Birrs has proven to be an ok addition..but only ok. Schneider has so far struggled with the midfield role.

[iwantmeseats]

Personally I agree largely, but I dont think its a job for a dud like Lyon. Its painfully obvious he does NOT have the players confidence. Why waste another year?

[saintsRrising]

Personally I agree largely, but I dont think its a job for a dud like Lyon. Its painfully obvious he does NOT have the players confidence. Why waste another year?

Well it may or may not be.....

Whatever happens I would imagine that no review of the coah will occur till seasons end.

However as we all know......as history has showna coach can be goane at any time.

The next six weeks will certaianlt be telling for Lyon.

[bigcarl]

1/ We do not have enough players that can run through the midfield.
2/ Of the ones we do have we lack pace and good footskills......and not just in passing, but in footskills.....which also means alack of goals from the midfield group as well as less accurate passes to forwards.

there seems to be a bit of pigeon-holing over what might or might not constitute a midfielder.

for instance, late last year i suggested gilbert be given a shot there. too tall, it was suggested.

bj? Too slow, it was thought.

gram? why he's a running defender. he can't play midfield, I was told.

s. fisher? He'd be too tall as well, I guess.

well it has come to a stage where we having nothing to lose by trying things and taking a few risks.

i know this because what we have been doing isn't working.

add gram, bj and gilbert (when he comes back) to the midfield rotations and see if they can't make an impact.

even raph would be worth a shot. he's strong bodied and has quick hands.

and while we're at it, how about affording our established midfielders the respect of more TOG like their "star" counterparts at other clubs.

[saintsRrising]

I think there is TOG..and is TOG.

The problem we have with Bally and Hayes is that they have to work flat out with a lot of their TOG in the midfield where they have to work very hard..

If we had more mids then Bally could have more of his TOG in say a FP.

Gram I would play midfield/ HF now. I think it suits him better given his skill set. Defensivly oppostion coaches work him over in the backline now due to his poor defensive skills. Gram's long kicking and long shots on goal will also mix up the forward line and make it less predictable as well.

Gilbert who is a bit off...I would have asa HBF on his return and this will free up BJ and /or Sam Fisher to have rotations through the midfield too. Once he is fully match practice yes try him out too.

Indeed I would not wait for Gilbert's return and would give them regular midfield rotations now.

If we cannot turn our midfield around...it matters naight about our backline or forward line.