Ryder Nominates Saints

[Spinner]

Is this confirmed? Or a Facebook / Tony Sheahan source?

[barneyboyz]

It s not hysteria, it is the strong suspicion that come Round 1 Bruce will be at the Dogs and Ryder will be filling in a as key forward, OR that we will play top heavy with one less mid.

What I like least about it is that we're basically doing the same thing that didn't work at Port this year. They brought in Lycett, with an eye to playing him alongside Ryder. Now we're bringing in Ryder, with an eye to playing him with Marshall. I'm not sure if we should be expecting greatly different results.

What I will say, in favour of Ryder, is that he's a lot better second ruck option than some of the other guys I've seen suggested here. He had the 4th best hitout win percentage this year (behind Sandilands and the two Melbourne rucks). He had one of the better hitout to advantage percentages as well. Given Bruce had a 12% hitout win percentage, I think we can at least expect an improvement in that area. I don't think 15 goals is a terrible return either, given he was rucking ~40% of the time (Ryder averaged 39.5 ruck contests per game, Port averaged 92 ruck contests per game). I doubt he'll kick as many as Bruce did this year, but I'd have likely bet against Bruce kicking as many next year as he did this year, given King is thereabouts and we're likely to be playing three talls at times next year.

Personally, I think trading Bruce makes a lot of sense. He'd be near valueless if he lost his spot to King. Better to trade him now for usable assets and bring in Ryder as a stop-gap for relative peanuts. Especially in light of the possibility of losing Steven for pick 52 or something thereabouts. If Ryder flops, we're probably not a finals team. If he succeeds, however, well, we're probably still not a finals team. I don't see it as a high risk gambit. We're probably doing it more to an enable the shopping spree bringing in Hill and Jones, which is likely to be more critical to any success we might have next year. Also, Bruce has seen King at training, so he knows what's coming.

As I have posted in other threads I am not against trading Bruce if as is rumoured the Dogs are willing to pay us a very good price. Steven will not gain us much from the Cats and so you can understand why the club is willing to let Bruce go if the deal is good. Hill, Jones and hopefully still a pick in the top two dozen, or another good player from another club.

I just think it is pointless getting a fill in player like Ryder who is not about the future, but rather about treading water. I would prefer to just get a competent, or developing ruck who can fill in as required but who mainly develpos at Sandy. With KIng in, it cannot just be just Membrey and King as the forward targets and so with Bruce gone Battle should be given the opportunity up forward. It seems the club is still chasing Keath and if they miss then Brown will be retained.

I think Hill is an excellent move and he will make Ross and Dunstan more effective. We are fortunate that as he is already a multiple Premiership player that he is ok at joining a club a bit off the premiership pace if it means he guarantees setting up his family well.

Jones is a higher risk and less certain choice. But not being a popular club, is the type of player we are left with securing. Though he does have some tools that should aid us well.


If the club do gain Marshall then I assume the clubs plan will be to play Marshall as a key forward for significant periods. It may be Marshall No1 ruck 60% of the time and 40% key forward alternating with Ryder.

With Marshall though I see him as a rare beast both in talent and also in that he thrives on hard work and the contest, and it is my belief that he will bloom all the faster if he is plays most games, and most of the game as the No1 ruck rather than as tandem act.

We are treading water, and we kind of need to, we delisted or traded all other options in the last two years

[DJ Higgins]

Can't find proof anywhere of this. Very whelmed. Not over or under just whelmed. Now it depends on cost but a two year fairly cheap deal to lighten the load on rowma is ok. Again not great not bad just blah

[SinCitySainter]

Comparing this to Port bringing in Lycett is just ridiculous.
Lycett can play first ruck only and has no other role.
We I think are looking at playing a two pronged ruck/forward setup.
Marshall probably plays 60% forward as I think the club may see him as a better forward/ruck at the moment and it helps protect him while he develops.
Don't forget Marshall is still fairly young for a permanent first ruck and if he keeps getting belted it could hinder his development and that is the very last thing we want.

As for the comment earlier that we preferred Longer and Pierce to Hickey, I don't think that is necessarily true either.
Hickey is the only one we could offload, Pierce and Longer had contracts and no trade value, nobody was taking them off our hands.
Pierce was given first chance this year because he finished last year reasonably well with a couple of solid to good performances.
Marshall was seen more as a forward/ruck than a ruck/forward.

[mad saint guy]

So it seems like our round one team is going to look like this:

B: Wilkie, Carlisle, Geary
HB: Savage, Battle, Jones
C: Hill, Steele, Hannebery
HF: Billings, King, Kent
F: Ryder, Membrey, Lonie

Foll: Marshall, Ross, Gresham
Int: Clark, Dunstan, Long, Webster

Not a great situation. Looks a hell of a lot better with Bruce in there. I also don't see the point in getting Jones at all.

Even if we resigned ourselves to losing Steven, and Roberton/McCartin being cooked I'd rather see us pursue Martin and some solid ruck depth over Jones and Ryder. I'd love to see a team like this taking the field in 2020

B: Wilkie, Carlisle, Coffield
HB: Clark, Battle, Savage
C: Hill, Steele, Billings
HF: Gresham, Bruce, Hind
F: Membrey, King, Martin

Foll: Marshall, Ross, Hannebery
Int: Acres, Dunstan, Sinclair, Webster

This team would have the most skillful defensive setup in the competition, two of the top ten wingmen, a top four ruckman and one of the most dynamic forward lines. The small forwards would be a massive headache for the opposition every week. The onball brigade lacks starpower but everyone can pull their weight. I think if we fielded something close to that 22 for most of next season we would make the finals and probably win one. I'd love to see what Membrey can do against a third tall defender and what Hind can do against the least accountable small defender.

My favourite aspect of this team is the lack of gap fillers. Dunstan is the closest to that description but at least when in form he is actually quite effective as a burst clearance player. He's never had an AFL standard tank but his disposals/clearances per minute are quite good. If he is just a burst player rather than a starting mid then we could cover up his deficiencies. Geary, Kent, Lonie, Brown and Newnes are selected almost every week because I'm sure they hit certain KPIs but they are glaringly deficient in basic competencies of the game. We need to move away from these players. I acknowledge that Geary is probably going to perform better than Coffield in 2020 but Coffield is going to be a far better player then Geary ever was and we should give him senior experience. I don't mind keeping Brown around for one more year to take on the Hawkins/Kennedy/Brown/Jenkins/Cox types but he shouldn't play more than 10 games in a season.

Here's hoping Ratts is genuine when he says there will be a focus on getting skillful players into the team. We've been a club of struggling battlers for too long and need to go with talent rather than good families and a fighting spirit.

[fugazi]

So it seems like our round one team is going to look like this:

B: Wilkie, Carlisle, Geary
HB: Savage, Battle, Jones
C: Hill, Steele, Hannebery
HF: Billings, King, Kent
F: Ryder, Membrey, Lonie

Foll: Marshall, Ross, Gresham
Int: Clark, Dunstan, Long, Webster

Not a great situation. Looks a hell of a lot better with Bruce in there. I also don't see the point in getting Jones at all.

Even if we resigned ourselves to losing Steven, and Roberton/McCartin being cooked I'd rather see us pursue Martin and some solid ruck depth over Jones and Ryder. I'd love to see a team like this taking the field in 2020

B: Wilkie, Carlisle, Coffield
HB: Clark, Battle, Savage
C: Hill, Steele, Billings
HF: Gresham, Bruce, Hind
F: Membrey, King, Martin

Foll: Marshall, Ross, Hannebery
Int: Acres, Dunstan, Sinclair, Webster

This team would have the most skillful defensive setup in the competition, two of the top ten wingmen, a top four ruckman and one of the most dynamic forward lines. The small forwards would be a massive headache for the opposition every week. The onball brigade lacks starpower but everyone can pull their weight. I think if we fielded something close to that 22 for most of next season we would make the finals and probably win one. I'd love to see what Membrey can do against a third tall defender and what Hind can do against the least accountable small defender.

My favourite aspect of this team is the lack of gap fillers. Dunstan is the closest to that description but at least when in form he is actually quite effective as a burst clearance player. He's never had an AFL standard tank but his disposals/clearances per minute are quite good. If he is just a burst player rather than a starting mid then we could cover up his deficiencies. Geary, Kent, Lonie, Brown and Newnes are selected almost every week because I'm sure they hit certain KPIs but they are glaringly deficient in basic competencies of the game. We need to move away from these players. I acknowledge that Geary is probably going to perform better than Coffield in 2020 but Coffield is going to be a far better player then Geary ever was and we should give him senior experience. I don't mind keeping Brown around for one more year to take on the Hawkins/Kennedy/Brown/Jenkins/Cox types but he shouldn't play more than 10 games in a season.

Here's hoping Ratts is genuine when he says there will be a focus on getting skillful players into the team. We've been a club of struggling battlers for too long and need to go with talent rather than good families and a fighting spirit.

Much prefer that second team with Bruce in it.
I don't think we are a chance to get Martin, but even to replace him with any of Parker/Lonie/Kent in that line up is ok. I think Parker with second full preseason could actually be a real asset? Pace and marking and good kick