Changes for next week

[Jacks Back]

OUT - Kent, Owens, Byrnes
IN - Sharman, Ryder, Windy

[shanegrambeau]

OUT - Kent, Owens, Byrnes
IN - Sharman, Ryder, Windy

As I said in another thread, 'it beggars belief'.

How we pick Kent and Owens!!!

And leave Sharman out...and is Highmore really injured?

And I don't care if Battle never 'finds his place'...I saw his opponent mark on the lead in the first minute..and I love Battle, but I don't care if he ever finds his true position. I want us to win.

We had to put Sincs into the midfield, such was our bleak poverty. He did well too - for a while.

Actually, Kent and Butler tried hard, and they had a few nice touches...in the few nano-seconds they had control of the football.

Ross too, shows his intelligence. Ross is a clever cat. He knows the odds. And they 'aint good.

What a croc.

What a start.

Well, the great Shane Grambeau warned you.

[Winmar]

Hard to argue with those outs

[Banger9798]

Is Ryder going to be available?

Get Jones back in....if it is a club imposed sanction....just finish it, we need him.

[CURLY]

Kent out

[cwrcyn]

There's not too much left in the cupboard.

We must play three marking forwards. That's when we looked our most potent last year. Enter Cooper Sharman

Leg speed is an issue, so Connolly must be considered

Ryder probably won't be ready, so the Marshall/Hayes ruck combo continues

The reality is we sorely missed Jones, Clark, and Billings and we'll have to wait another month to see any of those guys back.

We can't seriously be considered any possibility of top four when we are playing guys like Kent and Wood. Mature age C Graders recruited from other clubs rarely give you anything meaningful.

Unfortunately, our depth has been challenged in round one, with Ryder, Jones, Clark, Coffield, and Billings unavailable

We can't expect any of our draftees to fill the void at this stage. Thank goodness there were no injuries to key players last night, otherwise thing would be looking even more grim

[silverhalo]

IN - Sharman, Highmore, Bytel
OUT - Kent, Owens, Byrnes

Highmore down back obviously, Battle needs to go forward
This assumes Ryder/Jones not available

[bergsone]

Long instead of Kent

[silverhalo]

I'm going to have a second go at this, I decided that we need to inject some class into the midfield:-

IN - Sharman, Highmore, Wanganeen-Milera, Bytel
OUT - Kent, Owens, Byrnes, Battle

[The_Dud]

Out - same shitty gameplan we’ve had for the last 8 years

[Vortex]

Is Ryder going to be available?

Get Jones back in....if it is a club imposed sanction....just finish it, we need him.

If it's a club imposed sanction then the people responsible should be shot in front of a firing squad.

It's a bloody football club, not a self righteous church for Nancy do gooders.

Sheez and while I'm at it, Tom Morris, talk about going way over the top. The punishment doesn't fit the crime, like smashing a walnut with a sledge hammer.

[Winmar]

I thought Jones was out for personal reasons (mental health?).

[bigcarl]

I thought Jones was out for personal reasons (mental health?).

That’s how I understood it. Hope he comes good soon. That sort of thing is as debilitating as a physical injury even though some will try to minimalise it.

[avid]

Wood shouldn't be under any pressure -- he was one of our better players.

Kent did two brilliant things -- and then, apparently, nothing -- or worse,
Byrnes had a terrible night. Half way through I thought he must have been a late omission -- then I saw him make a mistake.
Owens -- well it was fantastic to see him out there, but we'll have to wait a little while for him to get the hang of it.
Those three, on form, should be replaced.

First of all, we desperately need Jones back in.
Ryder must come back as soon as he can -- though after Hayes's effort last night, the need may not be quite as desperate.
But I'm leaving them both out, assuming they're not yet ready.

Of the rest:
On last year's form, Sharman and Highmore should definitely be in the team, but what's wrong with them this season?
Same for Conolly probably -- although I'm not sure we can play Sinclar, Hill and him as short-arse halfbacks all in the same team.
Are Geary and Bytel still coming back from injury? Either, at full fitness, would be a good insert for next week.
NWM I feel might not be ready yet -- just as Owens wasn't. I feel he needs to build his strength a bit, learn a few few tricks and how to protect himself from being snapped in half. etc.
Lienert I'd be happy to bring in, but we're probably not dropping a tall defender, so not this time

Which leaves Ben Long. Clearly he has trouble following instructions and/or just finding the ball. But everything else about him I love. I say keep picking him, until he learns.

So I say:
In: Long
plus the next two readiest (in order) Bytel, Geary, Sharman, Highmore, Conolly ...

(Hannerbury would of course be a the top of that list, if he were ever ready.)

Does anyone know anything more about some of these guys?

[Ghost Like]

OUT: OWENS, KENT, BYRNES

IN: CONNOLLY, BYTEL, SHARMAN

NWM can remain the sub if there's no VFL.

Take Byrnes, Campbell, Long as emergencies.

If there's VFL that's where Owens & Windhager should be cutting their before knocking down the door.

I cannot see Ryder or Hannebery or Jones being available.

[Yorkeys]

Sinclair to play mid.

Clearly Kent, Byrnes and Owens out, Butler too? no distance in his kicks, easily taken off the ball.

Seems odd Connolly, Highmore and Sharman out; injuries? I thought we had a new and improved fitness team? Seem the plague of injuries to top players continues, perhaps its just bad luck....?

Has someone influential taken a set against Long. He may have rushes of blood but I'd prefer that to all the stone cold well intentioned fumbles of others.

Long did good in our wins against GWS and Pies last year. Stats guy might need to reassess the player rating algorithm.

[Wayne42]

St Kilda's whole draft strategy last year would have been turned on it's head if they had've given up pick 2 for Xerri, but i still wonder if they should have just done it.

I'll have to watch Xerri on Sunday to see if looks like he's more than capable at the level.

[The Fireman]

my changes next week will be how i pick for my tipping comp

[saynta]

Out Butler, Owens, Byrnes and Kent.

In Ryder, Connelly, NWM and Sharman.

[Vortex]

When is Sharman playing this weekend? I gotta watch, it sounds like he's going to have a blinder.

From all reports be was putrid over the pre season.

When is Sharmans game?

[bigcarl]

Presume Ryder and Hannebery come in if fit/available. Not sure how far off Jones and Bytel are, but I’d pick both if fit/available.

[Sanctorum]

There's little doubt that Kent will be dropped for the game against Freo but I'm not convinced the selectors will make any more changes. Sure, Mitch Owens didn't play well but I''d put at least another 2 or 3 games into him before putting his head on the chopping block. Likewise I'm in favour of sticking with the Messiah because he, Owens and Windhager are the future and I'm not convinced that there is anyone apart from Zak Jones that is pressing for selection.

I firmly believe that Cooper Sharman as a third tall forward would have made a big difference last night because as others have commented, Max King was clearly out-muscled at most contests.

So for me it's Kent out, Sharman in and the Messiah stays medical sub.

When you analyse last night's game, and it was hardly a showcase, the last 14 minutes of the 3rd quarter demonstrated that St Kilda can play really well. In essence skill levels remain a massive problem, Higgins had a shocker kicking for goal and Max King is still not reaching the standard of his lower ranked brother Ben.

Changes are one thing, but for me it's more important for the coaches to realign the players positions and whoever suggested that maybe Max King should play in the ruck makes a good point - he has on many occasions been very good around the ground, strong hands, pace and excellent kick (except for goal!) and as he is a work in progress he will benefit from having a licence to roam, including spells up forward.

One thing that I noticed last night is that RoMa didn't appear to rest up forward very much like he has done so effectively in the past, so get him back there, which then gives you the option of having Membrey, Sharman, Marshall, King and Hayes as tall marking forwards as any given time.

I'd also bring Jack Sinclair into the midfield if they're gettng hammered at the stoppages, he's good both inside and out. That also goes for Bradley Hill who continues to attract heavy attention.

Another thing, Ratten & Co need to be far more creative in their deployment of the players, mix things up so that there's less predictability about the team's game plan - instruct the onfield leaders to lift their communications which I also thought was weak last night. Also, I'd swing Membrey to defence if the opposition forwards are dominating, he's by far the best mark we have.

Startng the season 0-1 is really disappointing but they can turn things around, the nest 4 rounds, all against teams that didn't make the finals in 2021, will determine their destiny for 2022, that's the challenge!

[Toy Saint]

Reckon Luke Dunstan would've contributed a bit more than Owens last night....but Brett Rattan's not a fan....hope the club holds him accountable...

3 x small forwards didn't work last night, and didn't work last year, suggest we stop doing that.

Our midfield is diabolical. We've got Jack Steel and not much else (why get rid of Dunstan?) Rather than one-dimentional small forwards, suggest we just load up with mids.

[maverick]

Drop butler (for bludging out the back) and Higgins (for breaking team rules)
Give Owens and Byrnes another game - we have to blood youngsters bring wanganeen-milera in and either Ryder or Sharman. We need forwards.
Long has to be cleaner before he gets a game
Big risk playing Roma, Ryder and hayes in the same side, but it would be interesting to match up on…

[Ghost Like]

When we have a disappointing loss like we did last night it is easy to look at recent delisted players and say they would have made a difference, the fact is they were jettisoned / delisted after disappointing seasons, not a game.

Yes, Dunstan, Hind, Acres, even Lonie may have had better games than some last night but they had been given opportunities to have equally poor ones in the past. Hind the unluckiest but missing a quick HBF was not the reason for our loss.

Owens, Windhager, NWM, Heath etc are our fututre. If we are looking back to the likes of Dunstan then we have no future.