No A graders?

[saynta]

Crap. Jack Steven is elite . An A grader on a par with many others rated elite by so called experts.

Call me biased, but I stand by my opinion.

[parkeysainter]

Crap. Jack Steven is elite . An A grader on a par with many others rated elite by so called experts.

Call me biased, but I stand by my opinion.

I agree mate. BOG yesterday by a mile. Now he is fit, he looks like his 2016 year. I reckon Carlisle and Ross are A-.

Gresham, Billings and Arces are tracking to A grade too.

[Trev from the Bush]

Crap. Jack Steven is elite . An A grader on a par with many others rated elite by so called experts.

Call me biased, but I stand by my opinion.

I agree mate. BOG yesterday by a mile. Now he is fit, he looks like his 2016 year. I reckon Carlisle and Ross are A-.

Gresham, Billings and Arces are tracking to A grade too.

Thankyou.

Billings just appears to be made of silk on the way he moved yesterday. Acres, whom I've long thought will develop into something special, looked to be in a class of his own yesterday. Strong fast, skilful and a very good kick; he could be the one carrying the "break-out year" badge this season.

[Moods]

Disagree. Jack is not elite. Not until he can handle a tag and play at that level consistently. We beat Brisbane remember.

[Con Gorozidis]

We beat the reigning wooden Spooner and the fans are up and about.
Steven is our best player. Two out of the last three b and fs shows that.

[perfectionist]

Jade and Jake. Couple of others close.

[takeaway]

I reckon Jack Steven is A grade, Ross virtually there. Billings and Gresham not yet.

Can't see Carlisle as A grade at the moment, has been solid, but nothing special.

[BringBackMadDog]

Disagree. Jack is not elite. Not until he can handle a tag and play at that level consistently. We beat Brisbane remember.

And Brisbane could go on and win their next 6 in a row. If the last few years have taught us anything it’s that last years results mean absolutely sweet F all in a new season
Jack Steven is absolutely elite and definitely an A grader regardless of who the opposition is and I believe that winning 3 best and fairest awards in 4 years proves he is pretty consistent in performance

[Linton Lodger]

Jake Carlisle must be considered an A Grade key defender.

[stonecold]

Jake Carlisle must be considered an A Grade key defender.

This, beaten twice only last season!!!!!

[meher baba]

Obviously, it all depends on what you mean by "A grader" or "elite". Jack Steven is one of the top 50 players in the comp. I reckon Ross, Billings and Carlisle both fit comfortably into the top 100 players in the comp. Gresham and Acres are not there yet, but have the potential to develop into superstars.

None of the above are superstars, if that's what you mean by "elite". Steven might be considered a little old to have a "breakout year", but - if he plays most of the season at the intensity he played on Saturday, he could achieve "superstar" status and a swag of Brownlow votes by year's end. Midfielders sometimes hit their best form later in their 20s: Robert Harvey and Dane Swan are two who come to mind.

The good news for me on Saturday is that quite a few of our fair-to-middling players went quite well: Newnes, Brown, Stevens, Webster, Steele and, to some extent, Bruce. This group of players (which also includes Membrey and Sinclair, who didn't do quite so well) needs to perform near their best every week for us any sort of chance at making the finals.

[Sainter_Dad]

We beat the reigning wooden Spooner and the fans are up and about.

Not saying that Brisbane will not be spooners again - but the injection of 1 or 2 player (particularly veterans) can change a bottom ranked team a lot more than the same injection into a higher ranked team (eg Essendon)

Hodge, whilst past his prime, would make every Brisbane defender walk taller - particularly in his first game

Don't discount Brisbane to surprise some teams.

[thejiggingsaint]

Crap. Jack Steven is elite . An A grader on a par with many others rated elite by so called experts.

Call me biased, but I stand by my opinion.

Not biased, not biased at all: calling it as it is. Jack Steven is a GUN! If others don’t see that, then that’s THEIR problem!

[thejiggingsaint]

Disagree. Jack is not elite. Not until he can handle a tag and play at that level consistently. We beat Brisbane remember.

And Brisbane could go on and win their next 6 in a row. If the last few years have taught us anything it’s that last years results mean absolutely sweet F all in a new season
Jack Steven is absolutely elite and definitely an A grader regardless of who the opposition is and I believe that winning 3 best and fairest awards in 4 years proves he is pretty consistent in performance

Spot- ON!

[dragit]

This is a grader

[stonecold]

This is a grader

Sure Is, not a Tractor though!!!!!

[Saintmatt]

We beat the reigning wooden Spooner and the fans are up and about.

Not saying that Brisbane will not be spooners again - but the injection of 1 or 2 player (particularly veterans) can change a bottom ranked team a lot more than the same injection into a higher ranked team (eg Essendon)

Hodge, whilst past his prime, would make every Brisbane defender walk taller - particularly in his first game

Don't discount Brisbane to surprise some teams.

Absolutely. Both Bris and GCS always surprise a form team when playing at home in July / August when it's slippery as hell from the dew.

[Saintmatt]

Disagree. Jack is not elite. Not until he can handle a tag and play at that level consistently. We beat Brisbane remember.

Somewhat agree with this. It's the last piece of the puzzle for him. Dal was very much like that until he learnt how to push through. Having said that - it's been much harder for Jack as it's so easy to defend against our midfield. Opposition only has to put time into 1 player as the rest aren't going to hurt you. Hard to tag Voss when you then let Lappin, Black, Acker off the chain. Same as WCE in the mid-2000's.

Often it's not just about the individual but the players around that individual. Put a decent group of mids around Steven that do have to be defended hard and he'd be an utter jet.

[saintsRrising]

This is a grader

Yes, but this is an A-Grader

[saynta]

Crap. Jack Steven is elite . An A grader on a par with many others rated elite by so called experts.

Call me biased, but I stand by my opinion.

Not biased, not biased at all: calling it as it is. Jack Steven is a GUN! If others don’t see that, then that’s THEIR problem!

Wow, thanks mate.

[saynta]

Obviously, it all depends on what you mean by "A grader" or "elite". Jack Steven is one of the top 50 players in the comp. I reckon Ross, Billings and Carlisle both fit comfortably into the top 100 players in the comp. Gresham and Acres are not there yet, but have the potential to develop into superstars.

None of the above are superstars, if that's what you mean by "elite". Steven might be considered a little old to have a "breakout year", but - if he plays most of the season at the intensity he played on Saturday, he could achieve "superstar" status and a swag of Brownlow votes by year's end. Midfielders sometimes hit their best form later in their 20s: Robert Harvey and Dane Swan are two who come to mind.

The good news for me on Saturday is that quite a few of our fair-to-middling players went quite well: Newnes, Brown, Stevens, Webster, Steele and, to some extent, Bruce. This group of players (which also includes Membrey and Sinclair, who didn't do quite so well) needs to perform near their best every week for us any sort of chance at making the finals.

Good to see you posting mate. Real good.

[sunsaint]

We beat the reigning wooden Spooner and the fans are up and about.

Not saying that Brisbane will not be spooners again - but the injection of 1 or 2 player (particularly veterans) can change a bottom ranked team a lot more than the same injection into a higher ranked team (eg Essendon)

Hodge, whilst past his prime, would make every Brisbane defender walk taller - particularly in his first game

Don't discount Brisbane to surprise some teams.

would love to have Hodge running round for us - 3yrs ago - not so much now with our development but yeah he is a huge plus to them and a great get and one that they should do anything to keep post career.
and yes they have some very exciting kids that Rayner looks a prospect and might snatch 4-5 games this year
but if you flip the hodge point around - their loss of Rockcliffe will also be a massive loss to the midfield ( and yep we should have got him)

[Moods]

Disagree. Jack is not elite. Not until he can handle a tag and play at that level consistently. We beat Brisbane remember.

Somewhat agree with this. It's the last piece of the puzzle for him. Dal was very much like that until he learnt how to push through. Having said that - it's been much harder for Jack as it's so easy to defend against our midfield. Opposition only has to put time into 1 player as the rest aren't going to hurt you. Hard to tag Voss when you then let Lappin, Black, Acker off the chain. Same as WCE in the mid-2000's.

Often it's not just about the individual but the players around that individual. Put a decent group of mids around Steven that do have to be defended hard and he'd be an utter jet.

Fair comment. Certainly playing as a team in the midfield will help. It's why I rate Ablett so highly. He went up to GC in a s*** team and was still able to dominate, despite the opposition knowing he was their only real gun.

Ablett, Selwood and Dangerfield - now that's an elite A grade midfield.

[sunsaint]

Ablett, Selwood and Dangerfield - now that's an elite A grade midfield.

no arguments here - then throw in Mitch duncan and Kelly and they are pretty well serviced
red white & black coloured glasses is all well and good but we dont have any elite midfielders which is why we are trying to throw a cheque book at one, and when you look at the field of talent available for midfield AA selection - Ross & Steven have a lot of competition

[saynta]

I don't care what ypu say sunsaint, Jack would get a game with Geelong. He is elite. Much better than farking Mitch Duncan or their Kelly whoever he is ffs.