No Ryder for R1?

[cwrcyn]

Grundy is the strongest ruckman in the game. He's a beast. Even Marshall will be busting his arse dealing with it

[shanegrambeau]

Norwood Ruckman

Ask Sam Baulderstone to come out of retirement. He's only 30 odd

[Impatient Sainter]

Can't win a premiership in round 1 but can lose it with injuries etc.
Ryder not ready so be it. Hanners is like Haley's comet shows up once every 75 years - games. Great when it happens but very rare.

Essendon game will be critical in regard to looking at either a Marshall/Campbell combo or Sharman. Huge ask to come from Sanfl to AFL and while he may end up good there is a romantic blindness to what Hayes can bring from the outset.

I know the preseason work loads are a step up, but I think you are seriously under rating state league players. Do you remember what Sharman did late last year or what Marcus Adams, Sam Collins, Sam Menegola, Michael Hartley, Anthony McDonald-Tipungwuti , Tim Kelly or Marlon Pickett acheived. They were all state league players who were ready to play. Hayes is a mature body who has been playing the top level SANFL for 5 or 6 years. It may take him a week or two to get used to the speed of the game, but I believe he is more than capable (not romantic blindness).

[cwrcyn]

Hayes, with his mature body. Might be an asset to our forward line. He's definitely worth a chance

[st.byron]

While it's likely that Tom Campbell will ne named No.1 ruckman against Collingwood, I hope that Max Heath gets a run in Saturday night's pre-season against the Bombers because it's not beyond the realms of possibilities that he is ready to play - he showed potential in the intra-club game.

I'm all for showing faith in young talent by throwing them into the deep end and quite certain he will debut at some stage in 2022. One thing for sure, Heath will ultimately become St KIlda's No.1 ruckman!

Same goes for Windhager (185 cm) and Owens (191 cm) who are going to form the core of the team's midfield in the not too distant future.

I get your point but, a baby giraffe against a beast like Grundy or even Draper with 3 pre-seasons is a VERY big ask. Max has some go in him but, he's going to get monstered playing against the big boys. We'd be better with Marshall and the chop-out 2nd ruck in the back half of last season was Membrey.

We may regret not coughing up a future second for Xerri

[Zed]

As much as I love the thought of Hayes becoming an unexpected instant AFL standard player like Wilkie and Sharman did - I just think Campbell can carry the ruck duties for a lot longer in a game than Hayes can - and gives us the option of resting Marshall at FF.

[WellardSaint]

We missed Paddy last year. 2020 showed how important Paddy was, for our team as well as taking heat off Roma, so Roma wasn't overworked.

Big call but I reckon we won't win ANY games that Paddy doesn't play.
In fact, some will be blowouts.
When Paddy plays, we won't lose by more than 3 or 4 goals

[spert]

Paddy's best for us was two years ago, and we shouldn't be pinning our success around his form- he's two years older in his 30s with a dodgy achilles and should be retired from AFL by now

[samoht]

We just need Marshall and a pinch-hitter who can gather possessions around the ground.

No more recruiting of ruckmen, please ... we need to solely focus on recruiting classy midfielders. Silvagni was arguably the matchwinning ruckman - with only 6 hitouts (and 25 valuable possessions) - against us last year.

[Sanctorum]

Interesting to find that St Kilda currently only have Nick Coffield on the injury list, could be that Ratts is playing mind games with Collingwood over team selection for Rd 1.....

[tony74]

+Bytel

[saynta]

+Bytel

Not good news tony.

[tony74]

50/50 to be honest- calf

[D.B.Cooper]

We just need Marshall and a pinch-hitter who can gather possessions around the ground.

No more recruiting of ruckmen, please ... we need to solely focus on recruiting classy midfielders. Silvagni was arguably the matchwinning ruckman - with only 6 hitouts (and 25 valuable possessions) - against us last year.

Yes, but Carlton has a couple of very good clearance players in Cripps & Walsh.

We are poor at clearances therefore need a competitive ruckman, we only long strong at centre bounces when Ryder is jumping and giving our mids first use.

[D.B.Cooper]

50/50 to be honest- calf

Hard for a big man his age to get over calf and Achilles issues.
best of luck to the big fella.
The big challenge will also be his conditioning, he was in great shape in 2020.

[longtimesaint]

50/50 to be honest- calf

Hard for a big man his age to get over calf and Achilles issues.
best of luck to the big fella.
The big challenge will also be his conditioning, he was in great shape in 2020.

Tony was talking about Bytel

[D.B.Cooper]

50/50 to be honest- calf

Hard for a big man his age to get over calf and Achilles issues.
best of luck to the big fella.
The big challenge will also be his conditioning, he was in great shape in 2020.

Tony was talking about Bytel

[B.M]

Bytel and Jones did not train at all today

Hannebery and Ryder not in main group, Doug stationary drills

[Impatient Sainter]

As much as I love the thought of Hayes becoming an unexpected instant AFL standard player like Wilkie and Sharman did - I just think Campbell can carry the ruck duties for a lot longer in a game than Hayes can - and gives us the option of resting Marshall at FF.

For me Campbell is a 'play only' when Marshall or Ryder are unavailable scenario, like Hunter did last year.

What I noticed in the Carlton game, was even when Campbell won taps he just hits at his feet and I cant remember a hit out to advantage. Marshall's best position is when he is No 1 ruck, so playing him there is a much better prospect. At least then our mids will know where it is going. Marshall showed in 2019 that he is more than capable of rucking most of the game and its no surprise that was his best year by a long way. The other thing that both Marshall and Hayes bring is 2nd & 3rd efforts at ground level, plus Hayes will be a lot more productive forward than Campbell.

I seriously doubt Campbell's ability to rest forward - so Hayes gets my vote. In any event the Essendon game is really just a dress rehearsal for round 1, so it will be interesting to see which way Ratts go?

[SaintPav]

So we’ve all of a sudden lost faith in Marshall?

[bigcarl]

Can't win a premiership in round 1 but can lose it with injuries etc.
Ryder not ready so be it. Hanners is like Haley's comet shows up once every 75 years - games. Great when it happens but very rare.

Essendon game will be critical in regard to looking at either a Marshall/Campbell combo or Sharman. Huge ask to come from Sanfl to AFL and while he may end up good there is a romantic blindness to what Hayes can bring from the outset.

I know the preseason work loads are a step up, but I think you are seriously under rating state league players. Do you remember what Sharman did late last year or what Marcus Adams, Sam Collins, Sam Menegola, Michael Hartley, Anthony McDonald-Tipungwuti , Tim Kelly or Marlon Pickett acheived. They were all state league players who were ready to play. Hayes is a mature body who has been playing the top level SANFL for 5 or 6 years. It may take him a week or two to get used to the speed of the game, but I believe he is more than capable (not romantic blindness).

Hayes looks a reasonable prospect. Equal third in the Margarey Medal last season, best on ground in the SANFL grand final, captain of the SA state team. Mature bodied at 24 and a fair size on him. Highly-rated as a footballer in his state league. Without putting too much expectation on him, there is good cause there for optimism.

[Moods]

This is a disaster in my opinion. Ryder is crucial to our game plan as he's the only ruckman on our list who can compete with the genuine ruckmen around the league in the tap outs. The fact that he's had 6 mths to get it right and he's STILL not training fully, factoring in his old age, we simply got it wrong in the draft/trade period. Tom Campbell looks no more than capable. And blind freddy can see we're too small down back. Heaven forbid if Howard goes down. Wilkie, Highmore, Battle are not big enough to compete with the genuine fwds in the competition. Howard is a FB. We haven't been able to replace Fisher since he retired some 5-6 yrs ago.

I was very bullish about this season, but reality is starting to sink in.

[Impatient Sainter]

Training watchers on BF posted a photo of this morning session with Marshall & Geary wearing the No Contact caps. I hope he isnt injured aswell as that would be a disaster leading into the season?

[bigcarl]

Training watchers on BF posted a photo of this morning session with Marshall & Geary wearing the No Contact caps. I hope he isnt injured aswell as that would be a disaster leading into the season?

Any chance they are just not risking him against the Druggies? I’ve not read reports of an injury.

[Beno88]

This is a disaster in my opinion. Ryder is crucial to our game plan as he's the only ruckman on our list who can compete with the genuine ruckmen around the league in the tap outs. The fact that he's had 6 mths to get it right and he's STILL not training fully, factoring in his old age, we simply got it wrong in the draft/trade period. Tom Campbell looks no more than capable. And blind freddy can see we're too small down back. Heaven forbid if Howard goes down. Wilkie, Highmore, Battle are not big enough to compete with the genuine fwds in the competition. Howard is a FB. We haven't been able to replace Fisher since he retired some 5-6 yrs ago.

I was very bullish about this season, but reality is starting to sink in.

It's March 3rd.