Hickey, Bruce and Hind

[CURLY]

I’ve gone back through the thread

Curly posted it

He sure did, Mr Football himself

Got that bex into you Oracle?

Should come watch the boys play Oracle. Tough first up with Jack Geary on crutches.The family is cursed. See what I did there Oracle.

Still waiting Mr bulls***

Go to bed you cantankerous old squeezer.

You see, I actually know the answer.

I wrote I was on the board of a private school for 6 years and you are so f****** dumb you think being on the board of a private school means you work there!

For the record I have great admiration for educators and administrators in the schooling system, but I have never worked within it.

Do the board members of StKilda all work at the club?
Do the board members at Listed companies all work there?

Hahaha you are the dumbest retarded c*** I’ve ever encountered

Sweet dreams Curly, I think you had a few too many head knocks in your 600 AFL senior matches.

Oracle I hate correcting you but it was only 386. Night Oracle.

[B.M]

Wow

That escalated really quickly!!!

[CURLY]

Wow

That escalated really quickly!!!

He gets tired and cranky by Friday. Way past his bedtime the old city dweller.

[B.M]

Just wanted to reference Ron Burgundy

[Joffa Burns]

Wow

That escalated really quickly!!!

No, you don’t understand the dynamic.

[SaintPav]

Hind playing another very good game for The Dopers tonight.

Keeping Papley quiet and running off him and setting up 3 goals with pinpoint passes to leading forwards.

Wasn’t a fan of Hind at St Kilda and not unhappy at all he left, but geez he’s a natural off half back and backs himself in and takes on the game.

We obviously played him out of his best position.

Unfortunately took the game on a little too much in the critical moments of the last quarter - hit a couple of swans lace out. But you’re right - looks much more natural coming off the half back line in 4th or 5th gear.

That's the problem with those types of players, they are one dimensional, looks good early in a game when the game is there to be taken on and chickens without heads can create havoc and confusion in the opposition, (and in your own teammates), but when the game is in the balance and you need to defend...not so much.

Imagine having a headless chicken in a close final.

Interesting discussion. Not saying this is wrong at all but isn't that what we were crying out for in 2010?

Yes agree, I think history proves we were crying out for some balance between defence and offence, clearly we had defence perfected. Hind is arguably a poor mans Milne, would two Milnes in the 2010 team have got us across the line in the GF?

I don't think so.

Our stifling play and set patterns may have been a strength but they were also a weakness, particularly against equally matched teams in close finals. The players just didn't have the wherewithal to “pull the trigger” and take a risk to break a game open.

[SAINT-LEE]

And Acres.

Lol
This week:

Acres dropped.

Bruce faces an actual defender vs brisbane:
- 1 goal 3 marks, none contested...so far.

Hickey just beat Peter Wright, he had a decent game again.

[Scollop]

And Acres.

Lol
This week:

Acres dropped.

Bruce faces an actual defender vs brisbane:
- 1 goal 3 marks, none contested...so far.

Hickey just beat Peter Wright, he had a decent game again.

Couldn’t believe how many times Hickey was caught holding the ball or incorrectly disposed it in that last quarter and the umpires put the whistle away. Should have been 3 frees paid against him

The umps might be infatuated with Hickeys long locks...or is it his shitty new tatts.

Overall he did play a serviceable game

[SAINT-LEE]

And Acres.

Lol
This week:

Acres dropped.

Bruce faces an actual defender vs brisbane:
- 1 goal 3 marks, none contested...so far.

Hickey just beat Peter Wright, he had a decent game again.

Couldn’t believe how many times Hickey was caught holding the ball or incorrectly disposed it in that last quarter and the umpires put the whistle away. Should have been 3 frees paid against him

The umps might be infatuated with Hickeys long locks...or is it his shitty new tatts.

Overall he did play a serviceable game

His tatts had my nipples twitching for sure :0)

[saynta]

And Acres.

Lol
This week:

Acres dropped.

Bruce faces an actual defender vs brisbane:
- 1 goal 3 marks, none contested...so far.

Hickey just beat Peter Wright, he had a decent game again.

Couldn’t believe how many times Hickey was caught holding the ball or incorrectly disposed it in that last quarter and the umpires put the whistle away. Should have been 3 frees paid against him

The umps might be infatuated with Hickeys long locks...or is it his shitty new tatts.

Overall he did play a serviceable game

His tatts had my nipples twitching for sure :0)

Why? Although there is nothing wrong with that.

[samuraisaint]

And just to be clear - I am not suggesting we don't have players the equal of these three blokes - my point is that we shouldn't scapegoat players after a couple of bad games. Sometimes our talented, gifted players have to be backed in and allowed time to mesh as a team. Much like we did in 1997 for those who remember.

I think Ratten and the selection committee made the right choices this week.

[samuraisaint]

After last night I am bumping this thread.

Last night was a real 1985 job. We can now be sure of one thing - we will now be the Sunday twilight team in the second half of the season.

Our centreline missing both of our ruckmen, Ryder and Marshall, plus Jones, Hannebery, and Gresham was completely uncompetitive.

When I heard Jones was out, I thought it would be tough anyway, and when I saw the number 41 in the ruck I thought 10 goal loss coming up and said as much at the time. We are simply undermanned and outgunned and I fear what will happen next weekend in Adelaide against Port. I mean last night Pickett was playing in the ruck and winning his position. This took me way back to Trent Ormond-Allen beating us in ruck contests at VFL Park in 1999.

With Paton and Geary out for the season we are very exposed down back too.

We really miss having the flexibility of having a ruckman actually contesting in the ruck contests, and the other playing a resting tall role in the forward line who can actually kick goals. Last week we saw the difference having a recognised ruckman can have, even if he's only out there half the time.

I would like Frawley to come in as soon as he is able to to help out in the backline.

We can't keep capitulating like this, but unfortunately until we get our centreline back into the team I fear we will see more. A lot more.

I would be tempted to play both Ryder and Marshall next week, so that we can at least be competitive. Rush Frawley in so that we have some flexibility with how we use Carlisle, and start developing any good young players, Highmore, Alison, etc., we have at Sandringham, so that they can actually develop as a team down there.

It is not time too 'play the kids'. If we do that we will have a record score posted against us. Bytel is best 22 now, so he stays in. King is best 22 so he stays in. Higgins is till young but should play every week. But we are going to need some real experience against Port Adelaide to be able to just compete.

And when Hannebery is right, rush him back in too. Even if we have to manage his minutes in the games at the beginning.

And then hope like hell that once they're back, they stay healthy so that they can combine as a team.

POST EDITED FOR ACCURACY

[saynta]

Bytel out for the season? News to me. Think you might have meant Paton.

[samuraisaint]

Sydney missing Hickey atm - since he went off injured half way through last week's match v GWS, they are getting smashed in the ruck and around the ground.

And I see Hind has been chosen as one of the best pick ups in terms of value this season so far.

Bruce influential in the 'Dogs 6 goal win against the Giants last night too.

We have to stop scapegoating players and back them, and at times realise it is our lack of development and structures in place which hamper our team.
In particular the career stalling alignment with Sandringham which is a massive hurdle in our attempt to become a regular finalist again.

My OP still stands.

[B.M]

Bruce was more than decent at StK

Would be nice to have him taking a bit of the heat off King

[skeptic]

I don’t think Bruce has really been any better than he was with us...
He’s looking decent right now whilst the Bulldog mids are close to the most dominant in the league but I’ve seen little to suggest he can stand up in a quality contest

Hind got a much better offer and took it. Don’t know why we persisted with him as a small forward but in fairness... his really bad games with us really were terrible
Still... a couple of times he looked great on a wing. I would have preferred to keep him overall

Hickey - no defence from me there. Have no idea what happened there and we have egg on our faces to show for it

[Ghost Like]

Quite interesting that we did not miss these players last season, even with one still on our list. All average, all depth at best. Not one would be in our best 25 if our list was injury free.

[samuraisaint]

People keep missing my point - the point is that we need to back the players we currently have and develop them which I am not sure we did with the three I mentioned in my OP.
Some of the players we have who are currently under performing might not be when we get key players healthy back. A lot of have rarely played in the side with the personnel we have this year and might need time to click.
We probably won't win tonight but we need to believe in ourselves and improve through May to get our season on track.

[samuraisaint]

Quite interesting that we did not miss these players last season, even with one still on our list. All average, all depth at best. Not one would be in our best 25 if our list was injury free.

Hickey and Bruce and Hind would all be in our best 25, and in our starting 18. All three.

[Ghost Like]

Quite interesting that we did not miss these players last season, even with one still on our list. All average, all depth at best. Not one would be in our best 25 if our list was injury free.

Hickey and Bruce and Hind would all be in our best 25, and in our starting 18. All three.

If that's the case we are genuinely & right royally stuffed. I guess our list has gone backwards.

[samuraisaint]

Quite interesting that we did not miss these players last season, even with one still on our list. All average, all depth at best. Not one would be in our best 25 if our list was injury free.

Hickey and Bruce and Hind would all be in our best 25, and in our starting 18. All three.

If that's the case we are genuinely & right royally stuffed. I guess our list has gone backwards.

Hind has been formally acknowledged as being a great pick up by the press, and was very good again today.
Bruce is a very good player - he'd be awesome with King right now. At least he can hold a mark and is tall.
Hickey is a very good ruckman who could play the Ryder role we had last year.

I think the problem isn't who we've currently got out there, because some of them come from successful clubs, rather that we aren't developing players properly - we have been getting run over the top of since Watters was our coach. What's changed? Last year was a year to build on. But due to injuries we've gone backwards. We need to back them in, and hope we can improve with who we get back. The blame game needs to stop and we need to start to focus on the basics - skills!

[The Fireman]

we can't hide from the fact that many of our dicards do better in other sides. Maybe we just can't develop players.

[SaintPav]

Bruce was more than decent at StK

Would be nice to have him taking a bit of the heat off King

He always struggled against the better teams.

[samuraisaint]

we can't hide from the fact that many of our dicards do better in other sides. Maybe we just can't develop players.

No maybe about it.

Maybe we need to look at the Sandringham alignment. Something ain't working. The one year in ten we make finals - and guess what? No Sandy. that year. I'm just putting it out there.

[B.M]

Not only that

Players who did better at other clubs, come to us and struggle