Xavier CLARKE ? !!

[st.byron]

never said he was underweight. said he wasnt physically strong. quad/core area to be precise. strength is more important than weight.

ok. answer this. when was his last good game for the saints? give me a date please?

al im saying is he has a weakness in his game and should work on it. thats it. you seem to refuse to acknowledge any weakness any insist "hes a star". well hes nowhere near a star. hes fringe 22 in the saints.


he seems like a top bloke. but there are lots of top bokes out there. you dont keep guys on cos they are top blokes.

whats the point of this forum ? is it just about hero worship and saying everyone is awesome like teenage girls and little kids?

im trying to be objective. not many other clubs would rate him.

it is called constructive criticism.

i identified an area of weakness;; AND
suggested a remedy/course of action for improvement.

agree with a lot of what you say above Con. Objective criticism is sometimes used as evidence that you're not loyal, a true supporter etc. Some are more interested in pushing the blind optimism about what a player's going to do rather than evaluating where he's actually at. Any request for evidence that so and so is a superstar is met with howls of indignation about what a negative sod you are, get off his back and next year he's going to tear it apart etc.

Re X, to me he's one of those guys who has been ruined by injury. He's never really been able to stay fit long enough to realise his potential.
I really hope he can get himself fit and stay fit long enough to start stringing some valuable games together. Has the talent no doubt, but his body lets him down.

[vacuous space]

im trying to be objective. not many other clubs would rate him.

If we cut him loose, I would imagine that at least one club would pick him up on talent. He has all the tools: great footskills, excellent attack on the ball, can take a great mark and runs with plenty of pace. The thing is, despite all his gifts, he just can't seem to put it together. Injuries certainly haven't helped, but even when he has played healthy, it's usually been to inconsistent and underwhelming results. I don't think it would be a tragedy if he decided to move on. I hope he stays here, stays healthy and finally gets going in 09. I wouldn't bet on it happening though.

[meher baba]

X was one of an amazing 11 players picked in the 2001 draft who have spent time on the St Kilda list (6 of whom look set to pull on our jersey again in 2009). Of the 10, he ranks 4th in terms of the number of AFL games which his abilities, form and fitness has enabled him to play.

[The complete list, FWIW, is Dal Santo (144), Ball (122), Schneider (117), X (105), Maguire (99), Montagna (98), Gram (77), Charlie Gardiner (63), Mark McGough (49), Barry Brooks (10), Joel Houlihan (0)]

An average of 15 games per season is an ok return for an AFL player, even a top 5 pick like X. If you take the top 5 picks from 2001 and the two years either side (ie: the 1999-2003 period): 11 of the 25, including X, have not averaged more than 15 games per season [FWIW, the 11 are Kosi, Luke Livingston, McDougall, X, Polak, Jarred Brennan, Tim Walsh, Andrew Walker, Sylvia, Farren Ray and Brock McLean].

X's main drawback has been his tendency to be injured during finals series. He has only played 4 out of 9 possible finals games since joining the club. And in one of these (2006 EF vs the Demons) he was injured after about 15 minutes and in the one he played this years he just didn't look right.

So the bottom line is that X has been a reasonably good contributor and also reasonably durable compared to other AFL players. I know he looks slight of build, but he must surely be a bit stronger than most of you archair experts to have managed to play 105 AFL games by the age of 25.

[sainteronline]

X was one of an amazing 11 players picked in the 2001 draft who have spent time on the St Kilda list (6 of whom look set to pull on our jersey again in 2009). Of the 10, he ranks 4th in terms of the number of AFL games which his abilities, form and fitness has enabled him to play.

[The complete list, FWIW, is Dal Santo (144), Ball (122), Schneider (117), X (105), Maguire (99), Montagna (98), Gram (77), Charlie Gardiner (63), Mark McGough (49), Barry Brooks (10), Joel Houlihan (0)]

An average of 15 games per season is an ok return for an AFL player, even a top 5 pick like X. If you take the top 5 picks from 2001 and the two years either side (ie: the 1999-2003 period): 11 of the 25, including X, have not averaged more than 15 games per season [FWIW, the 11 are Kosi, Luke Livingston, McDougall, X, Polak, Jarred Brennan, Tim Walsh, Andrew Walker, Sylvia, Farren Ray and Brock McLean].

X's main drawback has been his tendency to be injured during finals series. He has only played 4 out of 9 possible finals games since joining the club. And in one of these (2006 EF vs the Demons) he was injured after about 15 minutes and in the one he played this years he just didn't look right.

So the bottom line is that X has been a reasonably good contributor and also reasonably durable compared to other AFL players. I know he looks slight of build, but he must surely be a bit stronger than most of you archair experts to have managed to play 105 AFL games by the age of 25.

what he said

[stinger]

some people on here have to have a favorite player to regularly stick the knife into.........looks like it's now x's turn for these morons..........

[cowboy66]

I have heard whispers as well of something else besides the family dramas..which impacted on both the boys in relation to their father and it related to a medical condition that certainly impeded his season. I think when the boys Dad was gravely ill there was several trips back home to see their Dad also...sometimes we lose sight of the big picture.//its very easy for us to pot/critique/baste all and sundry but the realities can be far more significant and whilst I am not going to make excuses for X or raph....perhaps we can cut some slack and allow them 09 to see where they are really at before we cut them loose...to the boys credit neither had mentioned it nor used it as an excuse once this year...many other players would have bleated about woe is me and/or even walked away with far less in going in their little lives

[Con Gorozidis]

hang on here stinger. im not knifing x at all.

what im saying is the following.

105 games at age 25 is a good effort. he has manegd those games due to his many positive attribute - running endurance, footskills, excellent overheard marking for his heigh, sure ball handling.

if he is to become the complete player we want/think he can be - i think the strength on ball in contests is the area he needs to work on.

thats what im saying. if people get up in arms over that then they can.

as to the argument that he must be strong to play that many games - i would say it is the many positive attributes in his game that got him to 105 but thay compared to other guys his age laying AFL - he could definitely improve some areas of strength.

calling me a moron does not change the fact that i am 99% sure that x hmself would agree and acknowledge this issue around strength. you guys refusing to acknowledge a weakness is just weird. are you sying he is the complete prototype afl player? are you saing hes better/stronger than guys his age like kerr, judd?

lets look at cooney. publically acknowledged he had a strength issue and that he was weak as piss. has worked on the issue.

re the medical issue. raphs issue was made public. so im a big fan of what raph has done under the circumstances . great effort.

[sainteronline]

some players dont take strength training seriously and just go through the motions in their weights/strength sessions. i suspect x is one of them. and tell that attitude changes he will not improve. .

tell me x's strength training regime?

tell me how you would improve it?

tell me how you know x's attitude toward it?

tell me how the fitness staff let him get by with such an attitude(supposed)?

please explain

p.s x has bulked up considerably since he started check weight then to weight now