Aaron Fiora delisted

Zed · Post: # 669544Post **Zed** » Fri 31 Oct 2008 7:33pm

realistically - he was not going to win us a finals game - and certainly not capable of producing a few "Stuart Dew Grand final moments" should we make the 2009 GF.

I'm not trying to kick him whilst he is down - but I would have thought there was no point keeping him once we recruited Farren Ray. With youth on his side, you would have to punt on Ray over Fiora.

st.byron · Post: # 669552Post **st.byron** » Fri 31 Oct 2008 7:49pm

SENsaintsational wrote:If you have nothing nice to say, say nothing.

Nothing.

yeh fair enough. But there were plenty of posters who accused those of us who gave Fiora a caning and argued for him to be de-listed who rolled out the "not loyal to the jumper", "he's played more games you'll ever play" etc.

Right decision made by the club. Showing some real steel at last.

saintly_safes · Fri 31 Oct 2008 7:54pm

I think its a good move by the club but I personally think that he has copped more criticism than he deserved. He did play some good games & was a handy player but never reached his potential as a no #3 pick. Thanks for your years of service & I wish you all the best in what ever you do in the future .

fingers · Post: # 669598Post **fingers** » Fri 31 Oct 2008 9:59pm

saintly_safes wrote:I think its a good move by the club but I personally think that he has copped more criticism than he deserved. He did play some good games & was a handy player but never reached his potential as a no #3 pick. Thanks for your years of service & I wish you all the best in what ever you do in the future .

Of course he has. He did the best he can do - if it's not good enough then that's it. I'm sure his ability or lack of it or inability to get more out of himself has frustrated him more than it has us. Thank him for his service - wish him all the best - that's it.

villasaint · Fri 31 Oct 2008 10:13pm

thank god

saintsrus · Post: # 669662Post **saintsrus** » Sat 01 Nov 2008 8:38am

villasaint wrote:thank god

Saints Premiers 2008 · Sat 01 Nov 2008 9:11am

thank you fizz, may your career live long in saintsational memory as no doubt you will be over-rated now that you have been delisted

SuperSaint · Sat 01 Nov 2008 10:23am

Wise move by the club. He had plenty of opportunities & only has himself to blame for the delisting. One of the softest (if not the softest) player to ever put on a Saints jumper.

makemytime · Post: # 669702Post **makemytime** » Sat 01 Nov 2008 1:13pm

this delisting frees up our list even more, now we can use all our picks and get cousins

joffaboy · Post: # 669706Post **joffaboy** » Sat 01 Nov 2008 1:34pm

Would Fiora have been delisted if we weren't sure on picking up Cousins?

Just a question.

Mr Magic · Post: # 669711Post **Mr Magic** » Sat 01 Nov 2008 1:48pm

joffaboy wrote:Would Fiora have been delisted if we weren't sure on picking up Cousins?

Just a question.

I reckon it was more that we picked up Farren Ray.
I get teh feeling Ray is going to play teh role that Fiora has for the last couple of seasons - running hbf/mid
And the match Committe felt that Ray will do a better job than what Fiora has.

Just my opinion of course.

battye · Post: # 669712Post **battye** » Sat 01 Nov 2008 1:51pm

Fiora had some fine moments for St Kilda, he's taken some real speccy's. People say he's soft, but he never shied away from a marking contest and he put his body on the line a few times.

He just never had enough of the ball to make a real contribution which is a shame, he could have been a very good player.

Best of luck in whatever you do next!

mad saint guy · Sat 01 Nov 2008 2:10pm

battye wrote:He just never had enough of the ball to make a real contribution which is a shame, he could have been a very good player.

Exactly right. I never had any problem with his toughness or comittment, but he just couldn't find the ball enough and that is what stopped him from being a regular.

This may not be the right thread to make this point, but surely this year's crop of delistings will stop Lyon from recycling numerous discards from other clubs...Fiora, Birss, Gardiner, Attard and Rix all discarded/unwanted at their previous club and all deemed not good enough for St Kilda. Please stop repeating this cycle Ross.

saint66au · Post: # 669715Post **saint66au** » Sat 01 Nov 2008 2:27pm

SuperSaint wrote:Wise move by the club. He had plenty of opportunities & only has himself to blame for the delisting. One of the softest (if not the softest) player to ever put on a Saints jumper.

....which, even if true which it isnt, would make him 100 times harder than you...as he's played AFL and you havent tough guy

Dont you just love cheap pot shots from the peanut gallery?

Eastern · Post: # 669721Post **Eastern** » Sat 01 Nov 2008 2:44pm

saint66au wrote:
SuperSaint wrote:Wise move by the club. He had plenty of opportunities & only has himself to blame for the delisting. One of the softest (if not the softest) player to ever put on a Saints jumper.
....which, even if true which it isnt, would make him 100 times harder than you...as he's played AFL and you havent tough guy

Dont you just love cheap pot shots from the peanut gallery?

The vitriol in this thread is nowhere near as bad or as plentiful as I thought it would be. Perhaps this is due to the ever maturing of Saintsational

have I spoken too soon ? !!

st_Trav_ofWA · Sat 01 Nov 2008 3:14pm

as i feel to all the delisted players all the best in the future guys , you obviously werent up to the standard we require but you can hang your hat on the fact you to there in the first place ... thanks for the service !

st.byron · Post: # 669733Post **st.byron** » Sat 01 Nov 2008 3:59pm

saint66au wrote:
SuperSaint wrote:Wise move by the club. He had plenty of opportunities & only has himself to blame for the delisting. One of the softest (if not the softest) player to ever put on a Saints jumper.
....which, even if true which it isnt, would make him 100 times harder than you...as he's played AFL and you havent tough guy

Dont you just love cheap pot shots from the peanut gallery?

s66, I just don't get the "you've never been a on an AFL ground so you've got no right to call anyone soft".
SuperSaint (in this case) has never tried to pull on an AFL guernsey. If you want to play with the big boys then you have to be willing to step up to the mark physically. And Fiora wasn't.
Fiora was soft as an AFL player. The term 'soft' is relative to the company he was aspiring to mix it with, ie. other AFL players. And in that company he was soft.
Comparing him to Super Saint, me or anyone else is ridiculous.

saintspremiers · Sat 01 Nov 2008 4:32pm

st.byron wrote:
saint66au wrote:
SuperSaint wrote:Wise move by the club. He had plenty of opportunities & only has himself to blame for the delisting. One of the softest (if not the softest) player to ever put on a Saints jumper.
....which, even if true which it isnt, would make him 100 times harder than you...as he's played AFL and you havent tough guy

Dont you just love cheap pot shots from the peanut gallery?
s66, I just don't get the "you've never been a on an AFL ground so you've got no right to call anyone soft".
SuperSaint (in this case) has never tried to pull on an AFL guernsey. If you want to play with the big boys then you have to be willing to step up to the mark physically. And Fiora wasn't.
Fiora was soft as an AFL player. The term 'soft' is relative to the company he was aspiring to mix it with, ie. other AFL players. And in that company he was soft.
Comparing him to Super Saint, me or anyone else is ridiculous.

I'm with you on this one to a degree on the first part of your post.....but to give some credit on Fiora's side, he realised he was a squib way too often, and did something about it.

He did improve this aspect of his game in the past 2 seasons, and the soft side of his game became less apparent, so he deserves some credit in that respect. Simply, even as a "harder" player, he wasn't good enough.

saintsRrising · Sat 01 Nov 2008 6:07pm

mad saint guy wrote:
battye wrote:He just never had enough of the ball to make a real contribution which is a shame, he could have been a very good player.
Exactly right. I never had any problem with his toughness or comittment, but he just couldn't find the ball enough and that is what stopped him from being a regular..

I agree with that...plus he could just not make the most of the times he had the ball. ie he would often be in position to kick several goals in a game...but would normally struggle to kick the one.

mad saint guy wrote: This may not be the right thread to make this point, but surely this year's crop of delistings will stop Lyon from recycling numerous discards from other clubs...Fiora, Birss, Gardiner, Attard and Rix all discarded/unwanted at their previous club and all deemed not good enough for St Kilda. Please stop repeating this cycle Ross.

A bit selective there..

So no GTrain, Hamill, Gram, King, Schneider, Dempster either???

Also just on Charlie...I would not be surprised that agreeing to take him for a year was quite possibly part of the price of getting King (who has been a useful acquisition).

I think that if you look at Lyon's recruiting that he has mainly taken kids...but that yes he has opportunistically topped up with cheap trade for obvious gaps in our team.

Perhaps our biggest recruiting sin is keeping players too long that are not going to make it. ie Ferguson...and I suspect that McQualter will be another.

St Fidelius · Sat 01 Nov 2008 6:14pm

saintsRrising wrote: Also just of Charlie...I would not be surprised that agreeing to take him for a year was quite possibly part of the price of getting King (who has beena useful aquisition.

Are you saying that Charlie was still contracted to Geelong??

If not why would we agree to both Charlie and King ??

Surely the Cats could have just delisted Charlie and just trade King to us

Armoooo · Post: # 669748Post **Armoooo** » Sat 01 Nov 2008 6:14pm

Excellent post sRr, summed up the situation beautifully, I've got not problem with recycled players as long as we don't gamble our futre for them but I do have a problem with keeping players who just aren't up to it for too long...

sunsaint · Post: # 669761Post **sunsaint** » Sat 01 Nov 2008 6:54pm

st.byron wrote:
saint66au wrote:
SuperSaint wrote:Wise move by the club. He had plenty of opportunities & only has himself to blame for the delisting. One of the softest (if not the softest) player to ever put on a Saints jumper.
....which, even if true which it isnt, would make him 100 times harder than you...as he's played AFL and you havent tough guy

Dont you just love cheap pot shots from the peanut gallery?
s66, I just don't get the "you've never been a on an AFL ground so you've got no right to call anyone soft".
SuperSaint (in this case) has never tried to pull on an AFL guernsey. If you want to play with the big boys then you have to be willing to step up to the mark physically. And Fiora wasn't.
Fiora was soft as an AFL player. The term 'soft' is relative to the company he was aspiring to mix it with, ie. other AFL players. And in that company he was soft.
Comparing him to Super Saint, me or anyone else is ridiculous.

to call an afl player soft is a personal opinion
the injury that caused Hammills career end, happened when he decided not to take a hit. It didnt impress Brereton, and he called Hammill out.
Simon O'Donnell once told me, playing aussie rules scared him, which is why he switched to cricket, and he was a KPP
How many times did Fiora fling himself at a pack mark only to come down on his head/back. No self-preservation, 100% focus on the ball.
He wasnt soft. My only gripe I had was why he was chosen over Birrs in the latter half of '08,
Thanks and good luck to you Aaron.

St Fidelius · Sat 01 Nov 2008 7:06pm

sunsaint wrote: to call an afl player soft is a personal opinion
the injury that caused Hammills career end, happened when he decided not to take a hit. It didnt impress Brereton, and he called Hammill out.
Simon O'Donnell once told me, playing aussie rules scared him, which is why he switched to cricket,.
How many times did Fiora fling himself at a pack mark only to come down on his head/back. No self-preservation, 100% focus on the ball.
He wasnt soft. My only gripe I had was why he was chosen over Birrs in the latter half of '08,
Thanks and good luck to you Aaron.

Well said sunsaint...

Yep that was my gripe re Birss ....

Just because he was an outside player, many people label him as soft...

I just hated the rants from the MW chanting "Why Why Why Fiona" ...

Were other outside players in the past labeled as "soft"??

Aussie Jones was an outside player, did anyone label him as "soft"??

saint66au · Post: # 669767Post **saint66au** » Sat 01 Nov 2008 7:13pm

saintspremiers wrote:
st.byron wrote:
saint66au wrote:
SuperSaint wrote:Wise move by the club. He had plenty of opportunities & only has himself to blame for the delisting. One of the softest (if not the softest) player to ever put on a Saints jumper.
....which, even if true which it isnt, would make him 100 times harder than you...as he's played AFL and you havent tough guy

Dont you just love cheap pot shots from the peanut gallery?
s66, I just don't get the "you've never been a on an AFL ground so you've got no right to call anyone soft".
SuperSaint (in this case) has never tried to pull on an AFL guernsey. If you want to play with the big boys then you have to be willing to step up to the mark physically. And Fiora wasn't.
Fiora was soft as an AFL player. The term 'soft' is relative to the company he was aspiring to mix it with, ie. other AFL players. And in that company he was soft.
Comparing him to Super Saint, me or anyone else is ridiculous.
I'm with you on this one to a degree on the first part of your post.....but to give some credit on Fiora's side, he realised he was a squib way too often, and did something about it.

He did improve this aspect of his game in the past 2 seasons, and the soft side of his game became less apparent, so he deserves some credit in that respect. Simply, even as a "harder" player, he wasn't good enough.

Ive never seen Aaron Fiora squib in his entire career at St Kilda..you must have a better view where you sit

People who thnk he was "soft" even by this strange "AFL players are judged differently" criteria IMHO need to start watching football a bit more closely

I reckon a few people have certain players "in the gun" and get way too much satisfaction from looking hard for their faults every time they go near the ball.

Sobraz · Post: # 669769Post **Sobraz** » Sat 01 Nov 2008 7:19pm

He was stamped the day he ducked his head when he was 50m in the clear attempting to mark and dropped it...

Sure it is an isolated incident, but the fact is he was worried and he fumbled what was an easy mark in an attempt that defined his career...

Fiora was extremely soft... He tried in the latter half of his career to be harder, but this is something that is hard to improve on... At the end of the day he picked his contests far too often, and didnt make the most of his God given talents...

Using the "he played AFL, he is tougher than you" argument is pointless... There are many more assests than merely being hard to make it at AFL... The hardest of hard country and local footballers dont make it because they arnt skilled enough, not because AFL players are even harder still..

Fiora was soft as a junior, soft at VFL and soft at AFL... It was his skill that took him as far as it did...