Dearth of talls

[Saintmike65]

Like most St. Kilda supporters, I am very proud and supportive of what our off field team has done and achieved.
HOWEVER, I do have a concern about our sudden dearth of talls, which has been mostly self inflicted.
Yes, Nathan Brown retiring is partly outside our control, however, Bell, Marsh, Abbot, Austin, throw in McCartin, and an aging Ryder!
The one that puzzles me the most is Marsh, a guy we tried to turn into a forward but is better suited as a defender, with closing speed and strength, and is still only 25.
I just hope they have a plan that I'm not aware of, as McKernan and Frawley are only temporary solutions.

[cwrcyn]

The 2020 and 2021 draft pools have very few tall prospects. Key position players will be like gold over the next few years. Clubs that have quality key position players will be at an advantage.

[saintsRrising]

PLAN = To every draft/trade period make us better

This year's period is not yet finished but already our Best 22 has improved, after markedly being improved last year as well.

Not everything can be addressed in a season.

During this season it was pretty clear that despite Steele becoming AA that our No 1 need was our midfield. So this was our key focus this period
= Crouch acquired as a genuine ball winning mid
= Higgins acquired to most likely rotate through the midfield with Gresham

We will however still gain 2 to 3 more players. Pick 21 and?

Tall defender: The club officials have discussed the need and so I would expect some movement yet on this even if it is as a depth pick-up like Frawley. If not Frawley they will have someone in mind.

The other thought could be that even though McKernan was picked up as a forward/ruck that he could also provide cover down back if required.

Joyce is still floating around.

Plus the swingman Battle showed last year that he can play CHB well, but you do not want him on the monsters like Lynch.

[Saintmike65]

PLAN = To every draft/trade period make us better

This year's period is not yet finished but already our Best 22 has improved, after markedly being improved last year as well.

Not everything can be addressed in a season.

During this season it was pretty clear that despite Steele becoming AA that our No 1 need was our midfield. So this was our key focus this period
= Crouch acquired as a genuine ball winning mid
= Higgins acquired to most likely rotate through the midfield with Gresham

We will however still gain 2 to 3 more players. Pick 21 and?

Tall defender: The club officials have discussed the need and so I would expect some movement yet on this even if it is as a depth pick-up like Frawley. If not Frawley they will have someone in mind.

The other thought could be that even though McKernan was picked up as a forward/ruck that he could also provide cover down back if required.

Joyce is still floating around.

Plus the swingman Battle showed last year that he can play CHB well, but you do not want him on the monsters like Lynch.

We had an opportunity to go after 2 free agents in Corr and Hartigan but didn't...I don't mind chip Frawley but he'll only give us 1 to 2 years.
I'm hoping we can pick up Ben King to play back once he's fulfilled his contract at6 Gold Coast.
Coming up against Hawkins, Lynch, Danaher concerns me.

[skeptic]

Marsh is an odd concern because the guy didn’t play tall at all this year... and certainly isn’t fit to play as a key back

If anything, the perplexing list management decision this season is losing Logan Austin.

One can only hope that the club both is really confident that Clavarino will be a player and that they have somebody in mind next off-season.

And like most, I’m secretly hoping that that person is Ben King. That being said we also clearly need another ruck as well.

It looks to me like both Chips and McKernan are 1-2 year stop gaps and that we’ll have to go hard for another ruck at some point

[realdeal]

Not sure Hartigan is anything but a stop gap and Corr would've cost more than we were prepared to give. You can't have everyone.

Frawley and McKernan are stop gaps, every team needs them. Low cost, experienced veterans. We dont want too many inexperienced or developing players coming into the team as backups when we're hoping to challenge, especially with the reduced list numbers.

Unfortunately that's just the way it is this season..

[Sanctorum]

The mystery tall on the St Kilda list is Sam Alabakis who, at 211 cm, is amongst the tallest in the comp.

With the mass delistings by the club recently, it is noteworthy that Big Sam was not discarded, he is contracted to end 2021, and for all we know he could well be the wild card in the pack.

I don't know if St Kilda is really experiencing a dearth of talls insofar as Clavarino, Joyce and Roberton are all waiting in the wings, as are McKernan and Frawley (yet to be confirmed), so to me it's not a real concern.

Having said that, and going against the flow, I wouldn't mind drafting Oscar McDonald as a rookie - he's been bagged far and wide but he's only 25, played 81 games, 196 cm, 100 kg, and with a fresh start at a new club with excellent coaches, I believe he could well prove to be a bloody good investment! He would certainly be mustard keen to prove his critics wrong....and far from the only discard to become a quality player.

[ace]

The mystery tall on the St Kilda list is Sam Alabakis who, at 211 cm, is amongst the tallest in the comp.

With the mass delistings by the club recently, it is noteworthy that Big Sam was not discarded, he is contracted to end 2021, and for all we know he could well be the wild card in the pack.

I don't know if St Kilda is really experiencing a dearth of talls insofar as Clavarino, Joyce and Roberton are all waiting in the wings, as are McKernan and Frawley (yet to be confirmed), so to me it's not a real concern.

Having said that, and going against the flow, I wouldn't mind drafting Oscar McDonald as a rookie - he's been bagged far and wide but he's only 25, played 81 games, 196 cm, 100 kg, and with a fresh start at a new club with excellent coaches, I believe he could well prove to be a bloody good investment! He would certainly be mustard keen to prove his critics wrong....and far from the only discard to become a quality player.

Sam Alabakis is a type B rookie.
He has been for the last 2 years and can remain so for 1 more year until the end of season 2021.
St Kilda can't even fill all the vacancies for type B rookies.
A type B rookie does not count against the size of the senior list and will only count against the maximum no of players if St Kilda can find another type B rookie candidate.
The standard pay for a rookie is $85,000 per year plus $5,000 per senior game.
That's more than most kids his age earn doing some job they don't like.
No real decision required until end of next season.
Ruckmen take a long time to get the right build, fitness and learn the craft.

[remboy]

With the rule changes in regard to reducing interchanges, I think teams will want less talls and more mids who can run all day, so it shouldn’t be that much of an issue.

[saintsRrising]

We had an opportunity to go after 2 free agents in Corr and Hartigan but didn't..

Did we? Corr is an average player on huge coin. Our salary cap is now very tight. So how would we have had the salary cap space to land him.


Hartigan is not that good.

Both are not that tall at 195 and 194cm.

Both would not displace Howard or Carlisle.

So both would be a lot of coin to be back up players at Sandy. And both would not join us on that basis anyway = not available to us.

As long term deals I would not want either.

.I don't mind chip Frawley but he'll only give us 1 to 2 years.

Cheaper and still better than the above two even if he is fading and we only need provide a one year offer. And Frawaley will be content to only play occasional senior games.

This gives as more time to see another 200cn backman to eventually replace Carlisle.

I'm hoping we can pick up Ben King to play back once he's fulfilled his contract at6 Gold Coast.

I am glad you used the word hoping.

1/ Trade cost will be huge
2/ Contract $$$ will be huge
3/ King is contract till end of 2022

However if we do get him, having an extra fill in like Frawley makes sense.

Coming up against Hawkins, Lynch, Danaher concerns me.

Which is why we need both Carlisle and Howard in 2021, and someone likely Frawley as a back up if one of them is out.

[SaintPelican66]

Marsh is an odd concern because the guy didn’t play tall at all this year... and certainly isn’t fit to play as a key back

If anything, the perplexing list management decision this season is losing Logan Austin.

One can only hope that the club both is really confident that Clavarino will be a player and that they have somebody in mind next off-season.

And like most, I’m secretly hoping that that person is Ben King. That being said we also clearly need another ruck as well.

It looks to me like both Chips and McKernan are 1-2 year stop gaps and that we’ll have to go hard for another ruck at some point

I am completely perplexed with this decision. He is 25 with his injuries behind him and they delist him. I admit he will not offer you much in rebound but he has an iron fist and can easily play the role Brown played.

[stkfc1]

Marsh is an odd concern because the guy didn’t play tall at all this year... and certainly isn’t fit to play as a key back

If anything, the perplexing list management decision this season is losing Logan Austin.

One can only hope that the club both is really confident that Clavarino will be a player and that they have somebody in mind next off-season.

And like most, I’m secretly hoping that that person is Ben King. That being said we also clearly need another ruck as well.

It looks to me like both Chips and McKernan are 1-2 year stop gaps and that we’ll have to go hard for another ruck at some point

I am completely perplexed with this decision. He is 25 with his injuries behind him and they delist him. I admit he will not offer you much in rebound but he has an iron fist and can easily play the role Brown played.

Agree. I found it a bit strange as what I've seen of Logan he could play and had the right attributes. Bit of a head scratcher but we don't see the day to day stuff, so maybe there was an attitude issue or something else we don't know about.

The coaching staff had their reasons but from the outside it doesn't make a lot of sense. Possibly yes they see Clav as the long term option and due to the mandatory l shrinking of lists players that normally would be kept, had to be let go. I'm sure there are a quite a few players that club's didn't really want to see leave but had little choice.

And we all hang onto hope that Bing will come next year. If there is any chance the club thought this was a real possibility, it may have also been apart of it's reasoning. But Im drawing a real long bow on that one.

[Saints58]

I have a real concern with the lack of quality talls we have especially down back as teams are getting bigger most KPF are now 200cm we only have 2 players of the size down back if 1 or both get injured we are in big trouble. Look at last season against Brisbane, Westcoast even bulldogs with Tim English.
As much as I like Willkie and Battle they are both only 193 cm imagine trying to play a KPF who is 200 and bigger i hope it wont cost us games if we have not talls to fill in.
Frawley is good but at his age the best is 1 year if he is not injured he would be good to help Oscar who by the way we have to play next season or he is out.
There are other Bigs who have been delisted that we might look at or even try and draft one but that will take time for development.