so milne is finished ... gimme a break!

[bigcarl]

he knows where the goals are (a desirable quality in a forward I would have thought) and without his three goal contribution tonight we would have been well beaten.

he's a walk-up start for round 1 as is fraser (if fit).

guys who can actually PUT A SCORE ON THE BOARD are at a premium and, imo, if you can't kick goals you shouldn't be anywhere near them regardless of anything you might add in "forward pressure"

our forward six should all be guys with a proven ability to kick goals.

gehrig, riewoldt, milne, kosi, dal or ball (alternating through midfield). perhaps schneider. perhaps x-man.

we might have to make an exception for charlie because he'll be a very handy foil for riewoldt across half forward and anything that lessens our reliance on riewoldt has to be a good thing.

i'm still hoping charlie will develop the knack of steering them through the big sticks occasionally but atm i'm in trepidation every time he lines them up

[bigcarl]

100 views and no-one's taken issue.

i presume that means you all agree

[riccardo]

He did his job well tonight, and should have a 30 odd goal year.

The game plan we have is made for crumbing at times, which is just as well for Milne.

[saintsrus]

One thing you didnt mention was his lack of goals interstate and in big games was dispelled last night, lets just hope this is the rule now, not the exception.

Its good also for milney to have sneider in the team a bit of competition for him, he was very disciplined that play on Mcleod was awesome.

[bigcarl]

Its good also for milney to have sneider in the team a bit of competition for him, he was very disciplined that play on Mcleod was awesome.

i don't know the stats on this but i'd be surprised if schneider is as effective a small forward as milne in terms of goals per game.

nevertheless, a useful addition to the team

[Apu]

Schnider has indicated he wants to spend more time in the midfield this year, so plenty of room for both Milne and him in the team.
Incidently I was very impressed with Schinder last night. He was probably our second best player from the game

[iwantmeseats]

I dunno. Milne persists in doing everything he can to endeavour he will fail alot of the time. How was he last night when in the clear from about 30 out slight angle he dropped the ball ACROSS his boot !!! Totally unecessary. Thankfully there was none of his ridiculous play on from a mark inside 50 s*** he seems to love to try and pull off.

I am a milne fan, but he frustrates me to no end. Just play the percentages, and he will kick 20 plus extra goals a year.

[Batnoe]

was interstate too

GO MILNE

[bigcarl]

I dunno. Milne persists in doing everything he can to endeavour he will fail alot of the time. How was he last night when in the clear from about 30 out slight angle he dropped the ball ACROSS his boot !!! Totally unecessary. Thankfully there was none of his ridiculous play on from a mark inside 50 s*** he seems to love to try and pull off.

well he's not perfect. but three goals in a tight pressure final got us over the line imo.

this post wasn't really solely about milne. it was about the necessity of having natural goal-kickers in our forward line.

personally I'd much prefer to have dal or ball lurking around the forward line than cj, for example.

i like cj as a player. he's a real goer, but i've doubts about his ability to actually put a score on the board. show me some goals and I'll think differently.

john kennedy senior, one of the great coaches, used to say he liked to play his best players forward because the team that kicked the highest score would win it.

[bungiton]

I dunno. Milne persists in doing everything he can to endeavour he will fail alot of the time. How was he last night when in the clear from about 30 out slight angle he dropped the ball ACROSS his boot !!! Totally unecessary. Thankfully there was none of his ridiculous play on from a mark inside 50 s*** he seems to love to try and pull off.

Seems to me Milne wasn't the lone ranger in that regard, everytime Schnides got the ball in or around fifty he was looking to play on at all cost, the point he kicked in the second or third, he was looking to go at the drop of a hat, had to settle for a stationary kick and missed.

The goal that Milne got from the beaut Harvs pass to seal it came from an unneccessary Schnides play on as well, very nearly lost that possession in a chain of quickk handpasses before Sir Rob got the pill.

[bigcarl]

The goal that Milne got from the beaut Harvs pass to seal it came from an unneccessary Schnides play on as well, very nearly lost that possession in a chain of quickk handpasses before Sir Rob got the pill.

just watched the last quarter again and how good were both harvs and milne when it counted?

milne's two last quarter goals and harvs's little chip kicks were absolutely vital when it was in the balance

[james rose]

I dunno. Milne persists in doing everything he can to endeavour he will fail alot of the time. How was he last night when in the clear from about 30 out slight angle he dropped the ball ACROSS his boot !!! Totally unecessary. Thankfully there was none of his ridiculous play on from a mark inside 50 s*** he seems to love to try and pull off.

I am a milne fan, but he frustrates me to no end. Just play the percentages, and he will kick 20 plus extra goals a year.

I could be drawing a long bow but perhaps he feels more confident kicking like this and finds himself more accurate with it...


I always struggled to kick goals from dead in front but put me in a pocket where I can kick like you are saying and I was quite accurate... my mates were dumbfounded by it...

I think it was a confidence thing though

[Eastern]

Any small forward who can average around 2 goals per game for their entire career well & truly earns their pay.

Milney's average is a smidge over 2 per game. There aren't/haven't been many who have bettered him over a sustained period !!

[bigcarl]

Any small forward who can average around 2 goals per game for their entire career well & truly earns their pay.

Milney's average is a smidge over 2 per game. There aren't/haven't been many who have bettered him over a sustained period !!

exactly. goals are the name of the game for any forward.

[BAM! (shhhh)]

No doubt Milne had a good game last night. No doubt he'll have bad ones throughout the year, and he'll continue to have his fans and detractors.

What really pleased me from Milne last night was a defensive effort, on Macleod... Ball came in and Milne managed to spoil it to the ground (not a skill I'm used to seeing from Milne), he then was all over Macleod WITHOUT giving up a free kick (usually the fault when Milne tries to play defense) forcing Macleod to possess the ball, at which point Milne laid a strong tackle, killing the play.

That was 3 things that I'm used to Milne attempting and failing at that he achieved well in the space of about 10 seconds... if he can carry that kind of play forward, it will be a huge addition to his game.

[terry smith rules]

No doubt Milne had a good game last night. No doubt he'll have bad ones throughout the year, and he'll continue to have his fans and detractors.

What really pleased me from Milne last night was a defensive effort, on Macleod... Ball came in and Milne managed to spoil it to the ground (not a skill I'm used to seeing from Milne), he then was all over Macleod WITHOUT giving up a free kick (usually the fault when Milne tries to play defense) forcing Macleod to possess the ball, at which point Milne laid a strong tackle, killing the play.

thank you.. finally

have been busy with work and no chance to log on so was busting to see what the reaction was like to milney's game

i am a big fan and thought that tackle was a match winner, mcleod was off without that smother and tackle

and then a few minutes later kicks the sealer, after getting crunched

go you good thing

fqf

[To the top]

One of the goals was when Johncock committed to a one on one marking contest, and the intent of the St Kilda forward then was to put the ball on the ground to an un-opposed Milne. Mistake by Johncock. No doubt Craig got well and truly stuck into him for that as Lyon got stuck into Milne when he "flew" versus Essendon in a similar manner to Johncock. Milne was dragged.

The other I remember (2 out of 3 ain't bad) was Harvey slotting a 20 metre pass when under extreme pressure.

There was another incident where Milne was running back into space, but Rutton took a stretch mark. Another foot of elevation and Milne would have run into an open goal.

The positives are that Milne was an option - and the other positive was that he did not allow McLeod to burn off into the F50, got a finger on the spoil and was able to hem McLeod into the boundary.

On the negative was that Johncock had 17 possessions, mostly running free, setting up plays including by running on as the option.

It always troubles me to see 3 or 4 opposition players running out of the backline, sharing the ball into the mid-field with not one of our players in vision and someone needing to commit from in front of the ball - because that leaves someone open. Adelaide did that far too often.

In the forward line at the top of this post who does the chasing and harrassing?

Because whilst the effort on McLeod showed us what is required as the bare minimum (ie you do chase), and won due plaudits including because of the stage the match was at, it has to be consistent accross 100 minutes of football each and every weekend.

If Milne can provide this, well and good because this skill is also a basic requirement.

But, given he is 28 years of age and this has not been a feature of his performances in the past, the jury is still out.

A positive, but just a positive.

No doubt people point to his average of 2 goals a game, and 3 in this game.

But that is only a part of it - plus Schnieder is showing he can perform in the mid-field taking the pressure of our elites and allowing the likes of Ball particularly to go forward - because Ball can contest on the ground and win 50/50 balls (excuse the pun).

One swallow a summer does not make!

[bigcarl]

you've still got to kick them and in a team that had trouble kicking winning scores last year surely milne would have to be a walk up start.

fully fit he's a guaranteed 30 plus goal-kicker and to me that is what a forward is paid to do ... convert opportunities to goals.

you can have all the "forward pressure" that you want, but if you can't actually trouble the scorers you're likely to end up the lowest scoring team in the competition ... as we were last season.

[Armoooo]

He did his job well tonight, and should have a 30 odd goal year.

The game plan we have is made for crumbing at times, which is just as well for Milne.

I agree, we seem to love the tap downs to the running crumber from the one on two marking contests this year, it is great and we haven't seen to much of it in recent years, could be a very dangerous weapon with Schneider and Milne in the line up

[saintman666]

Lets just wait and see what GT ( GonnaTinea)and derrrmutt think of him...

Before we start singing his praises...

I can just hear Gonna saying well Milney is good but maybe just a bit tall for a Ruckman....

And Dermutt saying what is his record at the tribunal??

Go Saints in 08

[Sobraz]

agree 100% carl... you've managed to see the forest through the trees, which many on here get lost in, and reiterate that the simple fact is, a forwards No.1 job is to kick goals... As you stated, Milne does this quite well..

Many have gotten carried away with the efforts of cj and X with their forward pressure, and forgotten the fact that this is a secondary issue, not the point of their position... Milne is a must if we are to be contenders this year, as with Roo, Kos and G, he has loads of opportuity at their feet.. It all well and good to be able to put pressure on the defenders, but goals are what win games..

30 to 40 goals and his job is done.. he will get it for sure..

[Dan Warna]

a point I've made a number of times, that folks continue to miss when extolling the virtues of some flash in the pan from melbourne or essendon or the like...

how many small forwards have had 2 goal career averages? last couple of years milne has been down on goals true, but also under the current game plan he' isn't sitting at FGs feet as he did when he was racking up 3 goals a game.

milne still puts out 1 1/2 goals a game, and is in the top few goal kickers in the league.

under lyon we aren't going to play traditional football with 4 or 5 forwards in and around the F50, so be it, but even under our current game plan, milne is in our top 3 goal kickers consistently, so while his goal numbers are down he is still kicking a significant percentage of our score.

if milne racks up another 30 to 40 goals in 08, he's done his job IMO.

people point at stats, int he game we lost against Hawthorn, and fisher had eleven billion marks and 50 possessions, it was a completely useless set of stats IMO because most of them were kick to kick on the back line (im a big rap for fisher, and IMO he's a geniune star, 20 odd uncontested marks in the back 50 does not give us a win, or even contribute to a win)

while milne continues to rack up goals, often in pressure situations, sure he misses a few, but so does every forward.

frankly if the ball was anywhere in the F50, i'd much rather it in milne's hands that in CJs.

if its a set shot, milne > X > CJ
if its a pass just outside 50 X > milne > Cj
if its a lose ball in congestion Milne > x > CJ

[BAM! (shhhh)]

frankly if the ball was anywhere in the F50, i'd much rather it in milne's hands that in CJs.

if its a set shot, milne > X > CJ
if its a pass just outside 50 X > milne > Cj
if its a lose ball in congestion Milne > x > CJ

Add to that Milne is routinely one of the highest ranking goal assist players on the Saints and you start to get a picture of why Milne remains a walk up start - he's an offensive dynamo.

His defensive play and inability to hold his own in the middle have meant he's gotten pigeon holed as a small forward, and where it looked for a while like he was going to evolve into one of the best small forwards around, he's nowhere close to some of the guys who get rotated through that position... and so kids will continue to put him under pressure, as it is a great spot to use to develop players toward midfield positions.

The trouble with Milne is he can kick a goal a game and lose his matchup. The upside is he's not unlikely to kick 3 and create 2 more, which can go a long way to winning you a game.

I've always liked Milne, but this is why I like him right now: for X to steal his spot, X needs to settle down his kicking and play to his ability (he should be able to beat Milne at all 3 areas beyond debate), at which point X would be awesome.

[aussiejones]

Milne is a walk up for the 22.

Add some defensive play it a big bonus.

People either love ir hate him, the call him selfish , which is complete BS.

Gooooooooo MILNEY !!!!!!!!!

[Dan Warna]

the most successful CONSISTENT small forward in the league recently have been phil matera, jeff farmer, nathan brown (any other I have forgotten?)

matera and brown often have long stints as specialist marking forward one out in the F50, something rarely afforded milne (why when we have gehrig, kosi and reiwoldt )

all cost 400k plus.

then have a look at the players around the same value mark as milne (im guessing around 200k, the number 190k was bandied around a few years ago in the press)

and compare his value and return for value.

yes he's flawed, but with his flaws he represents a 2 goal 2 goal assist average player in the forward line.

sure he's not farmer, but where in the salary cap would you fit farmer?