Intra-Club Match....Report !!

[InkerSaint]

No mention of Steven Gaertner. Did he play? Was he possibly the #17 on Kosi?

Thanks for the reports everyone.

[goodie]

No mention of Steven Gaertner. Did he play? Was he possibly the #17 on Kosi?

Thanks for the reports everyone.

No Gaerter, if he did play he would've used his assigned number like all the other players. Quite a few tall draftees missed out, Lynch, Cahill, Gaertner

[saintdooley]

me meeting jack barker
was great, he is so nice, went to see trevors grave before the match
was so moving!

the photo is a bit blury but still very moving

yeah. he catches the cheer squad bus to the S.A/N.S.W games.

[Iceman234]

Good work Ralphy.

Great to meet ya.

[SaintWodonga]

No mention of Steven Gaertner. Did he play? Was he possibly the #17 on Kosi?

Thanks for the reports everyone.

No Gaerter, if he did play he would've used his assigned number like all the other players. Quite a few tall draftees missed out, Lynch, Cahill, Gaertner

I think Alistar Smith was not there too and Stanley

[bigcarl]

"We are looking for that real third tall mobile quick — he is 194 centimetres and he (gilbert) is lightning quick — and we feel Baker will be back," Lyon said.

"And if Maguire stands up and with Begley and maybe Xavier Clarke back there then we can afford to put (Gilbert) forward. We would like to do it and we are experimenting with it. It is exciting for him, he loves it.

"We are trying to find that third tall in that Aaron Hamill mould: hard and tough and quick."

he's often reminded me of a young fraser gehrig. just needs to bulk up a bit.

[Duggie1]

Thanks for those fantastic photos guys

[sunsaint]

OK I'm desperate for something positive to hang on to in '09.
I have read all the recent training reports, and to be honest they have been pretty luke warm.
Now given the delistings and drafting outcomes, many were saying that the list of recruits were to take us the next step.
So far I havent read boo about them. OK some "mixed" reports about Ray, general disquite about Begley. Nothing about Dawson.
And the kids seem to be in cotton wool. (apart from the novelty value of Tungatulum showing some dash)
At this point you'd be expecting McEvoy to be saying Im better than MG or King AND showing it. J Steven, Im better than a number of the current onballers. etc...
Yes Im happy for Baker and Maguire to come back for sentimental reasons and for Goddard to get a run in the middle, and for NDS to realise his potential in 09. And we desperately need Dempster back ASAP.
BUT
no one seems to be very excited

[Batnoe]

OK I'm desperate for something positive to hang on to in '09.
I have read all the recent training reports, and to be honest they have been pretty luke warm.
Now given the delistings and drafting outcomes, many were saying that the list of recruits were to take us the next step.
So far I havent read boo about them. OK some "mixed" reports about Ray, general disquite about Begley. Nothing about Dawson.
And the kids seem to be in cotton wool. (apart from the novelty value of Tungatulum showing some dash)
At this point you'd be expecting McEvoy to be saying Im better than MG or King AND showing it. J Steven, Im better than a number of the current onballers. etc...
Yes Im happy for Baker and Maguire to come back for sentimental reasons and for Goddard to get a run in the middle, and for NDS to realise his potential in 09. And we desperately need Dempster back ASAP.
BUT
no one seems to be very excited

wait for round 1

i will not be able to contain myself

[Solar]

OK I'm desperate for something positive to hang on to in '09.
I have read all the recent training reports, and to be honest they have been pretty luke warm.
Now given the delistings and drafting outcomes, many were saying that the list of recruits were to take us the next step.
So far I havent read boo about them. OK some "mixed" reports about Ray, general disquite about Begley. Nothing about Dawson.
And the kids seem to be in cotton wool. (apart from the novelty value of Tungatulum showing some dash)
At this point you'd be expecting McEvoy to be saying Im better than MG or King AND showing it. J Steven, Im better than a number of the current onballers. etc...
Yes Im happy for Baker and Maguire to come back for sentimental reasons and for Goddard to get a run in the middle, and for NDS to realise his potential in 09. And we desperately need Dempster back ASAP.
BUT
no one seems to be very excited

to be fair to mcenvoy, the id still has a boys body. Those two big ruckmn have many years of muscle and bulk behind them plus experience. We will learn alot from those two but ruckman alway take longer to come good.

the two that looked ready to jump up are nick heyne ad jack steven. Jack was in every pack, started to show the fitness required to play onball and looks all class. heyne has good hands, reads the ball very well and can kick a goal.

There is two to hold onto. Remember it was a tough intra club match for the rookies.

[Batnoe]

OK I'm desperate for something positive to hang on to in '09.
I have read all the recent training reports, and to be honest they have been pretty luke warm.
Now given the delistings and drafting outcomes, many were saying that the list of recruits were to take us the next step.
So far I havent read boo about them. OK some "mixed" reports about Ray, general disquite about Begley. Nothing about Dawson.
And the kids seem to be in cotton wool. (apart from the novelty value of Tungatulum showing some dash)
At this point you'd be expecting McEvoy to be saying Im better than MG or King AND showing it. J Steven, Im better than a number of the current onballers. etc...
Yes Im happy for Baker and Maguire to come back for sentimental reasons and for Goddard to get a run in the middle, and for NDS to realise his potential in 09. And we desperately need Dempster back ASAP.
BUT
no one seems to be very excited

to be fair to mcenvoy, the id still has a boys body. Those two big ruckmn have many years of muscle and bulk behind them plus experience. We will learn alot from those two but ruckman alway take longer to come good.

the two that looked ready to jump up are nick heyne ad jack steven. Jack was in every pack, started to show the fitness required to play onball and looks all class. heyne has good hands, reads the ball very well and can kick a goal.

There is two to hold onto. Remember it was a tough intra club match for the rookies.

i spoke to McEvoy about when he will get a game in the ruck and he said that the saints have 2 all australian ruckmen and is hard to get a crack. he said he will get a run but only when they cant do it and their bodies break down

[Teflon]

OK I'm desperate for something positive to hang on to in '09.
I have read all the recent training reports, and to be honest they have been pretty luke warm.
Now given the delistings and drafting outcomes, many were saying that the list of recruits were to take us the next step.
So far I havent read boo about them. OK some "mixed" reports about Ray, general disquite about Begley. Nothing about Dawson.
And the kids seem to be in cotton wool. (apart from the novelty value of Tungatulum showing some dash)
At this point you'd be expecting McEvoy to be saying Im better than MG or King AND showing it. J Steven, Im better than a number of the current onballers. etc...
Yes Im happy for Baker and Maguire to come back for sentimental reasons and for Goddard to get a run in the middle, and for NDS to realise his potential in 09. And we desperately need Dempster back ASAP.
BUT
no one seems to be very excited

Its a fair post sunsaint and I understand the logic but Ive been consoling myself that just maybe what you (and I ) are really experiencing is a general apathy to 09 bought on by the fact that we arent the "hyped youn guns" this year. In that.......perhaps we may surprise...

Ok, ok Im clutching........ but yes on paper when I go searching for the bridge to catch 10 goal beltings off Hawks/Cats...and a confident 2 time shellacking by the Dogs.....I struggle. Im not one that thinks Baker/Maguire are the catapult.......................BUT all is not lost......(here I go again..) we do have improvement to come from X/Raph, Goddard, Kosi, Ball, etc.......(this is without resorting to Jack Stevens becoming a superstar in yr 2).

Im hanging on to that, a FUNCTIONING fwd line and some decent ball movement into attack....

[BAM! (shhhh)]

OK I'm desperate for something positive to hang on to in '09.
I have read all the recent training reports, and to be honest they have been pretty luke warm.
Now given the delistings and drafting outcomes, many were saying that the list of recruits were to take us the next step.
So far I havent read boo about them. OK some "mixed" reports about Ray, general disquite about Begley. Nothing about Dawson.
And the kids seem to be in cotton wool. (apart from the novelty value of Tungatulum showing some dash)
At this point you'd be expecting McEvoy to be saying Im better than MG or King AND showing it. J Steven, Im better than a number of the current onballers. etc...
Yes Im happy for Baker and Maguire to come back for sentimental reasons and for Goddard to get a run in the middle, and for NDS to realise his potential in 09. And we desperately need Dempster back ASAP.
BUT
no one seems to be very excited

I've said it before and I'll say it again - hanging our hopes on players outside the group is unrealistic. We've heard plenty on the 4 year apprenticeship, seen first hand that Lyon takes a patient approach. Our improvement will come gradually, not in a lightning strike.

Which is as it should be when you're looking to take the final step.

The 10 goals to be made up need to come from team cohesion. The Saints only really started to look the part of a top 4 side (regardless of standings) in their last 5 or 6 matches. Thumping of the Pies case in point. The defense stood tall, the mids did their jobs, and the forwards executed - by contrast, the Cats and Hawks had been fine tuning for months.

If you want names, they're the same old names we've been touting for years. Raph Clarke, Sam Gilbert, David Armitage (a healthy Allen might also have been on this list). These are the "kids" that are due to hit their straps, and who by doing so can help us bridge the gap. Perhaps a Steven or a Heyne steps into the breach if one of them fails, but it's most likely plan B - get them games for now to show them, but they're unlikely to blitz the field. McEvoy is now a 19 year old - he's getting bigger, but I honestly expect little in '09. If a Geary or Eddy comes good, I'll consider it a bonus (and Eddy looked good on Friday).

From my vision of Friday's intrasquad, it was as expected - A squad made B squad look like B squad. Ray gave more than I was expecting and Heyne was fun to see, but the kids were in spots where they were either always going to be outclassed (mids and defense), or as in Zac Dawson's case, in a position where he was a glorified spectator.

There are no guarentees, and the expectations are pretty high - makes it tough to get excited.

[Zed]

[quote="Batnoe
i spoke to McEvoy about when he will get a game in the ruck and he said that the saints have 2 all australian ruckmen and is hard to get a crack. he said he will get a run but only when they cant do it and their bodies break down[/quote]

Geez I hope you heard that wrong.

They were All Australian a long time ago and are past their peak .. the kid should be testing himself against them at every opportunity and learning from them like a sponge. If he doesnt beleive he has the ability to get past these "old crocks" this year then he is destined to become the next Barry Brooks.

For the record, I think Kingy and MG still have a lot to offer - the point I am making is its about mindset and attitude. He will never make it if thinks he will only get a game when they break down.

[Bernard Shakey]

Zed

Kingy and Gardiner were excellent on Friday.

I think Ben was just being realistic and as others have said, he is just a kid and ruckmen take a lot longer to develop.

[SainterK]

Zed

Kingy and Gardiner were excellent on Friday.

I think Ben was just being realistic and as others have said, he is just a kid and ruckmen take a lot longer to develop.

I agree with Bernard, he is probably just being realistic. I was also wrapped with King and Gardiner, and can be happy with the thought that these guys will be great mentors...

[sendmehomehappy]

Teflon....is clutching? And, for good measure...hanging on to that...!