?

[aussierules0k]

[Washedup]

Lenny Hayes will definitely be top 3 let alone top 5 in 2008

[Oh When the Saints]

Good topic.

Agree with you on King. Many have talked about Gardiner, but King is the one who has put together some quality football on a fairly regular basis in recent times.

His aggression and hardness is also excellent. If he can play 18+ games, then we will benefit a lot next year.

1. Steven King
2. Justin Koschitzke - must stand up at FF for 50+ goals
3. Luke Ball - if he can get back to his best, it will make a huge difference
4. Nick Riewoldt - just keep it there
5. Max Hudghton - needs to play 20+ at FB for us and hold the defence together

[bigcarl]

riewoldt
koschitzke
dal santo
gilbert
maguire

and bj

[SaintBot]

Riewoldt, Koschitzke, Gilbert, Dal Santo, Hayes

[Dan Warna]

1. reiwoldt, he takes 10 marks, 2 spoils, 20 possessions and kicks 2 goals from CHF and people say he's been well held pebbles gets half those stats and he's had a dominant game at CHF. his average games are so far ahead of many other players even saints players take his form for granted.

2. Goose, at CHB, i think he's got the gift to step up a level, with some fitness, and his courage, a CHB who can crash packs, take it up to the monsters, mark and kick a mile.

3. Goddard, there is nothing this kid cannot do.

4. Hayes, a bit like ponting, goes out there, takes charge, does the 1%, even when 10 goals in front, he's diving on the ball like its a 1 point game.

5. Ball, doesn't get the kudo's of other players but his pure guts and determination are nathan burke like. his 20 possession games are worht so much more than just stats. OUr drive in 06 into the finals was off his back, and same with the period after the break when the saints form threatened the top teams.

special mentions to sam fisher, our back 3 talls were penny, goose and max. fisher was a fill in player, in he past 18 months due to injury and premature retirements his FORM has been that of our premier defender.

Gram. man this kid is good when injured, fully fit, beware.

harvey, like the terminator cannot be stopped and I suspect harvey's bones are a superstrong titanium alloy.

[Armoooo]

1. Koschitzke
2. Dal Santo
3. Riewoldt
4. Hayes
5. Sam Fisher

Honourable mentions have to go to Schneider and Milne who will hopefully work very well together, Gilbert who will continue his ascend, Allen who can hopefully become a starting 22 player and Maguire can show us why we were so worried when he hadn't put pen to paper on a new contract...

[HarveysDeciple]

1.Riewoldt
2.Hayes
3.Koschitzke
4.Goddard
5.Chippa

[n1ck]

Top 5 Most Important Players in 2008?

1. Riewoldt - Far and away the best footballer on our list.
2. Harvey - Does anything need to be said about this bloke? Yes. Inspiration.
3. Koschitzke - A big season from the big fella will go a long way to securing a top finals spot
4. Ball - If his off-season surgery proves to be a success, a rejuvenated Luke Ball will be a revelation. Sorely missed over the last 18 months.
5. Hayes / Dal Santo - A tie for the simple reason that a fit and firing Lenny Hayes takes one more tagger away from Dal. Lenny doing what he does best, provides Nick with the space to do what he does best - amaze us.

Honourable mentions to the ruck duo of King and Gardiner. It's vital that at least one of them stays on the park for 17+ games

[mad saint guy]

My prediction for best performed in 2008

1 - Riewoldt
2 - Hayes
3 - S.Fisher
4 - Dal Santo
5 - Koschitzke

Really can't see much changing from this year.

[johnpeterbudgefanclub]

Ok well Im in on this topic too....

1. Riewoldt

2. Hayes

3. Montagna (and good on him, really come of age this year)

4. S. Fisher (one I really rate)

5. N. Dal Santo


Not in that particular order......

[Brooksy_Babe_24]

Kosi
Gards
Lenny
Godda
Ball
and i believe we are yet to see the best of Dally and Joey they are about to break through and become two of the most important players at our club.

[midas_touch]

1. Riewoldt - Will continue to amaze us with his extraordinary ability
2. Hayes - Will become a top 5 midfielder in the AFL, and remind us of how good he really is.
3. Kosi - Will make the full forward position his own and kick 60 plus goals.
4. Goddard - Will start slow, but come the second half of the year we will witness his amazing playmaking skills off half back.
5. King - Will allow us to be consistently competitive in the ruck, giving our mids the best possible chance.

Also, hounourable mentions to Dal Santo, Ball,Gilbert, Scheider and Sam Fisher.

[casey scorp]

Riewoldt
Koschitzke
Dal Santo
Hayes
Ball

[Oh When the Saints]

Geez, ya don't reckon a fit and firing Maxie holding down FB is important next year

[Dan Warna]

Geez, ya don't reckon a fit and firing Maxie holding down FB is important next year

did I miss something? did someone say max couldn't hold down FB?

he's an awesome player!

[Oh When the Saints]

Just that this thread is the "Top 5 most important players" for next year.

I would have thought the linchpin of our backline would have snuck more than 1 mention in the whole thread ...

[Sobraz]

Geez, ya don't reckon a fit and firing Maxie holding down FB is important next year

Not as important as Goose having a stand out year and winning AA CHB. It is time for Max to become the third or fourth in line, and with Chips lifting last year, now its time for Goose to become the power house defender we know he can... His form will play a HUGE part in how we go for the year...

In that, 5 most important players in no order:
Goose
Roo
Kosi
Dal (can become the most damaging mid in the comp)
Armitage (we need him to have a big impact like Gilbo this year)

[Dan Warna]

Just that this thread is the "Top 5 most important players" for next year.

I would have thought the linchpin of our backline would have snuck more than 1 mention in the whole thread ...

top 5 is always going to be subjective.

a few backmen are listed, I think sam fisher gets a lot of nods and that I think is due to his rise, to being our premier defender.

Max would still be in our best 22, and you can see that with both GT and RL giving him the no.1 jobs when available, however pragmatically as a saints supporter, sam fisher has played more match hours over 06 and 07 due to injuries that he probably gets accorded greater prominance.

I think only a very poor saints fan would have max out of best 22, but is he in our most important 5? well its subjective.

looking at the best 5 players listed by most fans here, they are all quality players.

not adding things up, but reiwoldt gets a lot of mentions, he is quality.

Goddard was robust before his busted leg, and unless he has lost a lot (which we all hope not) is a quality player.

ball, harvey, kosi, hayes, dal, sam fisher are all fair calls.

IMO if you go to 10 most important players max would start getting votes.

this is still 4 months or so before the season kicks off.

[Quixote]

Agree with most of those Top 5's. We are lucky enough to have a core group of top-shelf players who will always put in and play at an amazing standard

However, for mine the Top 5 Most Important next year come from the other end of the 22

If these five guys can put in blinder seasons, can in a sense fulfill their potential, come right on or re-ignite their career, we are in for a hell of a ride


1. Raph Clarke

2. Roy Schneider

3. Steven King

4. X Clarke

5. D Armitage

[rodgerfox]

Roo
Goose
Lenny
Ball
Gram

Why?

Well, Roo is pretty obvious. No matter how much the game changes, key marking forwards are critical. He is also incredibly versatile and can play anywhere on the ground.

Goose is the key for mine. He's aggressive, fast, strong, breaks lines and stops his man - when he's fit. He hasn't been fully fit since mid 2004.

If Lenny and Ball have good years, we will. They were both top 3 in the come for tackles in 04 and 05. In 06 with Bally crippled and Lenny out, they weren't in the top 20. Although we only finished % behind our previous years result, we weren't nearly as fierice in the middle and the better midfields had our measure. We need these two up and going.

Gram wasn't right last year. I think Lyon played him too defensively aswell. His role is almost the most important role in modern footy. Breaking lines from half back is where games are won. You can't flood against it if it's done well. Gram does it well. He's quick, reads the contest very well and kicks long. He also kicks goals. He looked a bit lazy to me last year. If he has a great year, we will too.

[saintspremiers]

Reiwoldt (no brainer!)
Kosi (will kick 73 goals)
Dal Santo (time to extract the digit big time!)
Hayes (champion set to be at his best again)
King (ruck dominance)

Goddard will be brilliant, but not until second half of the season
due to reco.

[fonz_#15]

more importantly, who are the 5 players that need to take the next step to get us to a flag.

imo Nick Riewoldt cannot improve all that much, we know what we will get from him each and every time he takes the field, 100% effort, courage, persistance. He is a superstar and despite a flaw in his goal-kicking he has little room for improvement.

Same applies for Robert Harvey...hard running and selfless acts are a given, as a result of his age he will not get any better, but if he plays like he did last year we will definately have a winner.

The value of a fully fit Max Hudghton is underrated by many..he is one of the most versatile defenders in terms of opponents he matches up on, and more often than not he wins his position.

Lenny Hayes: His importance was highlighted towards the end of last season where he polled 8 votes from the last 6-7 games i think. Now he is back to where he wants to be fitness wise, as well as getting match fitness, he will be vital. When you get somebody of his class back from injury and they are in full flight again, it is like having a new player. The same will apply for Bj when he gets back to his best after a long injury lay off.

with the above said, these are the 5 that i feel need to have a massive impact next season for us to have a shot at the top 4.

1. Justin Koschitzke: Needs to fill the shoes of Gehrig and kick 60+ goals in 2008. he is more than capable of that. His overhead marking in a contested situation is excellent and he is also good on the lead. Hopefully will not have to ruck too often and will become the go to man inside the forward 50.

2. Jason Gram: showed us wat he could do with a breakout year in 2006. Made an equally as good start to 2007 and i feel he carried some sort of injury niggle through the second half of the season. We need his run and carry, as well as his long kicking (which has improved). The defensive side of his game improved this year, but it seemed to be at the expense of his run and carry. We need a balance and we need him to really step up in 08.

3. Nick Dal Santo: We all know that the guy is a class act, we just need to see more of it. I know i am not the only one, but still seem outspoken on this, however i believe Nick is content on coasting in 2nd gear a lot of the time. The game he played against Geelong was a stinker of the highest order, he was towelled up by Ling who is one paced and Dal was chasing his ass all day. Players of Dal's pedigree don't come around too often, he could be in the top 5 in the competition if he just worked 10-15% harder and worked on the defensive side of his game.

4. Leigh Montagna: The guy just keeps improving. In 2006 he showed us that we could expect a big year in 2007, he gave us that. He now must take his game to another level in 08 and hopefully become one of the competitions elite midfielders.

5. Matt Maguire: "we should trade him", "only runs in straight lines"..these quotes sound farmiliar. Heard many people say that matty wouldn't be overly missed should he be traded. to that i say BULLSHYTE!!!

how many true CHB's are left in the afl nowadays? not many. Matt is a defender who can match up on the big bulky types like J.Brown, B.Hall etc. His value is very much underrated and for those of you with short memories i ask you to rememebr the severe leg injury he suffered. He, like Lenny Hayes needed time to get back into the action and i am confident his output will be very positive this season.

[st_Trav_ofWA]

1 Roo - he is our prestige player he may well end up being our greatest all time players if his form continues as it has from year to year

2 Bakes - a solid stopper who can win his own ball is a great assett will have a trybunal holiday early on but expect him to come out breathing fire

3 Goose - has to get back some ground he lost from his 2006 form to his 2007 but with a broken leg you would expect that . if he can keep the likes of Hall Pavlova Brown honest it will go a long way to our success

4 Lenny - if ever there was a player to give it all for the entire game its lenny with dal getting the tag and bally coming into goo fitness lenny could find himself copping the third string tagger early in the year (would be good money for the charlie at season start)

5 Kosi - could be anything playing as a full forward im as keen as to see him slot in at FF and see the opp full back think "how the hell am i gunna out mark this guy ? (ill expect him to get some fair whacks for his troubles hopefully the umpires see it and pay the free)

[RooandKosi]

Reiwoldt
Hayes
Koschitzke
Dal Santo

5th is up for grabs, depends on pre season copuld be Baker, Ball, Goddard, Maguire or just about anyone.

A for importance OR players we NEED to stand up.

King, Gardiner, both Clarkes