Teams Saints v Pies

[stinger]

Good to see Fisher back in, just hope he's ready.

Disappointing to see McEvoy go out for King, I feel McEvoy gives us more around the ground, even if his start to the season has been less than spectacular.

Hopefully it's just a rotation policy we have with our ruckmen, I don't think any of them can play 25 matches straight...

no...king had a good game for sandy and mcevoy had a poor game for us.......sam in will release bj for up forward......or jimmy g even.....

[Saint Bev]

I don't think for a moment that St Kilda would rush Sam Fish back if he wsn't ready, so this is fantastic news.

As for McEvoy, he hasn't done so well and I am sure St Kilda have gone with experience against tougher opposition.

[saintsRrising]

Ben needed to hold his marks for around the ground value. He was getting his hands on the ball but not making them stick...

[Con Gorozidis]

awesome fisher is back (hope they havent rushed him).

but GEEZ its also good to john "jack" anthony dropped. what a FLOG of a bloke.


anyone got an opinion at where big mac is? geez he looks slow. i know he does some nice things and is fit.

[bergholt]

I hope Sammy Fisher does spend some time forward, I reckon he could kick some ass up there.

nah. he's kicked 13.10 in his 120 games and never looked much like getting it on the rare occasions he goes forward.

i reckon the team looks more like this:

B: Baker, Dawson, Blake
HB: Gwilt, Fisher, Gilbert
C: Montagna, Dal Santo, Gram
HF: McQualter, Riewoldt, Peake
F: Milne, Goddard, Schneider
R: Gardiner, Hayes, Jones
IC: King, Geary, Ray, Armitage

weird looking forward line with BJ at full forward, but i don't see who else is going to go down there. peake, maybe? really strange given that i always thought ross liked structure, but should make it hard for the pies backline.

[nobhead]

What are your thoughts on King in for McEvoy? Anyone?

must say im suprised thought macca has been playing pretty well .does more than king around the ground .also might find that gardiner will spend a bit of time up forward to try and stretch pies defence imo.

[SaintSimmo]

Well Well, very interesting that R.Clarke is an emergency now.

He can't make the best 22??? I know he is the whipping boy on this site, but i think he adds alot to our back line.

Anyone else think that Clarke should be in the 22, or is he just not in the side for this week?

[joffaboy]

Well Well, very interesting that R.Clarke is an emergency now.

He can't make the best 22??? I know he is the whipping boy on this site, but i think he adds alot to our back line.

Anyone else think that Clarke should be in the 22, or is he just not in the side for this week?

And drop who from the backline?

You need to earn your spot in this team - ask Max or Goose.

[SaintSimmo]

Well Well, very interesting that R.Clarke is an emergency now.

He can't make the best 22??? I know he is the whipping boy on this site, but i think he adds alot to our back line.

Anyone else think that Clarke should be in the 22, or is he just not in the side for this week?

And drop who from the backline?

You need to earn your spot in this team - ask Max or Goose.

He has earned his spot last year, in the H&A season and played well in the finals.

Sometimes RL is going to have to be tough with his selections this year, we have the best list in the competition.

I'm not sure who would be dropped. That is for Ross to decide, who ever isnt playing Saints Footy.

I would drop Peake, still hasnt done anything to impress me, he kicked 3 goals last week,but we played North Melbourne. He won't do anything tommorow night.

[Con Gorozidis]

Well Well, very interesting that R.Clarke is an emergency now.

He can't make the best 22??? I know he is the whipping boy on this site, but i think he adds alot to our back line.

Anyone else think that Clarke should be in the 22, or is he just not in the side for this week?

And drop who from the backline?

You need to earn your spot in this team - ask Max or Goose.

hes hardly a whipping boy. hes the favourite of heaps of SS posters. Some love him unconditionally (he is a sponsored player every friggin year).

but hes clearly on the same line as Brett Peake / James Gwilt / Jarryn Geary/

so those 4 guys are all about the same. and injury free there are only 3 spots for them. so raph is in the mix for sure. but 1 of those other 3 would have to get injured or lose form.

[evertonfc]

How the Pies plan to stop Riewoldt:

http://www.afl.com.au/news/newsarticle/ ... fault.aspx

"I think most sides struggle with Nick but we’re going to back our defence and hopefully we can shit down the ball use that comes in from their midfield and try to restrict them that way," Pendlebury said.

Talk about dirty tactics

[sunsaint]

Ben needed to hold his marks for around the ground value. He was getting his hands on the ball but not making them stick...

which was no different from the week before with Kosi
McEvoy continued to present well to the contest and was very mobile, and on the ground he was quite skilled, like his lovely left footer that set up Armitage
I understand the panic with Jolly and his tapwork, but what worries me is his mobility into the forward line. So im a bit concerned with MG and King being able to go with him.

[Legendary]

With Fisher back, we have plenty of options to cover Jolly/Fraser if they push forward.

Jolly's big strength is in the hitouts, and Lyon obviously feels that we need to get first use. King will be able to fairly well match Jolly in the tap outs, and Gardiner will be able to exploit him and Fraser around the ground.

I think it's a good selection, it's going to be a fairly tight match.

[Unforgiven]

With Fisher back, we have plenty of options to cover Jolly/Fraser if they push forward.

Jolly's big strength is in the hitouts, and Lyon obviously feels that we need to get first use. King will be able to fairly well match Jolly in the tap outs, and Gardiner will be able to exploit him and Fraser around the ground.

I think it's a good selection, it's going to be a fairly tight match.

Im not too stressed about Fraser, without Jack Anthony, he may well play permanent forward, with Zack or Blake the likely match up.

What we need another tall forward with Roo, otherwise Maxwell will peel off and help presti.

[ace]

Fisher IN
Surprised that Jarryd Allen wasn't selected as well.

Pattison, Eddy, Clarke as emergencies.
I would expect Raph to come in, when Fisher drops out.

If their is a real fear from Fraser and Jolly playing forward then Pattison may play.
I can't see Eddy playing unless some other player drops out.

[Beekay]

Well Well, very interesting that R.Clarke is an emergency now.

He can't make the best 22??? I know he is the whipping boy on this site, but i think he adds alot to our back line.

Anyone else think that Clarke should be in the 22, or is he just not in the side for this week?

And drop who from the backline?

You need to earn your spot in this team - ask Max or Goose.

He has earned his spot last year, in the H&A season and played well in the finals.

Sometimes RL is going to have to be tough with his selections this year, we have the best list in the competition.

I'm not sure who would be dropped. That is for Ross to decide, who ever isnt playing Saints Footy.

I would drop Peake, still hasnt done anything to impress me, he kicked 3 goals last week,but we played North Melbourne. He won't do anything tommorow night.

Geez go fold your washing, Nancy

[dcstkfc]

McEvoy's winning record is being wonderfully protected.

[Legendary]

There would be absolutely no point naming Fisher unless he was going to play, as no one thought he would be available.

When was the last time a player didn't line up as selected for us? It's been quite a while, despite RL's first year, we were nearly always as selected last year.

[bergholt]

Well Well, very interesting that R.Clarke is an emergency now.

He can't make the best 22??? I know he is the whipping boy on this site, but i think he adds alot to our back line.

Anyone else think that Clarke should be in the 22, or is he just not in the side for this week?

i reckon gwilty's been excellent this year and so he's keeping raph out of the side. with him we already have three good tall half-backs so i can't see a spot for raph.

[steph]

IN - Fisher, King
OUT - Pattison, McEvoy

wow...RL is ruthless this week...!!!

Mind you an inform Jolly is probably the main danger from the Pies. So Gardi and King at the ruck contest may be to counter that possibility and to try and keep Jolly out of form.

I would say this is it.

remember the practice match against the Pies, Lyon left McEvoy on against Jolly in the ruck in the dying stages, and he got pretty towelled up. A very good learning experience for the young ruckman, and I'm sure it will help him in the long run, however we want a hard body in the final minutes of a tight match, and Rl obviously believes King and Gardiner are our best for this type of match.

I disagree with this for a couple of reasons. Firstly, what's the point of only playing McEvoy in the "easy" games? He needs to gain experience against quality opposition, as that's what we'll be facing in the finals. If he doesn't, and we play him in finals, then he'll be exposed. Secondly, King does absolutely nothing around the ground and I feel all he is doing now is holding McEvoy back. Why not just give McEvoy 6 or 7 straight games, and then re-assess? Very disappointed with this selection.

[dcstkfc]

In retrospect, how was there room for Dempster and Raph in the Grand Final team?

We went in very tall.

This isn't a criticism, just an observation.

[plugger66]

Fisher IN
Surprised that Jarryd Allen wasn't selected as well.

Pattison, Eddy, Clarke as emergencies.
I would expect Raph to come in, when Fisher drops out.

If their is a real fear from Fraser and Jolly playing forward then Pattison may play.
I can't see Eddy playing unless some other player drops out.

Pattison, Clarke and Eddy arent picked. We arent allowed 23 players so how can they play.

[joffaboy]

I disagree with this for a couple of reasons. Firstly, what's the point of only playing McEvoy in the "easy" games? He needs to gain experience against quality opposition, as that's what we'll be facing in the finals.

I dont think you got what i was getting at. Lyon deliberately left McEvoy on Jolly for much of the final quarter and all of the last 10 or so minutes in a game where there were 35,000 fans and where the opposition had come back from almost 7 goals down.

It wasn't an easy game (no game in the AFL is easy, ask Collingwood who almost lost to Melbourne last week).

Mac would have gotten invaluable experience that night, but was beaten pretty comprehensively by Jolly.

if the same situation occured tomorrow night it seems that lyon would prefer the experienced King to be rucking over the inexperienced McEvoy against Jolly.

Yes McEvoy needs experience, but the mids need supply. See what Geelong did to hawthorn when they had no ruckmnen.

If he doesn't, and we play him in finals, then he'll be exposed. Secondly, King does absolutely nothing around the ground and I feel all he is doing now is holding McEvoy back. Why not just give McEvoy 6 or 7 straight games, and then re-assess? Very disappointed with this selection.

We are after four points not, and it is not a practice match. McEvoy got 10 games straight last year and improved in each game. He will get many more this year and will continue to improve.

But tomorrow night Lyon waqnts big bodied and experienced ruckmen against Jolly.

[Beej]

Beautiful to see the Chipper back in the side!

[plugger66]

Beautiful to see the Chipper back in the side!

Yes great to see. He obviously has to play forward and there are no real options and also he isnt required down back at the moment. Not Chips ideal spot but will have more influence than Pattison last week.