Fitter Gresham in push for midfield role

[avid]

He is naturally a beautiful kick (Look at his Draft camp ratings -- top in his year)
The problem is with the TYPE of kick he habitually reverts to -- that floating, weighted, looping pass.
He often does that exquisitely too. But often it's the inappropriate option, and it often ends in disaster, or disappointment.
If he practised Brad Hill's stab pass with him he could become a far more damaging player.
He has the natural kicking talent to do it.

Another objective observation. I'm starting to lean towards the boy CAN kick.

No claims to expertise though.

[skeptic]

Gresh has too much goal sense to use him anywhere but in the forward line. Maybe swing him into the mid to shake an opponent once in a while, but I think he should spend his time inside forward 50, around the fall of the spoil.

Personally am very much of this frame of mind too

He's simply a better FP then a mid. Could be an elite FP... don't think he'll be elite mid

[Secret Kiel]

Gresh has too much goal sense to use him anywhere but in the forward line. Maybe swing him into the mid to shake an opponent once in a while, but I think he should spend his time inside forward 50, around the fall of the spoil.

Personally am very much of this frame of mind too

He's simply a better FP then a mid. Could be an elite FP... don't think he'll be elite mid

Does a player have to be elite to be valuable, or can your value be greater if you are a more diverse contributor.

[BarryGrogan]

Gresham could be a very, very good midfielder.

If he learns to kick.



I'd prefer him as a mid, as he's very creative at stoppages and has speed.

He just to drastically imprice his kicking. It's dreadful.

[Joffa Burns]

Gresh has too much goal sense to use him anywhere but in the forward line. Maybe swing him into the mid to shake an opponent once in a while, but I think he should spend his time inside forward 50, around the fall of the spoil.

Personally am very much of this frame of mind too

He's simply a better FP then a mid. Could be an elite FP... don't think he'll be elite mid

Agree, Robbie Gray should be the model IMO.
Use him as a high half forward and at stoppages for impact.

IMO Billings & Gresham could be AA squad members playing as high half forward rotating through the middle in short bursts.

Play to your strengths and use players where they are potentially elite.

[Viscount Jeremiah]

Gresham could be a very, very good midfielder.

If he learns to kick.



I'd prefer him as a mid, as he's very creative at stoppages and has speed.

He just to drastically imprice his kicking. It's dreadful.

I agree.. and I think It’s partly bad decision making

In the state of origin match at one point, he took control of the ball about 70m from goal with a fair degree of time and space and just blindly snapped a high up and under around his body that went all of about 30m high and 20m forward it was shocking..

Given his agility he would have been perfectly capable of pivoting straightening up and looking for a target inside the f50 or at very least hitting the top of the goal square.

Ratts needs to highlight these type of instances and stamp them out of his game

[skeptic]

Gresh has too much goal sense to use him anywhere but in the forward line. Maybe swing him into the mid to shake an opponent once in a while, but I think he should spend his time inside forward 50, around the fall of the spoil.

Personally am very much of this frame of mind too

He's simply a better FP then a mid. Could be an elite FP... don't think he'll be elite mid

Does a player have to be elite to be valuable, or can your value be greater if you are a more diverse contributor.

It’s a good question

Personally I’ve always believed that one needs to promote the elite qualities where you can because it ends up being that the player in question is producing things that others cannot.
At the crunch, often that’s the difference between winning and losing... good to excellent

It’s why typically the elite forwards are the most sought after, highly paid players in the game because they can do things others cannot.

Gehrig and Riewoldt would easily in their peak have been able to make it as defenders and good defenders too.

Gresh could be a decent mid but I reckon we could develop a few players that are as good or better whilst he would clearly be a step up from all of Lonie, Kent, Parker, Butler etc as a FP

[Saintmatt]

Gresham could be a very, very good midfielder.

If he learns to kick.



I'd prefer him as a mid, as he's very creative at stoppages and has speed.

He just to drastically imprice his kicking. It's dreadful.

I agree.. and I think It’s partly bad decision making

In the state of origin match at one point, he took control of the ball about 70m from goal with a fair degree of time and space and just blindly snapped a high up and under around his body that went all of about 30m high and 20m forward it was shocking..

Given his agility he would have been perfectly capable of pivoting straightening up and looking for a target inside the f50 or at very least hitting the top of the goal square.

Ratts needs to highlight these type of instances and stamp them out of his game

Mmmmmm - imagine playing your entire (short) career as a forward/midfielder under Cho and with Ross and Dunstan being your 'mentors' and ending up with a baseline decision to "just blindly snapped a high up and under around his body that went all of about 30m high and 20m forward".

Have we not seen this time and time again for the past 6 years as the dominant MO of our midfielder group?

They say that you become the average of the 5 people you spend the most amount of time with.

That is the true cost of persisting with Cho well past his use-by and from having spuds around the talent we did have

[stkfc1]

Gresham could be a very, very good midfielder.

If he learns to kick.



I'd prefer him as a mid, as he's very creative at stoppages and has speed.

He just to drastically imprice his kicking. It's dreadful.

I agree.. and I think It’s partly bad decision making

In the state of origin match at one point, he took control of the ball about 70m from goal with a fair degree of time and space and just blindly snapped a high up and under around his body that went all of about 30m high and 20m forward it was shocking..

Given his agility he would have been perfectly capable of pivoting straightening up and looking for a target inside the f50 or at very least hitting the top of the goal square.

Ratts needs to highlight these type of instances and stamp them out of his game

Actually I noticed this creeping into his game last year and I noticed it a few times in the recent Hawks game. He'd just blindly snap around his body when he had plenty of time to straighten up and find a target. Bad habits that we the coaches need to stamp out quick smart.

[Secret Kiel]

Gresh has too much goal sense to use him anywhere but in the forward line. Maybe swing him into the mid to shake an opponent once in a while, but I think he should spend his time inside forward 50, around the fall of the spoil.

Personally am very much of this frame of mind too

He's simply a better FP then a mid. Could be an elite FP... don't think he'll be elite mid

Does a player have to be elite to be valuable, or can your value be greater if you are a more diverse contributor.

It’s a good question

Personally I’ve always believed that one needs to promote the elite qualities where you can because it ends up being that the player in question is producing things that others cannot.
At the crunch, often that’s the difference between winning and losing... good to excellent

It’s why typically the elite forwards are the most sought after, highly paid players in the game because they can do things others cannot.

Gehrig and Riewoldt would easily in their peak have been able to make it as defenders and good defenders too.

Gresh could be a decent mid but I reckon we could develop a few players that are as good or better whilst he would clearly be a step up from all of Lonie, Kent, Parker, Butler etc as a FP

If the plan is to give Gresh more midfield time would you think it's only secondary to his prime roll being a scoring option. In that scenario is he just a trained up midfielder capable of supplying peak resources to the engine room on a part time basis.

If he's an elite FP player he has to be good for 2 goals a game.

[Sanctorum]

I think it's a bit harsh to criticise Gresham's kicking in the SoO game because he was far from the only player to bomb the goal into the forward line - Dangerfield in particular did so several times, and there were other times when Gresh did successfully pass the ball for a "goal assist" stat. As Saints supporters we have tendencies to focus on the performance of our players ahead of players from opposing teams, and find fault when in reality the same faults can be attributed to players from all teams.

Either way, I believe Gresham will be the next "home grown" player to achieve elite status and All Australian selection. In this context it is interesting to note that in the ongoing debate about St Kilda making dud selections in first round draft picks over the years, viz Ball/Judd, Billing/Bontempelli, McCartin/Petracca etc, St Kilda selected Gresham with their 1st pick at #18 in the 2015 draft. By any measure he is ahead of most if not all of those selected before him, apart from Clayton Oliver who went at #6 - Oliver has played the most games to date; 82, one more than Gresham who has played 81.

Gresham is the small midfielder/forward that St Kilda has lacked for many years, and so desperately needs to win the important games against the top teams and challenge for a premiership.

[BarryGrogan]

....snapped a high up and under around his body that went all of about 30m high and 20m forward it was shocking....

This is what I'm referring to.

The issue is that it's so common, to varying degrees, that it's ruining his game - both as a forward and as a midfielder.

He is not a long kick - so he does this whenever he's beyond about 35m from goal. This is why I think he's fairly limited as a forward.

And as a midfielder, he can't execute that long kick forward so he tends to pull the move that you've referred to above.


He's potentially a very, very good footballer - but he needs to learn to kick.

In my view, he needs to implement some sort of rule where he doesn't attempt to hit a target beyond 30m away until he gets on top of it.