Changes from Port practice game

[plugger66]

Out
Lynch
X Clarke Doesnt sound good as he hasnt played much
McEvoy
Mini

Maybe
Schneider
Begley
Geary
Jones

Ins
Gardiner
King
Gilbert
Gram
Maybe Raph but doubtful

Doesnt sound that good really. Lets hope we just had off day and also Port are on song at the moment.

[saint66au]

Lenny would be another in...Gawd I hope so!!!

but to balance that Max out perhaps?? reports of his calf heavily strapped/iced?

[mad saint guy]

Assuming only Dempster and Allen are out

B: Gilbert, Hudghton, R. Clarke
HB: Gram, Blake, S.Fisher
C: Montagna, Hayes, X. Clarke
HF: Schneider, Riewoldt, Dal Santo
F: Milne, Koschitzke, Lynch

Foll: King, Ball, Goddard
Int: Ray, Gardiner, Baker, Armitage

[saint66au]

Reports in aother thread that Armo has done his hammy and is now 4 weeks away

[plugger66]

Assuming only Dempster and Allen are out

B: Gilbert, Hudghton, R. Clarke
HB: Gram, Blake, S.Fisher
C: Montagna, Hayes, X. Clarke
HF: Schneider, Riewoldt, Dal Santo
F: Milne, Koschitzke, Lynch

Foll: King, Ball, Goddard
Int: Ray, Gardiner, Baker, Armitage

If Max is even slightly hurt he will miss as will X and its looks like Armo is out as his brother posted that. Got 3 extra players to come in.

[St Fidelius]

Has Gram played in any of these matches?

I only ever saw him play just 10 odd minutes in the intra club and he left the ground.

[Devilhead]

So that's Lenny, King, Gardiner, Raph, Gram and Gilbert to come back in given that they all would have had a 3 week break to freshen up

More than a 1/4 of our side

Sounds extremely positive to me

[vacuous space]

If Max and the Clarkes don't get up, my guess would be the following:

FB: Gram - Dawson - Baker
HB: S. Fisher - Blake - Begley
C: Ray - Hayes - Dal Santo
HF: Montagna - Riewoldt - Gilbert
FF: Schneider - Koschitzke - Milne
OB: King - Goddard - Ball

IC: Gardiner - Geary - Jones - McQualter

EM: Gwilt - Lynch - Steven

Bear in mind that it looks like one of Sydney's key forwards will be Ed Barlow. There's Hall and O'Keefe to worry about and a bunch of smalls.

I'm sure this place will go nuts if we select Jones and Mini. We'll see if the kids have done enough to convince RL.

[S.A Saint]

From what i say today regarding max i dont think he will be alright for round 1.... basically had his left leg/calf strapped full and was applying ice to it during half time....

x is a chance to play he was running along the boundary line with the physio and i think they decided to do a cautious thing with him and pulled the pin...

[matrix]

X played a bit.......looked very slow

[BallBanger]

Out
Lynch
X Clarke Doesnt sound good as he hasnt played much
McEvoy
Mini

Maybe
Schneider
Begley
Geary
Jones

Ins
Gardiner
King
Gilbert
Gram
Maybe Raph but doubtful

Doesnt sound that good really. Lets hope we just had off day and also Port are on song at the moment.

how could you have this blind faith in gwilt, at best he has played a couple of average games and many many very poor ones...
we cannot afford to carry these players. must fast track the likes of tungatalum, Hyne, lynch,A.Smith,miles, conners and steven
we cannot afford to carry too many of gwilt,eddy,fisherL,mcqualter. I agree with your maybe's but they have not had anywhere near the failures/chances given
So what if they are not ready, they will not be worse than above, will add pace/interest all the time gaining valuable matchtime experience.

[saintly_safes]

It was only a practise match & its not all doom & gloom but our depth is still very thin .If we pick up a few injuries its gunna be hard to plug the holes.I really think we should start to blood a few of the younger boys when the real season starts , because imo we have alot of guys that have had their chances & still havent got to the level required to play afl . I think its time to start thinking about rebuilding & trying out some of our new recruits to see if they can do better than some of the fringe players that just dont seem to have whats required to get us to the next level.

[mad saint guy]

If Max is even slightly hurt he will miss as will X and its looks like Armo is out as his brother posted that. Got 3 extra players to come in.

Then we're in trouble. We can just scrape up an acceptable 22 at full strength, but we've got nothing in the reserves. Hopefully a Steven/Heyne type can step up...although I'd predict that we'll persevere with the McQualter/Jones/Eddy/Begley types before giving the kids a go.

[Bernard Shakey]

Has Gram played in any of these matches?

I only ever saw him play just 10 odd minutes in the intra club and he left the ground.

He wasn't at training on Monday and I can't remember seeing him at all this year.

Having said that, Gram would only have been at about 20% of training sessions last year. Must be seeing the coach's missus.

[remboy]

Out of the players who were withdrawn from the squad from tonights match, how many have injuries and how many were rested? It seems odd to rest players for the final practice match two weeks out from the start of the season. I know they can play some of them for Sandy next week but surely you'd like as many as possible playing together today (we'll that would be my preference anyway).

[St Fidelius]

Has Gram played in any of these matches?

I only ever saw him play just 10 odd minutes in the intra club and he left the ground.

He wasn't at training on Monday and I can't remember seeing him at all this year.

Having said that, Gram would only have been at about 20% of training sessions last year. Must be seeing the coach's missus.

Well mate, he only played a few minutes in the intra club match and when straight to the rooms, I spotted him later sitting with other players that didn't play, he must be in some doubt

[saint66au]

He played against the Doggies ..but not the whole game

[To the top]

As I have said many times before this is a defining season, not just for 2009 but onwards.

The reason for saying this is that our list has undergone significant change, as reflected by those who attend practice not being able to identify players.

This significant change in our list has been occurring since Lyon was appointed - and we have embraced the Rookie list to add a further dimension.

What we do know is that we have a core of solid players supporting one exceptional player and that core has to lift to the next level - particularly with Harvey gone.

What we also know is that, when it really mattered in 2008 we were well short.

That emphasises the need for our core of solid players to lift to the next level - and actually influence outcomes when the side is under pressure.

Hopefully a few players who have been dogged with injury will be seen more than they have been over the last season or so, or seen in a better light. Particularly we look for Gardiner to join with King to give us a genuine rucking presence.

Sitting underneath this summary are a host of players who, at this stage, remain names.

We need a few of them to stand up in 2009 and claim positions on merit - and the others to give us cameos of what they will bring in 2010 and onwards.

There are certain players who are among our most experienced but do not influence the result of games when we are under pressure - a bit like Hodge - flat track bullies who are found wanting when they are needed most. And they have deficiencies, as does Hodge down the line of off stump. So these deficiencies are exposed by class opposition.

We have to be realistic and not cling to "favourites".

Because these "favourites" have not delivered.

So this is a defining year, not only for 2009 but onwards.

We must improve the supports we provide to Riewoldt and Hayes and Sam Fisher and Hudgden and Goddard - and apart from them all positions are up for grabs.

There are some others who will obviously play at AFL level, but they need to improve to the level that they actually influence the result of a game on a regular basis - and particularly when we are under pressure.

[SainterK]

I guess that just because Gram hasn't been on the park at the open training sessions, doesn't mean he is not out there at some point during the week. He may be on a specialised program or something?

[Bernard Shakey]

Or something!

[sax]

Our round 1 team will look something like this

B: Baker, Dawson, Blake
HB: Gram, S. Fisher, Goddard
C: Montagna, Hayes, Ray
HF: Jones, Riewoldt, Gilbert
F: Milne, Koschitzke, Schneider
Foll: King, Dal Santo, Ball
Int: Gardiner, Maguire, Gwilt, Lynch
Emg: Steven, Begley, Geary

Did not consider due to fitness: Max, Armitage, Eddy, Dempster, Allen, X. Clarke, R. Clarke (I hope I'm wrong!)

[Longwayfromhome]

Kosi out. Lynch in.
Kosi out, Cahill in.
Kosi out. Mickey bloody Mouse in.
Every one wants Kosi at full forward. WHY?
Third best ruckman at best. And that's saying something.

[Bernard Shakey]

Over to you ohwhenthesaints!

[SainterK]

Not sure what it is, but I think "longwayfromhome" is trying to say something about Kosi

[matrix]

and to be honest...im thinking it slightly