No Axe at saints this week (MAYBE) !!

[Saints Premiers 2008]

pav and farmer will kick 10 between them....

jason blake will stop them

both

at the same time

[matrix]

phew....
thank christ for that then

[Saints Premiers 2008]

phew....
thank christ for that then

now all we need is for brad howard to start in the center, amass 30 touches and 10 tackles and we are set entirely forever and eternity

[remboy]

Dropping Dal Santo isn't just a wake up call for him, it's a wake up call for the entire side. From this point on every player will know their place is under threat if they don't perform.
You can drop players like Blake, Milne, L Fisher, Gwilt as often as you want but guys like Dal won't get the message. Dropping Dal will put everyone on notice.
No doubt Dal will be back next week and someone else might get the axe. We should have started doing this a lot earlier, probably around round 6 last season.

[degruch]

Dropping Dal Santo isn't just a wake up call for him, it's a wake up call for the entire side. From this point on every player will know their place is under threat if they don't perform.
You can drop players like Blake, Milne, L Fisher, Gwilt as often as you want but guys like Dal won't get the message. Dropping Dal will put everyone on notice.
No doubt Dal will be back next week and someone else might get the axe. We should have started doing this a lot earlier, probably around round 6 last season.

100%. Good call.

[saintsRrising]

Dropping Dal Santo isn't just a wake up call for him, it's a wake up call for the entire side. From this point on every player will know their place is under threat if they don't perform.
You can drop players like Blake, Milne, L Fisher, Gwilt as often as you want but guys like Dal won't get the message. Dropping Dal will put everyone on notice.
No doubt Dal will be back next week and someone else might get the axe. We should have started doing this a lot earlier, probably around round 6 last season.

100%. Good call.

Indeed..major wake-up call.

At this stage selections apart from injuries have mainly been swapping fringe players for other fringe players...

[skeptic]

Jason Blake cops it on this site as does Birss but at least you knopw that when they leave the ground they have done everything they could to help the team win.

This is what I will miss about Blake when he retires... the "when they leave the ground they have done everything they could to help the team win." non specific comment that justifies the fact that he does NOTHING but tries really really hard

i guarantee you that Dal done a lot more for this club this season than Blake has or will

Dropping Dal Santo isn't just a wake up call for him, it's a wake up call for the entire side. From this point on every player will know their place is under threat if they don't perform.
You can drop players like Blake, Milne, L Fisher, Gwilt as often as you want but guys like Dal won't get the message. Dropping Dal will put everyone on notice.
No doubt Dal will be back next week and someone else might get the axe. We should have started doing this a lot earlier, probably around round 6 last season.

There's something seriously wrong with the way club's being run if this is what it takes to send a message...
crazy idea how about we send a message by dropping players when they're performing badly rather than accepting their performances and then making a scapegoat out of one of our better players

[St. Luke]

Well I sincerely hope the message sinks in (and works!). I honestly didn't see this coming...not for Dal anyway.

[JeffDunne]

Unless there's a reason we don't know about - Ross is out of his bloody mind.

[degruch]

Unless there's a reason we don't know about - Ross is out of his bloody mind.

I think he's already out of mind...out of his mind with rage that players like Dal (yes, he's not the only one, he's just the highest profile one) are not putting in like they should. They're poor examples for younger players and, ultimately, bad for team morale. Hey, it could backfire, or it could work...ya never know.

[JeffDunne]

The only person bad for morale is our "New Excuse Every Week" coach.

Dropping a player like Dal without a good reason is an admission he can't get anywhere near the best out of his players.

Why stop at Dal?

Or should I say why start with Dal?

If there's a reason we don't know about then I can understand, but if it's on form, he's got f***ing rocks in his head.

[The_Dud]

Dropping Dal Santo isn't just a wake up call for him, it's a wake up call for the entire side. From this point on every player will know their place is under threat if they don't perform.
You can drop players like Blake, Milne, L Fisher, Gwilt as often as you want but guys like Dal won't get the message. Dropping Dal will put everyone on notice.
No doubt Dal will be back next week and someone else might get the axe. We should have started doing this a lot earlier, probably around round 6 last season.

then why not drop high profile players such as Gram, Montagna, Kosi (if not injured), King, and a few others who have all had much worse years than Dal

disgracful decision

[elvis lives]

No suprises of course that Schnieder continues to get a game then having not had a possession since the Melbourne game. Dal's form and effort may not be at its best at the moment, but it is 10 times whatever Schneider is contributing. But of course Ross didn't recruit Dal across from Sydney so he doesn't get the luxury of only having to play one half decent qtr every 11 games.

Congratlations Ross, I really didn't think you could get any worse.

[spiral2]

f... me, Dal dropped?!
thought he was getting better, though haven't been watching his off the ball work as others have.

it'll be interesting to see how he responds. I think he could jack up and decide to leave the club at the next opportunity...

one thing I did notice when he was on the footy show after the 'saints are soft' comments from Ross, he wasn't fully towing the party line. struck me as though he had a bit of, 'yeah whatever Ross' attitude in his answers to questions that night.

interesting times...bye bye Dal or hello new improved Dal?
how much does he love the club?

anyone know when he is contracted to?

[JeffDunne]

What are the odds Robert Walls comes out and backs this move?

$1.0000000000001


Ross might be his own man, but his view of players is incredibly similar to his mate.

[matrix]

gee i cant wait for friday night with his special comments on the box

[58ter]

Milne is also dropped, both he and Dal have to satisfy the coach with their assigned tasks for the casey match. If they don't they'll not be promoted.

Strong suggestion is that , if we lose on friday, R Harvey will retire ie last match

[degruch]

one thing I did notice when he was on the footy show after the 'saints are soft' comments from Ross, he wasn't fully towing the party line. struck me as though he had a bit of, 'yeah whatever Ross' attitude in his answers to questions that night

That's it in a nutshell IMO...he thought the 'soft' tag didn't apply to him, where in actual fact, at the time, he was the poster boy for it. That's why he's been singled out, on top of his high profile (don't get much higher other than Roo, Ball, Lenny, and why would you drop them for working their arses off?). Schnieder not in the team? So what. Blake? Meh. Kosi's injured, Gram's not travelling that well, Monty either. Dal it is.

I'm not saying it's great, I'm just saying I don't think you've been paying attention if you're surprised by the decision.

[Junior]

Hey skeptic you simpleton,

I will spell it out real easy so as you understand
The point re Blake is that he cops it on this site yet Dal Santo can do as he pleases and everyone is up in arms about him getting dropped.

Blake is not up to it but at least he has a bloody dip and at the end of the day can walk away and say he got the most out of his limited ability. I would by the way drop him this week and give a kid ago who will also have a dip but also have more skill.

Dal Santo has more natural ability than anyone on our list but is lazy and a frontrunner if he showed anywhere near the same work ethic as Blake he would be spoken about in the same terms as Judd, Ablett instead of facing the axe from a team not even in the eight.

So you can believe that Dal Santo will give more than Blake to the ST Kilda football club as of course he will as he has more talent but will he give his all? This is my point. Do believe i was comparing effort not ability.

The problem with ST Kilda for too long is the culture of the individual champion rather than a team, Brett Voss is right some players play for themselves.

How many good games has Dal played when tagged, how many has he played where he has changed the result, as he should be beating taggers and he should be doing what the elite midfillders do in in the comp.

Very easy to critisise the Blakes,Rix and Gwilts of the world but all i ask from any ST Kilda player is that they work their backside off and get the best out of their natural ability. Anyone who thinks Dal Santo is getting the best out of himself is kidding themselves, or maybe he is just not that good.

[spiral2]

Milne is also dropped, both he and Dal have to satisfy the coach with their assigned tasks for the casey match. If they don't they'll not be promoted.

Strong suggestion is that , if we lose on friday, R Harvey will retire ie last match

jesus - ease up with the bombshells 58ter!!!

[matrix]

ohh f*** me , here we friggin go

[The_Dud]

ohh f*** me , here we friggin go

i think we should have a running list of careers Ross has killed, or is in the process of killing.....

[matrix]

as IF Harves is just gonna call it quits and retire on friday night if we lose?

no fairwell game, no nothing......yeah suuuure, sorry... refuse to even contemplate it.

[saintspremiers]

Milne is also dropped, both he and Dal have to satisfy the coach with their assigned tasks for the casey match. If they don't they'll not be promoted.

Strong suggestion is that , if we lose on friday, R Harvey will retire ie last match

jesus - ease up with the bombshells 58ter!!!

All good news.

I just hope an ex-Sydney player is on notice also like Dal.

Re Milney - I saw him last week doing laps at a non-media training session and he looked pretty dejected (this is prior to Sydney match), and was thinking that he may be getting dropped for the Sydney match.

So....

perhaps it had been brewing and not spur of the moment.

[St. Luke]

Was it because of that speckie he allowed that player to take off his back last week?? Shame on you Dal!