David Armitage

[Dan Warna]

clearly our list is filled with rubbish.

at least 35 players from 09 will need to be cut or delisted ><

[barks4eva]

Absoltuely amazing today! Well done Armo, showed that he wants to be in the side and proved he is in our best twenty-two. IMO

Always was in our best 22 IMHO, should have been selected last year ahead of Fiora and Birss, FAIR DINKUM, was annoyed all year about that and quite frankly have been perplexed this year as to how Geary and Eddy get selected ahead of him!


I rate Lyon a football genius, so I have found this most perplexing!

[Unforgiven]

I believe Geary's selection was justified by his performances earlier in the year, though Eddy not so much. Will be interesting too see if Ross gives Armo a fair go. Eddy has had a few games now, Armitage deserves them too.

[MasonCJ2]

I'm excited by Armi. Similar to Jordan Lewis IMO. Both have some shortfalls, but some really good upsides, particularly when not every player can be perfect. Armi past Eddy IMO, but Geary may depend on matchups and structure. Geary's running capacity and agility may still have him marginally ahead, but Armi has some class, some grunt, and ball winning capacity. If Lenny or Ball were missing for instance, I'd think he'd be selected over Geary, but a full side I'd marginally favour Geary. Nonetheless, there's a lot of criticism on a guy that should have brownlow votes tonight.

Steven has very good player written all over him, but he's down the list a little for 2009 in terms of maturity and the little kid factor. He could be one of the Saints best players in years to come - he has excited me since he was recruited.

Very exciting day. McEvoy taking big grabs too.

[Armoooo]

I remember in the threads for speculation on our round 1 teams, all pre-season I had all of Geary, Steven and Armitage in our best 22 and you know what, I probably still do, Geary for mine is the number 1 then Armo closely followed then Steven third.

IMO those three have more to offer than Gwilt and Eddy, I originally had them ahead of McQualter, but IMO McQualter has more to offer this year, but next year or at latest the year after could be overtaken.

[Quixote]

Armitage played a better game than Luke Ball.

[plugger66]

I thought Armo was great today but lets not get carried away. In out top 22 after one game, not sure about that. Who would he replace remembering baring injury 8 players are to come back in. Good depth and like Jack will probably be given another week to see how he goes.

[bergholt]

I now have Armitage ahead of Geary, Eddy, Gwilt and Begley.

agree.

I also have Steven marginally ahead of Geary and way ahead of Eddy Gwilt and Begley.

disagree. he should get a few more games to show him what it's like in the senior team, but one game isn't enough to be ahead of geary or gwilt. (eddy and begley i agree with.)

[BakesFan]

I thought Armo was better than Dempster or Ball yesterday....

at the very least he deserves another shot next week... providing his corky isn't too severe.

[barks4eva]

I thought Armo was better than Dempster or Ball yesterday....

at the very least he deserves another shot next week... providing his corky isn't too severe.

Armitage deserves an apology for not being selected ahead of Fiora and Birss last year and Geary and Eddy this year!


Great game, finally gets an opportunity against Mitchell, Hodge, Lewis etc... without our big name mids for support and takes it up to them and beats them!

I love Lyon, but Armitage's non selection up until now, has been IMHO very strange, baffling and a mistake.

I hope Armitage maintains his position!


When Ball was dropped a few weeks ago and Armitage was not selected in his place, this was totally unbelievable and I still cannot understand this at all.

Sigh........ oh well at least Lyon gets just about everything else right!

[perfectionist]

Gave him a vote today for his tackling, running and adherence to team plan. But once again, this talk of him being a "gun" is silly, and only sets him up for failure. His disposal is no where near top echelon players ( Lenny, Nick Dal, Brendon), or mid echelon (Leigh, Jason, Andrew) for that matter. He is totally one sided and his kicking style sees the ball come off high in the instep too often. One good kick out of four will not suffice. However, we have seen with Sam Gilbert and Clinton Jones (similarly one sided) that this can be improved. But make no mistake, improving kicking is the most difficult thing to learn, because the player, in fact, has to relearn a longtime habit. Luke Ball (no longer a good kick) can at least kick on his left foot and will get a game before David Armitage at the moment. But if he continues to work hard, he may get his chance.

[Red]

Armo was excellent. Tackled well, got a lot of his own ball but like almost

every player on the ground had poor disposal. One game doesn't make a

career,but it was a good start.

As an aside I don't know if it was the conditions or just the way we played

but it was a poor game of football to watch.

[Thinline]

Armo played well today but lets no get carried away , jack has far more upside than him though ,

Agree Jack looks the goods.

Agree Steven looks good but did pretty much bugger all (relatively) after quarter time.

Consistency please, Berny.

Armitage was in everything til corked. Good, strong presence. Like him in there if room.

[matrix]

armo just needs to lift the disposal accuracy and then he will be a very very valuable player.
he needs to be retained....as long as he has everything outside of footy sorted out and knows what he wants...and thats hard work and a perm possie in the st kilda side

[FullMonty]

Great game Armo!
Keep up the good work.

[Munga]

His first few kicks missed the mark, possibly nerves. But I thought he hit nearly every target after that.

[Moods]

Armo was very good, but would appear to be fighting a for a spot with Ball for a spot in the team. Midfield of Lenny, Ball and Armo is too slow. I would pick Ball ahead of him still for a final, but glad to see that Armitage was capable of grabbing his chance when it was presented. Too many in front of him in the queue this year though. Hopefully they give him a few more games before the finals though.

No point comparing Armoo to Eddy Gwilt or even geary as they play completely different roles in the team.

[lefty]

Armo was very good on the weekend.

Eddy was again meh. Geary didnt have that spark like he did at the start of the year, Steven's showed signs along with Begley.

I honestly think Armo is way ahead of Eddy, annoys me he hasnt had a game up until the weekend.

Eddy's kicking is his weakness and doesnt seem to have that much influence on the game...

[duckduckduckgoose]

very impressed with Armos game yesterday.
Was close on BOG for 3 quarters- you guys are tough markers!

What more do you expect from the 5th cab off the VFL rank???

Geary gave Rioli WAAY too much space early on.
Hopefully he will learn a lot from yesterday.

[rexy]

Armitage close to being our best midfielder yesterday, even though he missed the last quarter.

Comparing him to Gwilt or Eddy seems absurd though. Gwilt and Eddy have been mainly used as a half forward who we want to lead up and take releiving marks and apply great forward preassure, in a way similar to the role Aaron Hammil played some years back. Armitage was never going to play this role so the I cant beleive Eddy and Gwilt got a game before him argument is meaning less.

[saintly_safes]

Thought he was our best in a very even team.Well done Armo I think you have proved to yourself that you've got what it takes to go to the next level.

[hAyES]

Armo was very good, but would appear to be fighting a for a spot with Ball for a spot in the team. Midfield of Lenny, Ball and Armo is too slow. I would pick Ball ahead of him still for a final, but glad to see that Armitage was capable of grabbing his chance when it was presented. Too many in front of him in the queue this year though. Hopefully they give him a few more games before the finals though.

No point comparing Armoo to Eddy Gwilt or even geary as they play completely different roles in the team.

Imagine having Lenny, Ball and Armo in the centre square. It'd be almost impossible not to get the centre clearance. Hopefully Armo can cement a spot in the side so we can see it regularly.

[Moods]

Armo was very good, but would appear to be fighting a for a spot with Ball for a spot in the team. Midfield of Lenny, Ball and Armo is too slow. I would pick Ball ahead of him still for a final, but glad to see that Armitage was capable of grabbing his chance when it was presented. Too many in front of him in the queue this year though. Hopefully they give him a few more games before the finals though.

No point comparing Armoo to Eddy Gwilt or even geary as they play completely different roles in the team.

Imagine having Lenny, Ball and Armo in the centre square. It'd be almost impossible not to get the centre clearance. Hopefully Armo can cement a spot in the side so we can see it regularly.

Yeah, but the midfield role isn't just about clearance work. We've got Dal and Joey as our outside mids (who are both good inside as well now) and lenny and CJ as our inside mids. WE need one more genuine inside type mid, but not two more I reckon.

As good as the hawks midfielfd was last year, one of the reasons Hodge was sent back was b/c they didn't really need Mitchell, Sewell, Lewis and him in the midfield. Too one dimensional. - (although Hodge has a few more strings to his bow)

[maverick]

I thought Armo was our best mid on the day and was quite effective.
He throws the ball onto his boot a little too much, but surely that is a learning experience.

Yes he was on the bike for a large part of the game, but while he was on he looked fit enough to me.

[DWOODROW]

Not too bad for his first game of the year. I especially enjoyed seeing him underneath the pack and getting the ball out from the bottom with a left handball. Also liked the tackle oh Hodge. Smashed him into the ground and Hodge didn't like it. I havn't seen Hodge tackled like that before and well it was on. I think Dave would have been keen to keep it going had it not been the fact that he probably likes the way this guy goes about it. ha

Given the chance I reckon he will take his oppurtunity. Given he had a bad cork and not much game time in the last qtr ,to give him a rest, a career best 22 possessions at the 3 qtr time was looking at being a statement game for him had he been able to finish it on the ground. There are still a few games to go before finals and hopefully he can play 1 or 2. Agree his kicking was a bit wayward but that will come with settling in and overcoming nerves. He did a hell of a lot better than I did on the weekend.