Changes for next week

[Fugazi1966]

Really really really need Ryder back.

Catching up with my family for 2 weeks is long enough for me to want to go back to work

[bangaulegend]

Really really really need Ryder back.

Yeah we do but when you are relying on a bloke that's realistically playing his last year & with no certainty he will be back then we are in trouble

[Fugazi1966]

What do you mean by No certainty to be back?
Is there some talk of him giving it away?

[shanegrambeau]

Carlisle has to come in .... likely for Webster if he doesnt come up ..... if he does then Highmore out for Jake

Crouch in for one of Lonie Higgo or Butler

Will be great if Ryder comes back if so then Hunter out - Draper was injured so might not play - unfortunately we have no back up so if Ryder is still out then we are still forced to go with Hunter & McKernan

Yeah..I second that kind of plan.

We missed Carlisle last year and we didn’t seem to learn anything.

If Carlisle has a pissy attitude we just ride with it. (Afterall Douglas Howard only got the gig with us because we let him pick his position - and Carlisle knows this)

But I want to know why their kicking was so poor
Why we had no targets and held onto the ball allowing Melbourne to run back early.

[Impatient Sainter]

Its a game with a full side and 7 day break we should have won, but we simply had too many passengers. Im sure Ratts will give them plenty and they wil, be up again for the Bombers game. We will need to win that as then we start to play the real sides in - Eagles, Richmond and Port away.

[Yorkeys]

I am 204cm and 104kg. My change for next week: take 1 mark, or more if another opportunity arises. Small steps.

[bangaulegend]

They were all over us like a cheap suit pretty much from the get go & for a brief moment we got the ascendancy but didn't last long they were harder & more composed when it mattered I just don't get why we didn't turn up considering the occasion . Where we over whelmed by the moment?

[bigcarl]

Our structure is very poor. Carlisle has to come in along with a Marshall and Ryder ASAP.

[Toy Saint]

Webster will probably be out next week injured, otherwise he should be dropped.

Brad Hill needs to be dropped just to send a message and to protect our culture.

Zac Jones was putrid tonight and deserves to be dropped.

Our midfield was smashed, partially by Max Gawn against Hunter

Brad Crouch should be back in the side and should add grunt. McKenzie & Dunstan may lack the talent of Hill & Jones but they will give 100%, and I'dlike to keep Bytel.

Our rucks are depleted, but Essendon has lost Draper so next week may be easier. We could drop Hunter and ask Mckernan to ruck and Josh Battle to play forward and pinch-hit in the ruck. We should consider bringing Carlsile back if his attitude is right.

The small forwards Butler, Lonie & Higgins were crap tonight, and if Kent is ready perhaps one of those should also be dropped.

[ace]

I wouldn’t drop Hill...as much as I bagged him. He’s way better than some. He kicked piss poorly. But he did present and link- or attempt to-,


Don’t drop Hill.

But Hill only gained 557metres
He was beaten by Howard who gained 769m
Petracca 672m
Salem 609m
May 595m

Surely you need to drop one of your most valuable players because he missed targets who were too lazy and failed to get any separation on their opponents.

[Saint_Singapore]

How has Jack Sinclair survived a flogging.. set the tone early with some big tunrovers and continued all night

[saynta]

They were all over us like a cheap suit pretty much from the get go & for a brief moment we got the ascendancy but didn't last long they were harder & more composed when it mattered I just don't get why we didn't turn up considering the occasion . Where we over whelmed by the moment?

Probably. We usually stuff up the marque games.

[axcellence]

Webster... is likely out with a broken jaw.

Crouch in for Higgins
Clavarino in for Webster

Saints should drop Hill to send a message. Won't happen though.

[minneapolis]

They were all over us like a cheap suit pretty much from the get go & for a brief moment we got the ascendancy but didn't last long they were harder & more composed when it mattered I just don't get why we didn't turn up considering the occasion . Where we over whelmed by the moment?

Probably. We usually stuff up the marque games.

Oh my god. Why do we always play so poorly in the big media games? China, NZ(x3), Anzac, etc. Very disappointing.

And the inside 50 entries today was like looking in the Richo mirror.

I can be pessimistic, but I don't feel that way tonight. No legs from half time onwards. Coffield, Clark, Battle, Steele, Webster, Jones, Lonie, Higgins, McKernan and Highmore all looked stuffed at times. Only Ross, Steele and Long looked as though they had some steam. Someone took the out the teams batteries half-way through the second quarter.

Go have a shower and some sleep boys. And flog the Bombers next week.

[spert]

When you change a winning team, things like last night happen.
Webster out for DMac
One of our small forwards for Kent
Jones out for Crouch
Bytel needs to stay in.

Can't see much else happening- we have no other rucks than Alabakis

[Waltzing St Kilda]

If Kent is the answer then someone asked the wrong question. We're stuffed.

[Vortex]

There better be a damn farging fantastic reason Carsile isn't being picked.

Heads should role if it is a non footy reason.

[terry smith rules]

Whoever was supposed to be playing on Salem should be out this week

It was like a broken record

Gawn to Oliver to Salem running through the wing

I thought Lonie gave much more than either Higgins or Butler

Remember Lonie got at least two free kicks to him that were paid advantage, I like that he wins free kicks

[samoht]

All that high priced recruiting the last couple of years and we are still crap, still St Kilda-esque.

We are still St Kilda-esque. I agree.

Our recruiting has always been and continues to be a problem at St Kilda.

Over the years, we have rarely recruited with team balance and quality in mind.

We keep doubling down on average and recycled small forwards, half back flankers and ruckmen, too many average inside midfileders and keep expecting a different result.

We need to recruit with a plan - I should be in charge of recruiting.

[perfectionist]

Carlisle has to come in .... likely for Webster if he doesnt come up ..... if he does then Highmore out for Jake

Highmore might have been injured anyway. Either that, or he was benched, since his TOG wound up on 70%. He was barely sighted, if at all, in the last.

He started off OK but lost confidence as the game went on - he wasn't the only one. He needs to be played as he has potential - and height.

[samuraisaint]

We will be playing an injury decimated Essendon if they don't get Hurley back.
Shiels, Heppel, Draper, Hurley, and Jy Caldwell could all be out. They'll get Stringer back, but he might be a bit underdone.

Obviously I'd like to see Carlisle in to the side, along with Crouch, both of whom will be right to play physically, and I really hope that Paddy Ryder returns from SA as he will be physically right to go as well. Those three are fit to play and will make a power of difference I would've thought.

We really need to get our structures right. You can get away without a recognised ruckman in a typhoon played on a lake, but on a dry deck with no weather conditions like Docklands you need a Centre Half Back, and a Ruckman, especially against some of the sides we are going to be playing after Essendon.

As previously mentioned Essendon have more injury problems than we do, so we can cover our ruck problem this week I think, but as another poster mentioned, after Essendon we play West Coast, Richmond and Port in Adelaide. If we go into those matches without the right structures we could lose them all.

[Vazelos]

We played a tough game, on the road, in the rain with a short break.
It was a 50/50 we would pull up fine..or show up sluggish.

The whole team was average, last weeks hero Membrey was average, in general the team looked half a pace mentally & physically off the ball.

We aren't rubbish and the season will be what it was always going to be...up&down with us just scrapping into the 8.

The problem is too many fantasy lovers think one decent season makes a GF legacy team.

We need at least 1 -2 more years of development plus another:
KP Defender, Ruck, Inside & outside mid, Forward.

Membrey is not the KPP we MUST have in the Forward line to support King. Membrey is good and valuable but his whole career is one or two good games followed by 2-3 quiet ones.

Hill will never be the recruit we need until we get a mid who can shovel the ball out to him. Hill doesn't defend, Hill doesn't get his hands dirty with tackles, down and under or 1%'s. He doesn't crash through packs or twist out of tackles... he IS prolific at receiving a ball, seeing space, accelerating like mad and accurate disposal to advantage ( except tonight lol).

We need to see players strengths and provide support for them to perform.

I wouldn't change much but Bytel should've played and stay in the game. We need a mid bull so whoever has to come in...where's the 2012 David Armitage or 2016 Jack Stevens when ya need him....avg 6 clearances 6 tackles...we 2 of these types busting packs. Bytel will be one, he needs games. Kent can be a bull but doesn't play it enough.

We really need our rucks on the field & healthy. We lost in the midfield today.

Very good post however I would add the following-
You are not going to take on the AA Ruckman with Crows and Essendon discards.
Place Marshall and Ryder in that team plus Crouch its a different game. I also hear the wet ground last week and one day less played a factor also.
Taking out the “ excuses and/or reasons” we still have work to do and we may not make that natural progress that everyone thinks will naturally happens as you said quite accurately.
Ryder is not a long term proposition and that’s a concern. We have taken a decade to try and find a replacement for McEvoy that trade should go down as what never to do again the scarcity of this type of player is way too difficult to try and be cute with strategies.
So another Ruckman is needed.
CHB is a mid term concern.
Marshall will give our forward line the structure we need alongside King who really looks lost playing against May he will take time to become the player we need.
They have a huge decision to make end of year in the midfield even with Crouch in there.
Bytel Crouch and Steele should be enough grunt.
We still may lack another elite mid.
I think we go hard for Josh Kelly end of year.
Roberton salary plus clear the decks with a few others and make decisions on the 3 coming out of contract- Billings Ross and Dunstan.
Don’t pay Billings too much he is not elite.
Dunstan needs to go.
Ross is on top money having signed as our premier mid under Richo and a huge decision needs to be made if we can snag Kelly.

[bigcarl]

Send Paddy Ryder an SOS

[cwrcyn]

Out: Webster (inj), McKernan
In: Crouch, Carlisle

Crouch to the midfield
Highmore to replace Webster at half back
Carlisle to CHB
Battle to play forward in place of McKernan

I think we need to end the experiment of playing Battle on a wing. It's either key forward or key back for him. He's shown he has the craft and talent for both positions. With his huge engine he can work over an opposition key defender.

McKernan is very slow, and while he keeps an opposition defender occupied he gets total exploited if that defender can run.

[bigcarl]

Battle to play forward in place of McKernan

Agree with this. At least until Marshall and Ryder are back. Forward line lacks structure and needs someone big-bodied and tough to help out King. Plus Battle loves a goal.