Acres rumoured in Hill trade.

[Wayne42]

So Sam Edmunds reads Saintsational

G'day Sam!!

I thought that the other day when i heard Edmonds on SEN, quoting directly from Saintsational i thought.

[Wayne42]

Gold Coast have said Ben King will NOT be traded.

[Ghost Like]

When a club wins so few games it stands to reason that club has so few match winners.

When Blake Acres is in our worst six, I guarantee we will have a lot of match winners as we will be winning a lot of matches.

I don't want him part of the Hill trade, I think that trade can happen with a third party & exchange of draft picks. Perhaps that's a tad optimistic.

[CQ SAINT]

Everybody knows that guns like Acres only need one good quarter to be a matchwinner. That's why we have won so many games and played finals regularly recently. He is a professional 19th man, waiting for clutch periods, hard at it in 30 minute bursts but unfortunately injury prone and he has just been warming up for 6 years and it's all Richos fault for favouring that other champion Mav Weller.

[Yorkeys]

Point well taken. The squad has known the use of "unacceptable" in summaries has been meaningless, and they know which players only turn up one game in five and those that will never have the required skills but never get dropped. They also know the footy department does not have the right stuff to be ruthless and cull those that don't always try and those that just don't have the talent to get a side into finals. They got comfy with a lame duck coaching scenario. You have to hope like billyo that Ratten sees there is no downside to wholesale change or that any other new coach does. Too many put in only when it suits. Some bodies on the ramparts will focus preseason minds.

[CarlD]

Too many put in only when it suits. Some bodies on the ramparts will focus preseason minds.

I'm picturing scenes from Games of Thrones

[bigcarl]

there comes a time when 'potential' becomes 'wasted potential'
acres is at that tipping point.
do we trade him for one who has already realised his, or hold and hope.
and if we're not prepared to trade anything but lemons that is all we'll get in return.

I want to see how he goes under a new coach for a season.

[Saintmatt]

there comes a time when 'potential' becomes 'wasted potential'
acres is at that tipping point.
do we trade him for one who has already realised his, or hold and hope.
and if we're not prepared to trade anything but lemons that is all we'll get in return.

I want to see how he goes under a new coach for a season.

Likewise. The funny thing is that like a lot of ppl - I was right off Newnes (and have been for a long time) but as soon as Ratten came in - he gave him a defined role of locking down the oppo's best running defender. I thought he did that admirably until the old Newnes turned up for the Schytney game and let Lloyd tear him/us a new one. That speaks to me of being given a clear, unambiguous role and one that suits the player's strengths.

I'd like to think Acres would improve if he's given a role that suits his strengths with clear, simple instructions on how to execute. He has a big body, runs well and runs weird angles that opens things up a bit (as distinct from the rest of our small-ish, waddling, left-sided mids). And he's an excellent kick for goal.

But ... if there's no role for him - happy for us to get something whilst we can.

[To the top]

What I do know for a fact is that Ratten was surprised at the lack of understanding among our younger players of the game plan (if, indeed, there was one)

That the education was lacking

That said the Club was a pleasant environment with the correct mix between work and enjoyment - and different to Clarkson at Hawthorn where the players pleaded to keep him off the interchange bench because of his intensity

But the surprise was the lack of direction to our younger players

As an extension of that, and this is my speculation, Clark and Coffield came into their own post Ratten as Senior Coach

It seemed to me to join the dots

You have to use your skills to win a footy match - not just rely on fulfilling a role

My view was that Acres and others were used in roles and that exclusive focus was wrong in terms of player development and in regards team success

So we had the likes of Weller, Longer and even Geary backed in along with others (Geary now under pressure from Clark and Coffield which to me was the requirement for St Kilda to improve)

[takeaway]

What I do know for a fact is that Ratten was surprised at the lack of understanding among our younger players of the game plan (if, indeed, there was one)

That the education was lacking

That said the Club was a pleasant environment with the correct mix between work and enjoyment - and different to Clarkson at Hawthorn where the players pleaded to keep him off the interchange bench because of his intensity

But the surprise was the lack of direction to our younger players

As an extension of that, and this is my speculation, Clark and Coffield came into their own post Ratten as Senior Coach

It seemed to me to join the dots

You have to use your skills to win a footy match - not just rely on fulfilling a role

My view was that Acres and others were used in roles and that exclusive focus was wrong in terms of player development and in regards team success

So we had the likes of Weller, Longer and even Geary backed in along with others (Geary now under pressure from Clark and Coffield which to me was the requirement for St Kilda to improve)

I think Clark was hitting his straps prior to Ratten, game vs Tigers very good, also vs Cats, Richo's last game. Had a good run since Tigers. Coffield got back in the side just before Ratten took over, but has certainly improved since. Maybe Acres was switched around too much, and not clear on his role, but he appears to me to be one of those inconsistent types. Hopefully consistency will come, and please not with another side.

[Saintmatt]

What I do know for a fact is that Ratten was surprised at the lack of understanding among our younger players of the game plan (if, indeed, there was one)

That the education was lacking

That said the Club was a pleasant environment with the correct mix between work and enjoyment - and different to Clarkson at Hawthorn where the players pleaded to keep him off the interchange bench because of his intensity

But the surprise was the lack of direction to our younger players

As an extension of that, and this is my speculation, Clark and Coffield came into their own post Ratten as Senior Coach

It seemed to me to join the dots

You have to use your skills to win a footy match - not just rely on fulfilling a role

My view was that Acres and others were used in roles and that exclusive focus was wrong in terms of player development and in regards team success

So we had the likes of Weller, Longer and even Geary backed in along with others (Geary now under pressure from Clark and Coffield which to me was the requirement for St Kilda to improve)

I'd say the biggest threat to Geary is Patton. It's surely not McKenzie - not a good defender and as poor of a kick. Patton on the other hand is a ripper small rebounding defender who seems to have taken to the Geary position with relish. Makes good decisions and executes very safely by foot.

[Drew21]

What I do know for a fact is that Ratten was surprised at the lack of understanding among our younger players of the game plan (if, indeed, there was one)

That the education was lacking

That said the Club was a pleasant environment with the correct mix between work and enjoyment - and different to Clarkson at Hawthorn where the players pleaded to keep him off the interchange bench because of his intensity

But the surprise was the lack of direction to our younger players

As an extension of that, and this is my speculation, Clark and Coffield came into their own post Ratten as Senior Coach

It seemed to me to join the dots

You have to use your skills to win a footy match - not just rely on fulfilling a role

My view was that Acres and others were used in roles and that exclusive focus was wrong in terms of player development and in regards team success

So we had the likes of Weller, Longer and even Geary backed in along with others (Geary now under pressure from Clark and Coffield which to me was the requirement for St Kilda to improve)

I think Clark was hitting his straps prior to Ratten, game vs Tigers very good, also vs Cats, Richo's last game. Had a good run since Tigers. Coffield got back in the side just before Ratten took over, but has certainly improved since. Maybe Acres was switched around too much, and not clear on his role, but he appears to me to be one of those inconsistent types. Hopefully consistency will come, and please not with another side.

Ever since he got smashed in the north Melbourne game he has been brilliant it’s like he realised he belonged after that hit

[To the top]

I still look at his start to 2018, from Round 1, then the impact of injury including games missed culminating in a late start to 2019 (so not considered for Round 1)

Yes, he has to work on his overhead marking and using his body in those contests - but I speculate that he did not play 2019 at 100% off the problems of 2018 (hence his usage in the F50, occasionally on a wing and less occasionally as a mid, lining up in the centre square).

Was it his groin in 2018, because they can take time whilst not actually costing you games?

Sometimes your analysis needs to go a bit deeper than the obvious of "he was streaming toward goal and did not use the ball to advantage" and where it was my view that he did use the ball to advantage but the small forward who was the target could not protect the space over the back to mark and run into an open goal which Gresham would have done and did do given the same opportunity by the disposal.

People see things differently.

[ausfatcat]

We don’t have a second round dp

future second rnd is what I meant