Shane Birss

[saintbob]

Saw his match against the crows kicked some vital goals... If David Minson can get get his fitness up and maybe a burst of speed, he could be really good for us.

WHO????

[mad saint guy]

Birss has been in very good form recently and currently sits comfortably in our best 22. 7 goals in the last 4 weeks is a very good return from a guy who has been given tagging jobs most weeks.

Good kick, solid overhead and will nail any shot from inside 50. He does struggle to stand up in tackle and loses his feet around the contest too often, but he's still a more complete player than any other backup midfielders we've got.

[skeptic]

the only tagger we have in the team that can actually hurt the opposition on the other way round.

Slots into this team nicely as a genuine tagger or as a defensive forward that can kick goals

[Winmar7Fan]

Sorry i couldn't give a f--k whether it's 1960 or 2020 you don't need speed to be a good footballer and get plenty of it . You can have all the pace in the world and not be able to get a kick or be slow have a good football brain and be a good player .

All teams have both ie for us Robert Harvey (now), Baker and Luke Ball aint lightning quick either who i'm sure not too many people would say are below average players then we've got Aaron Fiora ( who i'd rather Birss any day) and Brad Howard who's meant to be super quick and where's he ?

[cuz60]

I believe Birss is vastly underated. Our only midfielder who consistenly has been kicking goals of late. He is a pretty good kick for goal. Whilst he lacks leg speed, he makes up for that with his endeavour and grunt work that he provides.

He tagged Heath Shaw a couple of weeks ago and kept him well out of the game and as someone mentioned earlier, he is our only tagger who hurts going the other way. I see Birss playing the Stephen Powell role. The other positive about him is he gets the hard ball. Id have him any day over some of the receiver's we've had running around in our team over recent weeks.

[bigcarl]

i like birss because he keeps bobbing up with a couple of goals. that should never be underestimated in a footbller.

[congorozides]

I think he is vastly under-rated.

Terrific at clearances, strong tackler and knows how to find the footy. Was played off the bench in '07 and still managed to rack up a bit of the ball.

Can play a similar role to what AT and Frankie did off the bench for us in '04, and provide some support and experience.

His disposal isn't as bad as many think, and his delivery into the forwardline is generally very good.

If he can get a bit fitter, I think he has a big role to play in 2008 ...

im prepared to be open to the idea birss is under-rated. hes young and worth having a look at (he is treacle slow). but if so many saints are under-rated why are we 5 and 5? who is over-rated? obviously kosi... anyone else?

[aussiejones]

Under the radar type so far .
good endeavour should improve

[matrix]

birss is only so far ahead of jones because he's played 70+ more games and had the experience of diff coaches, team environment etc etc.

i used to bag birss quite a bit, basically because he provided nothing too our side...
but recently he has shown a bit, laid some good tackles and kick a few along
the way
he's only downfall is that he is rather slow for the midfield role, and to some extent the tagging role.
could u see him fitting into the dogs again?...not a chance with the pace they have.
i think he should be kept, and have changed my views on him, i think he could be handy every now and then....whether he gets a game EVERY week is another thing tho.

[supersaints]

What I have noticed is when the tempo increases, he seems to look a bit like a startled rabitt in the headlights and is a bit slow giving the ball off, or kicks it too high in the air, allowing apponents to spoil the marker too easily , but he is improving.......

[saintsRrising]

Birssy has developed into a disciplined tagger that hurts while negating his man.

This years he has been a regular goal kick for us.