Potential selection problems...

[True Blue Sainter]

I would hate to be one of our selectors atm, there are probably only around a dozen spots that are near-on certainties, with about 20 players vying for the other 10 positions in the 22. Here's how I would do our first-team with a full list:

B: L. Fisher Hudghton S. Fisher
HB: Goddard Maguire Gilbert
C: Gram Hayes Montagna
HF: Schneider Riewoldt C. Gardiner
F: Gehrig Koschitzke Milne
R: King Ball Dal Santo

INT: Harvey Baker M. Gardiner Armitage

EM: X. Clarke Birss Blake

Look at the emergencies that can't fit into my 22, and on top of that, Dempster, Fiora, R. Clarke and Geary can't get a go. Competition for places is going to be very stiff this year, and I expect to see a poor performance backed up by a few changes the next week, because we have the quality of players to throw in.

In terms of vulnerability, who do you see as most likely to drop out of the 22? At this stage, I'd say L. Fisher, C. Gardiner, Milne, Bakes and Armo's spots as most up for grabs. Wow, I'm getting excited for this season!

[CURLY]

From what weve seen so far this pre season X will be a definate and play more in the mid field than previous years.

[Mr X from the West]

You'd think that Goddard will be eased back in, may play a couple of games in the 2's just to get his sea legs.

Charlie Gardiner has been great in the pre-season but his spot may be taken by the X-man, who is now an integral part of the team.

Leigh Fisher's spot is vulnerable.

All in all, as you say, a selection dilemma.

[CURLY]

One person who is a big wrap for Leigh Fisher is Nathan Buckley. The Ess game Bucks was giving him massive wraps for his defensive work.

[iwantmeseats]

Id have C Gardiner WAAAAAAY ahead of X at the moment for starting 22.

[True Blue Sainter]

Id have C Gardiner WAAAAAAY ahead of X at the moment for starting 22.

Me too. Although X would have to probably be a first team player, I just can't figure out where to put him. The backline looks pretty solid, the midfield looks good, and our forward-line is our most dangerous asset. Might be a victim of his own versatility, as well as his inconsistency?

[gosaintas]

What a great team. Surely X gets in somewhere but for the life of me I can't see where. Would not have him ahead of any of your team but I guess in practise it won't be a problem as there will always be some injuries. I agree with having him ahead of Armitage but I'm sure Lyon would disagree with us.
Last year, when we got into trouble late in games, you could almost see our experienced hands say "oh no, here we go again" and try to shut up shop. A few enthusiastic kids with self belief might just change that crappy attitude.
CJ is one who may help there. Just need some spunk and mojo back in the side and it may be the kids that will provide it.
Let's hope Lyon has the guts to give it a go and not wait until it's too late to give it a try.

[Spinner]

I would hate to be one of our selectors atm, there are probably only around a dozen spots that are near-on certainties, with about 20 players vying for the other 10 positions in the 22. Here's how I would do our first-team with a full list:

B: L. Fisher Hudghton S. Fisher
HB: Goddard Maguire Gilbert
C: Gram Hayes Montagna
HF: Schneider Riewoldt C. Gardiner
F: Gehrig Koschitzke Milne
R: King Ball Dal Santo

INT: Harvey Baker M. Gardiner Armitage

EM: X. Clarke Birss Blake

Look at the emergencies that can't fit into my 22, and on top of that, Dempster, Fiora, R. Clarke and Geary can't get a go. Competition for places is going to be very stiff this year, and I expect to see a poor performance backed up by a few changes the next week, because we have the quality of players to throw in.

In terms of vulnerability, who do you see as most likely to drop out of the 22? At this stage, I'd say L. Fisher, C. Gardiner, Milne, Bakes and Armo's spots as most up for grabs. Wow, I'm getting excited for this season!

X Clarke?

Have you been watching the NAB cap?

He was the clearance king last week!

[Otiman]

Have you been watching the NAB cap?

He was the clearance king last week!

Hayes must be clearance ruler-of-the-whole-world then.

[Spinner]

Have you been watching the NAB cap?

He was the clearance king last week!

Hayes must be clearance ruler-of-the-whole-world then.

...The amount of contested possession that X Clarke won was fantastic.

He put his body in all game and won the ball because of it.

....Won two vital frees at the end of the game due to his efforts when the ball was in contest...

X CLarke = King.

[Mr X from the West]

Have you been watching the NAB cap?

He was the clearance king last week!

Hayes must be clearance ruler-of-the-whole-world then.

...The amount of contested possession that X Clarke won was fantastic.

He put his body in all game and won the ball because of it.

....Won two vital frees at the end of the game due to his efforts when the ball was in contest...

X CLarke = King.

Agreed Spinner. He almost single handedly won us the game last week with his inspired and selfless efforts late in the game in particular and he did it against Richmond too.

[True Blue Sainter]

Have you been watching the NAB cap?

He was the clearance king last week!

Hayes must be clearance ruler-of-the-whole-world then.

...The amount of contested possession that X Clarke won was fantastic.

He put his body in all game and won the ball because of it.

....Won two vital frees at the end of the game due to his efforts when the ball was in contest...

X CLarke = King.

True Spinster, but couldn't fit him in anywhere, nor Jones...well too many good players can only be a positive problem!

Btw, I thought Armo's work in the clearances was hugely crucial all game on Friday night!

[Spinner]

Have you been watching the NAB cap?

He was the clearance king last week!

Hayes must be clearance ruler-of-the-whole-world then.

...The amount of contested possession that X Clarke won was fantastic.

He put his body in all game and won the ball because of it.

....Won two vital frees at the end of the game due to his efforts when the ball was in contest...

X CLarke = King.

True Spinster, but couldn't fit him in anywhere, nor Jones...well too many good players can only be a positive problem!

Btw, I thought Armo's work in the clearances was hugely crucial all game on Friday night!

I can understand that it was a matter of not being able to fit him in, rather than leaving him out....But...

...This is one of the few reasons why I wouldn't have Milne in there...Allowing a spot for a midfielder (ie Clarke) to rotate from.

[Ghost Like]

X. Clarke is in our best 22, must play ahead of L. Fisher & S. Milne (tackles better, leads better, crumbs better, can play half back and can rotate through centre)

Should also play in front of Armo (this year anyway). Armo's time will come and I'm sure due to inevitable injuries both he and Geary will get plenty of game time. Armo will be the Great Man's heir.

P.S.: Those inevitable injuries will most likely happen to X (unfortunately that's his track record, fingers crossed that changes too)

[True Blue Sainter]

Agree with you Spinner.

If X can find some natural consistency in his game, then he can really begin to win some matches for us single-handedly, he's that type of player. We need him to step up!

[rexy]

I dont see room for Schneider, Milne and C Gardiner in the same side. Too many specialist forwards of less than KP size IMO. Out of the 3 Schneider looks the classiest and Milne is the most established at the club, but I would not like the job of leaving one out in rd 1.

And b4 anyone says it yes they are all different type of players, but none are KPP and none are genuine midfielders, I think your best side must consist of 2 ruckman, 6 genuine defenders, 3 KP forwards and 9 or 10 midfield rotations (including the wings). For me its a numbers thing. Maybe the boss considers Schneider a genuine midfield rotation? I dont know.

[bigcarl]

great to have this sort of competition for places.

i also would find a spot for xman given his pre-season form, probably in place of schneider.

x could be added to the midfield rotation and the second small forward spot could be filled on a rotation basis by ball, dal santo, harvey, montagna or x.

injuries being what they are schneider will find a spot soon enough.

i'd leave milne in as a specialist small forward purely for what he can add to the team in terms of goals on the board, something we struggled with last season. proven small forwards who average two a game aren't easily found

we seem to have enormous depth atm but imo that is because we have been winning.

a couple of losses and there are usually holes everywhere.

I wouldn't worry about fitting them all in. all will play their part at some stage this season

[meher baba]

Any sensible assessment would have X way ahead of Milne and C Gardiner. And, for mine, Milne is ahead of C Gardiner right now.

I would also be tempted to have Blake in the 22 ahead of M Gardiner, who hasn't shown enough IMO (but then I'm probably closer to the dear departed Lord Voldemort's opinion re ruckmen than most posters on this forum).

So my absolute top team is therefore


B: L. Fisher Hudghton S. Fisher
HB: Goddard Maguire Gilbert
C: Gram Hayes X Clarke
HF: Schneider Riewoldt Montagna
F: Gehrig Koschitzke Milne
R: King Ball Dal Santo

INT: Harvey Baker J Blake Armitage

EM: Birss Fiora M Gardiner

Of course, we have no chance of seeing that team run out in the near future.

[Spinner]

i'd leave milne in as a specialist small forward purely for what he can add to the team in terms of goals on the board, something we struggled with last season. proven small forwards who average two a game aren't easily found

n

What about a midfielder who only spends his 'breaks' in the forward line contributing 2 goals a game....rather than a 'full time' specialist forward that delivers only 2 goals (and nothing else).

I'm sure if you constantly rotated our midfield through that one position...between the 8 or so, it would definitely result in at least 2 goals per game.

[jackal]

Baker has been good over the years but is nowhere near a sure bet for the 22. actually I hope that he wont be able to win a spot in our side due to good form and fitness of the players already playing.

Maguire and Goddard are walk ins if fit and I'd suggest Allen may be required as we need another tall deep down back.

[rexy]

Exactly my point Spinner, I think at least 1 of your forward 6 spots has to be held down by a resting midfielder, If you can get 2 goals a game through resting mids then you will win games. See Dal and Birss on Friday night, both went forward and kicked goals whilst resting.

Eagles have been successful using Embley Judd Fletcher Priddis etc, swans only play 4 genuine forwards and the difference in Ablett and Chapmans games are that they have developed into genuine midfielders who rotate into the forward line.

[hAyES]

I'd put Clarke in for C.Gardiner. There's no way he doesn't have a spot in this side. One of the best at delivering the ball into the 50 on our team, if not the best. Apart from that, really like the look of that team.

[bigcarl]

What about a midfielder who only spends his 'breaks' in the forward line contributing 2 goals a game .... rather than a 'full time' specialist forward that delivers only 2 goals (and nothing else).

milne is a proven avenue to goal and i think there's still a spot for him as a specialist goal-kicker, but the other small forward spot could be filled by the type you suggest above.

dal santo and ball in particular are pretty handy converters and I'd like to see both spending more time closer to goals.

all about putting a score on the board, which we often failed to do last year.

imo
HF: C. Gardiner/Gilbert, Riewoldt, Dal/Ball/Montagna/Schneider/X
F: Gehrig, Kosi, Milne

The only guys you wouldn't class as being good converters of opportunities would be C. Gardiner and perhaps X.

Structure is important to forward lines and, imo, milne is an intergral part of the structure. a very good crumbing forward who the opposition has to watch or he will kick a bag

[Huzzad]

Probably the most sensible list I have seen all pre-season with 2 exceptions: swap Gehrig with Kosi as per my previous arguments. Swap X with Armo. X while not at his best is a better player than armitage (for now). Though I do expect this to be do or die year for both Clarke brothers, my money is on X standing up and showing us his talent in the short term. However, if he has a season like last year, I will definatly be keen for someone like Armo or CJ to take his spot.

[saintsRrising]

I think the reality is at present that the selection panel could pick anyone of about 24/26 players for our "best 22' and you would be happy.

I mean...

Geary vs L Fisher vs Raph

Raph vs Blake vs Dempster

Armo vs Fiora

etc

In terms of round 1 the pool is even broader since Goose and BJ may well not play...