Sliding doors - we cleared Rhys Stanley

[Enrico_Misso]

Thank heavens for that!!

[BigMart]

He played pretty well tonight... Thought he outpointed Hickey a bit...

[Enrico_Misso]

There were couple of big moments when he could have kicked goals (one from 50m and one in the goal square), but he went to jelly.

[degruch]

He did pretty well, and we still won...good on him, good on us. Best of luck to Rhys...for all the retrospective draft watchers out there, how's he stack up against Hugh???

[BigMart]

I'll be happy if Goddard turns out as handy as Rhys... Because I have my reservations about his mobility

[loris]

I'll be happy if Goddard turns out as handy as Rhys... Because I have my reservations about his mobility

Me too BM, me too. But hopefully my reservations are off the mark.

[Con Gorozidis]

He played pretty well tonight... Thought he outpointed Hickey a bit...

Your love for Stanley goes deep. What does 'out pointed' mean?
Hickey took on three ruckmen single handedly. Hickey had 25 hit outs to Stanley 13. Stanley played an ok game sure but Hickey had more impact on the result. Hickey enabled us to play an extra midfielder for starters. Hickey also set up at least two goals (the handball and then the tap to Steven for the soccer goal).

[Long Term Injury]

I'll be happy if Goddard turns out as handy as Rhys... Because I have my reservations about his mobility

Agree that his mobility ain't great, but he needs to grow into his body... As weird as that sounds.
He was elite at 16 then had a growth spurt meaning that he had to adapt to the new body, wait until 22-3 and we'll see him at a level when we can judge his ability I reckon. That is why this year was marked as educational, teaching him how to be our future general down back. He's got the smarts and the competitive spirit, that will take him a long way.

[Trev from the Bush]

Sliding door moments suit a topic like Rhys Stanley.

He is the most frustrating and disappointing players I have ever seen wear a Saints jumper. One of those "looks like Tarzan, plays like Jane" types.

His one and only good game for us (ie, 4 qtrs) was against Freo at Etihad and then he went back into his shell. I never bag StKilda players, not even Rhys. But I support our management for moving him on. Hope he ekes out a reasonable career with the Cats but I am happy we got Goddard.

[Griggsy]

Didn't think he played well, not bad, just okay. Rarely see him use the strengths in his game to his advantage even though we all know it's there. He may still improve but atm he is approaching 26 he doesn't play much better than he did at 22. Cut our losses for something in return while we still had the chance.

[Scollop]

He was one of their better players. Apart from their superstars he was one of the few Geelong players who turned up and had a go from the first bounce. I think he had extra motivation and was looking forward to shaking hands with his former teammates as a winner BUT that wasn't to be. Go Saints

[stevie]

Great shephard by Lukey to give Jack a split second more time to volley it through

[Legendary]

Reckon he has only marginally improved at the Cats. Certainly not an A-grader which many at the Saints hoped he would be.

However, the interchange cap has helped him, because he's mobile enough to be the second ruck/forward.

Still lacks confidence - could have nailed goals a couple of times and didn't.

Good luck to him - we won't be able to judge this trade for about 5 years though.

[BigMart]

In the third con Rhys helped Geelong dominate the midfield. He was too strong for Hickey at centre bounce and he presented OK

Hickey did out point Rhys at times also, it was a good battle. Rhys only had 14 hit outs, because Zac Smith contested 60% of the ruck contests.

Tom is far better in clearances, has better hands and vision.

I think Tom is a better Ruckman by about 20%
I think Rhys is a better forward by about 10%

[prwilkinson]

Sliding door moments suit a topic like Rhys Stanley.

He is the most frustrating and disappointing players I have ever seen wear a Saints jumper. One of those "looks like Tarzan, plays like Jane" types.

His one and only good game for us (ie, 4 qtrs) was against Freo at Etihad and then he went back into his shell. I never bag StKilda players, not even Rhys. But I support our management for moving him on. Hope he ekes out a reasonable career with the Cats but I am happy we got Goddard.

Nailed it.

[magnifisaint]

Apart from being different players you can't yet compare Goddards ability to Stanley. Stanley hardly played a game at St Kilda in his first 3 years and then was in an out for the next 2. If he's 25 that means he's had 6 or 7 years to develop and he still needs more time. Let's judge Goddard in the next 2 years not now. Lots of slow players have had good careers. Have a look at Mick Martyn he was that slow he'd catch up to yesterday.

[Con Gorozidis]

In the third con Rhys helped Geelong dominate the midfield. He was too strong for Hickey at centre bounce and he presented OK

Hickey did out point Rhys at times also, it was a good battle. Rhys only had 14 hit outs, because Zac Smith contested 60% of the ruck contests.

Tom is far better in clearances, has better hands and vision.

I think Tom is a better Ruckman by about 20%
I think Rhys is a better forward by about 10%

Yeah he played a decent game. I agree. But he probably had an easier role. The beauty of Hickey is he allows us to play an extra mid.
I have said all along - Rhys will have a decent career and play 150 AFL games. Not a bad effort.

[BigMart]

Mick Martyn played in a different era

The worry on Goddard - even at VFL - his opponents get separation way to easily.

His agility is extremely poor ... It is ruckmen like agility.

[desertsaint]

Think Stanley should be a spoiling, intercepting back, in the Taylor mould. Ideal ability and build - but just lacks that hardness and mongrel. always lacked it.

[Sainternist]

If we hadn't have found a trade for him, he would have floundered for another year and possibly became a delisted player. Very shrewd move by Richo in arranging that trade with Geelong. We ended up with Hugh Goddard, who is a great prospect, regardless of current long-term injury.

[Goose is king]

Stanley is unlikely to hurt us and Goddard has the Goddard intensity and will be awesome for us.
Remember he was considered by many to be top 10, and if not 10-15. He was a steal. Hugh is a massive guy and his only real weakness of mobility/agility will improve naturally over time

[magnifisaint]

Mick Martyn played in a different era

The worry on Goddard - even at VFL - his opponents get separation way to easily.

His agility is extremely poor ... It is ruckmen like agility.

Well his cousin wasn't too flash either when he started. People were saying Seb Ross was slow as a wet week and look at his last 20 games.

[BigMart]

Better to be slow in the middle, if you can find the footy... Priddis, Kennedy, Mitchell, Mitchell, Selwood

Not good as a defender when you are chasing a forward

[mr six o'clock]

Think Stanley should be a spoiling, intercepting back, in the Taylor mould. Ideal ability and build - but just lacks that hardness and mongrel. always lacked it.

yes

In the last minute of the game the ball went into the cats forward line .
Bartel was under it . Gilbo was able to get a fist on the ball , making a great save .
Stanley was with gilbo and didn't go hard enough to keep him from making the spoil .
A good block and we may have been commiserating this morning instead of celebrating .

[Linton Lodger]

He played pretty well tonight... Thought he outpointed Hickey a bit...

He was good, although I disagree with him outpointing Hickey. I couldn't believe Geelong kept Stanley in the ruck in the last 5 minutes against Hickey, we were always going to win with that match up.

Look at our winning goal, a ball up 15-20 metres out from our goal and Hickey gets the decisive hit out, in fact palmed it 10 - 15 metres, lace up onto Jack Steven's toes.

Hickey is going to be one hell of a ruckman, our best since Big Carl.

Stanley is going well, but I wonder how he will go in finals, particularly deep in finals.