Good news re Rd 1

[st_Trav_ofWA]

shame about Hogan was looking forward to seeing him in action ....

[Armoooo]

Didn't Fitzpatrick walk out at the end of 2012?

I'd imagine they''ll go with Spencer in the ruck and Gawn up front... Will probably need Howe to play CHF.

[PADDLEPOP1001]

They will be missing Garland,Jamar,Dawes,Clark,Hogan handy outs for us!

[Con Gorozidis]

They will be missing Garland,Jamar,Dawes,Clark,Hogan handy outs for us!

This evens things right up!
They will have an edge in the midfield but without their big fwds that gives us a big chance!

[st_Trav_ofWA]

wow for round one thats a lot of class sitting in the stands for both sides .... could very well be a draw

[PADDLEPOP1001]

+1

[White Winmar]

First to score wins!

[plugger66]

Didn't Fitzpatrick walk out at the end of 2012?

I'd imagine they''ll go with Spencer in the ruck and Gawn up front... Will probably need Howe to play CHF.

If Fitzpatrick is fit he is the best option up forward. I dont think Max has kicked a goal since his days in Ormond under 19's. This game may test my belief that midfields win games because Melbourne clearly have the better midfield and we clearlt have the better tall forwards.

[saintspremiers]

First to score wins!

Might be a close game but could be painful viewing.

Bit like a VFL final as far as standard is concerned. A million miles from that Saints Cats H&A clash at the same venue in 09

[gringo]

Didn't Fitzpatrick walk out at the end of 2012?

I'd imagine they''ll go with Spencer in the ruck and Gawn up front... Will probably need Howe to play CHF.

If Fitzpatrick is fit he is the best option up forward. I dont think Max has kicked a goal since his days in Ormond under 19's. This game may test my belief that midfields win games because Melbourne clearly have the better midfield and we clearlt have the better tall forwards.

I'm not convinced that melbourne does have that great an advantage there.
Cross couldn't get a game in a bottom three side because he is a butcher. We have Jones who can do that for us.
Nate Jones is a slightly inconsistent gun= Armo slightly behind but on his day can get BOG.
Trengove =Average player with little obvious strengths covered by Newnes or similar kid.
Grimes rebounding defender/mid= Geary or Webster
Toumpas, Viney, Salem= Wright, Saunders, Newnes, Ross.
Vince about the 5th best mid at the Crows= hard match up but probably tag him with someone like Curren or direct opposition for Savage.
Michie couldn't get a game at freo so probs similar to Savage again probably Curren could be a similar output.
Kennedy Harris is a small forward and there are a few others that can run through but not established or high out put types maybe TDL, Saunders, Curren.

It's being overstated how much better they are. They look gelled more than anything. Roos has them looking cohesive but the NAB is notoriously dangerous to use as a form guide.

Fitzpatrick is a very good ruck forward and will only get better. He is what we want Rhys to be. Gawn is very Stanley like in that he is a bit slight for ruck and not consistent due to injury.

[plugger66]

Didn't Fitzpatrick walk out at the end of 2012?

I'd imagine they''ll go with Spencer in the ruck and Gawn up front... Will probably need Howe to play CHF.

If Fitzpatrick is fit he is the best option up forward. I dont think Max has kicked a goal since his days in Ormond under 19's. This game may test my belief that midfields win games because Melbourne clearly have the better midfield and we clearlt have the better tall forwards.

I'm not convinced that melbourne does have that great an advantage there.
Cross couldn't get a game in a bottom three side because he is a butcher. We have Jones who can do that for us.
Nate Jones is a slightly inconsistent gun= Armo slightly behind but on his day can get BOG.
Trengove =Average player with little obvious strengths covered by Newnes or similar kid.
Grimes rebounding defender/mid= Geary or Webster
Toumpas, Viney, Salem= Wright, Saunders, Newnes, Ross.
Vince about the 5th best mid at the Crows= hard match up but probably tag him with someone like Curren or direct opposition for Savage.
Michie couldn't get a game at freo so probs similar to Savage again probably Curren could be a similar output.
Kennedy Harris is a small forward and there are a few others that can run through but not established or high out put types maybe TDL, Saunders, Curren.

It's being overstated how much better they are. They look gelled more than anything. Roos has them looking cohesive but the NAB is notoriously dangerous to use as a form guide.

Fitzpatrick is a very good ruck forward and will only get better. He is what we want Rhys to be. Gawn is very Stanley like in that he is a bit slight for ruck and not consistent due to injury.

That is a very one eyed view. We have our best 3 mids out and we struggled in that area last year with all 3 in. Cross would walk into the side in the first round. Our mids consist of Armo and and and. Sorry stuck on Armo.

[gringo]

I'm not convinced that melbourne does have that great an advantage there.
Cross couldn't get a game in a bottom three side because he is a butcher. We have Jones who can do that for us.
Nate Jones is a slightly inconsistent gun= Armo slightly behind but on his day can get BOG.
Trengove =Average player with little obvious strengths covered by Newnes or similar kid.
Grimes rebounding defender/mid= Geary or Webster
Toumpas, Viney, Salem= Wright, Saunders, Newnes, Ross.
Vince about the 5th best mid at the Crows= hard match up but probably tag him with someone like Curren or direct opposition for Savage.
Michie couldn't get a game at freo so probs similar to Savage again probably Curren could be a similar output.
Kennedy Harris is a small forward and there are a few others that can run through but not established or high out put types maybe TDL, Saunders, Curren.

It's being overstated how much better they are. They look gelled more than anything. Roos has them looking cohesive but the NAB is notoriously dangerous to use as a form guide.

Fitzpatrick is a very good ruck forward and will only get better. He is what we want Rhys to be. Gawn is very Stanley like in that he is a bit slight for ruck and not consistent due to injury.

That is a very one eyed view. We have our best 3 mids out and we struggled in that area last year with all 3 in. Cross would walk into the side in the first round. Our mids consist of Armo and and and. Sorry stuck on Armo.

They have done a patchwork on a genuinely terrible midfield. Michie, Cross etc couldn't get a game at their old clubs and Vince wasn't a top end talent. We will have a patchwork midfield too but I'm not comparing us to one of the top end clubs, we shouldn't be that much worse than them. We didn't struggle that much really as we were quite competitive against most teams and our defence really was our archilles heal. I watched that game against Sydney late in the season recently and it was our disfunctional back line and our inability to kick goals that let us down more than anything. We are going to be doing it tough but the idea that Melbourne is all of a sudden full of dominant mids is a bit one eyed the other way.

[plugger66]

I'm not convinced that melbourne does have that great an advantage there.
Cross couldn't get a game in a bottom three side because he is a butcher. We have Jones who can do that for us.
Nate Jones is a slightly inconsistent gun= Armo slightly behind but on his day can get BOG.
Trengove =Average player with little obvious strengths covered by Newnes or similar kid.
Grimes rebounding defender/mid= Geary or Webster
Toumpas, Viney, Salem= Wright, Saunders, Newnes, Ross.
Vince about the 5th best mid at the Crows= hard match up but probably tag him with someone like Curren or direct opposition for Savage.
Michie couldn't get a game at freo so probs similar to Savage again probably Curren could be a similar output.
Kennedy Harris is a small forward and there are a few others that can run through but not established or high out put types maybe TDL, Saunders, Curren.

It's being overstated how much better they are. They look gelled more than anything. Roos has them looking cohesive but the NAB is notoriously dangerous to use as a form guide.

Fitzpatrick is a very good ruck forward and will only get better. He is what we want Rhys to be. Gawn is very Stanley like in that he is a bit slight for ruck and not consistent due to injury.

That is a very one eyed view. We have our best 3 mids out and we struggled in that area last year with all 3 in. Cross would walk into the side in the first round. Our mids consist of Armo and and and. Sorry stuck on Armo.

They have done a patchwork on a genuinely terrible midfield. Michie, Cross etc couldn't get a game at their old clubs and Vince wasn't a top end talent. We will have a patchwork midfield too but I'm not comparing us to one of the top end clubs, we shouldn't be that much worse than them. We didn't struggle that much really as we were quite competitive against most teams and our defence really was our archilles heal. I watched that game against Sydney late in the season recently and it was our disfunctional back line and our inability to kick goals that let us down more than anything. We are going to be doing it tough but the idea that Melbourne is all of a sudden full of dominant mids is a bit one eyed the other way.

Of course they have dominant mids over us. You say Michie couldnt get a game but if Weller wasnt suspended and actually on the list he would be playing. Vince is as good as Armo then they have jones. You compare Viney to some of our younger players. Well we would be doing cartwheels if we had him in our side. He is clearly better than any of our younger players. Trengove is clearly better than Newnes. he had a poor year last year but he wasnt made captain for no reason. Toumpas is at least lever with our best young mid and maybe better. If you say the mids are just about even then you should back us because our forward line is clearly better than theirs. Sounds like we are the bet of the round.

[gringo]

I'm not convinced that melbourne does have that great an advantage there.
Cross couldn't get a game in a bottom three side because he is a butcher. We have Jones who can do that for us.
Nate Jones is a slightly inconsistent gun= Armo slightly behind but on his day can get BOG.
Trengove =Average player with little obvious strengths covered by Newnes or similar kid.
Grimes rebounding defender/mid= Geary or Webster
Toumpas, Viney, Salem= Wright, Saunders, Newnes, Ross.
Vince about the 5th best mid at the Crows= hard match up but probably tag him with someone like Curren or direct opposition for Savage.
Michie couldn't get a game at freo so probs similar to Savage again probably Curren could be a similar output.
Kennedy Harris is a small forward and there are a few others that can run through but not established or high out put types maybe TDL, Saunders, Curren.

It's being overstated how much better they are. They look gelled more than anything. Roos has them looking cohesive but the NAB is notoriously dangerous to use as a form guide.

Fitzpatrick is a very good ruck forward and will only get better. He is what we want Rhys to be. Gawn is very Stanley like in that he is a bit slight for ruck and not consistent due to injury.

That is a very one eyed view. We have our best 3 mids out and we struggled in that area last year with all 3 in. Cross would walk into the side in the first round. Our mids consist of Armo and and and. Sorry stuck on Armo.

They have done a patchwork on a genuinely terrible midfield. Michie, Cross etc couldn't get a game at their old clubs and Vince wasn't a top end talent. We will have a patchwork midfield too but I'm not comparing us to one of the top end clubs, we shouldn't be that much worse than them. We didn't struggle that much really as we were quite competitive against most teams and our defence really was our archilles heal. I watched that game against Sydney late in the season recently and it was our disfunctional back line and our inability to kick goals that let us down more than anything. We are going to be doing it tough but the idea that Melbourne is all of a sudden full of dominant mids is a bit one eyed the other way.

Of course they have dominant mids over us. You say Michie couldnt get a game but if Weller wasnt suspended and actually on the list he would be playing. Vince is as good as Armo then they have jones. You compare Viney to some of our younger players. Well we would be doing cartwheels if we had him in our side. He is clearly better than any of our younger players. Trengove is clearly better than Newnes. he had a poor year last year but he wasnt made captain for no reason. Toumpas is at least lever with our best young mid and maybe better. If you say the mids are just about even then you should back us because our forward line is clearly better than theirs. Sounds like we are the bet of the round.[/quote]

http://www.footywire.com/afl/footy/pp-m ... jack-viney
http://www.footywire.com/afl/footy/pp-s ... stian-ross

We only have Rooey who is an established forward- who are our other gun forwards? How is it clearly better. Rooey is probably only good for 2 to 3 goals on a good day these days and Maister might beat up on them again but we have no milne no kosi to stretch the defence. They are missing two of their best forwards and a potential kid who has kicked about 30 goals in the VFL. Average disposals are 15.7 compared to 17.2 both played 13 games so far. Viney is a high potential player and if we could swap now we probably would but it's all based on their potential. I wouldn't say he's offering elite football right now. That is probably the only comparable player we have as they are both mids. Wright, Saunders, Newnes are all different players and have not been given mid field time.

Mav weller would play if available but I don't get the point he played at GCS. Mitchie didn't get played. Trengove was made captain because they had no one else. He is one of the most uninspiring players I have seen. Toumpas looked out of his depth last year here is Toumpas compared to Wright - Wright has better or similar stats.http://www.footywire.com/afl/footy/ft_p ... 1=S&fid2=S

[dragit]

We only have Rooey who is an established forward- who are our other gun forwards?

Let me run a few of these big names past you...

Maister
Dennis-Lane
Siposs
Murdoch
Lee
White

Reads like an All Australian forward line doesn't it?





Or perhaps all waffle.

[plugger66]

Proves words mean nothing. better to just show common sense and watch games. You may think the mids are similar but people who are unbaised completely disagree with you. Tell me our startings mids this game and who they will change with. Wingers are mids. I see it as Armo, Geary, Hickey, CJ, Savage and Wright. Interchanging with Newnes, Ross and Dunstan. Schneider is probably the only other who could help out. No depth and not much experience and no pace and some with average skills.

There starting mids will be jones, Cross, Vince and Spencer Tyson and Trengove. They can interchange with Watts, Byrnes, Toumpas, Viney, Michie, Blease and Matt Jones. Much more experience and better youngsters and more depth.

If you add Hayes, Joey and Steven it looks much better but was still very poor last year.

[saintsRrising]

wow for round one thats a lot of class sitting in the stands for both sides ....

Maybe the tanking race is on in earnest

The only good thing about the wooden Spoon is that it comes with the No1 pick. No2 will be more than handy this year though.

[WellardSaint]

If we lose Rd One, I wouldn't chuck out the baby right away,
need to see how the year unfolds.
GT on Twitter says we will be competing with the Dees for the Spoon.
But he's biased, some of his comments are Finey-esque in their bitterness.
Hope he's wrong.
I don't want him being the go-to man for players to whinge to, a shoulder to cry on.
If he had any sense, he would tell those players to man-up and harden up.
You can't pander to their insecurities, it may result in sub-standard performances and quash any positive thoughts.
Attitude can be influenced by people like GT saying
"yes, I feel your pain, brother, Seaford is rubbish, the coaching is horrible,
the physio is a drunk, the property manager is a crack-head, the new CEO is a loser, the Prez is a tosser...yadayadayada"

[sverik25]

I have to agree, with all of our outs in the midfield Melbourne are comfortably ahead of us in that area. But we're in with a chance now that their forward will probably be even more impotent than ours. Not expecting us to win but I will wait and see.

[saintbrat]

A heavy collision between Demons Jack Grimes and James Frawley late in the final term ended a disappointing afternoon for the Demons.


However, thankfully from the Demons point of view, both Frawley (ribs) and Grimes (cut head) appear to be fine.

http://www.afl.com.au/news/2014-03-08/h ... s-a-lesson

[whiskers3614]

Oh NO, we hurt Frawley
He may NEVER come over to us now!

[degruch]

Hang on a minute...are people actually suggesting we're worse than Melbourne? Hell, things are bad!

[samuraisaint]

Well, we're about to find out once and for all just how good some of our youngsters are. With that forward line, The ball is going to keep rebounding out back into the centre or down through the wings. Without Lenny, Joey, Jack Steven and Dal, these young guys like Newnes, Ross, Dunstan, Billings and Siposs are going to see plenty of the ball. And you can add young Tommy Curren to that list. They are going to get a lot of opportunities to get their hands on it, and hopefully they can just gel on the day. Win, lose or draw, the Dees are not going to have it all their own way, that's for sure. All the outs in round 1 is probably a blessing in disguise because they are going to get their chance. Ineould like to see Longer rucking, switching with Hickey in the forward line. We could do alright, I reckon.

[busso mick]

We only have Rooey who is an established forward- who are our other gun forwards?

Let me run a few of these big names past you...

Maister
Dennis-Lane
Siposs
Murdoch
Lee
White

Reads like an All Australian forward line doesn't it?





Or perhaps all waffle.

Not quite - Maister, Dennis-Lane and Lee are WAFL only.

[Con Gorozidis]

People will go nuts on me but I think we actually need to finish below Melbourne.

They already have Viney, Hogan,Tyson, Toumpas, Kelly on their books. They dont deserve another number 1 pick.
So I hope we beat them by 10 goals in rd 1 but still somehow finish below them at years end (conflicting as that is).