Ins - Max McEvoy and Milne...

[bob__71]

in milne out gardiner

Easy...they will sort it well enough to beat North.

[claystreet]

Give Milnes knee another weeks rest
in Big Mac out Gards

[starsign]

IN : McEvoy Milne
Out : Gardiner Clarke

Max for Gilbert if required

Rationale: R9 Clarke came in for Gram
R10 Gram came back in for Milne
R11 Clarke c/f Gram on form , goes out for Milne for mine!!

[PJ]

Whoever comes in for Gardner will be gone the following week anyway or someone else to make way for him...as Ross put it Gards is only out for complying with the code of hard footy we are currently embracing.

[noob]

lol the way the year has panned out, i wouldn't be surprised if they put milney back in the reserves to wait for a spot.

[Griggsy]

Kosi and Blake to share ruck duties with King.

that might leave us without a second key forward for some of the match, which i hate.

ross said recently the club's preferred option is two dedicated ruckmen and two dedicated key forwards. i hope he sticks to that.

If need be Goddard could play forward like against West Coast. But maybe it is too much shuffling.

[widereceiver]

IMO Kosi is crap in the ruck, it would be preferable to keep them working at the forward structure. He was only used in the ruck in the first place because of our poor stocks under GT - Knobel and Ackland. I think Blake is a much better second string because he can zone off and contribute mid-field pressure.

[Saintschampions08]

[Splayd]

lol the way the year has panned out, i wouldn't be surprised if they put milney back in the reserves to wait for a spot.

hehehehehe

I reckon Milney has been in terrific form before getting injured and sealed the game against the Lions. He does his best work scooting around the feet of Kosi and Rooey and would play him as if match fit. Averages over 2 goals a game this season and I like his work with Schneids and the opposition small defenders not knowing who to concentrate on and who will run up the ground a bit and who will stay back. Has worked very well.

Can kick bunches of goals very quickly. Our forward line looks a lot better with him in as Goddard has really been our only 3rd tall forward thus far with Gwilt coming in and out of games and our mids have struggled to kick goals of late.

[saintly]

Kosi and Blake to share ruck duties with King.

that might leave us without a second key forward for some of the match, which i hate.

ross said recently the club's preferred option is two dedicated ruckmen and two dedicated key forwards. i hope he sticks to that.

i hope so as well. we play alot better and the structure stands up.

[starsign]

If need be Goddard could play forward like against West Coast. But maybe it is too much shuffling.

Maybe we are keeping that one for "a special occaision"

i recon there would be plenty of room on the G for him to cause mayhem again, playing even wider of
koz & Roo!
But I hope they don't pull it out of the bag of tricks R14!

He can win us a flag if we play our cards right, and everything falls nicely into place down back without him as September draws closer

[AnythingsPossibleSaints]

IN- MAX, GOOSE, MILNE
OUT- GARDINER, RAPH, GWILT/McQALTER

Max and Goose down back, Blake helping out in the ruck, Sam Gilbert, Sam Fisher, or Brendan Goddard to play the lead-up half forward role Gwilt has been playing (and that Charlie Gardiner played last year). We need more marking strength there, especially for when we play Geelong (who have 190cm guys like Mackie, Milburn & Enright across half back). Gilbert or Fisher could be just as damaging across half forward/leading up to the wings as they are down back (very mobile, great endurance, very strong marking, good disposal, read the play well).

It's time to get serious and pick our best team. But do they have the guts to? Or do they really expect that we're going to win an AFL premiership (especially with Geelong going as they are) without picking our best team? It's been hard enough to win one when picking our best teams, why make it harder? We could still do it, but it's unnecessary.

[PJ]

It's time to get serious and pick our best team.

So you think we've been picking our second best team?

I'd love to see Mat & Max running around in the colours as well but is this just being romantic?

[spert]

Milne, Max and McEvoy in, Raph and Schneider out (and Gards). I thought Schneider didn't work anywhere near hard enough against Melbourne. Kozi should be kept away from the ruck.

[JABBER]

Herd milne is still struggling and so is gilbert

In McEvoy,Eddy,Max
Out Gardiner, Gilbert (inj) Raph

[spert]

I suppose those who are available to pick from if Milne and Gilbert are not ready, would be out of McEvoy, Max, Armo, Steven, Goose and Miles.

[Thinline]

Herd milne is still struggling and so is gilbert

In McEvoy,Eddy,Max
Out Gardiner, Gilbert (inj) Raph

I heard otherwise.

In McEvoy, Milne
Out Gardiner, Gwilt

[plugger66]

IN- MAX, GOOSE, MILNE
OUT- GARDINER, RAPH, GWILT/McQALTER

Max and Goose down back, Blake helping out in the ruck, Sam Gilbert, Sam Fisher, or Brendan Goddard to play the lead-up half forward role Gwilt has been playing (and that Charlie Gardiner played last year). We need more marking strength there, especially for when we play Geelong (who have 190cm guys like Mackie, Milburn & Enright across half back). Gilbert or Fisher could be just as damaging across half forward/leading up to the wings as they are down back (very mobile, great endurance, very strong marking, good disposal, read the play well).

It's time to get serious and pick our best team. But do they have the guts to? Or do they really expect that we're going to win an AFL premiership (especially with Geelong going as they are) without picking our best team? It's been hard enough to win one when picking our best teams, why make it harder? We could still do it, but it's unnecessary.

I agree leats pick our best team so why would Goose be in there then. So you want to move 2 out of the backline that has conceeded 200 points less than any other side and move one into the ruck who isnt a ruckman and one to half forward who has never been proven in that position.

[HarveysDeciple]

I agree we will probably play 2 ruckmen, but we didn't against the Bulldogs in Round 6, as King was out injured.

Milne is a must pick if fit.

So that's one in Milne, and one forced out Gardiner.

Then we have a decision as to whether to select a second ruckmen (best option structurally IMO and a near certainty) and go with McEvoy for say Raph or Gwilt.

Or pick Max instead.

However I doubt very much we will make 3 changes so it will be McEvoy and Milne for Raph and and Gardiner.

People need to remember raph was the replacement for Gram, Gram returned, Raph goes out, rightly or wrongly.
I like Raph and feel a continued run of games will see the best of him return, but I don't see any other viable option at present.

[AnythingsPossibleSaints]

IN- MAX, GOOSE, MILNE
OUT- GARDINER, RAPH, GWILT/McQALTER

Max and Goose down back, Blake helping out in the ruck, Sam Gilbert, Sam Fisher, or Brendan Goddard to play the lead-up half forward role Gwilt has been playing (and that Charlie Gardiner played last year). We need more marking strength there, especially for when we play Geelong (who have 190cm guys like Mackie, Milburn & Enright across half back). Gilbert or Fisher could be just as damaging across half forward/leading up to the wings as they are down back (very mobile, great endurance, very strong marking, good disposal, read the play well).

It's time to get serious and pick our best team. But do they have the guts to? Or do they really expect that we're going to win an AFL premiership (especially with Geelong going as they are) without picking our best team? It's been hard enough to win one when picking our best teams, why make it harder? We could still do it, but it's unnecessary.

I agree leats pick our best team so why would Goose be in there then. So you want to move 2 out of the backline that has conceeded 200 points less than any other side and move one into the ruck who isnt a ruckman and one to half forward who has never been proven in that position.

Too damn right. Just because things have been going well doesn't mean they can't go better, does it? Especially since our past 3 weeks have been relatively ordinary, compared to earlier in the year. We're not going that well, right now. No-where near as well as we could be.
With Kosi and Nick playing deep forward, we have a clear marking weakness across HF. We can get away with it against probably 14 teams, but we'll almost certainly have to beat Geelong in a final, which is possibly the only game that will really matter, if winning the flag is our ultimate aim. We often kick it long to Schneider, McQualter, etc at half forward, but imagine what Mackie etc would do to them in the air? It would make it hard to get from defence to Rooey and Kosi. Putting someone like either/both Sams to HF would also mean there was less likelihood of our opponents having someone tall spare, to play loose in front of Roo and Kosi, because they'd have to play on Fisher or Gilbert instead. We drafted Tom Lynch because we said we're after someone to play the sort of role Sammy Hamill used to play, but we have 3 guys there now that could do it (Goddard, Fisher, Gilbert). They could all kick ass there.
We're effectively 5 games clear of third spot at the moment and have two top quality guys in Max and Goose that can play down back, to free up either, or both of the Sam's. So what's the harm of putting them up to half forward to see how they go? If it doesn't work out we're allowed to move them back and there would be plenty of the year left. I reckon Fisher at least would be great there, pretty much immediately and that our team would be stronger/better OVERALL, which is the aim. And adding Max, at least, to our backline is hardly going to weaken our defence, is it, considering he's our best "stopper" and is like a human glove? And obviously many have forgotten that Goose used to dominate at CHB. Unless he's really lost it, he's worth putting back there, if he's back in form.
I bet many thought moving Goddard and Gram out of defence last year was a bad move and look how well that turned out. Like Collingwood moving John Anthony from full back to full forward. Or Adelaide moving Shane Ellen from defence to FF in the 1997 grand final. I think we all remember how that turned out!
And Blake would only be going into the ruck for one week and it's not like he hasn't played there heaps before, is it?

[AnythingsPossibleSaints]

It's time to get serious and pick our best team.

So you think we've been picking our second best team?

I'd love to see Mat & Max running around in the colours as well but is this just being romantic?

Hey PJ, no, I don't believe we've been picking our very best team. I believe they've been trying to not change the team, as Ross stated, instead of just picking it on its merits, each week. I think they're a bit obsessed with stability, at the moment.
Ross said that match committee is trying to emulate the Aussie cricket team's recent stability in the one day game, but the only problem with that is that Australia used to ROTATE the bowlers, especially, in the one day team. They just dumped the rotation policy. St Kilda have never had a rotation policy like that. We used to just pick our team each week on its merits, which is pretty much Australia is doing now. We now seem to be in a totally different place, which is "stability for the sake of stability".
It can be counterproductive. Where before Ross came out publicly (about 3 weeks ago) and said he didn't want to change the team if possible, I felt most of our guys were playing as if their lives depended on it, I don't feel many have been in the 3 weeks since. After Dal and Milne were dropped last year, they probably all thought they had to play their best every week (especially the so-called "bottom 6") to keep their place, but now they may feel they can get away with a few so-so games and they'll still be picked, because match committee don't want to change the team. We've played our 3 worst games for the year since Ross said we wanted the team to stay "stable". The urgency from earlier in the year seems to be gone, since he said that publicly.
There have been a couple of guys in the VFL team that I thought would be picked in our senior team if they simply picked the seniors on its merits, which is why I say I don't believe we've been picking our best team. I have no doubt about it.
And I certainly don't suggest we should make any moves for "romantic" reasons. I would pick Max this week ahead of at least 6 who played last week, as I believe he's better than them and is also our best "stopper", especially on the medium sized guys like Steve Johnson, Brad Johnson, Michael O'Loughlin, Mark Williams, Paul Medhurst, etc. He's only ever gone to full back when the likes of Shanahan, S Wakelin and Luke Penny left the club. Him playing on the medium sized guys would then free up the likes of Gilbert or Fisher to be more attacking, either on a back flank or closer to goal. That will be brilliant. If we thought we've been good so far, we can be a lot better.
As for Goose, unless he's really lost what he used to have (when he was dominating at CHB- at 21 years of age, by the way) then I would also pick him ahead of one or two that played last week, again to free up Gilbert and Fisher to be more attacking. If it doesn't work, then he can always be dropped again, like after the NAB Cup match he played earlier in the year. They just have to be really brave in match committee and be prepared to make some tough calls. It's pretty unlikely we're going to win an AFL premiership playing it safe. We all know hard it's been to win one.