David King on St Kilda 2024

[shanegrambeau]

King picked 6 of the top 8 in his predictions for ‘23.
He made some good calls.

(Of course, he can go to the fairy floss fair too..but good analysis is also a trait..or was)

[Yorkeys]

Verbaled. BM is a forum treasure.

[CQ SAINT]

We are not as good a list as Sydney

We have the bloke who built their list though. There's a good start.

[Yorkeys]

King picked 6 of the top 8 in his predictions for ‘23.
He made some good calls.

(Of course, he can go to the fairy floss fair too..but good analysis is also a trait..or was)

Which did he get wrong? My guess is us and GWS, Geelong/Richmond?
If David doesn't change his shtick he could easily be replaced by AI, but I would not like to see his breasts enlarged and his bare mid-rift.

[Nick DalSanto Claus]

We are not as good a list as Sydney

Explain the logic behind your conclusion, please. We finished above them last year despite having an injury-ravaged list and we beat them the only time we played. On their home deck, no less.

There's no doubt Grundy and Adams should bolster their stocks, but even those two have some question marks hanging over them.

I'll back our youth against theirs, despite the fact they have some promising types. If anything, last year showed we had good depth, especially when you consider that at times in the first half of the year in particular, we had up to 14 players a week unavailable through injury.

As much as I hate to admit it, I have to agree with David King. We will improve this year, much to the surprise of the critics. IMHO the Swines will continue to struggle in the dreaded "zone of mediocrity" being 7th to 12th.

[magnifisaint]

It's easy being dumb.

[shanegrambeau]

King picked 6 of the top 8 in his predictions for ‘23.
He made some good calls.

(Of course, he can go to the fairy floss fair too..but good analysis is also a trait..or was)

Which did he get wrong? My guess is us and GWS, Geelong/Richmond?
If David doesn't change his shtick he could easily be replaced by AI, but I would not like to see his breasts enlarged and his bare mid-rift.

Sorry
He got 5
Bulldogs finished 9th

But he picked Carlton and Sydney

He was a staunch Collingwood fan

Didn’t pick us and GWS
And right about the others

[CURLY]

We are not as good a list as Sydney

Untrue.

[B.M]

Warner, Gulden, Rowbottom, Heeney, Mills, Blakey, McDonald, Papley, McCartin to name a few

They are stacked with talent

Their weakness was the ruck and clearance
In:
Grundy and Adams

[Nick DalSanto Claus]

And they are just a few. It's taken you a couple of days to scratch out those names, and I'd suggest you struggle to name many more.


Their list is so much better than ours they finished.......8th. I'm still waiting for you to answer the question as to why they have a superior list, not just rattle off a few names.

On our list, we have Sinclair, Marshall, and Wilkie, all in the AA squad, and two who made the final team. Throw in Steele as well, who was affected by injury last year but is a recent AA, nevertheless.

Then we have a raft of excellent types just beneath them. Wood, Crouch, Hill, Butler, Higgins, King and Battle.

Then we have what is recognized as one of the best groups of emerging talent in the AFL, in Nas, Owens, Windhager, Phillipou, and Caminiti.

Throw in our off-season recruits Dow and Henry, who address important perceived weaknesses, and I believe our list stacks up very well compared to theirs.

As for Grundy and Adams they are, or rather were, top quality players. Grundy ended up playing at Casey for a significant chunk of last year and Adams is getting on and coming off a dreaded "old man"-type, soft tissue injury.

I suppose the real proof will come during this upcoming season. Up until then these views, both yours and mine, are merely opinions, and you know what they say about opinions, although I have supported mine with some evidence.

[samuraisaint]

We beat Sydney with pace and outside run last year at the SCG. I think we look like we will be a quicker team this year going by our inclusions.

[Sainter_Dad]

We are not as good a list as Sydney

Untrue.

This is vexing.

On paper we should be better than Sydney - however - game against them are never easy to pick - they seem to have our measure some times - and we run over them others.

As always - it depends on the St Kilda team who hop on the bus.

[lewdogs]

[flash=][/flash]

We are not as good a list as Sydney

Explain the logic behind your conclusion, please. We finished above them last year despite having an injury-ravaged list and we beat them the only time we played. On their home deck, no less.

There's no doubt Grundy and Adams should bolster their stocks, but even those two have some question marks hanging over them.

I'll back our youth against theirs, despite the fact they have some promising types. If anything, last year showed we had good depth, especially when you consider that at times in the first half of the year in particular, we had up to 14 players a week unavailable through injury.

As much as I hate to admit it, I have to agree with David King. We will improve this year, much to the surprise of the critics. IMHO the Swines will continue to struggle in the dreaded "zone of mediocrity" being 7th to 12th.

They also played in a grand final two years ago. Hopefully we can stay above them but they are good and they have young mids that have runs on the board whereas we have young mids that we are hoping take the next step.

I reckon their weakness is the backline. Losing Paddy Mac was actually a huge blow for them, he was massive in 2022.

[B.M]

Did Sydney play in a GF a couple of years ago?

Or am I dreaming that up??

[Nick DalSanto Claus]

That was 2022. I thought we were talking about 2024. Things can change quickly. Just last year we finished above them.

[Yorkeys]

Heney losing effectiveness late in the season hurt them. They beat Adelaide in Adelaide late in the season albiet with the help of a goal umpire. So they are pretty good. I hope we might have won there fair and square.

[SaintPav]

Franklin will be impossible to replace no matter how much they spin it.

[B.M]

Franklin was cooked two years ago - they are way better off without him!

McDonald Amarty, McLean, Heeney, Hayward and Papley means are a lot more unpredictable going i50

Buddy was a hindrance in the last two seasons.

Only ? Over Sydney is key back

[SaintPav]

Buddy was a hindrance in 2022?

https://afltables.com/afl/stats/players ... nklin.html

Notwithstanding his performance in the grand final, he had a good year. His 2021 season was also good.

The end came quickly for him.

[magnifisaint]

I agree. Buddy played on one year too many. He was ok last year but the season was all about him.

[B.M]

2022

8 kicks
2.5 HB
5 marks
2.1 goals

Ok
But nothing special

Considering they go to him every time they go forward

[samuraisaint]

2022

8 kicks
2.5 HB
5 marks
2.1 goals

Ok
But nothing special

Considering they go to him every time they go forward

Fair enough. But teams always had to play their best key back on him (and sometimes more than one defender). They (and we) won't have that problem anymore.

[samuraisaint]

We are not as good a list as Sydney

Untrue.

This is vexing.

On paper we should be better than Sydney - however - game against them are never easy to pick - they seem to have our measure some times - and we run over them others.

As always - it depends on the St Kilda team who hop on the bus.

Amen to that brother. Ain't that the sad truth.
Still remember trudging out to that foul slum at the wrong end of Albert Park and watch a team of non-competes beat the living suitcase out of us for years upon years.

[CQ SAINT]

2022

8 kicks
2.5 HB
5 marks
2.1 goals

Ok
But nothing special

Considering they go to him every time they go forward

He kicked 52 goals in 23 games and finished 9th in the Coleman BM.

As for going to him everytime they go forward, they had 4 goal kickers kick over 30 goals in the top 50.

Only Geelong and Brisbane had a better spread and they both had two big experienced key forwards.

Mackay kicked less goals, isn't half as good as the same age and was given a huge contract and chased by 4 clubs a year later.

Silly argument based on nothing.

52÷23 is 2.25 and only Tom Lynch broke 3 goals a game. With 10 more from 4 less games.

Since when is 9th in the Coleman nothing special from a 35 year old. Seriously.

[B.M]

9th in the Coleman

So 8 teams had players who kicked more goals

As I said - OK

But nothing special

And just because others kick goals doesn’t mean the didn’t kick it to him entering i50
BTW - obviously they don’t go to him EVERY time - it was tongue in cheek exaggeration to make a point - most would’ve got it