Rose Coloured Off-Season thread regarding 2008

[joffaboy]

OK.

This thread is only for all the blind optimist rose coloured Saints tragics like me.

Pessimists need not reply.

I am optimistic on field because.

1) Ross Lyon has had a full season at the helm and has begun to tailor the team to his own coaching advantage

2) We traded beautifully. Schneider and King were excellent pickups with Dempster and C.Gardiner as bonuses.

Four premiership players (Gardiner won a VFL premiership this season) for pick #26 was a really excellent result. If only one works out (just say only Schneider for example) we at worst break even. If we have three out of the four work out or even have all four as contributers we are miles ahead.

3) We drafted well. McEvoy and Stevens seem likely types while Connors is a speculator and worth a shot.

Frasier Gehrig redrafted at 57 is worth the risk on field, but is worth so much more to the club from an emotional and morale sense, and is doing it for cheap.

All good.

3a) Fitness of M.Gardiner and selection of S.King. With the workman Rix, we now have a very good ruck division. This gives us so much more flexibility with Kosi up forward and Blake (yes the much maligned Blake) being used to best advantage in other areas

3b) General fitness. No real LTI except for Goose, with Ball coming off an op and Gardiner's feet finally seeming to be OK.

Raph and X are having a preseason for the first time in years. Same with Kosi, bj up and running and Lenny a year back from the ACL.

4) the coaching and fitness dept has been improved. Still reckon Barker and SoS will improve in their roles. Also the Saints/Scorpians relationship will impove the Saints development more than before.

Getting Misson (spelling?) from Sydney is a coup. Worked wonders at Sydney and lets hope he can finally get the injury curse off our backs.

5) Drain and Football Manager - very well respected in the AFl and will do a better job than Kenny.

Offield.

6) The new board. Regardless of the acrominy earlier on, I am on side with the new board. The above results have been influenced somewhat by the boards approach, and the way they have moved to get us a state of the art training facility has been first class.

Lets hope the announcement of the sponorship coming up is very good.

7) No public brawling between the President and ex coach. Regardless of which side of the fence you sat on, it was tiresome and not what the club needed. Both are gone and it is time to get onboard for the good of a united club.

So there you have it - rose coloured glasses firmly planted on my nose and am peering off into season 2008.

Like all good one eyed supporters I have the optimism of the off season to point toward a great 2008.

Thanks for the indulgence.

[n1ck]

I like, I like

[saintbrat]

all for rose coloured glasses Joffaboy

But can you edit your heading please

first four words don't match the thread- 'Rose coloured glasses off....- was what I first read and what made the impression
My immediate thought was oh no here we go,
maybe 'Rose coloured Glasses- off season ehhehe

and the vibe- feel seems to be positive- maybe we don't like 'not knowing' or "not seeing players out there running the laps'(
I mean why is Kosi doing his laps on tuesdays and thursdays which are not open to the public training days )
but we are also NOT hearing rhetoric which becomes mundane and lacks credibility.

[joffaboy]

In the spirit of the thread saintbrat - edited to your specifications

[saintbrat]

thanks jb

[Duggie]

Heart warming; refreshing- exhilarating.
Best I've seen from you for a long time.

[Otiman]

The Good.
Young blokes - 1 year older
Mid age blokes - 1 year more experience
New recruits - best since Ball/Dal Santo/Montagna.
Most potent rookie list in club history. Attard and Eddy will be 150 gamers, Van Rheenen could do anything, and sadly we know nothing about 'Kubla' Kahn (because I bet he's sick of all the Ghengis remarks).
New Coach - No longer a rookie
Long-term Injured players (Maguire, Hayes, Goddard, Gardiner) look set for a full preseason (Maguire excluded).
G-Train - firing and ready to rumble, nuff said.

The Bad.
Older blokes - 1 year older (esp. Harvey, Hudgton - perhaps also Hayes, Baker Milne)
Harvs - 1 year closer to retirement
Maguire's injury niggles

The Ugly
Baker - 5 weeks out
New recruit Eljay Connors (just kidding, this lad will be a stud!)
Kosi and Gardiner 'training or not training' and 'fit or not fit' rumours.

[casey scorp]

2) We traded beautifully. Schneider and King were excellent pickups with Dempster and C.Gardiner as bonuses.

Four premiership players (Gardiner won a VFL premiership this season) for pick #26 was a really excellent result. If only one works out (just say only Schneider for example) we at worst break even. If we have three out of the four work out or even have all four as contributers we are miles ahead.

Four premiership players, but five premierships - King won a VFL premiership in 2007 and followed up the next week with an AFL premiership.

[Otiman]

Four premiership players, but five premierships - King won a VFL premiership in 2007 and followed up the next week with an AFL premiership.

VFL Premierships aren't worth the cup they're printed on, from an AFL experience level. I'd consider a regular H&A AFL game above a VFL grand final. Perhaps on a NAB Cup Grand Final level though, but we've got plenty of those in the side already

[stkfc1]

My rosy glasses are firmly on my head! 2008 is looking good,besides Matty M's niggle all bodes well in St Kilda town!

[saintspremiers]

Good post JB, but aren't we always December Premiers??

[midas_touch]

Good post Joffaboy. I must say everything that has happened to us this off season has been positive so far. Things do look very promising at the club for 2008.

[brown-coat]

Wake up call time.

• Xavier Clarke is still injury prone.

• Luke Ball has had surgery and hasn't proven anything yet, slow and useless until proven fast and useful.

• Steven King is injury prone.

• Robert Harvey will possibly be too old (and injury prone)

• Raph Clarke is hopeless (and injury prone)

• Dal Santo still won't bother chasing anyone or doing the hard yards to avoid tight tags (it might be his turn to be injury prone)

• Gehrig will still be engimatic and undisciplined on the odd occasion.

• Goddard will be slow and recovering, will probably snap the knee ligament again.

• Goose Macguire will still clumsily boot the ball to nobody from the backline

• Gardiner will never player senior footy again

• Kosi will prove to humanity how much of a champion he truly is, i guess..

• Riewoldt will never kick goals when it truly matters

• Baker will miss the first 10 games due to suspension (10 is an arbitrary figure...err)

• Fremantle will continue to steal wins from us

• The umpires will still be a corrupt group of assholes intent on fixing the outcome

• We won't win any interstate games

• Essendon will beat us

• Carlton will get 5 more number one draft picks and still finish 15th or 16th

[Hawkesbury Saint]

A fantastic post Joffa!

With you all the way. I'm just suffering a little smudge of my 'rose coloured glasses'. It looks to be a little smear of brown. Perhaps from turn-coat. If only he could read that this post was designed for the more exquisite and refined 'rose coloured' wearers and not blinkered variety like himself.

Viva la optimism.

Viva la Saints!

Boo to les coatee braun.

[saintsRrising]

Well since this is the Rose Colored string...

That FF announce two major spnosorships...Corinthian Doors (or rather their american owners) and another for 50% more income that we had in 2007 from major sponsors.

Cotierie Groups expand...


That memberships break 40,000 +


That the social club gains extra buzz....with the players coming in earlier than they have in the alst year or two...



That TigerAiways announcesa $1.99 fare to the GC and I snare 2 tickets return suited for the GC game

[Sobraz]

Wake up call time.

• Essendon will beat us

This one scares me the most... what is it about this club.. or was it Sheedy.. In amongst the rest of the other crap brown coat, this is a good observation...

[saintbrat]

That TigerAiways announcesa $1.99 fare to the GC and I snare 2 tickets return suited for the GC game

can you afford to stay when they cancel

[Saints Premiers 2008]

top 4 including a good run with injuries

[BAM! (shhhh)]

Rose coloured glasses on!

Eljay Connors for the 2008 brownlow, in a split with Robert Harvey.

The next time the ground sneaks up and thumps Kosi in some heretofore unheard of part of the human body after a fall, the ground will miss 3 months with injury... Kosi walks away unscathed.

The umpires will get every single decision right - all in the Saints favour (even when we're not playing).

Riewoldt has 100% accuracy kicking at goal - higher in the 4th quarter with the game on the line.

Clinton Jones hits a target.

everyone plays so well tha "the dud" can't find an avatar.

The AFL and sponsors both decide the love the candy cane jumper so much that they force the Saints to wear it as a clash - especially against Collingwood, who are forced to wear something unstriped.

Steven Baker's suspension is overturned, and Farmer is given weeks.

Barks4Eva and Grant Thomas reconcile, and announce that at the opening of the first Frankston training they will skip around the ground hand in hand singing "oh when the Saints"

The above singing and skipping episode is cancelled (to the relief of all fans who attend training), but the spirit of peace prevails, and the world is a better place, thanks to a St. Kilda Saints premiership in 2008

[Oh When the Saints]

Rose coloured glasses?

A certain coversation with someone involved with the club, who described the "buzz" about the place and the level of excitement around the club that hasn't existed for "ages".

The same certain conversation which was amazing with regards to the plans and ideas the new board has in the pipeline, and the overwhelming comments about the people who are now employed at the club.

What was relayed to me moved me such as to go and put $200 on the Saints for the premiership next year.

I don't suspect I'll be getting better odds once the season starts.

[casey scorp]

Four premiership players, but five premierships - King won a VFL premiership in 2007 and followed up the next week with an AFL premiership.

VFL Premierships aren't worth the cup they're printed on, from an AFL experience level. I'd consider a regular H&A AFL game above a VFL grand final. Perhaps on a NAB Cup Grand Final level though, but we've got plenty of those in the side already

This is the thread about rose coloured glasses - we'll take all the 5 premierships thanks.

[RBnW]

there is a lot to like about what has gone on since the season end..all it does is give us a better chance of being up there in September, but with a bit of magic from Misson and his Crew you would expect player availability to be on the up, if we have our best 26 available look out.....and remember we have 9 of the first 11 at Telstra Dome.....

[awesome_days]

Things that will happen in 2008

1) Our youngsters will dominate the NAB cup, winning the competition with J Allen booting 20 goals in 4 games and D Armitage collecting 100+ posessions.

2) Start our year with a win against the Swans, N Riewoldt boots 7, Gherig, Kosi & Schneider 4 each while Dempster holds Adam Goodes to 3 posessions

3) The streak continues to exceed that of 2004, winning the first 13 games

4) We finish the season 18-4, with N Dal Santo favorite for the brownlow medal. Riewoldt Gherig & Kosi have all kicked over 60 goals. Ball, Hayes, Goddard, Gram & Montagna all have over 500 possessions.

5) D Armitage just wins the rising star award from B McEvoy.

6) We win in the first week of the finals by 100 points over Geelong

7) We qualify for the GF by beating Port Adelaide by 1 point, R Harvey goal after the siren. We come back from 4 goals down 10 mins into the last, momentum changing when Barry Brooks does something useful by streaking across the ground, holding the game up for 5 minutes.

8) N Riewoldt pips N Dal Santo to the brownlow medal. R Harvey again polls more than 10 votes. R Clarke surprises everyone by placing in the top 10 also.

9) We win the GF by 160 points against Geelong, beating the highest winning margin and most points scored in a GF. R Harvey collects 45 possessions for his Norm Smith Medal while every player in the team kick a goal in the emphatic win.

10) The All-Australian nominations include: M Hughton, S Fisher, S Gilbert, R Clarke, L Hayes, L Montagna, R Harvey, L Ball, D Armitage, N Dal Santo, B Goddard, S King, N Riewoldt, J Koschitzke, F Gherig & A Schneider. Hughton, Fisher, Clarke, Hayes, Harvey, Ball, Dal Santo, Riewoldt & Kosi all make the team, a record number of entrants from one team.

[RBnW]

Things that will happen in 2008

1) Our youngsters will dominate the NAB cup, winning the competition with J Allen booting 20 goals in 4 games and D Armitage collecting 100+ posessions.

2) Start our year with a win against the Swans, N Riewoldt boots 7, Gherig, Kosi & Schneider 4 each while Dempster holds Adam Goodes to 3 posessions

3) The streak continues to exceed that of 2004, winning the first 13 games

4) We finish the season 18-4, with N Dal Santo favorite for the brownlow medal. Riewoldt Gherig & Kosi have all kicked over 60 goals. Ball, Hayes, Goddard, Gram & Montagna all have over 500 possessions.

5) D Armitage just wins the rising star award from B McEvoy.

6) We win in the first week of the finals by 100 points over Geelong

7) We qualify for the GF by beating Port Adelaide by 1 point, R Harvey goal after the siren. We come back from 4 goals down 10 mins into the last, momentum changing when Barry Brooks does something useful by streaking across the ground, holding the game up for 5 minutes.

8) N Riewoldt pips N Dal Santo to the brownlow medal. R Harvey again polls more than 10 votes. R Clarke surprises everyone by placing in the top 10 also.

9) We win the GF by 160 points against Geelong, beating the highest winning margin and most points scored in a GF. R Harvey collects 45 possessions for his Norm Smith Medal while every player in the team kick a goal in the emphatic win.

10) The All-Australian nominations include: M Hughton, S Fisher, S Gilbert, R Clarke, L Hayes, L Montagna, R Harvey, L Ball, D Armitage, N Dal Santo, B Goddard, S King, N Riewoldt, J Koschitzke, F Gherig & A Schneider. Hughton, Fisher, Clarke, Hayes, Harvey, Ball, Dal Santo, Riewoldt & Kosi all make the team, a record number of entrants from one team.

Awesome post....Awesome days....
add to this
Casey Scorpions win the VFL flag
Bally plays 22 games and in the 2nd game v Carlton Judd is sent to tag him and he still gets 34...
Michael Gardiner Kicks the winner at Subi v Weagles after the siren and a match winning performance over Cox...
Gramie has 8 bounces at the Gabba and kicks the goal of the year...
We beat the Vodafone Roos at Carrara by 18 goals.....Brayshaw resigns
And most of all Ross Lyon doesn't let us go to the movies after we win 13 straight.....

The rest I love.....

[st_Trav_ofWA]

i like this game

for me it would also include

Judd to turn out dudd for the blooose

Freo to again miss the finals and this time cause we thump them by 80points at subi with jeff farmer again helped off the ground after in clear veiw of the cameras he trips over his own feet stumbleing into the crowd where he is hit in the gob by the dick with the bell hence breaking that damn bell !!

we enter the fianals against port and they fear us after the absolute mauling we gave them the last time round we then end up beating them due to a errant handball from tredre in the port goal square that go's to grammy who dodges and weaves his way down the length of the oval to kick a super goal on his wrong side.

Honest John worsfold is exposed for the cruddy coach he is as his team without judd and the druggie fail to win a game for the first 9 rounds

the umpiers actually call holding the ball against barry hall !!!

carlton concider tanking again in the hope of snareing picks 12&3 in the next years draft only to waste them on has beens and never was's