25 man squad named

[Playon]

No

For years, because players weren't fit and didn't rotate there was no way we could have players covering 3/4 of the ground in continual motion.

Players were stationed in lines.... And became positional..these days . Specialists are seen as one dimensional and if they are not producing are a liability.

If you employ a tagger, or a defensive forward and they are not negating, then what can they do?

In the professional era, we have got fitter, leaner, and faster.... So we can press on a football field like a basketball court. Surely you know that. There are very few specialists... About 5 in every team (ruck, deep key fwd, small fwd, deep key back, small defender), and it's good if they too are flexible. The rest have a starting point, but then run to attack, or run to defend. It's pretty simple... The more they can run to congest or run to spread the better they can move the ball or defend the ball.


Look from the third tier of Etihad at any stoppage..... Starting position, either inside or out, either locked on or defensive side and your role depends on what happens at the stoppage.

Well heres a couple for you, and let me know if you want more examples.

Clint Jones
Do you imagine that he would be played in the forward line for his goal kicking abilities?
"While he had spent time as a defensive forward this season, Jones made his name as a tagger, and was one of the best at his craft during the Ross Lyon era"
http://www.theage.com.au/afl/afl-news/f ... z43z28EbQg

Mav Weller
"Weller has played largely as a midfield stopper since arriving at the Saints, but played as a defensive forward for much of the second half of this season. He said he was expecting to play both roles at times in 2016"
http://www.theage.com.au/afl/afl-news/s ... z43z3B2VgD

Tom Curren
Notice the "OR" from Richo
Midfielder Tom Curren, who has come into the team alongside Jack Billings, is another run-with option for the Saints.
"Tom's done that for us in the past … whether that be midfield, defensive forward OR even just play as a forward," Richardson said.http://www.saints.com.au/news/2015-04-1 ... t-a-target

The Defensive Forward Specialist
http://www.bigfooty.com/news/2015/04/th ... pecialist/

Paul Puopolo discusses his role as a defensive forward
IT is a position about as fashionable with All-Australian selectors as acid wash jeans.
But if the judges were to ever pick a defensive forward in the team of the year, Hawthorn’s Paul Puopolo has got a serious case to mount.
http://www.couriermail.com.au/sport/afl ... 87a779730e

Just because the traditional positions mostly dont exist doesnt mean players dont have roles to play>Players have always attacked and defended, just these days they do it all over the ground and honestly do really need to ask what a defensive forward might be doing if not defending?

[saintjake]

We won't go anywhere as a team when Templeton is selected.
Couldn't find a ball of in a ball pit.

[st.byron]

We won't go anywhere as a team when Templeton is selected.
Couldn't find a ball of in a ball pit.

Jesus that's harsh. Give the bloke a go. He's 20 years old and his second season was stuffed by a serious injury. Crikey people have unrealistic expectations of young fellas. He's played 12 games in his career and needs time. He was a rocket in his first year.

[Playon]

I feel that, as fans, we can definitely hang our hat on our team being great at consistently putting in a 100% effort in most games over the past couple of years.
However, I think that we've often started behind the eight ball with our unbalanced team selection. We never mastered the art of picking a sub, we picked one ruckman when we required two and vice versa, we'd pick too many small forwards and not enough on ballers etc..

I feel this is happening again for round 1. Unless we figure on just running and gunning, you'd have to say that we're somewhat undersized both fwd and back..

If Roo plays up the ground, who plays tall up fwd to help out Bruce? Who pinch hits in the ruck when Hickey needs a rest? Did we notice they have three dangerous tall fwds that we must cover.. Has Dempster grown 15cm over the summer?

Am I wrong to be concerned? Hopefully it means we'll be attacking and creating lots of run and carry and my queries are proved unfounded.

Cheers, carn Saints..

Spot on.

We better out run them given the number of smalls picked.

Are we banking on 90 rotations meaning we can out run the opposition if they are too top heavy?

Going to be killed in the air down back if we can't get it to ground.

Maybe they have worked on a new defensive strategy that we shall all marvel at come Sunday night.

Perhaps when doing the math we couldnt beat them if we were to play a taller side so were trying to play with our strengths, run carry and pressure.
We either get exposed from lack of height or perhaps we try to win it with pressure, Can we do it for 4 quarters might explain the selections.