My Final Word

[3rd generation saint]

There's been a lot of discussion re trades and who we should recruit.

This is just my thoughts re some of the more popular threads.

Ben Cousins

Now there are a lot of you who are real keen on recruiting this guy based on our failure this year to make the Grand Final.

However please remember these facts re Cousins:

1) He is on the wrong side of 30

2) Has not played a competitive game of football at ANY level since the first week of finals 2007. This means if we recruit him, he wouldn't have played a game for just on 18 months.

3) If memory serves me correct, other than his well publicised problems he also suffered two fairly major soft tissue injuries in 2007, not a good sign for a player of his age.

4) Finally, I always remember these prophetic words from Denis Cometti when he was commenting on an Eagles game about 10 years ago. "The names are the same, but, they're not the same players.

Nick Dal Santo

SOme people are advocating a trade, especially if that trade is for Daniel Kerr.

Sounds good, but, if we trade NDA for Kerr, we are exactly in the same place we are now.

What we need to do is increase our midfield depth, by improvement within our group, drafting and hopefully recruiting from another club at a reasonable price.

Of course, if we could get Kerr and not lose NDS that would be ideal.

Unfortunately, in retrospect, the loss of Ball really hurt us against midfield giants Geelong and Hawthorn.

Kosi

Again to we trade him, however:

1) Kosi was third on our goal kicking list with around 30 goals

2) Kosi is a 6ft 6inch mobile Ruck forward

Therefore in order to trade him, we must be able to get a player to be able to kick at least the same number of goals as Kosi or better.

If we don't, then we end relying more on Roo to play best on ground games to win us games.

What we need is someone to replace Hamill, something we haven't done.

Next year we need Kosi to kick as many if not more goals for us and a third option who can add another 30 goals to our forward line.

That third option will make it much more difficult for opposition defences to cover the three of them and may make it easier for Kosi to perform.

Well that's my fianla word, just my thoughts, know some of you will disagree, but all I want to do is give you all some food for thought.

[johnpeterbudgefanclub]

If u want my 2 cents from an outsiders' perspective re: Kosi and Dal.....both can be and on their day are in the upper echelon of players in the comp. However, they are tradeable, AT the right price. You have to trade quality to get quality.

Firstly you identify you deficiencies then address them through the trade or drafting processes and if one or both of them have to make way so be it.

It's a cruel world but being ruthless is sometimes what separates coming second from winning.

[doristhesaint]

There's been a lot of discussion re trades and who we should recruit.

This is just my thoughts re some of the more popular threads.

Ben Cousins

Now there are a lot of you who are real keen on recruiting this guy based on our failure this year to make the Grand Final.

However please remember these facts re Cousins:

1) He is on the wrong side of 30

2) Has not played a competitive game of football at ANY level since the first week of finals 2007. This means if we recruit him, he wouldn't have played a game for just on 18 months.

3) If memory serves me correct, other than his well publicised problems he also suffered two fairly major soft tissue injuries in 2007, not a good sign for a player of his age.

4) Finally, I always remember these prophetic words from Denis Cometti when he was commenting on an Eagles game about 10 years ago. "The names are the same, but, they're not the same players.

Nick Dal Santo

SOme people are advocating a trade, especially if that trade is for Daniel Kerr.

Sounds good, but, if we trade NDA for Kerr, we are exactly in the same place we are now.

What we need to do is increase our midfield depth, by improvement within our group, drafting and hopefully recruiting from another club at a reasonable price.

Of course, if we could get Kerr and not lose NDS that would be ideal.

Unfortunately, in retrospect, the loss of Ball really hurt us against midfield giants Geelong and Hawthorn.

Kosi

Again to we trade him, however:

1) Kosi was third on our goal kicking list with around 30 goals

2) Kosi is a 6ft 6inch mobile Ruck forward

Therefore in order to trade him, we must be able to get a player to be able to kick at least the same number of goals as Kosi or better.

If we don't, then we end relying more on Roo to play best on ground games to win us games.

What we need is someone to replace Hamill, something we haven't done.

Next year we need Kosi to kick as many if not more goals for us and a third option who can add another 30 goals to our forward line.

That third option will make it much more difficult for opposition defences to cover the three of them and may make it easier for Kosi to perform.

Well that's my fianla word, just my thoughts, know some of you will disagree, but all I want to do is give you all some food for thought.

Give me Kerr any day over Dal.
He will go and get his own ball will not sulk if gets a heavy tag. Will tackle the oppsistion.
in your opinion dont try and change anything to go forward stick with what have and go nowhere

[3rd generation saint]

No what I am saying if we trade NDS for Kerr, we have exactly the same number of quality midfielders we have now.

Yes Kerr is a different player than Dal, however guess wuho will be heavily tagged if we swap.

Kerr will be and Kerr can be just as effectively tagged out of the game as Dal.

Advantage to St.Kilda for the trade Nil.

We need to improve our midfield depth, so that if Dal gets tagged, someone else can step up and hurt the opposition.

Again look at Geelong, you can't tag Ablett, Bartell, Ling, Corey, Selwood etc etc.

The ideal deal for St.Kilda is to get Kerr, without losing Dal, that improves the list, that makes us a more potent side.

But by trading Dal for Kerr, we will not have improved our midfield depth at all.

[plugger66]

No what I am saying if we trade NDS for Kerr, we have exactly the same number of quality midfielders we have now.

Yes Kerr is a different player than Dal, however guess wuho will be heavily tagged if we swap.

Kerr will be and Kerr can be just as effectively tagged out of the game as Dal.

Advantage to St.Kilda for the trade Nil.

We need to improve our midfield depth, so that if Dal gets tagged, someone else can step up and hurt the opposition.

Again look at Geelong, you can't tag Ablett, Bartell, Ling, Corey, Selwood etc etc.

The ideal deal for St.Kilda is to get Kerr, without losing Dal, that improves the list, that makes us a more potent side.

But by trading Dal for Kerr, we will not have improved our midfield depth at all.

Agree totally but I doubt we can get Kerr without some player swap somewhere.

[Ralphy]

but kerr isnt going to be a quick fix like some think

[widereceiver]

Kerr is a bit injury prone. We've already had X and Ball out for too long with injury. Cousins is a risk but less expensive in the medium term.

[GrumpyOne]

Hang on to NDS and Kosi for two more years then trade them for high ranking Gold Coast picks.

[Moccha]

I reckon we should trade some of our supporters, but I'm not sure they'd be worth much on the open market.

[SainterK]

I reckon we should trade some of our supporters, but I'm not sure they'd be worth much on the open market.

[Dan Warna]

rofl, kerr is one of the biggest sooks with heavy tags.

constantly gives away free kicks when tagged heavily.

he is a very good player, but to think he is untaggable is a joke.

would swap our round 1 draft pick for kerr though maybe our round 1 and round 2 draft picks but not Dal Santo.

On 2008 and 2007 form, Kerr has missed a fair bit between injuries and suspensions, NDS keeps motoring along doing good things. the thing is we expect more from Dal Santo given he really hasn't improved since 05, he's been pretty much giving us the same form, while others such as goddard and Montagna have lifted significantly in the same period.

Dal Santo is still a high quality unit.
NDS
Year Team No. Games (W-D-L) Kicks Marks H.Balls Disp Goals Bhd H.O. Tack FrF FrA BM
2007 St Kilda 26 22 (11-1-10) 290 66 182 472 9 8 9 81 29 9 16
2008 St Kilda 26 24 (13-0-11) 336 95 194 530 12 7 7 75 34 15 3
Kerr
2007 West Coast 4 17 (12-0-5) 223 46 238 461 8 11 3 61 51 20 22
2008 West Coast 4 11 (1-0-10) 131 24 130 261 6 2 1 26 29 18 7

[linz]

Kerr is simply better than Dal ATM. Potentially though who knows?

If we had the chance for a straight swap for Kerr I would jump at it.

Interesting also is number of Brownlow votes for Dal. Last year was it 16 and yet this year 3. Perhaps he doesn't want to be with the saints. Maybe Essendon.

[SainterK]

Kerr is simply better than Dal ATM. Potentially though who knows?

If we had the chance for a straight swap for Kerr I would jump at it.

Interesting also is number of Brownlow votes for Dal. Last year was it 16 and yet this year 3. Perhaps he doesn't want to be with the saints. Maybe Essendon.

Well time will tell, if this is the case then it's a simple as a chat to the coach and the words "I don't want to be at the saints" should he want to leave. I am a big believer in giving people a second chance, I will however be annoyed if players choose to display their dissatisfaction on the field in 2009.

[cowboy18]

Interesting also is number of Brownlow votes for Dal. Last year was it 16 and yet this year 3. Perhaps he doesn't want to be with the saints. Maybe Essendon.

Kerr only got 7 votes this year?