ARMITAGE

[bakes]

Armitage....Is he injured? Iv'e always rated him.
Was he training with the main group in the week leading up to the GF last week?

This bloke has what it takes to be a big game player, similar to Goddard.
He appears to have that confidence and a bit of arrogance about him, which you need in GF's.
Great foot skills, tough, smart, he should definitely come in if he is not injured.

I think we got smashed in the midfield and we need more runners to increase depth and rotations. It was a tough game and we definitely need fresh legs next week. We need to more attacking aswell. When Riewoldt pushed up the ground we were missing another agile lead-up forward, which is where i would consider bringing in Stanley.

Not taking into account potential suspensions, my changes would be:

IN: McEvoy (Ruck), Stanley (Wing/Half Forward), Armitage (Defensive Forward).
OUT: Gardiner (injured), Peake (omitted), Eddy (omitted)

I would like to see Stanley play simply because I think he adds pace and is very hard to match up on. He looks really fit too. Geary is similar to Eddy in that he looks suspect on the big stage. However if either Gram or Dempster are injured/not fit enough, then Geary must be the logical replacement.

How's Tommy Walsh travelling?

[3rd generation saint]

I would have peake in ahead of Armitage.
Unfortunately Armo lacks leg speed, which is what we need against Collingwood.

[bakes]

No good having leg speed if:
(A) you can't get the ball
(B) your soft
(C) you freeze like a rabbit in head lights

Armo for me.

[saintsRrising]

we need more runners to increase depth and rotations

In that case why have you deleted two runners and brought none in?

[St. Luke]

I would have peake in ahead of Armitage.
Unfortunately Armo lacks leg speed, which is what we need against Collingwood.

I'd also have Peake.

[bakes]

I class Stanley as a runner at this point in his career.

And I would rather Armitage with fresh legs despite his lack of pace. After all we're here to play footy, not athletics.

I understand everybody wanting to stick up for Peake, and I don't want to be seen as attacking our own player. But he did look out of his depth, and the truth is we are here to win a grand final, and if that means hurting someones feelings in the process, so be it. It's a ruthless game. I'm sure Peake's a great guy.

[saintsRrising]

Armo, and I like him as a player, is an inside mid....who is handy around goals.

Stanley is forward come ruck (though lacks mass against good ruckman).

Argue for their inclusion in the 22 by all means, but as runners it makes fora week case.

Peake is amuch better than either of them fora running role.

[Dan Warna]

armitage is not soft.

[maverick]

What about Armo for Eddy?
Or even Steven for that matter?

[jonesy]

Peakes copping a fair barrage. Thought he was ok if he didn't butcher it(which he certainly did).However we need all the pace we can get,not dropping it.

Armo is not up to a GF I wouldn't have thought atm. Knee is still heavily bandaged at training

Eddy for mine was the one,was horrible

Steven would be a certain in for mine,but i see p66 said he had OP

[Bardon Saint]

I'd have armo in for mini. Mini plays his role well but armo could do the same job and has more upside.

[Quixote]

I think you'll find that Mini was excellent yesterday.

Gardy for Mac
Gram for Steven/Geary/Armitage

If Dempster is injured, two of the above will play.


IMHFO.

[eppo67]

If Dempster is injured Blake will go back to his spot down back. Doesn't upset structure at all as Big Ben and Kosi will ruck. Blake was a bit stuck without a matchup yesterday.
Big Mac in for Gardi and Geary for Dempster (if inj.) & Armo for Gram if he can't back up which l can't see happening.

[bergholt]

IN: McEvoy (Ruck), Stanley (Wing/Half Forward), Armitage (Defensive Forward).
OUT: Gardiner (injured), Peake (omitted), Eddy (omitted)

stanley on the wing would get about four possessions. he might be a good player in the future, but at this stage in his career he doesn't know how to work hard enough to find the ball. peake will bounce back, he had two good finals then one bad, can't drop him because of just one game.

i wouldn't be completely surprised if eddy slipped out for armo or geary, on the other hand, as he didn't put in a great performance. but you'd have to expect that he also could bounce back and play a better one.

[Thinline]

I think you'll find that Mini was excellent yesterday.

Gardy for Mac
Gram for Steven/Geary/Armitage

If Dempster is injured, two of the above will play.


IMHFO.

It may sound bizarre but forced changes could be the difference. If we make two or three, the fresh legs will count for something. And any and all of the players you've mentioned will not take backward step or be overawed.

[noob]

armo could be a bit like schneider play forward and move into the middle a bit

[lefty]

I think Armo will come in, knee should be alright now, I'd say the taping is precautionary, considering he was playing the last two games of the season. We got smashed in the midfield, and this is one guy we need. May take Eddy's spot.

McEvoy will probably come in for Gardiner

I think Gram will be out injured, and Geary will come in.

I think Dempster will be ok, if not, we're one man short in the backline?

Peake will hold his spot, we need his fast running, which he ran from our goal square to the other end of the ground to put on a spoil in Collingwood's forward 50 at a crucial stage, was very happy with that effort.


Stanley will be a smokey.... depending on matchup's. Maybe even be in instead of McEvoy.

Stevens maybe, but unlikely.

[bigred]

Armo would have been handy yesterday.

He isn't afraid of putting his head over the ball.

Can see Geary coming up.
Peake is safe. He will be better for the experience.

[saintspremiers]

would not even consider dropping Eddy, he is a tackling machine.

We may need close to 100 tackles again next week to win it......dunno if we can manage two 100 tackle games in a row though....

[rexy]

Did we really get smashed in the mid field?

Clearances were fairly even, contested ball and un contested ball fairly even, Hayes and Goddard were the best 2 players on the ground, Swan and Pendlebury well held.

I thought our midfield at the stoppages was quite good, it was our outside/running players like Joey Dal and Gram that were down IMO, we got beaten on the wings and flanks, not in the guts.

No ones talking about Miles? is he a smokey.

[lefty]

would not even consider dropping Eddy, he is a tackling machine.

We may need close to 100 tackles again next week to win it......dunno if we can manage two 100 tackle games in a row though....

Armo usually has our highest tackle count when he plays anyway, along with the fact that you can put him in the midfield or forward and kick a goal or two.

Eddy has certainly improved from last year, but we need some goals from Eddy and McQualter, we can't just leave it to four forwards.

[lefty]

Clearances were fairly even, contested ball and un contested ball fairly even, Hayes and Goddard were the best 2 players on the ground, Swan and Pendlebury well held.

To me, I think we lost the centre bounce clearance's which was crucial to whether the ball was in our forward or defensive 50, and it just seemed like collingwood was winning it.

Around the ground we did alright, but the centre square clearance's was a worry imo.

[Dr Spaceman]

would not even consider dropping Eddy, he is a tackling machine.

We may need close to 100 tackles again next week to win it......dunno if we can manage two 100 tackle games in a row though....

Armo usually has our highest tackle count when he plays anyway, along with the fact that you can put him in the midfield or forward and kick a goal or two.

Eddy has certainly improved from last year, but we need some goals from Eddy and McQualter, we can't just leave it to four forwards.

Love Armo and I have no doubt he'd perform very well if given the chance.

However I think we'll make few, if any, changes other than those enforced ones.

While fresh legs could provide an advantage disruptions to the team can be a disadvantage so it could cancel itself out.

[rexy]

Clearances were fairly even, contested ball and un contested ball fairly even, Hayes and Goddard were the best 2 players on the ground, Swan and Pendlebury well held.

To me, I think we lost the centre bounce clearance's which was crucial to whether the ball was in our forward or defensive 50, and it just seemed like collingwood was winning it.

Around the ground we did alright, but the centre square clearance's was a worry imo.

Not sure if you just see it that way because it supports Armitage as an in? Interestingly we won the hitout with Kosi and Blake rucking the 2nd half which is a really good effort. Not sure if any of the KPIs point to midfield grunt being our problem really.

[SaintPav]

There will probably be no more than 1 or 2 changes. Macca and maybe Geary in for Gards and someone else. It really depends how many changes the opposition make.