Luke Ball "update"

[hotdish]

http://www.theage.com.au/realfooty/arti ... ntentSwap1

Sounds like there is a strong chance that Ball stays with the saints considering he has met with Ross Lyon since returning from the US...

[Saint Bev]

Very Good article. Hope Luke stays. Not sure that I will love him quite as much as I did before though.

[Dan Warna]

because im a 40 year old child, had to take that article over to BF to taunt the pies supporters

[Gilbo1on1]

one wonders what caro's new office is like?

[ace]

Caro has more brains in her little finger's nail than Jon Ralph.

I hope Luke realises that Collingwood let him down by not dealing seriously, that Melbourne is full of hype and fools, and that he has a premiership future at St Kilda.

[thirty-seven!?]

Very good article... must be emphasized though that she is saying he SHOULD stay at Saints - not that he necessarily will... Although the fact he has met with Ross and apparently doesnt want to go to the Dees...

Much better than the last article she wrote on Ball...

[Gilbo1on1]

the question on my lips is whether he'll take <300k to be "one-club player".

[satchmo]

I've always been a fan of caro.

[Gilbo1on1]

I've always been a fan of caro.

she's getting better

[Gilbo1on1]

Very good article... must be emphasized though that she is saying he SHOULD stay at Saints - not that he necessarily will... Although the fact he has met with Ross and apparently doesnt want to go to the Dees...

Much better than the last article she wrote on Ball...

agreed, OP is somewhat taken.
funny though that the age seem to have to inside running here.

[ace]

The Demons can offer him money and plenty of it, game time as much as he wants, leadership of a bunch of talented rabble, hype from an incompetent administration and coaching staff, wooden trophies.

He will get the exact opposite at St Kilda but the trophies will be made of silver.

He certainly wont get over $300,000 a year for the next 3 years.
He should have signed the pay cut as soon as it was offered.
Now he will be offered a pay trench.

[ace]

http://www.theage.com.au/realfooty/arti ... ntentSwap1

Sounds like there is a strong chance that Ball stays with the saints considering he has met with Ross Lyon since returning from the US...

At least we are still on talking terms, not walking terms.

[Gilbo1on1]

The Demons can offer him money and plenty of it, game time as much as he wants, leadership of a bunch of talented rabble, hype from an incompetent administration and coaching staff, wooden trophies.

He will get the exact opposite at St Kilda but the trophies will be made of silver.

He certainly wont get over $300,000 a year for the next 3 years.
He should have signed the pay cut as soon as it was offered.
Now he will be offered a pay trench.

you know what, it could be 250k and that is with a few players making a donation.

[bigred]

Yeah, Melbourne could offer him the world.

But the one question that would be asked of him by us would be,
"do you want to play in a premiership"? Melbourne can't offer that.

Plus, how much does he think he is worth? I mean, does he think tha t we should have traded him for peanuts?

I don't give a hoot anyway. If he stays he stays,V if he goes then I will pay out on him for the rest of his career.

[ace]

The Demons can offer him money and plenty of it, game time as much as he wants, leadership of a bunch of talented rabble, hype from an incompetent administration and coaching staff, wooden trophies.

He will get the exact opposite at St Kilda but the trophies will be made of silver.

He certainly wont get over $300,000 a year for the next 3 years.
He should have signed the pay cut as soon as it was offered.
Now he will be offered a pay trench.

you know what, it could be 250k and that is with a few players making a donation.

AND his mate Goose making the ultimate personal sacrifice.

[saintbrat]

http://newsstore.theage.com.au/apps/vie ... SC1L1PC29D

relevant quotes..............
The coach called his playing group into a meeting and told them: "If you were relying on a 31-year-old champion to come in and try to win you a premiership, then you are kidding yourselves."

Lyon singled out a number of players - among them Luke Ball, Justin Koschitzke, Nick Dal Santo, Brendon Goddard, Leigh Montagna and the Clarke brothers, Xavier and Raphael - and delivered a blunt message. Lift your work-rate, lift your game and you are all capable of becoming champions. Stop looking to others. Lyon even put the hard word on Sam Gilbert and young David Armitage."

I think we've moved on," said Ball this week of St Kilda's ultimately cameo role in the Cousins saga. "But the coach turned it onto us.

He challenged a few of us and singled us out, me included. I didn't think he'd go that way."

He put a lot of us into a bracket and he put it on us to improve rather than rely on a proven champion. He told a few of us that if we put in the work and had the right attitude we could be as good as Ben Cousins."

>>>>>>>>>>>>

Ball, who is cautious to back up Riewoldt's assertion that he's enjoyed his best pre-season after an impressive 2008 was prematurely ended by a hamstring injury, agrees that even at his age - 24 - the game has changed.

"It's just harder to get on the park every week," he said."

There's so much more to think about, so much more movement and science to it, and so much more analysis. I don't know whether it was because I was younger, but I'm sure it was simpler when I started."


>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Ball said the pressure for him begins the morning after his previous game. "If you play well and you win, you give yourself an extra 24 hours to enjoy it before it starts again. Otherwise it starts again the next morning when you wake up," he said.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Ball, struggling with frustration at the time while watching St Kilda's surprising journey to the top four from the sidelines, spoke to Riewoldt before the game knowing he felt enormous pressure."
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
BALL: "In hindsight, I was very fortunate that I got a chance to do it well ahead of schedule. Under him (Grant Thomas) we were given challenges that definitely made us stronger and it made me less introverted. It's very easy to think about yourself a bit much and go off and try to get yourself right and not think about the team."
...................................................


interesting reading in hindsight..

[Eastern]

I thought it was one of Caro's better articles. It basiclly said what many saints fans are saying and thinking, and that is;

THE BALL IS NOW IN LUKE'S COURT

It's now up to him !!

[bigcarl]

The club expects him to continue to improve his speed, mobility and other areas and perhaps it cannot guarantee him the game time his supporters believe he deserves, but Ball strikes as the type of person who would back himself to fully regain the faith of the match committee

can you actually improve your speed?

imo either you have it or you don't and unfortunately luke is in the latter category.

[Gilbo1on1]

The Demons can offer him money and plenty of it, game time as much as he wants, leadership of a bunch of talented rabble, hype from an incompetent administration and coaching staff, wooden trophies.

He will get the exact opposite at St Kilda but the trophies will be made of silver.

He certainly wont get over $300,000 a year for the next 3 years.
He should have signed the pay cut as soon as it was offered.
Now he will be offered a pay trench.

you know what, it could be 250k and that is with a few players making a donation.

AND his mate Goose making the ultimate personal sacrifice.

Sos didn't rate Goose as having the potential to be part of his Defensive Unit for 2010 unfortunately. sad but true.

if we were talking about another club with a player with similar circumstace so many would be saying why are they hanging on to the that hack cut down by injury.
_________________

[Eastern]

The club expects him to continue to improve his speed, mobility and other areas and perhaps it cannot guarantee him the game time his supporters believe he deserves, but Ball strikes as the type of person who would back himself to fully regain the faith of the match committee

can you actually improve your speed?

imo either you have it or you don't and unfortunately luke is in the latter category.

Might mean;

Had speed: Lost speed: Is a chance to regain speed !!

[ace]

Plus, how much does he think he is worth? I mean, does he think that we should have traded him for peanuts?

Collingwood were prepared to part with pick 30 and Wellingham, which North Melbourne thought was worth pick 25 but not pick 21.

St Kilda was prepared to help Luke further his career elsewhere for pick 21 because that would have delivered Andrejs Everitt.

If Collingwood is consistent they must be prepared to use pick 30 in the national draft to get him.
Failing that Melbourne could use pick 34 or 50 (they would need to delist another player to use pick 50), forcing Collingwood's hand at pick 30.

However if Melbourne believe their own rhetoric, they would use pick 18 to grab Luke before Collingwood get a look.

If Luke ducks the national draft hoping to prevent other clubs interfering Melbourne should be able to outbid Collingwood on salary and so grab Luke with pick 1 in the pre-season draft.

So to answer your question, Luke Ball should consider himself to be worth pick 18 in a compromised draft (equivalent to pick 27 in an uncompromised draft).

[The Craw]

The club expects him to continue to improve his speed, mobility and other areas and perhaps it cannot guarantee him the game time his supporters believe he deserves, but Ball strikes as the type of person who would back himself to fully regain the faith of the match committee

can you actually improve your speed?

imo either you have it or you don't and unfortunately luke is in the latter category.

Yes you can, its a bio mechanic kind of thing. You work on the the initial burst which gives you space 10-20m.

You cannot improve it over longer distances.

[saintwill66]

I was told recently by a person who knows Luke Ball off-field that his major problem since recovering from OP is lack of confidence that he won't suffer the same injury again.

This is evident in his loss of pace (he used to be one of the fastest runners), his failure to put full follow through power in his kicking, his preference for getting "in and under" for the footy.

Osteitis Pubis is a horrible injury for an elite footballer, and it is easy for us on the sidelines to criticise Luke Ball (as I have done!) without understanding the difficulties faced by the particular player in regaining the mental strength to full recovery. Chris Judd has done so, and if Luke can conquer his fears he will be a champion once again.

Luke Ball's phobias also account for the coaching panel's reservations about giving him maximum game time, he was simply unreliable.

[Gilbo1on1]

I was told recently by a person who knows Luke Ball off-field that his major problem since recovering from OP is lack of confidence that he won't suffer the same injury again.

This is evident in his loss of pace (he used to be one of the fastest runners), his failure to put full follow through power in his kicking, his preference for getting "in and under" for the footy.

Osteitis Pubis is a horrible injury for an elite footballer, and it is easy for us on the sidelines to criticise Luke Ball (as I have done!) without understanding the difficulties faced by the particular player in regaining the mental strength to full recovery. Chris Judd has done so, and if Luke can conquer his fears he will be a champion once again.

Luke Ball's phobias also account for the coaching panel's reservations about giving him maximum game time, he was simply unreliable.

it may be the OP aswell as the hammy's.

[bigcarl]

The club expects him to continue to improve his speed, mobility and other areas and perhaps it cannot guarantee him the game time his supporters believe he deserves, but Ball strikes as the type of person who would back himself to fully regain the faith of the match committee

can you actually improve your speed?

imo either you have it or you don't and unfortunately luke is in the latter category.

Yes you can, its a bio mechanic kind of thing. You work on the the initial burst which gives you space 10-20m.

interesting. i'd need to see it to be convinced.

i've seen players get bigger and stronger, but i don't remember seeing any get faster.