Goddard a chance to return - Ross Lyon

[B W and R all over]

http://afl.com.au/tabid/208/Default.aspx?newsid=57244

[Duggie]

It has been a long wait for us to see BJ in action again. I wish him all the good luck he deserves.
Just a bit puzzled that he did not feature in the best players against Sandy at the weekend and is now touted as a return against the Dogs. Did anyone see the game?

[st_Trav_ofWA]

It has been a long wait for us to see BJ in action again. I wish him all the good luck he deserves.
Just a bit puzzled that he did not feature in the best players against Sandy at the weekend and is now touted as a return against the Dogs. Did anyone see the game?

i think he only played half a game and was rested in the second half so be a bit hard to be in the teams best on 2 qtrs

[|Andy|]

yeh and aparently they lost because he wasnt playing second half.

[saintsRrising]

I think Kosi will be looking forward to BJ's return too.


The thought of Koso as a target on the end of BJ's 60 m long accurate passes is moth watering.


Kosi who struggles a bit with using his body one on one with a good full back if he has to stop and prop will also benefit greatly from a player like BJ who can deliver the ball with precision to advantage.

I note that RL was quoted as:

Lyon said he would persist with having three talls – Fraser Gehrig, Justin Koschitzke and Nick Riewoldt – playing up forward, but acknowledged that Riewoldt could be used in defence.


...and I think BJ's kicking may well be a key part of his enabling his vision of 3 tall forwards to work well.

(Not to mention Gram's long kicking too...)

[Dan Warna]

well if you believe the blues 'worst no.1 draft pick ever, thank goodness we missed that bullet'

lol carlton.

by 2010 their entire list will be fielded by a collection of the worst top 5 draft picks in the last decade.

[Ghost Like]

well if you believe the blues 'worst no.1 draft pick ever, thank goodness we missed that bullet'

lol carlton.

by 2010 their entire list will be fielded by a collection of the worst top 5 draft picks in the last decade.

Well they are becoming experts on #1 draft picks and a look at some of their current cattle makes you think that Banik and Lounder would have been Hall of Famers in comparison.

[Saints Premiers 2008]

I think Kosi will be looking forward to BJ's return too.


The thought of Koso as a target on the end of BJ's 60 m long accurate passes is moth watering.


Kosi who struggles a bit with using his body one on one with a good full back if he has to stop and prop will also benefit greatly from a player like BJ who can deliver the ball with precision to advantage.

I note that RL was quoted as:

Lyon said he would persist with having three talls – Fraser Gehrig, Justin Koschitzke and Nick Riewoldt – playing up forward, but acknowledged that Riewoldt could be used in defence.


...and I think BJ's kicking may well be a key part of his enabling his vision of 3 tall forwards to work well.

(Not to mention Gram's long kicking too...)

i think in time goddard will play forward of the ball maybe as a chf...to me he is the modern prototype

only issue is...how do we fit kosi and roo in there too...

[On the Bench]

BJ looks very snappy in his 2006 Heritage Guernsey in the photo.

Collars do look daggy.

Will be great to see BJ lining up again. His kicking is fantastic. It is great to have a couple of players (Gram can do it as well) with the ability to kick 10 to 20 metres further than average. Really opens up additional options.

[Dan Warna]

i think in time goddard will play forward of the ball maybe as a chf...to me he is the modern prototype

only issue is...how do we fit kosi and roo in there too...

well early last year reiwoldt was out and shortly before his injury goddard did a fair old impersonation of reiwoldt at CHF.

led hard, marked everything that came his way, picked up touches on the wing, kicked a couple of goals, and laid of a couple too.

really impressed a fair few folks.

problem 1. will take a few weeks if not months to get back into the swing of things (blake, joel smith, nathan brown amongst others have taken years to recover from injury)
problem 2 as you mentioned, wtf talent he have in the forward line.

FG, kosi, reiwoldt...

[Saints Premiers 2008]

i think in time goddard will play forward of the ball maybe as a chf...to me he is the modern prototype

only issue is...how do we fit kosi and roo in there too...

well early last year reiwoldt was out and shortly before his injury goddard did a fair old impersonation of reiwoldt at CHF.

led hard, marked everything that came his way, picked up touches on the wing, kicked a couple of goals, and laid of a couple too.

really impressed a fair few folks.

problem 1. will take a few weeks if not months to get back into the swing of things (blake, joel smith, nathan brown amongst others have taken years to recover from injury)
problem 2 as you mentioned, wtf talent he have in the forward line.

FG, kosi, reiwoldt...

maybe a 4 tall forward line in the box formation???

in addition to that i dont see bj being of much use first up coming back from his knee playing his old role...so maybe a stint up forward where he dictates the play instead of being dictated too will assist with match fitness and ease him back into footy...

[Dan Warna]

Timmy watson put 3 or 4 forwards in teh goal square less than 5m from the sqare and left teh 50m circle free.

usually it was spider left in the square when the forwards broke to lead as the midfielders ran the ball down waverley park.

i think we kicked something like 18 goals for that day and won the game.

timmy never did it again ><

At the time folks were saying what an innovative strategy could change the game etc etc

I guess in retrospect you could have a cut off player, but with our midfield at the time, running the ball down, and 3 players leading in 3 different directions and one in the square would make the lose man in defence redundant.

Another problem potentially is rebounds, milne used to feed like a hungry rat off the feet of FG and reiwoldt, so damaging was he, that one game steven johnson was used to tag him out.

the reality is since middle of 06 and injuries, we haven't played a stationary FF with milne to feed off him, and while his score has gone, I would suggest that as a percentage of st kilda's score, milne has been constant.

not sure a 4 forward function would work as players naturally gravitate towards the action.

[Saints Premiers 2008]

well dan...would you put roo on the ball ala pavlich and brown a few years back???

it would be interesting to see how he goes regardless...and the prospect of giving kosi more space to do his thing has more benefit imo than roo in the forward 50

worst comes to worst fraser or charlie can play a bit of a sacrificial lead up role that roo plays...

[perfectionist]

problem 1. will take a few weeks if not months to get back into the swing of things (blake, joel smith, nathan brown amongst others have taken years to recover from injury)

You mean our Blake? Can't remember when he did his knee. Some mongrel kneed him in the back a few years ago, R3 2004, (a Carlton player attempted the same thing last Saturday), and he had some groinal problems in 2002 before he became a regular, but Jason has had a good run with injuries over the years.

But I agree with your central premise - it takes time to fully recover from knee reconstruction - almost two years in fact.

[joffaboy]

We shouldn't expect too much from bj when he gets back. It taks a long time to get back up to speed after an ACL (look at Lenny for example).

However from reports two weeks ago he was excellent in the Scorps and the first half last week was pretty serviceable.

Lets hope he gets a gig and can contribute.

[steph]

I dont think BJ will be played forward.

When he plays down back, or on the wing, he literally controls the back half of the ground. His long kicking into our forwards is probably his biggest strength, and adds a new dimension to our side. He is best suited in this role.

As we know, he'll take a while to get back to full fitness, but we definitely need him this week to at least have on proper game under his belt before we take on the cats.

[TwoTowers]

Was also interesting to see this in the article:

"Lyon said he would persist with having three talls playing up forward, but acknowledged that Riewoldt could be used in defence."

Just for those who insinuated that some of us old-timers were in la-la land for suggesting that Roo might occasionally be used down back as per P. Smith's article in yesterday's Australian.

[TwoTowers]

Who comes out for BJ? Nice problem to have though. I would think Fiora and Raph would be the obvious candidates. Still get nervous when either of these guys get near the ball and, while Raph has been handed an opportunity I'm not sure he will play many more games this year if we continue to have a good run on the injury front. His unwillingness to show any confidence in taking contested marks and kicking goals makes him a weak link despite his undoubted talent and will probably have disappointed the coach enough for him to make way for BJ this week. It is possible that C. Gardiner may come in for Fiora. I can hardly remember the last time Fizz kicked a goal. The usual suspects will have Blake in the gun of course

[iwantmeseats]

Was also interesting to see this in the article:

"Lyon said he would persist with having three talls playing up forward, but acknowledged that Riewoldt could be used in defence."

Just for those who insinuated that some of us old-timers were in la-la land for suggesting that Roo might occasionally be used down back as per P. Smith's article in yesterday's Australian.

Well he COULD also carry the water round, and he COULD come over to my joint for dinner...but he wont. I think thats all he is saying.

[bendigo bob]

Who comes out for BJ? Nice problem to have though. I would think Fiora and Raph would be the obvious candidates. Still get nervous when either of these guys get near the ball and, while Raph has been handed an opportunity I'm not sure he will play many more games this year if we continue to have a good run on the injury front. His unwillingness to show any confidence in taking contested marks and kicking goals makes him a weak link despite his undoubted talent and will probably have disappointed the coach enough for him to make way for BJ this week. It is possible that C. Gardiner may come in for Fiora. I can hardly remember the last time Fizz kicked a goal. The usual suspects will have Blake in the gun of course

Suspect there will be 2 outs this week
OUT: Geary, Gilbert
IN: Goddard, Jones

BJ cleary rested from 2nd half in scorps to enable him to be fresh for Friday night. Ditto Jones.

Geary great first up performance - not as prominent v Blues
Gilbert seems not to have captured last years form and has given away several frees for hands in the back both games when he didnt need to.

[steph]

dropping raph would be a bad move. i have never been a massive fan of him, but i thought on the weekend he played his best game for us, possibly in his career.

yes he did a couple of double fisted punches instead of marking it, but he often dropped in front of the carlton forwards to double team them and support our defence. raph is a confidence player and dropping him after he has put in a good effort would do nothing but damage the good work he is finally putting together.

[saintbrat]

http://sportal.com.au/afl-news-display/ ... turn-45899
with video
and several reports
and an audio piece

mention of X and kosi's 100's
and vision of the wild weather

[To the top]

Drop Gilbert and R. Clarke!

You could not have been at the same game as me last week!!

I went to the St Kilda v. Carlton game at Docklands on Saturday night.

And I thought our defence marshalled itself particularly well after the initial onslaught when Carlton won the mid-field contests and ran forward in numbers, appearing to out pace us because they had the ball.

Then there was the fade out in the final minutes.

Gilbert at 194cm and R. Clarke at 189cm were vital players in our defence.

Max, S. Fisher and Gram may have been more outstanding in the eyes of most but the efforts of Gilbert and R. Clarke were just as significant.

[saintsRrising]

I dont think BJ will be played forward.

When he plays down back, or on the wing, he literally controls the back half of the ground. His long kicking into our forwards is probably his biggest strength, and adds a new dimension to our side. He is best suited in this role.

.

Indeed...

Also remember that RL described BJ a year pack as our point of difference (to other teams) due to his precise long kicking and talked of him playing hb to wing.

.

Playing him forward largely wastes his greatest asset.

[saintsRrising]

. It is possible that C. Gardiner may come in for Fiora. I can hardly remember the last time Fizz kicked a goal.

Not sure I follow the logic here.

While I agree that Fiora should kick more goals from what I have seen and and also read from Cats fans Charlie is hardly good in front of goals.