Joey's view on the young guys - worth a read

[mordi]

Couldn't see if this had been posted, Joey on his motivation, the motivation for young guys, and his view on the top 10 prospects, great read;

http://m.heraldsun.com.au/sport/afl/lei ... 7291205759

[matrix]

thnks mords
great read

[Junction Oval]

A good read. Joey is a great Club man. He should be very happy with yesterday's team effort.

Played on one leg in the last quarter.

[gringo]

I can see why he loves Billings. I watched them doing mid drills at training and his class just shone. He was moving like Dal santo with arrogant ease while others laboured. He looks like he will be a rolls royce.

[mordi]

Sinclair is the dark horse. As Joey says, has come from no where pre-season , came on against GWS and looked very classy.

[one point]

Sinclair is the dark horse. As Joey says, has come from no where pre-season , came on against GWS and looked very classy.

He looks like a classical centreman. He is very clean with both hand and foot, good vision, and doesn't mind the heat. He played a very good game against the Hawks in the nab cup. He looks like he could have a long and successful career

[FQF]

Sometimes it's those players who have no special features that jump out at you but just have all the basic skills solidly covered and can take their game comfortably to the next level that slip through the draft.

The league is filled with great players who began as rookies, Luke Breust was on show today, and I can see Sinclair being one of those.

Early days but the signs are good. Hoping for a full game this week.

[Saint wagga]

Interesting that he rated 10 players, weather that was his words or a bit of creative journalism i don't know, but I can't say guys like seb ross, mcKenzie, spencer white, nat wright, jim webster etc would be stoked by a senior player nominating 10 of the younger players he 'really rates'. It may also stoke the fire to go and prove that say a seb ross or a daniel mckenzie belong in that 10 as well...am i trying to hard to play armchair psychologist? thoughts?

[Razor]

Can someone copy and paste the article here. The hearldscrum won't let me read it.

[remboy]

Interesting that he rated 10 players, weather that was his words or a bit of creative journalism i don't know, but I can't say guys like seb ross, mcKenzie, spencer white, nat wright, jim webster etc would be stoked by a senior player nominating 10 of the younger players he 'really rates'. It may also stoke the fire to go and prove that say a seb ross or a daniel mckenzie belong in that 10 as well...am i trying to hard to play armchair psychologist? thoughts?

Probably reading a bit too much into it. He may have been asked to pick 10 of the young guys and write about them. You can mention everyone. Ross, Wright and Webster are probably past them anyone. They are nearly automatic selections when fit.

[saint-stu]

Can someone copy and paste the article here. The hearldscrum won't let me read it.

LEIGH Montagna felt the well dry-up last season.

When his young teammates’ form dipped and the thrashings began to mount, the 14-year veteran’s motivation started to wane.

Wading in the salt water on a Thursday night as part of his personal recovery, Montagna would ask himself: “Was it worth it? How fast can the club rebuild? Should I keep going?”

He enjoyed the pre-season, helping encourage and teach the youngsters.

But when you consume as much footy as this popular Saint, the bleak scorelines began to weigh him down.

“It is testing at times,” Montagna said.

“Not in the pre-season, it was in the season when we started going through (losses) that I battled for motivation.

“I’m 31. I’ve had 14 years (playing AFL) and I’m here to play finals, I’m here to win games.

“So, it was a question I was asking myself last year, because it was difficult and I did struggle with it.”

Rather than seek a trade, or perhaps even finish playing altogether, Montagna looked for ways to recharge his batteries and rekindle his desire to lead St Kilda back into finals contention.

So, he sought out North Melbourne champion and 382-gamer Brent Harvey for a couple of coffee chats, looked to his own captain, Nick Riewoldt, for inspiration and hoped the final stage of his career can pan out similarly to Hawthorn great Shane Crawford, who retired on a premiership.

Montagna knows the Saints still rely heavily upon him, perhaps even too much, to provide run and carry through the back half and wings.

He finished fourth in the best-and-fairest in 2014 and has shown tremendous consistency over his 232 games, finishing top-three in the club champion award five times.

But what Montagna gleaned most reflecting on last season, one of his most challenging, was that his overall football motivation must be based on more than scorelines.

“‘Rooey’ is probably the best one to look at, in terms of how to handle it, because he had such a good year last year considering (the team’s form),” he said.

“In some ways you’ve just got to take real pride in your own performance and learn to, in some ways, separate the scoreboard and the ladder position from your own pride and your own standards and what it is that you want to be seen as and stand for as a player.

“That’s something that I’ve focused on this pre-season, and got to be much better at this season.

“I’ve got to be patient and at times I know it’s going to be frustrating.”

He is convinced the club’s rebuild has gained significant traction under coach Alan Richardson. Montagna is also extremely optimistic about the level of talent that has been brought into Seaford in the past two drafts, in particular.

The two-time All-Australian midfielder feels the talent tide has turned, after a lean run through 2006-10 as the Saints came agonisingly close to a premiership, missing out in three Grand Finals.

But in the likes of last year’s No.1 pick Paddy McCartin and small forward Jack Lonie, for example, he can see the makings of something special.

“I’ve sort of said to a few people, I can already see a Riewoldt-Milne combination there,” he said.

“They are both going to kick a lot of goals and play a lot of footy together.

“So it’s starting to get very exciting with the young blokes, and (from) these last two drafts I think we have really got some quality, A-Grade talent.”

To help fast-track their progress, the club is in a strong position to help attract some top-line senior players from the trade and free agency pools, at season’s end.

Adelaide’s Rory Sloane was believed to be one on the club’s radar, but the superstar midfielder appears set to re-sign with the Crows.

“The plan was (to secure senior players) at the end of this year, depending on where the team is, but they will be actively pursuing some players,” Montagna said.

“OK, it might be a tough year this year, but you know what in 12-18-24 months, it can turn around pretty quickly.

“Once you start getting in some more elite players in your team, we might get a couple of free agents and one ruckman really steps up, and all of a sudden it can happen.

“You have to have that belief.”

Where this preseason has been different, and in a way surprising for Montagna, has been what the club has learned about its youngsters’ psychology.

Aside from the normal grind of training, the Saints have taken a deeper look into what their young players have been thinking and feeling throughout games, not just their actual physical performance.

“We do a lot of work on the skills and the craft and developing our game, but we have done a lot more work this preseason on the mental side of the game,” he said.

“This preseason was a good realisation for me that — and it’s actually why we probably had so many down periods last season — because I found out the young boys care so much.

“They actually get so worried about letting the team down, so worried about making mistakes and that it almost had a negative affect.

“Everyone goes into their shell and we stop moving the ball fast, because no one wants to make an error, so they play safe.

“We have some work to do with our ball use and polish up some things, but the endeavour of the boys and how eager they are to have a crack, I can’t fault them.

“I know it’s going to take time, but they’re doing the right things, so hopefully we can be patient and get everyone to gel at the same time.”



THE TALENTED TEN

Leigh Montagna rates the Saints’ youngsters.

JACK LONIE, 18

174cm, 70kg. Pick 41, 2014 draft

“Has been the standout for me of the young blokes (over pre-season). Love the way he goes about it, because he just has a crack. He is a tough little fella, who has really nice evasive skills. He has a bit of Stephen Milne about him. He can duck and weave and dodge tackles. But he uses it like Adam Schneider. He is composed and has a lovely left foot.”

PADDY McCARTIN, 18

194cm, 94kg. Pick 1, 2014 draft

“Great country fella. He is humble but has got that toughness in him. We know what we are going to get from Paddy, he is going to be a long-term player at the club. He will have to keep working on getting split from his opponent, but he has got timing. He knows when to come at the footy and has beautiful hands. A lovely kick.”

HUGH GODDARD, 18

196cm, 94kg. Pick 21, 2014 draft

“He is a Goddard, he is pretty intense, but that’s because he is eager and really keen to learn, almost to the point where you need to pull him back a bit, and say, ‘Relax, mate, you will be right’. He is driving the assistants mad, watching vision every day. He’s big, tough, has a crack. His strengths are going for the ball and his marks and reading it in the air.”

JACK BILLINGS, 19

184cm, 80kg. Pick 3, 2013 draft

“He is going to be the best of them. He will be elite midfielder, an A-grader for a long time. He has just got the class. He is a sponge for information and asks lots of questions and engages. “

BLAKE ACRES, 19

190cm, 87kg. Pick 19, 2013 draft

“He is a good kid, but raw. Probably needs a bit more polish, but he has got versatility and X-factor. He wins one-on-one contests below his knees or in the air. He does some things where you just go, ‘Wow, if he puts it all together, he is going to be really good’.”

ELI TEMPLETON, 19

18cm, 73kg. Pick 3, 2014 rookie draft

“In his first five games of last year he just played with some reckless abandon. This year he is starting to mature a bit more, think a bit more about his role. He will be an elite ball-winner, a very good wingman/half-forward, who breaks the lines, runs and uses it pretty well. Has a nice rounded game.”

Luke Dunstan is the next Lenny Hayes according to Leigh Montagna.
LUKE DUNSTAN, 20

184cm, 84kg. Pick 18, 2013 draft

“Will be a beauty. You already know what you are going to get from Luke. He is tough, clean, good with his hands, good in tight, and also his leadership. Next year, no doubt, he will be in our leadership group. He will be the Lenny Hayes of the club for the next 10 years. The solid citizen that everyone will admire and look up to.”

TIM MEMBREY, 20

188cm, 88kg. Delisted free agent

“I like ‘Skunk’. He is a quiet kid. Physically he is built and ready to go. He hasn’t ranted or raved and promised the world, he has just worked hard to earn respect, which he has obviously learnt from the Sydney way of doing it. He is a beautiful kick, he gets the ball, leads up to the footy.”

JACK SINCLAIR, 20

180cm, 80kg. Pick 1, 2015 rookie draft

“He has made huge leaps in the past three weeks. He just went about his business, he is a quiet kid, he didn’t really stand out in pre-season, there was nothing about him that jumped out, but he has had a couple of opportunities in the ones in the NAB Challenge and he has taken his opportunities. He has come from nowhere.”

JACK NEWNES, 22

184cm, 81kg. Pick 37, 2011 draft

“He is stepping up and gradually improving every year. He will play more midfield time and will keep polishing up his game. He is tough, wins the ball, has a good head on his shoulders. He is probably going to play a little bit of wing because we have got a lot of inside mids, so he will be that wingman who can run the lines, get a lot of ball. He needs to be an important player and he knows that and I think he will.”

[Megamaguire]

Thankyou Saint Stu for posting up Montagna's impressions of the young guys so far.
We are just one game into the 2015 season but it feels like exciting things are happening. I think it's good for such a senior and 'Clever' player as Stan Alves called Montagna on the radio commentry on the weekend to share his enthusiasms for the young guys in his midst.
For Montagna to state how much the young guys care about playing well for St. kilda is music to my ears. I'm very glad to hear that the coaches etc. are engaging with the psychology of the young guys. I suppose this shouldn't be a big surprise as AR already had a well respected reputation for successfully guiding and equipping young players to succeed at AFL level.

We deserve a bit of recruiting fortune and if Montagna is right then Sinclair & Lonie could well develop into very significant team members and compliment the more obvious talents that have arrived @ Moorabbin in the last couple of years.

I think Montagna is also letting those 10 he mentions know that he thinks they have the 'right stuff' -
a good vote of confidence from Monty.

Well done Joey Montagna.

G O S A I N T S !