Who's closer to a flag? Saints or Blues?

[Moods]

That's the question posed in the Herald/Sun. Unanimously they have all stated Carlton. Pavlich, Healy and one other. I can't post the article because of the firewall but it's an interesting discussion.

When you read their reasons it's hard to argue. Basically they're saying the blues top end talent trumps ours, especially in key positions. We have no one who comes close to Cripps in the midfield either. The belief is that the Saints short term are stronger but long term are unlikely to reach the heights of the blues.

Huge pressure on King to become a star, and Howard. Carlisle really needs to step up as well for the next few years, although I fear he will continue to just go through the motions.

Whilst I am a huge fan of what we have done in the off season I fear that all it will have done is elevate us to 6-12th position. Our drafting has not been great for a few years there 5 yrs back which really hurt us as well. Missing with McCartin a few years back has really hurt us. If that had of worked having King and Paddy with Membery as a 3rd tall would be very potent.

[saynta]

https://www.heraldsun.com.au/sport/afl/ ... 2cedb941ac


"They both finished in the bottom-five on the ladder last season and have each played finals only once in the past seven years. So which team is closer to a premiership — Carlton or St Kilda? We ask a panel of Fox Footy experts.
Chris Cavanagh, Herald Sun
Subscriber only


Carlton and St Kilda both finished in the bottom-five on the ladder last season and have each played finals only once in the past seven years.

The Blues have undergone a deep and lengthy rebuild while the Saints have opted to top-up their list with significant experienced talent in recent years.

So which team is closer to a premiership — Carlton or St Kilda?

We asked a panel of Fox Footy experts for their take, with some mixed views.

JONATHAN BROWN:

I would have to say Carlton. I think St Kilda will go better this year from a ladder point of view but I think the top-end of Carlton looks a lot brighter for the future. When you’re looking at winning premierships you are looking at the top-end talent that you’ve got on your list and I have to say Carlton wins that battle. I think they’ve done a pretty good job with their rebuild. They’ve gone down the path of recruiting key position players and key position players take time to develop but it’s important because if you can build that spine it gives you good longevity. If they can get Harry McKay and Charlie Curnow going, I think their key defenders are pretty strong. It’s just can they support Patrick Cripps with enough support in the midfield? But their bones to me allows them to go higher than St Kilda. I think Carlton will start to hit their sweet-spot from 2022 onwards.


MATTHEW PAVLICH:

I think Carlton’s younger players and the talent they’ve got through the draft the last few years is superior to St Kilda. So I think longer-term Carlton is better off. But given what the Saints’ strategy has been the last couple of years getting in the likes of Dan Hannebery, Brad Hill, Zak Jones, Dougal Howard and Paddy Ryder, I think their list is a bit more robust to have a go at challenging now. So I think they’re closer than Carlton right now. If you look at the Richmond model a couple of years ago where they brought in the likes of Dion Prestia, Toby Nankervis and Josh Caddy, people at the time were questioning whether it was the right move to go the experienced players. Only the Saints’ hierarchy know if they’ve done the right thing getting these players in. On the surface it’s a bold move going to all these older experienced players and trying to make it work, but I can understand what they’re trying to do.


GERARD HEALY:

The Blues. They’re taking the slow path and the constant build and they’ve still got a really good trade hand coming up in the next couple of years. They’ve got some serious magnets in place. They need to keep working big time on their midfield, including ruck stocks. But I think they will be rewarded in time for their patience. It’s fair to say it will be exciting to see what the Saints’ approach does and you’d expect them to have a significant lift over the next year or two. But the concern is they’ve got one pick in the top-50 in the next two years. So the only way they’re going to now bolster their chances is through free agency. If they can pull a trick or two there then they may jump up and give themselves a chance. But the one thing they would want to avoid is getting stuck in that middle clump of teams, one or two legs away from being a genuine contender. They’ve recruited for now but they’re going to have to pull a couple of masterstrokes to find another level once this level has played out."

[Devilhead]

We have one pick in the top 50 over the next two drafts??

[Life Long Saint]

Their top end elite talent is better than ours.
They have a couple of genuine stars including one of the best clearance beasts in the game. We don't.

[axcellence]

No idea. Let’s wait for the footy to restart first.

[The_Dud]

Cripps is the difference.

We have no A-grade talent in the midfield, let alone a young A-grade gun.

[Vazelos]

24 and under ( 6/7 years of top line footy ahead of them) we have:

Marshall
King
Billings
Gresham
Steele
Clark
Battle
Howard
Butler
Coffield
Bytel
Paton
It’s a decent group with a few just over that age group like Membrey and Ross etc
We can go back to the draft this year we have done heavy work last summer to rebuild bringing in 5 very good players.

[Nick_BlueNRG]

24 and under ( 6/7 years of top line footy ahead of them) we have:

Marshall
King
Billings
Gresham
Steele
Clark
Battle
Howard
Butler
Coffield
Bytel
Paton
It’s a decent group with a few just over that age group like Membrey and Ross etc
We can go back to the draft this year we have done heavy work last summer to rebuild bringing in 5 very good players.

King, Bytel and Paton might be 24 and under but they have not even proven if they are AFL standard players yet. Let alone future stars.

[desertsaint]

24 and under ( 6/7 years of top line footy ahead of them) we have:

Marshall
King
Billings
Gresham
Steele
Clark
Battle
Howard
Butler
Coffield
Bytel
Paton
It’s a decent group with a few just over that age group like Membrey and Ross etc
We can go back to the draft this year we have done heavy work last summer to rebuild bringing in 5 very good players.

as devilhead said - there aint nothing in the draft for us to go back for.

[wally]

A couple of years ago we were being compared with Melbourne and no-one favoured us.....how's those predictions looking now?

[magnifisaint]

Cripps is the difference.

We have no A-grade talent in the midfield, let alone a young A-grade gun.

What is Hill?

[The_Dud]

Cripps is the difference.

We have no A-grade talent in the midfield, let alone a young A-grade gun.

What is Hill?

I would call him a wingman / flanker, not a genuine mid.

[Devilhead]

24 and under ( 6/7 years of top line footy ahead of them) we have:

Marshall
King
Billings
Gresham
Steele
Clark
Battle
Howard
Butler
Coffield
Bytel
Paton
It’s a decent group with a few just over that age group like Membrey and Ross etc
We can go back to the draft this year we have done heavy work last summer to rebuild bringing in 5 very good players.

as devilhead said - there aint nothing in the draft for us to go back for.

I actually questioned GHealy saying that we only have 1 top 50 draft pick in the next 2 years

[Devilhead]

We have one R1 pick + two R4 picks this year but correct me if I am wrong we have a full quota in 2021 draft.

The way he wrote it is very misleading because he doesn't take into account the draft at the end of next year (2021) and didn't take into account last years draft which effects this years performance

[Devilhead]

Anyway fk Carlscum - piece of crap cheating brownbagger club - long may they rot and fester

[Beno88]

I remember a similar article in at the end of 2016 saying St Kilda was closer to a flag than Richmond.

[kosifantutti]

We have one R1 pick + two R4 picks this year but correct me if I am wrong we have a full quota in 2021 draft.

The way he wrote it is very misleading because he doesn't take into account the draft at the end of next year (2021) and didn't take into account last years draft which effects this years performance

I think that was lost in translation. None in 2019 and one in 2020 is what he probably meant.

[saintspremiers]

Who cares about the flag bit right now.

Let’s see how this weirdarse season pans out firstly.

Unfortunately as it is right now we’ve topped up to play finals (and beyond maybe) with our trading last year. We are set for the here and now and until the bat eating fiasco we were trying to make a tilt at playing finals this season - maybe we still are but who knows how teams will respond to an up to 3 month in season lay-off


The the discussion should be who will play play finals first!