It's round 10

[ListManager]

I was definitely against trading for Hanners and I actually demanded that Gallagher be sacked. Obviously they did not sack him. Anyway, Hanners is a Saints player now and we have to make the best of it. He hasn't played VFL yet so I'm guessing he will be lucky to debut by round. 15. That being the case I say give him the whole year off so he is hot to trot for 2020. Just my thoughts.

[tedtheodorelogan2018]

Sack Gallagher?
Are you serious?
He has been there since September I believe. He needs 3-4 years.

Forgetting Hanners for a second, Gallagher played a part in recruiting King, Wilkie, Young, Parker, Hind who look the goods so far.

Plus he has obviously helped sign Gresham and others. More to come here too.

[The_Dud]

A 29 year old coming off 3 years lost to chronic injuries?

Sounds like $4M well spent!

[tedtheodorelogan2018]

Piss off Dudley. Give it up.

<abuse>

[Ghost Like]

Obviously not Gallagher, with this much debt we need a banker. The OP was likely referring to another influence. What the OP suggests makes sense, which means Hanners becomes a 1 million dollar a year player on slowing legs but I believe in his leadership.

[The_Dud]

Piss off Dudley. Give it up.

How many B&Fs do you think Hannerbry will win?

[tedtheodorelogan2018]

Who cares?
We didn't recruit Hanners to win B and F's.

[shanegrambeau]

I would be for seeing him on the field this year. Show us what he's got and see how the rest of the players react with him running around with them. Unless we are "fixture-tanking" try to win every game possible and give us all some hope.

[sabras]

Settle pettle

He has just rejoined the main training group

Almost there

[ListManager]

If I was in charge I would sack everyone that was responsible for recruiting Hanners. This one decision has done an enormous amount of damage that will hamper OUR club for years. The full extent of the damage will be realized if and when we lose a young gun because we were not able to match an offer from a rival club while Hanners is sitting comfortably in the stands pocketing $800k per year

[PADDLEPOP1001]

So Listmanager who should we have spent the money on ? Hanners will be good for the club ,not to many young blokes leaving the club because of his signing ,Gresh signed,Marshall very soon,King signed ,Billings hopefully soon who are these young blokes leaving that you speak of?

[prwilkinson]

He was in the leadership group and already being talked about as a potential new captain for the club. If he’s right to play in 4-6 weeks, play him.
Continuity and match fitness is what he needs now. Not to mention he’d be champing at the bit to prove his worth to his teammates. He’s had the luxury of 6 months to build his body back up to compete at this level. They’ll know if he’s ready or not.

[The_Dud]

Who cares?
We didn't recruit Hanners to win B and F's.

You would think the highest paid player at the club should be winning, or at least going very close to winning, multiple B&Fs.

In a few years time I don’t see us getting value for money out of a 32 year old DH.

[tedtheodorelogan2018]

Well, you don't get it then Dudley. Hanners is one small piece in a massive jigsaw puzzle. Whether he wins or gets close to a B and F does not matter. If he makes the club and team better then that is the main point of it all. Who cares about the 800k either...get over it. Instead of sticking knives in his back and those that recruited him, try supporting him. He isn't going anywhere nor is his supposed contract.

[The_Dud]

Well, you don't get it then Dudley. Hanners is one small piece in a massive jigsaw puzzle. Whether he wins or gets close to a B and F does not matter. If he makes the club and team better then that is the main point of it all. Who cares about the 800k either...get over it. Instead of sticking knives in his back and those that recruited him, try supporting him. He isn't going anywhere nor is his supposed contract.

What a silly thing to say. Of course what everyone is paid matters. Do you think Hawthorn or Geelong would be so loose with their salary caps? Every dollar we pay DH over what he’s worth is a dollar we can’t offer a young star to stay at or join our club. If salaries don’t matter then we should have offered Shiel etc $1.5M a season to come over, at least they’re young and would improve our team more than DH.

Should have told Dan we can pay you $600k and if you don’t like it then have fun in Sydney.

[prwilkinson]

Well, you don't get it then Dudley. Hanners is one small piece in a massive jigsaw puzzle. Whether he wins or gets close to a B and F does not matter. If he makes the club and team better then that is the main point of it all. Who cares about the 800k either...get over it. Instead of sticking knives in his back and those that recruited him, try supporting him. He isn't going anywhere nor is his supposed contract.

What a silly thing to say. Of course what everyone is paid matters. Do you think Hawthorn or Geelong would be so loose with their salary caps? Every dollar we pay DH over what he’s worth is a dollar we can’t offer a young star to stay at or join our club. If salaries don’t matter then we should have offered Shiel etc $1.5M a season to come over, at least they’re young and would improve our team more than DH.

Should have told Dan we can pay you $600k and if you don’t like it then have fun in Sydney.

I thought the club did offer Shiel an absurd figure. I guess it wasn’t as much as his Essendon salary and pretend sponsor ‘job’ combined.

[Josh Battle]

There is talk that Harley Bennell may be returning to the WAFL this week. Remember all the alleged rumours about him after some news reports?

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-07-06/ ... rs/6596706

http://theconversation.com/im-like-a-bi ... nell-44253

Bennell keeps having issues with soft tissue injuries. At first, people thought it was Fremantle covering up some other more sinister type of problems with Harley, because it seemed unusual that a muscle tear would keep you out of the game for years on end, but what if all along it was in fact muscle related obstacles that did not allow him to train at an elite level.

What if the alleged substance abuse that certain AFL players have been rumoured to have engaged in over a lengthy period of time, has caused irriversable muscle atrophy or other chronic conditions which inhibit these players from getting anywhere near the type of athlete they used to be?

A simple google search or two reveals that there is some anecdotal evidence regarding prolonged use of cocaine and the efffects on muscles. What if the new clubs that pick up players with questionable pasts have no real chance of the player capturing or returning to the form they once had because it is physically impossible to do so?

I'm not suggesting for one moment that Harley has taken illicit substances after he became a Docker. Nor am I suggesting or alleging that Dan Hannebery has taken illicit substances or had a history of taking illicit substances, but what if some of the rumours are true? What if St Kilda has stuffed up because they ignored the rumour mill or didn't do a thorough enough examination or physical testing or we have just plainly been lied to by his previous club, his manager and by Dan himself

It's a minefield for people without any medical qualifications to delve into, but there's also not much in the way of clinical trials out there to provide data and prove one way or another if research shows that prolonged cocaine use can have long lasting irriversable effects, especially for elite athletes

Can you imagine the medical profession advertising for regular habitual cocaine users who are also highly paid professional sports people to participate in a clinical trial? In any case if private records of elite athletes were ever to surface (and if there is some cause and effect link established) it could perhaps be a very good deterrent for young athletes to stay away from the stuff.

[King12]

Well someone has taken too many toxic substances, that's for certain!

[Josh Battle]

Who me or Simon Lethlean when he made reference to the rumours back in February when the club was getting frustrated with Dan and his so called 'muscle awareness'?

Simon said: "He has always had a reputation about his social life that he has to deal with and the only way you can do that is by behaving well, pulling his head in when he needs to, training hard and performing..."

It was in response to Damian Barrett claiming the Swans were surprised we put him in the leadership group

https://au.sports.yahoo.com/st-kilda-bo ... 21397.html

[Joffa Burns]

Well someone has taken too many toxic substances, that's for certain!

Agree, that’s for certain!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[King12]

Well someone has taken too many toxic substances, that's for certain!

Agree, that’s for certain!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Settle down Sweetie Pie, a gentleman of your age couldn't handle me!

[samuraisaint]

I was definitely against trading for Hanners and I actually demanded that Gallagher be sacked. Obviously they did not sack him. Anyway, Hanners is a Saints player now and we have to make the best of it. He hasn't played VFL yet so I'm guessing he will be lucky to debut by round. 15. That being the case I say give him the whole year off so he is hot to trot for 2020. Just my thoughts.

He won't play seniors this year. Neither will Jake, Logan, Paddy, Dylan or Bytel.

Max King might though. Hope so.

I don't think we'll see Stuv, Gears or Lonie again this year either.

Improvement will need to come from Billings, Gresh, Membrey, and hopefully Clark and Coffield. Get more games into the likes of Phillips, Rice, Joyce and White too.

[Josh Battle]

Even if Dan gets on the park and plays a couple for Sandringham and then a couple for the seniors, he is highly likely to break down again...and that means he is a higher chance (at his age and with his recent history) of suffering more soft tissue injuries than our other players

[King12]

I was definitely against trading for Hanners and I actually demanded that Gallagher be sacked. Obviously they did not sack him. Anyway, Hanners is a Saints player now and we have to make the best of it. He hasn't played VFL yet so I'm guessing he will be lucky to debut by round. 15. That being the case I say give him the whole year off so he is hot to trot for 2020. Just my thoughts.

He won't play seniors this year. Neither will Jake, Logan, Paddy, Dylan or Bytel.

Max King might though. Hope so.

I don't think we'll see Stuv, Gears or Lonie again this year either.

Improvement will need to come from Billings, Gresh, Membrey, and hopefully Clark and Coffield. Get more games into the likes of Phillips, Rice, Joyce and White too.

WowWee, big calls!

[samuraisaint]

I was definitely against trading for Hanners and I actually demanded that Gallagher be sacked. Obviously they did not sack him. Anyway, Hanners is a Saints player now and we have to make the best of it. He hasn't played VFL yet so I'm guessing he will be lucky to debut by round. 15. That being the case I say give him the whole year off so he is hot to trot for 2020. Just my thoughts.

He won't play seniors this year. Neither will Jake, Logan, Paddy, Dylan or Bytel.

Max King might though. Hope so.

I don't think we'll see Stuv, Gears or Lonie again this year either.

Improvement will need to come from Billings, Gresh, Membrey, and hopefully Clark and Coffield. Get more games into the likes of Phillips, Rice, Joyce and White too.

WowWee, big calls!

Well, Paddy and Dylan are hardly big calls, as they have serious health concerns. Bytel came to us with a serious injury and didn't do a full pre-season. Logan had shoulder surgery a few weeks back, and isn't training. Hanners is finally training but had a limited pre-season and hasn't played a reserves game yet and won't for the next few weeks - at least. Jake had back surgery, didn't have much of a pre-season and was rumoured to be 5-6 weeks away - and that is from games in the reserves, he certainly won't be match fit for seniors in 5-6 weeks.
Gears had compartment syndrome and a serious version of it at that, and I would be very surprised if he is back this year. Lonie is a long way away from reports I have seen regrettably and Stuv could be back next week or not at all this season based on how he goes.
If we were heading to finals some might come back, but finals are extremely unlikely. If we win well tomorrow we are still a mathematical chance, but we'd have to win three of the next four to give it a real shake.
I don' t think there is a big call in the lot actually. I think I'm being realistic.