Saintsational Fan Forum - A passionate community of St Kilda Football Club fans discussing news, history, players, trade rumours, results, AFL stats and more.
With Mathew Scarlett playing as a very effective loose man on the Geelong backline, should we match him up and if so, who with?
My view - he is Geelong's key re-bounder and we should definitely "cover him." An experienced person is needed, someone that will force Scarlett to watch closely. Gilbert would be well suited for this - he has defensive skills, is a similar size and commands respect. Milne and Schneider are too small and any of the younger guys are too inexperienced to do the job.
I think that generally Geelong like to have the ball in Enright's hands when coming out of the backline, but are often forced to go to Scarlett, as opposition coaches have started to focus more attention on shutting down Enright.
Enright, Scarlett & I'd say Bartel are the Cats' three primary options coming out of defence. If we can force them into some errors, we might be able to get some goals as a result of pressure/turnovers.
If i remember rightly they havent played taylor on Roo which then freed another good ball user
So I think they have a lot of players that can rotate as the spare man
While I squirm at the thought of playing defenisive players in the forwardline
If we are going to bring anyone in I want
Walsh - he is big enough to cover the geelong heavyweights
half way through the year and we havent seen him
either he is good enough now or he will never be
Junction Oval wrote:With Mathew Scarlett playing as a very effective loose man on the Geelong backline, should we match him up and if so, who with?
My view - he is Geelong's key re-bounder and we should definitely "cover him." An experienced person is needed, someone that will force Scarlett to watch closely. Gilbert would be well suited for this - he has defensive skills, is a similar size and commands respect. Milne and Schneider are too small and any of the younger guys are too inexperienced to do the job.
Poster thoughts on this.
I think we saw what Gilbert thought of playing forward. Also why would Scarlett show any respect to Gilbert in the forward line.
The players should be reminded of the disrespect he showed towerds Robert Harvey in 2008.
The rest of Australia can wander mask-free, socialise, eat out, no curfews, no zoning, no police rings of steel, no illogical inconsistent rules.
They can even WATCH LIVE FOOTY!
Plant Gamble on Scarlett and tell him simply to keep Scarlett honest.
We will learn a lot.
STRENGTH THROUGH LOYALTY.
''I still get really excited, and I've got the '66 thing up on the wall in a frame … You look at it and think: one day, we want to achieve that.''- Arryn Siposs
SainterK wrote:Jack Steven played alright on him once before
You sure he was on Scarlett. fanfooty (which can be unreliable) says he was on Mackie that night. Scarlett has usually gone to Kosi.
STRENGTH THROUGH LOYALTY.
''I still get really excited, and I've got the '66 thing up on the wall in a frame … You look at it and think: one day, we want to achieve that.''- Arryn Siposs
dcstkfc wrote:Plant Gamble on Scarlett and tell him simply to keep Scarlett honest.
We will learn a lot.
Gamble was on Scarlett in round one this year. Scarlett just left him to be fourth or fifth up against Roo.
I'm thinking Tom Lynch, who has the size and led up well several times against Freo. We'd have to look for him, though, to keep Scarlett honest.
It would also be a brilliant learning experience for the times Lynch plays in the backline.
With Scarlett u don't leave it to one person. It's a team role whereby the whole side at various stages of the game have to make him accountable. By setting out to negate him robs him of one of ours. We really don't want to go down that super defensive path and be pro-active rather then re-active.
Josh Hunt will be normally kick in......Scarlett is usually the 2nd link man. That's where the damage is done.
Leave Gilbo down the backline, I think the trial should end now. He looks like a fish out of water, He is a confidence player and if he has a poor start that reflects on his whole game.
I like the look of Tommy Walsh, he can go forward and make Scarlett accountable with his height and strength.
That maybe the reason he played in the Ruck and Forward for Sandy last weekend.
ando051 wrote:Leave Gilbo down the backline, I think the trial should end now. He looks like a fish out of water, He is a confidence player and if he has a poor start that reflects on his whole game.
I like the look of Tommy Walsh, he can go forward and make Scarlett accountable with his height and strength.
That maybe the reason he played in the Ruck and Forward for Sandy last weekend.
Don't disagree, but by crikey that's a fair task on debut for an Irish lad who's only been playing the game for 18 months - an All Australian Full Back
Gamble on Scarlett would result in 2 behinds for St Kilda and 35 uncontested touches for Scarlett, mostly marking in front of Riewoldt.
What about Will Johnson? Similar size to Scarlett but quicker and an unknown quantity to Geelong. He won't beat him in the air but could use his pace and ground level skills to keep Scarlett busy and cause some headaches and has the attributes to nullify his run from defence. If we could get a couple of goals, a few tackles and less than 20 touches for Scarlett then that'd be a win to us.
Gilbert simply can't play forward and must play in defence to get some confidence back. Lynch wouldn't have the strength to go with Scarlett and someone like Archer wouldn't have the mobility. Walsh would need to spend some quality time up forward for Sandy before being matched up against Scarlett at FF.
BigMart wrote:Jack steven cut him up last year......
If we have no fwd structure....scarlett will slice us to bits...he needs to be on a player he is uncomfortable with....
A defensive fwd, or decoy will not work.....
Jack Sprat on the Scarlett Pimple would be a ferocious match up. There'd be no toe poke flukes for him resulting in the upside down head (Chapman) kicking goals. Jack would give him hell with his applied pressure.
Curb your enthusiasm - you’re a St.Kilda supporter!!
ando051 wrote:Leave Gilbo down the backline, I think the trial should end now. He looks like a fish out of water, He is a confidence player and if he has a poor start that reflects on his whole game.
I like the look of Tommy Walsh, he can go forward and make Scarlett accountable with his height and strength.
That maybe the reason he played in the Ruck and Forward for Sandy last weekend.
Don't disagree, but by crikey that's a fair task on debut for an Irish lad who's only been playing the game for 18 months - an All Australian Full Back
That means he has nothing to live up to. To be the best you need to play on the best.
ando051 wrote:Leave Gilbo down the backline, I think the trial should end now. He looks like a fish out of water, He is a confidence player and if he has a poor start that reflects on his whole game.
I like the look of Tommy Walsh, he can go forward and make Scarlett accountable with his height and strength.
That maybe the reason he played in the Ruck and Forward for Sandy last weekend.
Don't disagree, but by crikey that's a fair task on debut for an Irish lad who's only been playing the game for 18 months - an All Australian Full Back
That means he has nothing to live up to. To be the best you need to play on the best.
Fair enough, and Ross may well go with it.
But it's a tough gig, especially if the team overall is getting done so I just hope the forumites cut him a bit of slack if it does happen.
Like dockers did to Fletcher must have a player which will lead to the right spots. Scarlett too smart to chase players to dead flanks etc. Must lead him to dnger spots and if he doesn't go honour lead, if he does skip over the top.
Walsh cannot be expected to do this. Perhpas use a lead up marking type player like a fisher. Gamble not respected or dangerous enough, gilbert couldn't have caught a cold last Friday as a forward.
older saint wrote:Like dockers did to Fletcher must have a player which will lead to the right spots. Scarlett too smart to chase players to dead flanks etc. Must lead him to dnger spots and if he doesn't go honour lead, if he does skip over the top.
Walsh cannot be expected to do this. Perhpas use a lead up marking type player like a fisher. Gamble not respected or dangerous enough, gilbert couldn't have caught a cold last Friday as a forward.
Sipposs could lead to the ball, but could he have the pace for Scarlett?
older saint wrote:Like dockers did to Fletcher must have a player which will lead to the right spots. Scarlett too smart to chase players to dead flanks etc. Must lead him to dnger spots and if he doesn't go honour lead, if he does skip over the top.
Walsh cannot be expected to do this. Perhpas use a lead up marking type player like a fisher. Gamble not respected or dangerous enough, gilbert couldn't have caught a cold last Friday as a forward.
Sipposs could lead to the ball, but could he have the pace for Scarlett?
he definitely has the pace but was out of sorts (by his standards) a little on Sunday and would be surprised if he is brought back in just yet.
older saint wrote:Like dockers did to Fletcher must have a player which will lead to the right spots. Scarlett too smart to chase players to dead flanks etc. Must lead him to dnger spots and if he doesn't go honour lead, if he does skip over the top.
Walsh cannot be expected to do this. Perhpas use a lead up marking type player like a fisher. Gamble not respected or dangerous enough, gilbert couldn't have caught a cold last Friday as a forward.
Hence my suggestion earlier in the thread that we play Lynch on him. He's smart, and seems to know where to run to to get the ball. He seems to have a good footy brain. He's also around the same height as Scarlett and "lead-up forward" is the role he's used to playing up forward.
older saint wrote:Like dockers did to Fletcher must have a player which will lead to the right spots. Scarlett too smart to chase players to dead flanks etc. Must lead him to dnger spots and if he doesn't go honour lead, if he does skip over the top.
Walsh cannot be expected to do this. Perhpas use a lead up marking type player like a fisher. Gamble not respected or dangerous enough, gilbert couldn't have caught a cold last Friday as a forward.
Hence my suggestion earlier in the thread that we play Lynch on him. He's smart, and seems to know where to run to to get the ball. He seems to have a good footy brain. He's also around the same height as Scarlett and "lead-up forward" is the role he's used to playing up forward.
His debut game was on Fletcher in a similar role APS, not convinced he would be the right guy?