The Fox Report - R14

[rodgerfox]

Not a bad start to the season really ey?

Very long way to go, but hard to be upset with much at the moment really.

I must say though, I'm a bit surprised at the absolute adulation from the Saints fans at the moment. Maybe it's just me, but I won't be at all happy with this season, regardless if we won 14 in a row and beat the Cats in a Blockbuster - if we don't win the flag.
Infact I'll forget about the 'great start to the year' very, very quickly if we don't win it all in September.

Anyway, the positives....

The celebration after the game. Unbelievable really. Just a few fist pumps, and that was it. It was exactly how I felt actually. I know there were zippers popping everywhere at the ground, but to be frank we simply won a game that we should have won. I actually felt more relieved than ecstatic. I'm glad the players appeared to have the same sort of perspective about it.

Kosi's game on Scarlett. Very important win for him.

Lenny Hayes. Enough said. Seriously, enough said. He's the best in the business at the moment. Big call? No - he is.

Roo's kicking when it mattered was vital. Clearly this has been a valid criticism of him, and he took a step towards fixing that on Sunday.

Michael Gardiner. Wow. Clearly I never thought he was any good. Even at West Coast I never understood what the fuss was about. But gee, at this stage he is on track for being the recruit of the century. Actually looking at the stats must embarrass a few that scoffed at Grant Thomas' theory that giraffe ruckman are no good. Geelong with two giraffe's whilst we had one ruckman who kicked 4 and took a few big grabs around the ground. Stand vindicated GT!
Anyway, I also loved the way he took the massive grab, nearly killed Taylor, then stood around for 10 minutes to build the occasion, then put it dead through the middle. Stuck the tongue out and charged back to the centre. I love the man! That's swagger.

I always thought that to beat Geelong, you'd have to keep Bartel, Selwood, Corey, Ling and Ablett quiet. We couldn't achieve this on Sunday. And throw in Mackie and Chapman blitzing aswell. But we won. Watching the replay, I'm still not sure how to be honest. They are a freakishly good team, who had their good players playing very well - and we beat them. Bodes well for the next time really. To beat them when their midfield munched us, was pretty amazing really.

We are pretty tough mentally these days. I was never really that worried on Sunday. I knew that we'd hold tough when we needed to, and we did.

Interesting to see the Cats with about 6 outs this week. And we have none. Really tough game, and we seem to back o the bike pretty quickly without much fuss. The Cats have either gone mad and are resting players, or we beat the snot out of them. Either way, is that a crack I see appearing??

Sam Gilbert is a beauty isn't he?

The other really good thing is that we beat Geelong, (and had Dal not missed the sitter late in the game to put us 4 goals clear we would have won pretty comfortably) but we're still under the radar. It appears Geelong were the big winners from the game? I don't know to be honest, you get rolled in a game of footy, then have 6 outs the week after - and I think the positives might actually be straws, and you're clutching at them.


The Negatives...

Joey's panic in the heat of the battle. He had alot of tackles, which is strangely seen these days as a measure of one's hardness. Laying and holding a good tackle is very important, but it's not really putting your life on the line stuff. I felt Joey panicked too much, fumbled a bit and made some silly decisions when the heat was on.
He's improved in this area over the past 2-3 years, but he's still got some work to do.

Gram's hardness bothered me too. There was one instance where he absolutely needed to put his head over the ball and he didn't. If he did, he would have been taken high and we would have won the contest. But he didn't, and it ended in a ball-up. Very disappointing. He also had the panics a bit. Didn't seem to have the same level of intensity as the others.

What's going on with Luke Ball? Is he being rested? Is he hurt again? Or is he no good? Watching Selwood run rings around him on Sunday took me back to what a young Luke Ball was like actually.

Should Milney have the surgery on his knee now? He's not 100%. Doesn't look anywhere near it, and if he keeps playing on it I don't think he will be this year. If he has the surgery he'll miss 6 weeks probably. Interesting question.

We don't have any kids coming through still. Geary is battling, Eddy is ordinary, McEvoy is still 2 years away and Armitage is taking a while. An injection of youth is important, and I think Rosco needs to find someone to step in.

We need to work out a way to keep Sam Fisher free. He burnt in the first quarter, then when the screws were tightened on him we stagnated a bit. This has happened over the past month with him, and us. We need to find a way around it because he is obviously a key to our success and sides are subduing him.

[degruch]

Where's the Stool Report?

[evertonfc]

Great report, as always.

Perhaps a tough harsh on "no kids coming through". Though in saying that, in terms of 18-19yo players, there's none in our first team. And there's certainly no star quality in Eddy, Geary, McQualter, Armitage, McEvoy, etc on what we've seen so far.

Let's hope the likes of Heyne, Lynch, Cahill, etc have something about them.

We'll definitely need to have another big week at the national draft and again at the rookie draft.

[BringBackMadDog]

Not bad Rodger, quite a good summation. Totally agree with your comments on Joey and Gram.

We don't have any kids coming through still. Geary is battling, Eddy is ordinary, McEvoy is still 2 years away and Armitage is taking a while. An injection of youth is important, and I think Rosco needs to find someone to step in.

We need to work out a way to keep Sam Fisher free. He burnt in the first quarter, then when the screws were tightened on him we stagnated a bit. This has happened over the past month with him, and us. We need to find a way around it because he is obviously a key to our success and sides are subduing him.

Dont agree with the two statements above.
We do have a good batch of kids coming through, they are all playing at Sandy, Lynch, Armo, Steven, Smith, Stanley will all be good players, there is no need to rush them in to the team, we aren't re-building.

I don't think there is any need to worry about freeing up Fisher, we have other options if he gets tagged up. Gilbert took over on the weekend when Chips got held, we also have Raph, Goddard, Gram and now Dempster coming in who can all be damaging if they are allowed to run and create and you can't play a defensive forward on all of them. Thats what I like about our side this year...flexibility and options. This is the difference between St kilda now and 3 years ago.

[rodgerfox]

Where's the Stool Report?

I beg your pardon?

That's a bit personal isn't it?

[degruch]

Where's the Stool Report?

I beg your pardon?

That's a bit personal isn't it?

You're right, I'm not your GP's receptionist!

[joffaboy]

Very good report RF.

Where have you been - missed this report over the past couple of months.

I think the only thing I could take issue with is the "no kids coming through" comment.

If you have a squiz at the Zebras you will see that Heyne, Lynch, Steven, Stanley, Armo, Miles, and McEvoy (in the seniors on sufference atm) are just some that are making good progress.

When we have regular seniors players unable to break into a team and that team is 14-0, not many kids will get played.

Apart from that I agreed with almost all of the FR. Mabye the bit about not knowing how we won was a bit contentious. Our defence all over the ground won us the game.

[vacuous space]

... I think Rosco needs to find someone to step in.

Now? We're a top side pushing for a flag. Why do we need more youth in the side?

18 of our 22 this week will be 27 or younger. Blake's not about to retire and even if he were, we'd still have options. I don't think Baker is irreplacable either. Gardiner and King will probably play on next year giving McEvoy and Stanley another year to develop. I can't see Milne going anywhere any time soon.

We've got more kids than spots for those kids right now. Armitage, Eddy, Lynch, Miles and Steven could all play senior footy right now. There's just no place for them yet.

[saintly]

Great report, as always.

Perhaps a tough harsh on "no kids coming through". Though in saying that, in terms of 18-19yo players, there's none in our first team. And there's certainly no star quality in Eddy, Geary, McQualter, Armitage, McEvoy, etc on what we've seen so far.

Let's hope the likes of Heyne, Lynch, Cahill, etc have something about them.

We'll definitely need to have another big week at the national draft and again at the rookie draft.

from what i understand we won't get much chance in the rookie draft as GC 17 have the best picks this year.

[markp]

Where ya been rodge?

[vacuous space]

from what i understand we won't get much chance in the rookie draft as GC 17 have the best picks this year.

GC have no picks at all this year. Not one.

[HarveysDeciple]

From what I've seen of the VFL Tom Lynch is a ripper. Would be amazed if he didn't play a hell of a lot of footy for St.Kilda.

[#1GILL]

Good Read.

That is very disrespectful of you to say "Geary Is battling". He may have had a poor game this week, but that comes with being young. The weel before he was fantastic....i Would not go close to saying he is battling.
I think he looks like a real winner in years to come.

[#1GILL]

from what i understand we won't get much chance in the rookie draft as GC 17 have the best picks this year.

GC have no picks at all this year. Not one.

Are you sure????

My understanding is that saintly is dead read. GC have the best picks in the rookie draft this year.

And then next year they get picks 1,2,3,5,7,9,11,13,15 from memory in the national draft. Followed by the first pick of each round after that

[matrix]

wb rog
it feels like u never left

[vacuous space]

GC have the best picks in the rookie draft this year.

This is the first I'm hearing of it. I know they can sign up to 12 17-year olds this year. I haven't heard anything about them participating in the rookie draft at all. AFAIK, there will be 16 teams at the ND, PSD and RD this year.

[saintly]

GC have the best picks in the rookie draft this year.

This is the first I'm hearing of it. I know they can sign up to 12 17-year olds this year. I haven't heard anything about them participating in the rookie draft at all. AFAIK, there will be 16 teams at the ND, PSD and RD this year.

yes, from what i understand, (and am trying to find where it it is on the afl site but cannot at the moment)there will be 16 teams at the ND, PSD but the RD will have a number of picks by GC17

and here tis
http://www.afl.com.au/tabid/208/default ... wsid=76855
THE DRAFT rules for Gold Coast will be as follows:

1. 2009 NAB AFL Draft
Gold Coast to have the capacity to sign 12 x 17 year-olds born in the January – April window (January 1 to April 30, 1992).

2. 2010 NAB AFL Draft
Gold Coast to have first pick in each round
Gold Coast to have selections 2, 3, 5, 7, 9, 11, 13, 15 in round one

3. 2009 NAB Rookie Draft
Gold Coast to have selections 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5
4. 2010 NAB Rookie Draft
Gold Coast to alternate Queensland priority selections with Brisbane Lions. Gold Coast to have first selection

5. Zoned access
Gold Coast to have zoned access to up to five Queensland players prior to each of 2010, 2011 and 2012 NAB AFL Drafts
Gold Coast to have zoned access to up to three Northern Territory players prior to the 2010 NAB AFL Draft

6. 2010 Post-season, AFL listed player access
Gold Coast to have capacity to pre-list 10 players who had previously nominated for the AFL Draft, or were previously listed with an AFL club.

Gold Coast to have capacity to sign up to 16 uncontracted players

Gold Coast would also have an expanded list size and TPP allowance in the club’s initial four years from 2011 to 2014, which would be as follows:

2011 – 48 senior list, nine rookies with $1m TPP extra allowance;
2012 – 46 senior list, nine rookies with $800k TPP extra allowance;
2013 – 42 senior list, nine rookies with $600k TPP extra allowance;
2014 – 40 senior list, nine rookies with $400k TPP extra allowance;
2015 – 38 senior list, nine rookies in line with other AFL clubs.

As part of the entry rules for the Gold Coast side, the AFL Commission resolved that any club that lost a player to the expansion side would be eligible for a compensation pick (after the entry of both Gold Coast and the second club to be based in Sydney).

Compensation picks will be tradeable and can be used by clubs at any time within five years. First round compensation picks cannot be used until the end of the first round in the 2010 and 2011 drafts. Clubs will be required to nominate the year in which they plan to use the compensation pick before the first round of the Toyota AFL Premiership Season in that particular year.

The compensatory pick would be assessed around the player’s age (greater weighting for younger players), club contract ranking (greater weighting for club key players), onfield performance (greater weighting for strong club best and fairest performance) and draft position if less than four years experience.

This ranking system will then determine if a club is eligible for a compensatory pick in one of five spots – first-round pick, end-of-first-round pick, second-round pick, end-of-second-round pick or third-round pick. Under the model, the round-one, round-two or round-three picks would be taken immediately after the pick the club already has in that round in the draft that year.

Please find attached below an example of how the 2010 NAB AFL Draft would look, under these concession rules (indicative draft order before trading):

Round one
1 Gold Coast
2 Gold Coast
3 Gold Coast
4 Club 16 on 2010 ladder
5 Gold Coast
6 Club 15 on 2010 ladder
7 Gold Coast
8 Club 14 on 2010 ladder
9 Gold Coast
10 Club 13 on 2010 ladder
11 Gold Coast
12 Club 12 on 2010 ladder
13 Gold Coast
14 Club 11 on 2010 ladder
15 Gold Coast
16 Club 10 on 2010 ladder
17 Club 9 on 2010 ladder
18 Club 8 on 2010 ladder
19 Club 7 on 2010 ladder
20 Club 6 on 2010 ladder
21 Club 5 on 2010 ladder
22 Club 4 on 2010 ladder
23 Club 3 on 2010 ladder
24 Club 2 on 2010 ladder
25 Club 1 on 2010 ladder

Round two
26 Gold Coast
27 Club 16 on 2010 ladder
28 Club 15 on 2010 ladder
29 Club 14 on 2010 ladder
30 Club 13 on 2010 ladder
31 Club 12 on 2010 ladder
32 Club 11 on 2010 ladder
33 Club 10 on 2010 ladder
34 Club 9 on 2010 ladder
35 Club 8 on 2010 ladder
36 Club 7 on 2010 ladder
37 Club 6 on 2010 ladder
38 Club 5 on 2010 ladder
39 Club 4 on 2010 ladder
40 Club 3 on 2010 ladder
41 Club 2 on 2010 ladder
42 Club 1 on 2010 ladder


Round three
43 Gold Coast
44 Club 16 on 2010 ladder
45 Club 15 on 2010 ladder
46 Club 14 on 2010 ladder
47 Club 13 on 2010 ladder
48 Club 12 on 2010 ladder
49 Club 11 on 2010 ladder
50 Club 10 on 2010 ladder
51 Club 9 on 2010 ladder
52 Club 8 on 2010 ladder
53 Club 7 on 2010 ladder
54 Club 6 on 2010 ladder
55 Club 5 on 2010 ladder
56 Club 4 on 2010 ladder
57 Club 3 on 2010 ladder
58 Club 2 on 2010 ladder
59 Club 1 on 2010 ladder

[degruch]

GC have the best picks in the rookie draft this year.

This is the first I'm hearing of it. I know they can sign up to 12 17-year olds this year. I haven't heard anything about them participating in the rookie draft at all. AFAIK, there will be 16 teams at the ND, PSD and RD this year.

yes, from what i understand, (and am trying to find where it it is on the afl site but cannot at the moment)there will be 16 teams at the ND, PSD but the RD will have a number of picks by GC17

I thought that was the case too Saintly, just that the Rookie Draft minimum age had been dropped to 17.

[saint66au]

Can I just offer you one bit of advice Rodg??

LIGHTEN UP!!!!!

Sheesh..if you cant get excited when the siren went on Sunday...whats the point of going to the footy? If you save all your excitement for winning flags there's gonna be a hell of a lot of bottling up going on lol

Cmon...just occasionally cut loose, punch the air and yell "YEAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH" at a game..it feels good

[Richter]

I always thought that to beat Geelong, you'd have to keep Bartel, Selwood, Corey, Ling and Ablett quiet. We couldn't achieve this on Sunday. And throw in Mackie and Chapman blitzing aswell. But we won. Watching the replay, I'm still not sure how to be honest. They are a freakishly good team, who had their good players playing very well - and we beat them. Bodes well for the next time really. To beat them when their midfield munched us, was pretty amazing really.

Excellent report Rodg.

I highlighted this bit that I particularly agree with. Unfortunately I worry that it bodes the opposite but well.

IMO we have the most balanced team of the top 3. We have a top 3 attack, a top 5 midfield and the number 1 defence.

However, it is generally the team with the best - or near best - MIDFIELD that wins the flag. Those teams ATM are the Cats and the Dogs.

I worry that when up against a flying Bulldogs midfield we will be found out to be too lumbering. IMO we are one midfield superstar short. Hope I'm wrong.

[vacuous space]

3. 2009 NAB Rookie Draft
Gold Coast to have selections 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5

Thanks for that.

I find it quite strange that players will get taken by a team that doesn't exist. Particularly ones who stand to lose money by not being elevated. I doubt anybody will complain about getting taken there, but it doesn't seem fair that pick six in the RD stands to make more money than picks 1-5.

I still think that GC will have trouble keeping their team together. The other 16 clubs will probably be targetting them for 2013 as much as they're targetting us for 2011. They've got the extra cap space, but if they're getting belted, the go home factor is going to start kicking in - particularly since there will be sides in VIC, SA and WA with holes in their recruiting.

[iwantmeseats]

Can I just offer you one bit of advice Rodg??

LIGHTEN UP!!!!!

Sheesh..if you cant get excited when the siren went on Sunday...whats the point of going to the footy? If you save all your excitement for winning flags there's gonna be a hell of a lot of bottling up going on lol

Cmon...just occasionally cut loose, punch the air and yell "YEAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH" at a game..it feels good

Good advice!

[bergholt]

Can I just offer you one bit of advice Rodg??

LIGHTEN UP!!!!!

Sheesh..if you cant get excited when the siren went on Sunday...whats the point of going to the footy? If you save all your excitement for winning flags there's gonna be a hell of a lot of bottling up going on lol

Cmon...just occasionally cut loose, punch the air and yell "YEAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH" at a game..it feels good

i wasn't excited at the end. just tired and relieved. felt like i'd been playing instead of them.

i think i've been following the team too long. i find it very hard to get excited mid-season for an extended period of time - i just keep thinking about the grannie.

[saint66au]

To me its like people who say "keep a lid on it" during GF week if we are in it. Bugger that. IM 48 years old..I dont remember 66 (I wasnt into footy) so that makes TWO Grand FInals since. Sheesh gotta make the most of em at that rate I say. Maybe when we make 4 in a row I'll tone it down a bit, but if we make the big one this year I'll me making the most of the lead up week. The decorations will be out and the colours will be worn. Its why we go through all the stress of Rounds 1-22 You can still show your love for the Club without banging on all week about how you are gonna win by 10 goals

[barks4eva]

Michael Gardinerwe had one ruckman who kicked 4 and took a few big grabs around the ground. Stand vindicated GT!

Vindicated, excuse me, hardly, Thomas said he would not have touched Gardiner with a 10 foot pole!

The only thing vindicated is Ross Lyon's decision to draft him, stick with him and his belief in him!

How good it is to have a real McCoy coach, finally!