Shane Savage

[skeptic]

with so much depth it's easy to undervalue a good player

Savage is a very good player

In the last qtr, Billings handballed off to Shane, who delivered a nice weighted kick to Battle, whose opponent appeared to be not quite as tall as Josh, so it was very easy for Josh to lean into the Swine and mark, play on, and goal.
That's what he's capable of.

Doesn't do that enough

Spot on. In terms of capability, his good is very very good. If he played at his best every week, he’d be a lock.

Unfortunately he doesn’t and that’s why he is on the fringe

[sunsaint]

hes a DAMN sight better and cheaper than DH at the moment

[WellardSaint]

with so much depth it's easy to undervalue a good player

Savage is a very good player

In the last qtr, Billings handballed off to Shane, who delivered a nice weighted kick to Battle, whose opponent appeared to be not quite as tall as Josh, so it was very easy for Josh to lean into the Swine and mark, play on, and goal.
That's what he's capable of.

Doesn't do that enough

Spot on. In terms of capability, his good is very very good. If he played at his best every week, he’d be a lock.

Unfortunately he doesn’t and that’s why he is on the fringe

coming off HB, if he could repeat that effort a few times each game, he'd be a valuable and dangerous link player.
In terms of identifying a size mismatch and delivering to the right spot for our guy to mark it, would get us a nice forward entry.
But I have memories of him putting it to our disadvantage, putting it too close to the boundary, or sending it to an opponent.
I might be biased, but I seem to just remember the ones that didn't come off.

In the same vein, I know Webster is a brave warrior that gives 100%, has a raking kick, but sometimes it ends up coming back with interest.

[johnearljames]

Has been a very good servant since crossing over. Its all you can ask of a bloke that came to us at 21.

[WellardSaint]

Has been a very good servant since crossing over. Its all you can ask of a bloke that came to us at 21.

*Maverick Weller has joined the chat

[shanegrambeau]

I couldn't help wondering how he was looked at at Hawthorn.

Check this out.... (answer to my own question, 'Can an old dog learn new tricks?"

Big Footy Hawthorn 2013.

Literally my first glimpse and I saw this, Oct 3, 2013




walhawk said:
Savage is not needed - like C Young he is good at 55m kicks to no one in particular in our F50.
Good player, but does not fit out game style.
Trade.

to which a fellow forumite retorted

Only true if he is kicking to a forward line that cant take a contested overhead mark
We just got rid of the one of them.

[Joffa Burns]

with so much depth it's easy to undervalue a good player

Savage is a very good player

In the last qtr, Billings handballed off to Shane, who delivered a nice weighted kick to Battle, whose opponent appeared to be not quite as tall as Josh, so it was very easy for Josh to lean into the Swine and mark, play on, and goal.
That's what he's capable of.

Doesn't do that enough

Spot on. In terms of capability, his good is very very good. If he played at his best every week, he’d be a lock.

Unfortunately he doesn’t and that’s why he is on the fringe

coming off HB, if he could repeat that effort a few times each game, he'd be a valuable and dangerous link player.
In terms of identifying a size mismatch and delivering to the right spot for our guy to mark it, would get us a nice forward entry.
But I have memories of him putting it to our disadvantage, putting it too close to the boundary, or sending it to an opponent.
I might be biased, but I seem to just remember the ones that didn't come off.

In the same vein, I know Webster is a brave warrior that gives 100%, has a raking kick, but sometimes it ends up coming back with interest.

Just my thoughts but I'd guess this is Savages last year and Webster may look elsewhere for opportunity.
They are now well behind Long, Coffield, Paton, Clark, Wilkie with even the skipper struggling to get a gig in the back six, but it's been a long time since Savage was the 31st player on the list to be played and Webster hasn't yet registered a game (I know he's injured).

Both form pretty good depth to me which Savage proved by coming in and performing credibly.

[SaintPav]

with so much depth it's easy to undervalue a good player

Savage is a very good player

In the last qtr, Billings handballed off to Shane, who delivered a nice weighted kick to Battle, whose opponent appeared to be not quite as tall as Josh, so it was very easy for Josh to lean into the Swine and mark, play on, and goal.
That's what he's capable of.

Doesn't do that enough

Spot on. In terms of capability, his good is very very good. If he played at his best every week, he’d be a lock.

Unfortunately he doesn’t and that’s why he is on the fringe

coming off HB, if he could repeat that effort a few times each game, he'd be a valuable and dangerous link player.
In terms of identifying a size mismatch and delivering to the right spot for our guy to mark it, would get us a nice forward entry.
But I have memories of him putting it to our disadvantage, putting it too close to the boundary, or sending it to an opponent.
I might be biased, but I seem to just remember the ones that didn't come off.

In the same vein, I know Webster is a brave warrior that gives 100%, has a raking kick, but sometimes it ends up coming back with interest.

Just my thoughts but I'd guess this is Savages last year and Webster may look elsewhere for opportunity.
They are now well behind Long, Coffield, Paton, Clark, Wilkie with even the skipper struggling to get a gig in the back six, but it's been a long time since Savage was the 31st player on the list to be played and Webster hasn't yet registered a game (I know he's injured).

Both form pretty good depth to me which Savage proved by coming in and performing credibly.

I think the club needs to stagger some of these exits. We still need cover for injuries etc.

[ace]

Still only 29 turns 30 on 05 January next year.
He has got a few more years left in him.
Only question, is he only depth or does he look for a struggling club that will give him a few more years.
But beware your career can be terminated early like Dal because the ageism coach wants to rebuild by putting games into youngsters.

[saintkid]

I'd rather Savage than Hannebery on the list but we're stuck with the latter for a few more years.

[stkfc1]

It's good to have another older head in defence and if it means Clark gets more midfield time then I've got no problem with Savage in as long as he's performing his role. We do struggle to get it out of defence so if we can utilise his 55m kicks then that helps. He does seem to have a habit of kicking those long ones straight to a opp player but we also need to be aware of it and set up for it. He can go forward and kick a goal occasionally also.

[Peanut Farm]

Was a first 18 fixture over the last few seasons.
Constant solid performer and good C grade AFL player.

Had to wait until round 9 to get a game this year and was the 31st player used this season.
Is now well behind Coffield, Clark, Paton, Long and it appears a host of others for selection.

Getting to the twilight of his career, has a young family and could have easily dropped his work ethic and attitude.

I'm guessing anyone who isn't 100% committed isn't getting chosen so I assume Savage has maintained the training rage and when he got his chance I thought he more than held his own.

15 odd disposals, used it reasonably well, took the game on when he had the chance.

Good on him, a guy that is outside the top 30 and comes in and plays at that level shows some depth.

Gives solid back up if we need to rest Coffield, Clark, Paton etc.

Hope he gets a few more games as it maybe his last season.

C grade? He finished top 10 last year & had an outstanding season. I rate him ahead of Coffield easily & Long.
C grade is Hill this year.

[Peanut Farm]

with so much depth it's easy to undervalue a good player

Savage is a very good player

In the last qtr, Billings handballed off to Shane, who delivered a nice weighted kick to Battle, whose opponent appeared to be not quite as tall as Josh, so it was very easy for Josh to lean into the Swine and mark, play on, and goal.
That's what he's capable of.

Doesn't do that enough

Spot on. In terms of capability, his good is very very good. If he played at his best every week, he’d be a lock.

Unfortunately he doesn’t and that’s why he is on the fringe

coming off HB, if he could repeat that effort a few times each game, he'd be a valuable and dangerous link player.
In terms of identifying a size mismatch and delivering to the right spot for our guy to mark it, would get us a nice forward entry.
But I have memories of him putting it to our disadvantage, putting it too close to the boundary, or sending it to an opponent.
I might be biased, but I seem to just remember the ones that didn't come off.

In the same vein, I know Webster is a brave warrior that gives 100%, has a raking kick, but sometimes it ends up coming back with interest.

Just my thoughts but I'd guess this is Savages last year and Webster may look elsewhere for opportunity.
They are now well behind Long, Coffield, Paton, Clark, Wilkie with even the skipper struggling to get a gig in the back six, but it's been a long time since Savage was the 31st player on the list to be played and Webster hasn't yet registered a game (I know he's injured).

Both form pretty good depth to me which Savage proved by coming in and performing credibly.

How can you say that Savage is well behind Long? Long has played 1 'good' game this season & Savage finished top10 last year. In fact, Savage was regularly in our best in some of our horrendous losses last year.
I don't get the Savage bashing - he had an outstanding season last year. At 29 he still looks superfit and deserves to play on.

[saynta]

Was a first 18 fixture over the last few seasons.
Constant solid performer and good C grade AFL player.

Had to wait until round 9 to get a game this year and was the 31st player used this season.
Is now well behind Coffield, Clark, Paton, Long and it appears a host of others for selection.

Getting to the twilight of his career, has a young family and could have easily dropped his work ethic and attitude.

I'm guessing anyone who isn't 100% committed isn't getting chosen so I assume Savage has maintained the training rage and when he got his chance I thought he more than held his own.

15 odd disposals, used it reasonably well, took the game on when he had the chance.

Good on him, a guy that is outside the top 30 and comes in and plays at that level shows some depth.

Gives solid back up if we need to rest Coffield, Clark, Paton etc.

Hope he gets a few more games as it maybe his last season.

C grade? He finished top 10 last year & had an outstanding season. I rate him ahead of Coffield easily & Long.
C grade is Hill this year.

He was rated 'above average' on last years prformances

[skeptic]

Rated ahead of Coffield?!?!?

Yeah good luck with that.

[saintsRrising]

With Savage his selection it is not just about 2020, but also 2021.

We know what Savage's average and ceiling is.

We have no idea what Coffield's and Long's will be, but most likely both are going to get even better and also stronger. So we need to get games into them.

In 2020 the team has improved. Savage could possibly play instead of Long or Coffield, but that will hurt our future and at best would be a minimal upgrade now (I think it would be a downgrade).

For 2020 Savage is excellent for depth in case of injury or needing to rest someone.

While I can see our midfield missing a beat if we have an injury to Steele or Jones, down back we look to have very good depth in reserve.

[skeptic]

It will hurt the present...
Coffield is a much defender than Shane and when it comes to disposal, chooses much better options.

Question goes back to strengths. Shane isn’t a great defender. Has little overhead/marking presence and isn’t overly accountable or great at shut down roles.

His principle job in the team is supposed to bring a play maker...
he’s supposed to be Aussie Jones - hurt them more than they hurt you. And he’s not nearly damaging enough to justify a spot in that role.

Both Coffield and Long are both way better defensively than Savage is and one can tolerate the odd mistake from them because generally they save more goals then they cost.

As I said in the other thread...
Savage had the chance to cement his spot in the 22 last week as Long isn’t a walk up start.
Could have had two goals and not concerned the coaches with repeated helicopter kicks straight to opponents without a team mate in sight.

Alas... he did what he’s known to do and missed far too often then he should

[Joffa Burns]

Was a first 18 fixture over the last few seasons.
Constant solid performer and good C grade AFL player.

Had to wait until round 9 to get a game this year and was the 31st player used this season.
Is now well behind Coffield, Clark, Paton, Long and it appears a host of others for selection.

Getting to the twilight of his career, has a young family and could have easily dropped his work ethic and attitude.

I'm guessing anyone who isn't 100% committed isn't getting chosen so I assume Savage has maintained the training rage and when he got his chance I thought he more than held his own.

15 odd disposals, used it reasonably well, took the game on when he had the chance.

Good on him, a guy that is outside the top 30 and comes in and plays at that level shows some depth.

Gives solid back up if we need to rest Coffield, Clark, Paton etc.

Hope he gets a few more games as it maybe his last season.

C grade? He finished top 10 last year & had an outstanding season. I rate him ahead of Coffield easily & Long.
C grade is Hill this year.

I like Savage as a player and started a pretty positive thread about him, but if you think he is above C grade AFL player you are either a blood relative kidding yourself.

I don't think top ten in the 2019 Saints is a valid argument for grading of a player, just as I believe 4 & 2 best & fairests respectively overrate the actual standing of Jack Steven and Seb Ross due to how weak were the teams they were playing in.

Long is quick, aggressive, hits hard, tackles hard, takes a nice grab and uses it ok.
IMO he is already a better player with a massive upside on Savage who is highly unlikely to improve at his age. Coffield already show potential to being a class above savage and is already more creative by foot.

Again, I started a positive thread on Savage who has been a good servant of the club as I like him as a player, but the only one here rating Savage so highly is you. If he is such a high performer how has he not finished top 3 in a B&F in such weak teams, has he been in AA contention? Has he been in the leadership group?

HB in the AFL is renowned as the easiest spot to rack up stats, and clubs didn't seem too fussed if the ball was in the hands of Webster, Geary, Savage or McKenzie off half back, look at the attack we now generate through Coffield, Long, Clark et al.

[shanegrambeau]

Savage looks to have the physique suited to a long career. Booming kick. But not radar equipped. If those Hawthorn fans were lamenting that back in 2013, I have a hard time thinking its fixable. But even so, if his injury profile is still good...who knows. How are his hammies? Longer term issue might be, who wants to be a permanent depth player? I expect him to be delisted at the end of this year along with ( ) and ( ) dare I say.