St. Kilda: A fork in the road

[evertonfc]

I made the OP when we were 4-5 ... we finished 11-1-10.

Always easy with hindsight, but the second fork may have been the right turn ... a turn we have been forced to take now.

We're now at 4-5 again. Identical problems.

Is this another fork in the road?

[Buckets]

The Saints are now at a fork in the road (sorry Kevin!). We have two options open to us for the remainder of the 2007 season and moving forward into 2008.

1. Continue to push for the finals, and improve our 22 each week with players returning from injury. Re-gain Gram, Maxie, X, Joey, possibly Goose and Sammy and Banger after the break. Hopefully bring Gardiner in too.
Continue with Gehrig at FF, slot Maxie back at full-back and continue with Voss and Thommo off the bench. Stick with Doc Clarke in the ruck. Aim to be maybe 5-7 at the break, and then win 8 of the last 10 and position ourselves to have a real crack at the finals.

2. Conceed that a premiership is highly unlikely in 2007, but accept that a reasonably fit list at St. Kilda has the ability to win a flag. Therefore adjust our sights and refocus long-term. Keep Gwilt at CHB, let Gilbert and Armo play every game for the rest of the year and give Brooks a fair dinkum crack in the ruck.
Retire Thommo and Vossy, and play Gehrig as a flanker so that Watts can develop at FF. Develop Sweeney as a third forward and give Bally some time off to get himself back to what he can be.
In short, pump the games into the youngsters who will form the basis of our premiership side in 2008.

Such a team could look something like this (games by start of '08 in brackets):
B: L. Fisher (45), M. Hudghton (200), J. Gwilt (25)
HB: J. Gram (45), M. Maguire (85), S. Fisher (70)
C: A. Fiora (130), N. Dal Santo (120), B. Goddard (90)
HF: J. Sweeney (15), N. Riewoldt (135), L. Montagna (70)
FF: S. Milne (140), F. Watts (15), S. Gilbert (20)
Foll: B. Brooks (25), L. Ball (95), L. Hayes (200)
I/C: J. Attard (20), S. Baker (150), J. Koschitzke (100), X. Clarke (100)
Em: D. Armitage (15), C. Jones (5), M. Rix (25)

That's a young, quick and flexible line-up that is extremely different to our team of 2004-05. Not many of the same players.



We are not quite yet at the fork in the road where we have to make this decision ... the mid-season break will be the time for Ross Lyon to assess what he wants to do and which path will give the Saints their best crack at a premiership in his tenure.


With our injury list, expectations of a flag are unrealistic IMO. We could win finals in 2007, but no club can be hampered to the extent the Saints are this season.


I have enough faith in our list, coaching staff and development staff that we have the quality of players (if the group stays together) to be succesful for the next 5 years.

We are not a write-off and do not need to rebuild. We have sowed the seeds and have a knowledgeable farmer over-seeing the crop.

We just need some rain (luck with injuries) .....


You have to be constantly developing your list and changing your side in modern football. RL recognises this and will do a lot more work at the end of the year with our list to get it where he wants.

He is also building his own team, one which is very different to Grant Thomas.

Lyon has what it takes and our playing group are by and large adequate to succeed in the AFL.


So the rest of 2007 may go two ways, depending on results over the next month. A win against either the Cats or Roos would put us in good stead to make a charge in the second half of the year, whilst two losses would put our campaign in jeopardy, largely as a result of injuries.

I desperately hope that we take the first fork in the road in '07 and enjoy some success. I believe RL hopes this too.

But we ... and RL ... must keep in mind the bigger picture, and if some pain in 2007 means a premiership in 2008, then so be it.


In the meantime ... roll on Round 10 !!




(Don't you just love being a Saints supporter )

Amazing to think that we are now exactly a year on and nothing has really changed. Should we be worried about that?

Oh at least our injuries are as bad

[terry smith rules]

this is scary that the original post is a year ago to the day (almost)

ah the joys of supporting the saints

[bigcarl]

I made the OP when we were 4-5 ... we finished 11-1-10.

Always easy with hindsight, but the second fork may have been the right turn ... a turn we have been forced to take now.

We're now at 4-5 again. Identical problems.

Is this another fork in the road?

forked if i know

[Solar]

I do wonder the could haves if some of those younger players were given more game time last year.....

[saintspremiers]

I wonder what has happend to Mr 2007.....has he banned himself???

[evertonfc]

I wonder what has happend to Mr 2007.....has he banned himself???

He is back to Oh When The Saints...when he's not buried in exams or busy moving to the promise land, that is.