Rhys Stanley

[SainterK]

If he played this year, it will be limited to 1 or 2 games IMO...Ross has made it clear he likes the youngsters to serve an apprenticeship.

[samoht]

We need a good half forward flanker more than Ross Lyon's one liners.

[plugger66]

I reckon give the kid a go.

We need pace and a third mobile option up forward - ideally a 185 cm type - but he is so quick I reckon he can play on the half forward flank.
Who do we have who's better on the half forward flank at the moment ?

No one right ?

Also A Smith injects much needed pace.

In 2004 we almost won the premiership with mostly kids in our team - we can afford one or 2 good ones now - and we do need pace.

Won 22 out of 25 last year so I am not sure we need to inject players but if we did who does he replace or should we use more than our 22. And just because you are quick doesnt mean you can get the ball at ground level. I reckon there is no place for a 200cm player in our forward line at the moment unless he is very good at ground level.

[samoht]

Doesn't matter how good a side is - there are always weaknesses and there is always room to improve.

That applies to Geelong too.

So are you suggesting that St Kilda should sit complacently on its laurels and not look to improve ? .. based on winning 22 out of 25 games ?

The question is does St Kilda have an effective marking half forward flanker who has cemented a spot ?

If the answer is no then why not look to Stanley ? - as he looks a better prospect than whoever has been tried and has failed so far .

and Stanley is good at ground level .

[bergholt]

If the answer is no then why not look to Stanley ? - as he looks a better prospect than whoever has been tried and has failed so far .

fair question though from plugger - who's out of the side to make room? off the top of my head the side is something like this:

FB: Baker, Dawson, Blake
HB: Gilbert, S Fisher, Gram
C: Goddard, Dal Santo, Montagna
HF: McQualter, Riewoldt, Armitage
FF: Milne, Koschitzke, Schneider
R: Gardiner, Hayes, Jones
IC: Ray, King/McEvoy, Dempster/R Clarke, Geary/Steven/Eddy

now you pick a side, put stanley in, and we'll see who misses out.

[Spinner]

Doesn't matter how good a side is - there are always weaknesses and there is always room to improve.

That applies to Geelong too.

So are you suggesting that St Kilda should sit complacently on its laurels and not look to improve ? .. based on winning 22 out of 25 games ?

The question is does St Kilda have an effective marking half forward flanker who has cemented a spot ?

If the answer is no then why not look to Stanley ? - as he looks a better prospect than whoever has been tried and has failed so far .

and Stanley is good at ground level .

A player that has played zero games is not going to have an influence on a season.

[borderbarry]

Rhys was 200cm at 17 yrs of age when we recruited him 15 months ago.
I saw a photo late last year where he was standing with several of our talls, and he was taller than Gardner by a fair bit, and was slightly taller than King. So I make him to be about 203cm.

[bigcarl]

he is so quick I reckon he can play on the half forward flank. Who do we have who's better on the half forward flank at the moment?

good question.

one of the things i reckon needs to be addressed in the light of last year's finals is our over-reliance on riewoldt to kick a winning score in big matches. we could easily have gone out in straight sets if not for his goals against the magpies and the bulldogs

let's see how stanley goes in the rest of the nab cup. on what i've seen so far he is a very exciting prospect.

down the track we may well have two riewoldts zipping around the forward line.

[vacuous space]

and Stanley is good at ground level .

It's too early to say that. Stanley has played one preseason game in which he had one ground ball. He may be good in the VFL, but that's an entirely different standard of play. He may be good for a ruckman. If he's playing up in the forward line, how is he going to fare against guys like Corey Enright on the ground? How about spreading midfielders? 190cm players usually struggle on the ground, bar a freakish few. I'm not optimistic about a 200cm player being able to compete.

So far, I think the only way he gets a game is through injury. Otherwise, he has to prove himself a better KP option than Kosi or a better ruck option than Gardiner, King or McEvoy. He's an exciting player, but I just don't see RL going with more than two talls.

[bigcarl]

If he played this year, it will be limited to 1 or 2 games IMO...Ross has made it clear he likes the youngsters to serve an apprenticeship.

unless they are very special, he said, if i recall correctly.

[bigred]

We need a good half forward flanker more than Ross Lyon's one liners.

You do make a compelling arguement

Time is on Stanley's side

[SainterK]

If he played this year, it will be limited to 1 or 2 games IMO...Ross has made it clear he likes the youngsters to serve an apprenticeship.

unless they are very special, he said, if i recall correctly.

Sure, you probably remember more than me bigcarl, just something I recall him saying last year.

[Saints7]

and Stanley is good at ground level .

It's too early to say that. Stanley has played one preseason game in which he had one ground ball. He may be good in the VFL, but that's an entirely different standard of play. He may be good for a ruckman. If he's playing up in the forward line, how is he going to fare against guys like Corey Enright on the ground? How about spreading midfielders? 190cm players usually struggle on the ground, bar a freakish few. I'm not optimistic about a 200cm player being able to compete.

So far, I think the only way he gets a game is through injury. Otherwise, he has to prove himself a better KP option than Kosi or a better ruck option than Gardiner, King or McEvoy. He's an exciting player, but I just don't see RL going with more than two talls.

something to be excited about for sure, he presents well, has good hands, and looks a lot stronger than last year....a very good option if our forward structure isnt working, or if were playing a small backline.

[plugger66]

If he played this year, it will be limited to 1 or 2 games IMO...Ross has made it clear he likes the youngsters to serve an apprenticeship.

unless they are very special, he said, if i recall correctly.

That may be correct but Stanley doesnt fall into that category yet unless one practice game with 5 possessions makes him special. By the way who is he replacing bar injury?

[bigcarl]

If he played this year, it will be limited to 1 or 2 games IMO...Ross has made it clear he likes the youngsters to serve an apprenticeship.

unless they are very special, he said, if i recall correctly.

That may be correct but Stanley doesnt fall into that category yet unless one practice game with 5 possessions makes him special. By the way who is he replacing bar injury?

well i reckon the club would be looking at the performance of the forward line during the finals series last year without being quite satisfied.

to be happy with it would be to stand still on one spot.

take riewoldt's goals against the bulldogs and collingwood out and we were in real trouble. as for the grand final, i don't even want to go there.

is stanley ready? i don't know, but let's see how he goes in the rest of the nab.

even you must admit that he looks a real prospect.

[yipper]

If he played this year, it will be limited to 1 or 2 games IMO...Ross has made it clear he likes the youngsters to serve an apprenticeship.

unless they are very special, he said, if i recall correctly.

That may be correct but Stanley doesnt fall into that category yet unless one practice game with 5 possessions makes him special. By the way who is he replacing bar injury?

well i reckon the club would be looking at the performance of the forward line during the finals series last year without being quite satisfied.

to be happy with it would be to stand still on one spot.

take riewoldt's goals against the bulldogs and collingwood out and we were in real trouble. as for the grand final, i don't even want to go there.

is stanley ready? i don't know, but let's see how he goes in the rest of the nab.

even you must admit that he looks a real prospect.

Haha. No pressure on the kid!!!

Given he is 19yo - over 200cm tall (is that 6'11"???) he is a prodigious talent. I feel certain he will be carefully managed, and he will become a player, perhaps in 2011 or 12. I also feel certain that he would have pleasantly surprised the coaches who maybe were not expecting such sure hands, and confidence from him just yet. But boy wasn't it good to see. He will be ok - a future StKilda star coming up.

[plugger66]

If he played this year, it will be limited to 1 or 2 games IMO...Ross has made it clear he likes the youngsters to serve an apprenticeship.

unless they are very special, he said, if i recall correctly.

That may be correct but Stanley doesnt fall into that category yet unless one practice game with 5 possessions makes him special. By the way who is he replacing bar injury?

well i reckon the club would be looking at the performance of the forward line during the finals series last year without being quite satisfied.

to be happy with it would be to stand still on one spot.

take riewoldt's goals against the bulldogs and collingwood out and we were in real trouble. as for the grand final, i don't even want to go there.

is stanley ready? i don't know, but let's see how he goes in the rest of the nab.

even you must admit that he looks a real prospect.

I have been with Stanley from day one but he is no where near ready. These are practice games with 26 players. We need to get back to 22 players and we had about 6 regulars out. He will not play this year baring a huge amount of injuries or bad form. Neither I hope will happen.

[bigcarl]

He will not play this year baring a huge amount of injuries or bad form. Neither I hope will happen.

so you speak for the club on this? unlike you, at least they appear to recognise that he might offer something in a position other than ruck. i think i'll wait and see what happens.

[saintsRrising]

Having players like Stanley shows our current depth.

If we were an emerging team, then he might be thrown in this yeara lot to fast track him.
However we are not..and so we can take the slow and steady path.

Given some of the injury problems of some of our supposed young future stars of several years back...not overaloading Stanley is probablya good thing.


Young players such as McEvoy, Armo, Steven, Geary are set to bloom..and as P66 has stated fitting Stanley in means someone else of quality will miss.

Even Smith who whilea similar age to Stanley , is smaller and so might get more games more quickly.

So yes lets see how Stanly goes in the remaining pre-season games...but he is competing with many.

Stanly was exciting no doubt...but Smth on the night probably demosntrated that he was more ready fora senior slot.

But it was only one game...

The good things is that we know that we have good talent coming through...

[PJ]

By the way who is he replacing bar injury?

I would have thought that was obvious - tall forward, not Riewoldt. As Lyon has said players pick themselves so we'll see but yes Lyon is also not a risk taker and prefers the tried and true.

Would have thought 5 or so posessions is about Kosi's average.

[AnythingsPossibleSaints]

We need a good half forward flanker more than Ross Lyon's one liners.

We have one, who would probably be the best in the league (or equal with Stevie J) and dominate there, like James Hird did, but they insist on playing him down back and in the midfield.
He wears no. 18 and if he'd been played forward in the GF we'd most likely still be celebrating our win.
Even Ross admitted the next day, or whenever it was that he'd like to play BJ forward more and it's more than time it happened. He needs to bite the bullet.
Ideally he'd have replaced Hamill there, when he started getting injuries, 5 or 6 years ago.
It's time to stop beating around the bush and play him mainly as a roaming half forward, with a licence to go where he deems it most valuable. Sure we'd love to have him setting up the play down back, or in the middle, but we have enough other guys that can do that WELL ENOUGH. Up forward, on the other hand, we have a chronic over-reliance on N Riewoldt, which would be instantly rectified if Goddard played there semi-permanently, as he showed when played up there in short bursts last year.
Sure we'd lose a bit if he wasn't setting up play from the middle of the ground, but as the Grand Final clearly showed, it doesn't matter if you get it into the forward line 40 times to their 15, if those up there aren't good enough to get it, or aren't good enough to finish it off, if they do get it. What do we want to win, the inside 50's stat, or a premiership?
Goddard is plenty good enough to both get it and finish it off up forward, as he showed by kicking our first goal of the GF, from about 50m out, while others missed from 10m.
With Roo, Kosi, and Goddard up forward, with Milne, Schneider and Mini at their feet, you'd just have to get it in there somewhere near them and they'd be good enough to get the job done, often enough. And imagine Roo and Kosi licking their lips at the prospect of Goddard getting it multiple times a game across half forward. It would also mean that Roo wouldn't have to lead up to the wings anywhere near as much, as Goddard would do that, meaning that Roo would be inside 50 more, which would equal more goals.
Party time.
This move will also give guys like Tom and Tommy and Rhys time to develop naturally, with one or more likely to do very well in the "3rd forward" role, from a year or two down the track.
Given that we do have Tom and Tommy (and I expect Lynch will make it, and he was recruited specifically for this role) I expect Rhys will be groomed for the second ruck role, unless they reckon someone like Gaertner will be good enough to make it in the ruck, at AFL level.

[samoht]

Goddard does his best work behind the ball and in setting up play - so I reckon we'd be majorly robbing Peter to pay Paul.

Stanley had 5 or 6 possessions from very limited opportunities - maybe the ball was in his vicinity 10 times , so I consider that to be a good strike rate.

I'm not drawing conclusions just yet ..but I'm just wondering - what will happen when the ball gets to him say 20 times and players start to look for him ?

The thing i like was he was decisive - took the ball cleanly.

... anyway I'm looking forward to his next game - I haven't seen another half forward flanker (prospect anyway) chase down someone like Stanley chased down Didak - that was brilliant !

[#1GILL]

If only we had 2 Riewoldts and 3 Goddards....

[BAM! (shhhh)]

I reckon give the kid a go.

We need pace and a third mobile option up forward - ideally a 185 cm type - but he is so quick I reckon he can play on the half forward flank.
Who do we have who's better on the half forward flank at the moment ?

No one right ?

Also A Smith injects much needed pace.

In 2004 we almost won the premiership with mostly kids in our team - we can afford one or 2 good ones now - and we do need pace.

The Half Forward flank is typically played by small ground ball players, not marking talls. It's a good place to rest onballers, it's a place filled by smalls coming up the ground, and it can be a specialty position of it's own.

That's not to say it must be so, but if you're going to try and fly in the face of a trend to that extent, you want to be sure of results.

Adam Schneider, Stephen Milne, Andrew McQualter, Nick Dal Santo, Robert Eddy, possibly players like David Armitage and Jack Steven might be considered for selection at that position.

I'd be stunned if Stanley was selected as anything other than KPP/3rd tall.

[gringo]

Rhys Stanley looks a good player for the future but I would be surprised if he played any senior games this year.

My 5 year old dumped Riewold as his favorite player after seeing how tall Rhys was. So we watched him at sandy. He looks like he could be a future star but a fair way off still.

He is a skinny mobile tall which can be hard to find a position for eg Josh Frazer or Kosi. My hope is he will be a Dustin Fletcher type or early WC Gherig. Or even an Adam Goodes type.

He can gather the ball and seems a good mark so hopefully next year he really takes off.

We dont want to rush him and have another Josh Frazer who plays about 10 games a season through injury.