Rumours Saints are keen on Travis Johnstone.

[bergholt]

Raph is hammered from getting run down in the09 GF.

those with long memories will recall that he was getting bagged well before the 09 grand final.

yes but funnily enough not on the week between the PF of 09 and the GF of 09

yeah, well, dude plays a good game and people are less likely to have a go at him. not especially surprising i wouldn't have thought. if he strung together a good season - like jimmy has - then he'd stop getting bagged too. remember how much s*** jimmy used to get when he played up forward and looked useless?

[Moccha]

After this diatribe are the Saints still keen on Johnstone?

Cheaper than an old dunny door

I'll stick with the dunny door if you don't mind. I have a lot to hide !!

Do you have a fat arse?

[Eastern]

After this diatribe are the Saints still keen on Johnstone?

Cheaper than an old dunny door

I'll stick with the dunny door if you don't mind. I have a lot to hide !!

Do you have a fat arse?

NO !!

[Teflon]

I've seen a fair bit of Johnstone up here, as I go to the majority of Lions home games.

Johnstone has absolutely no defensive side to him, and at 30 y.o. its hard to see him fitting in to a team like St Kilda that is so defence based. In saying that his foot skills are spot on, and IMO, he just never seemed to fit into the Lions team, both with Matthews and Voss.

Was a shadow of his Melbourne form for the majority of time at Lions.

Its true he has no defensive side but many said that about Peake.

I wouldnt judge solely on his time at Brisbane - I reckon Voss/Lions are a debarcle heading for a messy divorce.......

No doubt we need foot skills - IMHO THE NO1 skill we should be targetting in players (speed from a ball on target through air is far greater than any running mid). I also reckon a lot of times good foot skills amounts to good decision making.....thats hard to teach.

St Kilda is now a mature, disciplined defensive side. Question is: given Johnston will not turn into a defensive minded footballer at 30.........do we have enough of that in our side at present to carry/cover for him?

I guess the positive of taking him is he does get a lot of ball fwd of centre where he can use his foot skills to advantage AND he wont have the tagging pressure he had at Melb all the time......but someone is gonna have to get it and give it to him..........so Armo is critical to help Hayes in this area.

I reckon we are a mid short in rotations...perhaps having a Johnston frees up a Ray......hmm..tough one.

[maverick]

I've seen a fair bit of Johnstone up here, as I go to the majority of Lions home games.

Johnstone has absolutely no defensive side to him, and at 30 y.o. its hard to see him fitting in to a team like St Kilda that is so defence based. In saying that his foot skills are spot on, and IMO, he just never seemed to fit into the Lions team, both with Matthews and Voss.

Was a shadow of his Melbourne form for the majority of time at Lions.

Its true he has no defensive side but many said that about Peake.

I wouldnt judge solely on his time at Brisbane - I reckon Voss/Lions are a debarcle heading for a messy divorce.......

No doubt we need foot skills - IMHO THE NO1 skill we should be targetting in players (speed from a ball on target through air is far greater than any running mid). I also reckon a lot of times good foot skills amounts to good decision making.....thats hard to teach.

St Kilda is now a mature, disciplined defensive side. Question is: given Johnston will not turn into a defensive minded footballer at 30.........do we have enough of that in our side at present to carry/cover for him?

I guess the positive of taking him is he does get a lot of ball fwd of centre where he can use his foot skills to advantage AND he wont have the tagging pressure he had at Melb all the time......but someone is gonna have to get it and give it to him..........so Armo is critical to help Hayes in this area.

I reckon we are a mid short in rotations...perhaps having a Johnston frees up a Ray......hmm..tough one.

I agree, we are a mid (or two) short, our time is now, we could do a lot worse

[Teflon]

yep Mav.

Its clear our top 3-4 are as good as any...after that we fall away a fair bit imo.

In addition to Johnston the addition of Armitage/Steven in their for some games is a must next season....wse gotta be less predictable going fwd also.

[maverick]

yep Mav.

Its clear our top 3-4 are as good as any...after that we fall away a fair bit imo.

In addition to Johnston the addition of Armitage/Steven in their for some games is a must next season....wse gotta be less predictable going fwd also.

Agree if Ray, Peake, Mini, Schneider, Gram, Geary & Eddy can't get enough of the ball when they take their time in the middle, then we need to recruit one or two older ones and bring the likes of Armo, Steven, Smith & Miles in and include in rotations.

There are too many of Mini, Dempster, Ray, Peake who just can't play pure midfield, even for 5-10 mins a quarter, they play outside flank/wing and just don't rotate through correctly so give little relief to Dal, Joey, Lenny & BJ

[samoht]

There's talk on this thread re: whether Johnstone has a defensive side to his game - that suits "Saints football" (for want of a better term).
As far as providing chasing and tackling probably not as good as half our team .. but the average player only provides 2 or 3 tackles a match.
The cumulative effect of all the team's tackles and chasing pressure is what's important of course... and Johnstone will still need to do his small bit too.

But.. there's the other form of defense.
The best form of defense is attack as the saying goes, which requires effective use of the ball... i.e. not turning the ball over... like half our team does even when not under pressure.
Not turning the ball over is probably what our team needs the most.

Johnstone has the foot skills we need.

He averaged 22 possessions a game in 2010 .. that's a lot of effective uses per game - end of story !

Attack is the best form of defense because you are taking unnecessary pressure off yourself (by not turning the ball over) and applying the pressure where it should be going - on to your opponent... the difference between using and not using the ball well - in a crude analogy - is like a two pressure turnaround (like a two goal turnaround) where you're applying the pressure instead of the pressure being re-applied on you.

[Teflon]

There's talk on this thread re: whether Johnstone has a defensive side to his game - that suits "Saints football" (for want of a better term).
As far as providing chasing and tackling probably not as good as half our team .. but the average player only provides 2 or 3 tackles a match.
The cumulative effect of all the team's tackles and chasing pressure is what's important of course... and Johnstone will still need to do his small bit too.

But.. there's the other form of defense.
The best form of defense is attack as the saying goes, which requires effective use of the ball... i.e. not turning the ball over... like half our team does even when not under pressure.
Not turning the ball over is probably what our team needs the most.

Johnstone has the foot skills we need.

He averaged 22 possessions a game in 2010 .. that's a lot of effective uses per game - end of story !

Attack is the best form of defense because you are taking unnecessary pressure off yourself (by not turning the ball over) and applying the pressure where it should be going - on to your opponent... the difference between using and not using the ball well - in a crude analogy - is like a two pressure turnaround (like a two goal turnaround) where you're applying the pressure instead of the pressure being re-applied on you.

Good point.

You would also think in a lot better side than Brisbane without the attention but with some quality feeding him.....Johnston could perhaps get that avg disposal higher and still use the ball quality.

Ofcourse if hes a rabbitt upstairs then no thanks - but surely the bloke recognises this may be a huge opportunity to walk into a potential GF team and go out with a flag.....if I was 30, near the end....this would be a dream job......still.......I thought Lovett would think the same so I guess just cause they play football well....dont expect them all to be too bright....

[saintsRrising]

Hi footskills I like...

....however the big con is his inconsistency.

Is he another Fiora???? Fiora had very good skills and on his day he was brilliant..but he left himself and his team-mates down because he could not deliver at a high enough level often enough.

I am actually a touch warmer about him now than when his name was first raised, as his ball-use could make a real difference IF he could do it week in and week out. But I can't help thinking that now may be the time to give a chance to Steven, Armo, Smith....

PS: These days defense is a lot more than just tackling. You have to be able to zone. It only takes one player to not set up in the space he is meant to guard, and you open the door to the opposition.

[Teflon]

Hi footskills I like...

....however the big con is his inconsistency.

Is he another Fiora???? Fiora had very good skills and on his day he was brilliant..but he left himself and his team-mates down because he could not deliver at a high enough level often enough.

I am actually a touch warmer about him now than when his name was first raised, as his ball-use could make a real difference IF he could do it week in and week out. But I can't help thinking that now may be the time to give a chance to Steven, Armo, Smith....

PS: These days defense is a lot more than just tackling. You have to be able to zone. It only takes one player to not set up in the space he is meant to guard, and you open the door to the opposition.

It depends what we give to get him.

Cheap $ and pick 380 and Im interested. To me its unlkely Steven/Armitage are going to step in and be solid mid contributors all year.....Johsnton wouldnt need to produce 30 touches weekly.....but if we could get 12 or so good games and pump the rest into Armo/Steven.....Im happy.

BTW Id be hoping an Armo/Steven is replacing an Eddy/Mqualter to be honest. Johnston may be fighting it out with Peake/Ray and co...

[Moccha]

This guy Travis Johnstone must be a gun. A 7 page thread all in his honour!

[samoht]

Hi footskills I like...

....however the big con is his inconsistency.

Is he another Fiora???? Fiora had very good skills and on his day he was brilliant..but he left himself and his team-mates down because he could not deliver at a high enough level often enough.

I am actually a touch warmer about him now than when his name was first raised, as his ball-use could make a real difference IF he could do it week in and week out. But I can't help thinking that now may be the time to give a chance to Steven, Armo, Smith....

PS: These days defense is a lot more than just tackling. You have to be able to zone. It only takes one player to not set up in the space he is meant to guard, and you open the door to the opposition.

1. Fiora probably only averaged 12 possessions/game or so - Johnstone averaged 22 possession/game in 2010... so he is delivering on a consistent and higher level.

2. Steven, Armo, Smith - hopefully one of them can become the "cherry on top" in 2011 - but Johnstone can be an essential part of the 2011 cake itself.

3. I agree defense is a lot more than tackling - the best form of defense is attack and for effective attack you need to possess good foot skills.
If you have good footskills you make your opponent defend and worry about zoning... in fact good footskills is your first line of defense in many ways - you're protecting your possessions and making them count - which is ultra defensive. Delivering the ball forward and placing it neatly and safely into a team mate's hands - you can't be more defensive than that.
So Johnstone is a great defender in that sense.

[Moccha]

Pass the popcorn

[samoht]

Pass the popcorn

Let's extend this burgeoning thread to 8 pages first and then we'll discuss the popcorn ..
but you'll need to throw in the operative word please in there too !

[Megamaguire]

With Peake and Ray endorsing the coaches faith in them with solid performances i believe T.Johnston can be a much more impressive player @ St.K. than his previous clubs. Interesting that Rossi believes he can fit into a Saints Footy setup - but i have faith that the coach is right. Still wish the sponsors had let Rossi do his job unhindered by adding Cousins to the team. Lovett proved the anomaly unfortunately and we became one talented midfielderdown for anothet finals campaign.
I hope desperately to see a more mature Jack Steven on our forward line kicking goals in 2011. We need more scoreboard pressure. Johnston has the kicking ability to add greater depth in quality to top shelf forward penetrations.
Good Luck Coach!
Good luck Saints!

[Saints94]

With Peake and Ray endorsing the coaches faith in them with solid performances i believe T.Johnston can be a much more impressive player @ St.K. than his previous clubs. Interesting that Rossi believes he can fit into a Saints Footy setup - but i have faith that the coach is right. Still wish the sponsors had let Rossi do his job unhindered by adding Cousins to the team. Lovett proved the anomaly unfortunately and we became one talented midfielderdown for anothet finals campaign.
I hope desperately to see a more mature Jack Steven on our forward line kicking goals in 2011. We need more scoreboard pressure. Johnston has the kicking ability to add greater depth in quality to top shelf forward penetrations.
Good Luck Coach!
Good luck Saints!

When did Ross say he can fit into Saints Footy?

[St Ick]

I'm sure Rooey and Kosi will be more than happy with getting TJ hitting his chest lace out considering all the hard work they do off the ball. Look at Gram/Peake etc butcher/bomb the ball going forward with no penetration (sitting it on their head) - TJ will be able to link up well.

Still not overly sure whether he is a good fit, but all of the comments alluding to him being far more damaging with his skills make it sound a good prospect. A few times during the year he smashed it (DT scoring wise at least), then was dropped the following week. Seemed like Voss had it in for him from an outsiders pov, but without being on the inside at Brisbane, who really knows why he kept getting dropped.

It is interesting that we are moving into our 8th page on a bloke who as far as I know we haven't made any indication that we'll even look into getting him.

[St Fidelius]

Was a good player when first drafted and moved schools to Mordialloc High School or what is now call Mordialloc College and that school really made the person he is...

Enough said IMO...

He has class but no real endeavour to succeed IMO, otherwise he would be excelling and he has really gone down hill as far as what he is capable of

[SaintsToGo]

popcorn

[PJ]

Gotta say the guy never looks to have much passion about what he's doing. Great skills but no ticker.