Clint Jones

perfectionist · Sun 08 Jun 2008 7:11pm

Thought it was the best game I've seen from him. He was the only Saint player who seemed capable of beating his direct opponent for foot speed. Presented well all day and did good work in packs. His one sidedness will continue to be his Achilles heal, but he is not alone in that department in the team at the moment (cf 2004).

Mooksy · Post: # 582334Post **Mooksy** » Sun 08 Jun 2008 7:14pm

I'm gonna respond with my usual response on this topic; HE SHOULD NEVER BE OUT OF THE BLOODY TEAM!!

redwhite&blackblood · Sun 08 Jun 2008 7:25pm

Mooksy wrote:I'm gonna respond with my usual response on this topic; HE SHOULD NEVER BE OUT OF THE BLOODY TEAM!!

Amen to that! But with a tool for a coach anything could happen.

luckysaint · Post: # 582378Post **luckysaint** » Sun 08 Jun 2008 7:30pm

Good to see he has improved from last week

saintsrus · Post: # 582488Post **saintsrus** » Sun 08 Jun 2008 8:05pm

His kicking seems to be improving

battye · Post: # 582508Post **battye** » Sun 08 Jun 2008 8:15pm

saintsrus wrote:His kicking seems to be improving

Indeed. Last year his kicking was shocking. At the moment he is best 22 material.

Has he got better or have the Saints overall got worse?

bobmurray · Post: # 582512Post **bobmurray** » Sun 08 Jun 2008 8:17pm

He probably does look good in a team with woeful skills,and yes,he is definitely improving which you would expect for a professional footballer....

saintsRrising · Sun 08 Jun 2008 8:18pm

battye wrote:

Has he got better or have the Saints overall got worse?

Both.

However lets not do a disservice to Jones in this thread.

He played very well today....and used the ball well.

A couple of time he ran into trouble....but that was it.

If it was not for is "past" reputaion we would not even be discussing his ball use except to say that he was one of the better St Kilda players today including his passing and two nice goals.

ratismeat · Post: # 582521Post **ratismeat** » Sun 08 Jun 2008 8:20pm

THe point of playing inexperienced players is to develop them. If CJ continues to improve - we have an excellent footballer on our hands. Its just our record seems to be sooooo bad on this front - we in fact seem to have the ability to take high draft picks and cause them to devolve.

mad saint guy · Sun 08 Jun 2008 8:23pm

His uncontested disposal of the footy has definitely improved (in that he no longer consistently misses loose team mates 15m away), but I'm yet to see him get the ball in a contested situation and not turn it over.

I'm still far from sold on him, but then again there aren't any reserves worthy of a game either. At least he's not keeping Geary and Armitage out of the team.

midas_touch · Sun 08 Jun 2008 8:24pm

Was one of our best today, now thats saying something.

saintsRrising · Sun 08 Jun 2008 8:28pm

mad saint guy wrote:His uncontested disposal of the footy has definitely improved (in that he no longer consistently misses loose team mates 15m away), but I'm yet to see him get the ball in a contested situation and not turn it over.

I'm still far from sold on him, but then again there aren't any reserves worthy of a game either. At least he's not keeping Geary and Armitage out of the team.

Fair dinkum MSG.....you keep bagging this guy...even when in games such as this he played very well.

And his game today was actaully far superior to Armos.

Against the Lions he was good...and had few mates.

So how about a bit of credit where credit is due??

As to reserves...Harvey, X and bakes should all come back in whet fit.....and I would not see CJ being the one to make way for any of them.

steph · Post: # 582635Post **steph** » Sun 08 Jun 2008 9:04pm

CJ is definitely on the improve.

Skills are obviously never going to be superb, but he has the perfect attitude. He gives his all, is playin to earn his spot in the side, and doesn't shirk any contests.

Will never be a part of our elite midfield, but as a second string midfielder, serves a purpose. Also, kicks a few handy goals, which means if he is having a shot with that kicking style, then there is no reason why our gun midfielders shouldn't.

Behind Play · Sun 08 Jun 2008 9:05pm

Played a very good game , good on him.

groupie1 · Post: # 583062Post **groupie1** » Mon 09 Jun 2008 3:56am

problem is whether he had a good game or not, he's not good enough.
players with big hearts and no skill are the death of any team that gets mesmerized by their spirit.
go for class all the time, I say.

C Jones would NEVER get a game under Mick Malthouse, because he has no time for players who are not good enough, and would sooner play kids before they're ready

We did that once - play kids before they were ready. It was 1997 and the kids were Jones, Brown, and Smith

markinUSA · Post: # 583064Post **markinUSA** » Mon 09 Jun 2008 4:14am

Gutsy and determined player who is also fast. Definitely not soft, that boy!

I will never, for the rest of my life, forget that image of his face being smashed to the side when he took THAT mark... which should be 'mark of the year' in my opinion.

saint66au · Post: # 583073Post **saint66au** » Mon 09 Jun 2008 8:54am

saintsRrising wrote:
battye wrote:

Has he got better or have the Saints overall got worse?
Both.

However lets not do a disservice to Jones in this thread.

He played very well today....and used the ball well.

A couple of time he ran into trouble....but that was it.

If it was not for is "past" reputaion we would not even be discussing his ball use except to say that he was one of the better St Kilda players today including his passing and two nice goals.

Actually I reckon a couple of times he was sold into trouble..

I would FAR FAR prefer seeing abloke take someone on and get caught than just not bother trying to make position to help a teammate out.

At one point in the last (?) quarter he was given the ball by hand as he was about to run past 2 Bulldog players..I cant remember who dished it off to him but it was a suicide handpass. CJ was wrapped up and gone, yet some people around me still screamed at him. "Why did you take them on?????"

Fair dinkum, this is gonna sound tres elitist, but being at games when we arent playing well is a fascinating exercise in human behaviour. Too many people have absolutely no idea about football, resorting to screams of "Oh just KICK IT" after more than 2 handpasses. Then when they get their wish its "OH HAVE A LOOK BEFORE YOU KICK IT, WHO WAS THAT TO??"

Back on topic, blokes in our side who will chase and harrass and actually put pressure on the ball carrier are in very short supply at the moment. His kicking is NOT as bad as the doomsayers claim. Aim your gun somewhere else if you are gonna pot blokes for poor disposal.

CJ MUST stay in the side

meher baba · Mon 09 Jun 2008 11:16am

groupie1 wrote:problem is whether he had a good game or not, he's not good enough.
players with big hearts and no skill are the death of any team that gets mesmerized by their spirit.
go for class all the time, I say.

C Jones would NEVER get a game under Mick Malthouse, because he has no time for players who are not good enough, and would sooner play kids before they're ready

We did that once - play kids before they were ready. It was 1997 and the kids were Jones, Brown, and Smith

There is a role for a Clinton Jones at the club, but - as I will say until I am blue in the face - there is no future in an AFL team selecting more than 1 or 2 low skilled, try hard players like him every week. Yesterday we had Jones, Dempster, Birss, Blake, Leigh Fisher (actually a cut above those others skills-wise, but he seems to be running up and down on the spot ATM) Geary (probably got more skills than any of the others, but he's young and struggling with the tempo of AFL).

We need to have more players in our team who can do damage to our opponents with the ball in our hand and fewer whose main role is to stop or shut down opponents. Jones is not a ball player and he isn't really a stopper either. Like Blake, he's a trier who gives 150 per cent: but, unlike Blake, he can't play a tagging role and he can't play in the ruck.

So Blake will always be better than him.

That said, I like Jones a lot more than I like Dempster or, for that matter, Schneider ATM.

saint66au · Post: # 583127Post **saint66au** » Mon 09 Jun 2008 11:27am

unlike Blake, he can't play a tagging role and he can't play in the ruck.

Also unlike Blake, he can and will actually use raw leg speed to chase an opponent down and disposess him. We have exactly ONE player in our side capable of that regularly..and thats CJ.

sunsaint · Post: # 583311Post **sunsaint** » Mon 09 Jun 2008 5:43pm

Give me a team of Clint Jones' and I will beat your team of NDS' each AND every time.
every poster here that claimed he should never wear the red white and black should have a tattoo accross their foreheads.

saints11 · Post: # 583334Post **saints11** » Mon 09 Jun 2008 6:12pm

he has benn vg this season

StBean · Post: # 583408Post **StBean** » Mon 09 Jun 2008 7:50pm

Good attitude, finds the ball and wont avoid a good contest, ya cant teach that.
Skills on the other hand, he can work on. Id be more worried if he couldnt get the pill.

bergsone · Post: # 583418Post **bergsone** » Mon 09 Jun 2008 8:04pm

StBean wrote:Good attitude, finds the ball and wont avoid a good contest, ya cant teach that.
Skills on the other hand, he can work on. Id be more worried if he couldnt get the pill.

agree mr bean[sorry] what has also impressed me aboutCJ is that he appears to have worked to improve skills,in my side every week

Saints Premiers 2008 · Mon 09 Jun 2008 8:09pm

its sad when we are looking at players like cj and birss and commenting on their improvements and saying how good they are

considering our list...

grats to cj...proved alot of us wrong

BAM! (shhhh) · Mon 09 Jun 2008 11:00pm

sunsaint wrote:Give me a team of Clint Jones' and I will beat your team of NDS' each AND every time.
every poster here that claimed he should never wear the red white and black should have a tattoo accross their foreheads.

All respect to CJ, he's been good this season, and for now has settled himself into a deserved spot in the AFL... Dal Santo was St Kilda's best player on Sunday, and still had the crowd riding him for being soft.

Under or over-rated in general, Dal is under-appreciated by a lot of Saints fans.