Ball is playing for Sandy this weekend

[doggerel]

Nice early morning spot by Moods in the Official Team thread. He 'tis for those who would miss it:

Luke Ball, who was last night named on the Saints expanded interchange bench, will play another game in the VFL.

Ball will miss senior selection for the fifth time in the last seven rounds of the season, but Lyon said the midfielder was still in line for a finals campaign.

"Luke just needs another full game in the VFL and it certainly doesn't preclude him for the first game in the finals," Lyon said.

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/st ... 32,00.html

[perfectionist]

Yes, sounds pretty clear. It appears that he, Max, David Armitage and others will be providing the insurance for the finals program. But as Ben McEvoy has found out this week, a claim on that insurance can come at any moment, so the players just have to be ready for the call up, and I'm sure they will be.

[bigcarl]

We didn't lose contested posession in the first 11 rounds, since then we have won 5, lost 5.
Blues -14
Tigers +1
Cats -12
Eagles +2
Crows +17
Dogs +19
Swans -15
Hawks +5
Dons -28
Roos -23

As you can see a few in there, (Tigers, Eagles and Hawks) we've only just won.

My thoughts on this are our contested posession count has been down since Luke Ball has been out of touch or out of the side.

thought these stats from another thread made a fairly strong case for ball's inclusion.

our three worst contested ball games for the season - v Swans, v Dons and v Kangaroos - are the games that bally has missed.

the record shows that we've played our best football this season with both ball and lenny in the side.

but maybe i'm drawing too long a bow.

[bergholt]

Luke Ball, who was last night named on the Saints expanded interchange bench, will play another game in the VFL.

tell ya what, if he has another good performance in the vfl, then comes back in for the finals and blitzes, this will be judged a coaching masterstroke. it could happen.

geary in for him, i'd say.

[Winmar7Fan]

What an absolute tragedy. This kid has been an absolute superstar of the club up with the likes of Hayes in the mid field with a huge St Kilda heart but his excessive courage for his small size has really cost him.

To see him now struggling for a spot and loss of pace from injuries still at a young age really breaks my F###ing heart.

[fonz_#15]

What an absolute tragedy. This kid has been an absolute superstar of the club up with the likes of Hayes in the mid field with a huge St Kilda heart but his excessive courage for his small size has really cost him.

To see him now struggling for a spot and loss of pace from injuries still at a young age really breaks my F###ing heart.

hear hear

[SaintWodonga]

40 possesions & you can't get in? Geez Dempster should take a lotto ticket out.

[bob__71]

Ball gets full games at Sandy, he gets 50% in the seniors. The rest of the Senior tem is forced to do more 1% grunt work with Ball at Sandy so they are forced to do it better. Ball will be back in the seniors for the finals, playing 40-50% gametime as a rest for Hayes. IMO

[spert]

Bally got 40 touches, but not much damage with them. I think this will plague him as a small to medium onballer -great courage, but his lack of penetration with disposals puts him behind a lot of similar size onballers in the comp.

[4ever_saint]

Ball got 23 disposals last weekend...

It was stated on the 5th qtr last weekend that he got 40 disposals, which was then corrected to 23 later on the program. The media this week have been going with 40. I watched the game on ABC1 last weekend and in my opinion Geary was better. He had just as many disposals and managed 3 goals (with about 6 scoring shots).

[spert]

Ball got 23 disposals last weekend...

It was stated on the 5th qtr last weekend that he got 40 disposals, which was then corrected to 23 later on the program. The media this week have been going with 40. I watched the game on ABC1 last weekend and in my opinion Geary was better. He had just as many disposals and managed 3 goals (with about 6 scoring shots).

Could explain why I thought he didn't do much damage with 40 touches -and yes Geary looked our best last week against Port.

[meher baba]

If Lyon goes into the first final with Ball and Max (and even Armo) out and the likes of Dawson and Dempster and even Eddy in

AND

we don't win,

this place is going to get rather ugly.

It is clear that Ball doesn't do the job Lyon wants him to do. Dempster and Eddy do what Lyon wants them to do.

We all might think that this is a bit unfair to Ball, and also ignores the fact that Dempster and Eddy don't really seem to have that much talent, but Lyon is the coach and we have to have total faith in him at this stage.

Likewise, if Lyon thinks Dawson is better value than Max (and I'm not sure about this: perhaps Max is injured or is being rested), then that's ultimately his call and he'll sink or swim on whether or not he gets it right.

The problem is that decisions to leave out Max and Ball are massive calls by the coach and club, which guarantee enormous media attention and will be something of a distraction. Most likely they also have a bit of a mixed impact on the players: the prospect of Max missing out on playing for a flag must be a bit morale-sapping for some of the other players and must also put a lot of unhelpful pressure on Dawson.

And, while there is something of a message being sent that "you are as only as good as your last game", it's still a mixed message . Armo's last game was really pretty good. Ball's game for Sandy was pretty good. Dawson's last game in the seniors was pretty poor.

I thought that Lyon's approach to selecting the team up to the Tassie game was one of his greatest strengths: we had a pretty clear top 18 or so with the players in the remaining 4 spots under enormous pressure to perform each week or else be moved out so another could have a go. The whole strategy has gone a bit pear-shaped since then. I don't feel at all certain as to who our top 18 are or which players are on the fringe.
For instance, I would have thought that Armo was still in contention and Steven was well out of contention, but this week's selections seem to say the opposite.

I sincerely hope that Lyon and the club know what they are doing.

[Bernard Shakey]

40 possesions & you can't get in? Geez Dempster should take a lotto ticket out.

What do you call a possession, looking at the ball?

He actually got about half that many.

[saintsRrising]

Ok...Lateral Thought

As Sandy plays on Saturday this would give Ball an EIGHT Break for the first final on Sunday week.

Playing against the Dees..who arguably will be little more of a test for Ball than the VFL anyway he would only get a 7 day break.

If Ball is as many of us suspect not 100% right bodywise that extra day could be handy.

Win week one of the faanls and then gain a fortnight break.

[asiu]

i'd have you in the trenches

at least u think

[Bernard Shakey]

Ok...Lateral Thought

As Sandy plays on Saturday this would give Ball an EIGHT Break for the first final on Sunday week.

Playing against the Dees..who arguably will be little more of a test for Ball than the VFL anyway he would only get a 7 day break.

If Ball is as many of us suspect not 100% right bodywse that extra day could be handy.

Win week one of the faanls and then gaina fortnight break.

Nothing wrong with Bally's body, best it's been for 3 years.

[Con Gorozidis]

Nice early morning spot by Moods in the Official Team thread. He 'tis for those who would miss it:

Luke Ball, who was last night named on the Saints expanded interchange bench, will play another game in the VFL.

Ball will miss senior selection for the fifth time in the last seven rounds of the season, but Lyon said the midfielder was still in line for a finals campaign.

"Luke just needs another full game in the VFL and it certainly doesn't preclude him for the first game in the finals," Lyon said.

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/st ... 32,00.html

Most of us know LB struggles for pace and kicking. He is probably ranked somewhere between 14-18 on our list IMO. But come finals time - he just simply has to be ahead of R Eddy. I'm not anti Eddy or anything. he could be a good player in future. But at this stage LB is a better player. Full stop.

[Moods]

I don't buy into this 'without Max in the team for the finals, it saps the players moral, and messes with team spirit' crap. Blokes are playing for a premiership. Yeah it's bad luck about Max and Ball, but I'd like to think our blokes are a bit mentally tougher than that than to drop the ball, intensity, whatever you want to call it just b/c two mainstays of the club in the past 10 years can't get a game. Brian Taylor and now Gerard Healy are running with it. Sometimes I reckon these media commentators just feed off each other.

I Max can't get a game, he needs to pull his finger out and prove he's better than Zac. Same goes with Ball. Particularly with Ball - there's a spot therew aiting for him, he just has to grab it.

[satchmo]

Ball gets full games at Sandy, he gets 50% in the seniors. The rest of the Senior tem is forced to do more 1% grunt work with Ball at Sandy so they are forced to do it better. Ball will be back in the seniors for the finals, playing 40-50% gametime as a rest for Hayes. IMO

This, + saintsRrising's lateral thought = good sense.

[matrix]

[saintly_safes]

I don't buy into this 'without Max in the team for the finals, it saps the players moral, and messes with team spirit' crap. Blokes are playing for a premiership. Yeah it's bad luck about Max and Ball, but I'd like to think our blokes are a bit mentally tougher than that than to drop the ball, intensity, whatever you want to call it just b/c two mainstays of the club in the past 10 years can't get a game. Brian Taylor and now Gerard Healy are running with it. Sometimes I reckon these media commentators just feed off each other.

I Max can't get a game, he needs to pull his finger out and prove he's better than Zac. Same goes with Ball. Particularly with Ball - there's a spot therew aiting for him, he just has to grab it.

If thats what you think thats fine but imo an extreamly harsh comment for 2 guys that havent been that bad & have played their guts out for the club over long period. I'm not saying they are invincible & have a right to be selected every week just on commitment to the jumper but I honestly dont think either players form has been worse than alot of others . The bottom line is Lyon is the coach & he has a blueprint of what he deems is required to win a flag & hes sticking to that stratogy & its worked pretty well all season so its hard to be critical. If he gets a flag he will go down as a genius & I will be forever grateful but at the pointy end of the season I'm a little worried about his tactics

[bobmurray]

Ball got 23 disposals last weekend...

It was stated on the 5th qtr last weekend that he got 40 disposals, which was then corrected to 23 later on the program. The media this week have been going with 40. I watched the game on ABC1 last weekend and in my opinion Geary was better. He had just as many disposals and managed 3 goals (with about 6 scoring shots).

I agree......i watched the game on tv as well

[saintspremiers]

Bally got 40 touches, but not much damage with them. I think this will plague him as a small to medium onballer -great courage, but his lack of penetration with disposals puts him behind a lot of similar size onballers in the comp.

spot on, I think we are better without him.....everyone on here that bleats on about Bally is thinking of the player he used to be, not the 2009 version.

[matrix]

[SainterK]

Bally got 40 touches, but not much damage with them. I think this will plague him as a small to medium onballer -great courage, but his lack of penetration with disposals puts him behind a lot of similar size onballers in the comp.

spot on, I think we are better without him.....everyone on here that bleats on about Bally is thinking of the player he used to be, not the 2009 version.

Big call for you to say we are better off without him, but it's your opinion....however what we choose to think or not think about Ball though, well that's our opinion.