Saintsational Fan Forum - A passionate community of St Kilda Football Club fans discussing news, history, players, trade rumours, results, AFL stats and more.
Steeley spent more time on ground. Had better contested numbers and better Centre clearance numbers. Just for shiitts and giggles...do one for their careers too
Steele is a talented footballer who is currently being asked to play the role of a tagger every week
Last edited by Scollop on Tue 17 Sep 2024 1:53pm, edited 1 time in total.
CURLY wrote: ↑Tue 17 Sep 2024 1:53pm
McCrae is an upgrade on Crouch Ross and even Byrnes.
He runs and links up. Beveridge not playing him through the middle was one of the most ridiculous things youll see.
Byrnes is a lot younger. We've seen patches of decent form. Haven't seen yet how good he might be.
Dropped to graveyard for a few games and came back better.
Shows he's hungry and can evolve.
Byrnes and McRae can't be compared. McRae is a known qty and won't get better- will only get slower
A real Sainter will pledge allegiance to the ❤ and despise the Pies, the Blues, and the Injectors.
Remember one of the 10 Commandments : Thou shalt have no other team before thee
Scollop wrote: ↑Tue 17 Sep 2024 1:54pm
CURLY knows better than Luke Beveridge
Will just check the score of the final v Hawthorn.
Beveridge has been widely criticized for doing everything other than what everyone can see is logical
Yes ...if you want to make general statements, then I suppose you can conclude a lot of stuff about the score in that final
As usual, people like to think they know better than what goes on at training and what match committee and coaches see at preseason and week to week.
Here's the thing though. Instead of making assumptions about Mcrae and how he might have been the difference in helping the Western Bulldogs stop a rampaging Hawthorn at the MCG....why don't you watch one of Jack McRae's full games that he played this year
Scollop wrote: ↑Tue 17 Sep 2024 1:54pm
CURLY knows better than Luke Beveridge
Will just check the score of the final v Hawthorn.
Beveridge has been widely criticized for doing everything other than what everyone can see is logical
Yes ...if you want to make general statements, then I suppose you can conclude a lot of stuff about the score in that final
As usual, people like to think they know better than what goes on at training and what match committee and coaches see at preseason and week to week.
Here's the thing though. Instead of making assumptions about Mcrae and how he might have been the difference in helping the Western Bulldogs stop a rampaging Hawthorn at the MCG....why don't you watch one of Jack McRae's full games that he played this year
Go on. I dare you
Watched plenty and clearly he and Daniel were on the outer as Beveridge went will lesser names. Sometimes it happens and Chris Scott used to get accused of doing the same by trying to be too smart.
McCrae is still an elite runner and good link up player. Can you think of a player on our list that does that.
Let's just focus for a second on specifics. You're saying that Mcrae might have made the difference against the Hawks in the final....ok...look at the game in rnd 8 or 9 this year. Dogs v Hawks.
Who won. Hawks. Where was it?
Did Mcrae play the full game. Yes he did!! Bog average...as were his stats against 6 or 7 other teams when he played a full game this year.
The ONLY game that he performed well in was against us when we were coming off a 5 day break and that was after consecutive interstate trips and 6 day breaks thrown in
Western Bulldogs vs Hawthorn at Marvel (Dogs home deck) on Sunday 5 May. Check the stats for Mcrae.
Dow, Clark, Phillipou all better options and we'd be nuts to halt the progress of guys like Garcia and Hastie.
Scollop wrote: ↑Tue 17 Sep 2024 2:47pm
Gees you're good at generalising.
..."clearly he and Daniel are on the outer"
Yeah....why?
Let's just focus for a second on specifics. You're saying that Mcrae might have made the difference against the Hawks in the final....ok...look at the game in rnd 8 or 9 this year. Dogs v Hawks.
Who won. Hawks. Where was it?
Did Mcrae play the full game. Yes he did!! Bog average...as were his stats against 6 or 7 other teams when he played a full game this year.
The ONLY game that he performed well in was against us when we were coming off a 5 day break and that was after consecutive interstate trips and 6 day breaks thrown in
Western Bulldogs vs Hawthorn at Marvel (Dogs home deck) on Sunday 5 May. Check the stats for Mcrae.
Dow, Clark, Phillipou all better options and we'd be nuts to halt the progress of guys like Garcia and Hastie.
You realise he played 19 games this season after a delayed start through injury. Seems like he is still very much a AFL player.
I realise you make a lot of general comments and don't want to discuss specifics
I know exactly how many games he's played.
It's the tragic story of St Kilda that we're chasing a replacement for Crouch and we want another 30 year old slow player on the decline
What's also ironic is that the guy who replaced Mcrae in the middle at the Dogs -Adam Treloar- could have been playing in St Kilda colours if the Saints managed their list and draft capital a bit better.
Mcrae is behind Libba, Bont, Treloar plus...Ed Richards- 25, Rylie Garcia 23 and Riley Sanders 19.
Last edited by Scollop on Tue 17 Sep 2024 3:39pm, edited 1 time in total.
Scollop has compiled a persuasive case why St Kilda should not be acquiring Jack Macrae.
I have likewise argued that if Macrae at 30 is not preferred by Footscray over Tom Libaratore who is 32 doesn't that tell you that he is no longer A grade?
But I acknowledge that as supporters we do not have possession of all of the information to determine whether or not Macrae would be of value to the team.
It now appears that the List Managers at St Kilda have decided that Macrae will in fact improve the team, so as always, I bow to their superior knowledge and back their decision.
Macrae is certainly not comparable to Dan Hannebery whose body was stuffed before he left Sydney, and he is probably an upgrade on Brad Crouch, miles ahead of Seb Ross, so by rights he will improve the team's midfield options.
Let's hope they're right!
"Any candidate for political office, once chosen for leadership, must have the will to take the wheel of a very powerful car, tasked from time to time to make a fast journey down a narrow, precipitous mountain road – and be highly skilled at driving. Otherwise, he is disqualified from the company of competent leaders."
John Carroll, Professor Emeritus of Sociology at La Trobe University.
He lacks leg speed. That's why he's on the decline.
Beveridge and the Dogs match committee aren't dumb. Mcrae may not have the body to play for the next 3 seasons. That's why they played him as a sub this year. That's why James Harmes was preferred. It didn't work but nothing really did against the rampaging Hawthorn in the final
He is currently contracted for the next 3 years. My fear is that we pick him up and we get stuck with him for 3 years
Does Ross and SOS think we're going to challenge soon?
Most likely yes.
Why wouldn’t they.
If you think Mcrae can deliver the Saints a flag, you're just as delusional as Ross and SOS. The difference for our team improving is going to come from our youth
WellardSaint wrote: ↑Tue 17 Sep 2024 1:59pm
McRae is a known qty and won't get better- will only get slower
This
The other guy I forgot about in our midfield was Marcus Windhager.
Windy has enormous upside. He showed a glimpse in round 2 against Collingwood. Got 25 touches that day.
His other 3 games where he impacted, were against West Coast, North and against the Bulldogs.
Against the Dogs Mcrae got 30. Windy got 29. Pretty much equal split for both players- half kicks and half hand balls. Mcrae got 10 contested. Windy got 16 contested. They had 5 clearances each.
Do people agree with Windy being denied midfield minutes next year for Mcrae?
Hawthorn players would not be where they are in their development if the Hawks had stuck with Jordan Lewis, Tom Mitchell, Jaeger O'Meara and Liam Sheils.
Will Day, James Worpel, Dylan Moore, and Jai Newcombe have taken on senior midfield roles and thrived. Nash, McDonald, Maginness and even Ward have had opportunities to grow.
They were prepared to get rid of their former champions and best and fairest winners to advance the improvement of their young team.
We want to hold back the progression of our young players to import an older player who is on the slide
Injuries require depth.
And is McRae not better than at least one of the 22 that played the last game for us.
Some knowledge to give Matteus and Hugo and Darcey?
I don't know Jack but like him more than J. Battle already.
On our list in 2024 we had the following experienced mids :-
Steele
Crouch
Ross
Jones
Clark
Ross has been jettisoned
Crouch has a degenerative knee and may not play again
Jones so far has not been offered a contract for 2025
If we've decided to bring in someone (McCrae) who can give us experience over the next 2-3 years, why is that a bad decision?
IMHO he's not going to be worse than what we got out of Ross/Crouch in 2024
WellardSaint wrote: ↑Tue 17 Sep 2024 1:59pm
McRae is a known qty and won't get better- will only get slower
This
The other guy I forgot about in our midfield was Marcus Windhager.
Windy has enormous upside. He showed a glimpse in round 2 against Collingwood. Got 25 touches that day.
His other 3 games where he impacted, were against West Coast, North and against the Bulldogs.
Against the Dogs Mcrae got 30. Windy got 29. Pretty much equal split for both players- half kicks and half hand balls. Mcrae got 10 contested. Windy got 16 contested. They had 5 clearances each.
Do people agree with Windy being denied midfield minutes next year for Mcrae?
Mr Magic wrote: ↑Tue 17 Sep 2024 5:44pm
On our list in 2024 we had the following experienced mids :-
Steele
Crouch
Ross
Jones
Clark
Ross has been jettisoned
Crouch has a degenerative knee and may not play again
Jones so far has not been offered a contract for 2025
If we've decided to bring in someone (McCrae) who can give us experience over the next 2-3 years, why is that a bad decision?
IMHO he's not going to be worse than what we got out of Ross/Crouch in 2024
The commentary is that we require further centre square and contest mid-field options, so adding to the established Steele then Clark, Phillipou and Windhager where our potential lies.
Past that we were missing Crouch and playing Jones and Dow.
Asking if Henry is a genuine mid.
And if Owens is a genuine mid.
And, in the optimum side, in my view, Sinclair does what he does from the back half, complementing Wanganeen-Milera.
To me McRae is in competition with Jones and Dow who were both performed adequately across the close of the season but not to a level which affords them more than an adequate rating which identifies room for improvement and as an insurance policy for Crouch.
And IF he performs to anywhere near his 3 x AA selections, guess what?
There are plenty of 30 year old plus players around the League and still performing.
The kids starting with Garcia have a long way to go.
And I would not include Clark as an experienced mid.
He did his apprenticeship as a defender, then blighted by injury and was establishing as a competition level mid following return from injury in the second half of 2024 (on limited time).
Hopefully, with full pre-seasons, both Clark and McRae can contribute at League status.
and despise the Pies, the Blues, and the Injectors.
