Importance of getting Dempster fit!!!!

[BigMart]

He has had 4 in the magoos now......he had an outstanding rehab.......he is a disciplined stopper with a different shape and size to Jones (midfield) Baker (Back Pocket) Dawson (Tall Defender).....we need a mid sized HF/Wing stopper IMO

The final 4 looks shaped.....

In the finals we can play either and the 191cm Athletic Dempster could run with the following

Geelong - Steve Johnson HF/Paul Chapman HF/Bartel W/Corey W
Bulldogs - Murphy HF/Gia HF/Higgins HF
Collingwood - Thomas HF/Pendlebury W/Swan W

maybe

Adelaide - Knights HF/Goodwin HF/Thompson HF
Brisbane - Sherman HF/T.Johnstone Wing

at a stretch

Essendon - Monfries HF
Carlton - Houlihan HF/Gibbs W

I think he will be a vital addition to the 22.....another mature aged body 25yo 88kg to help deal with the size of Geelong....he will further add to the defensive 22...

Blake
Dawson
Baker
Gilbert
Fisher
Dempster

Max????

Rebounding possibilities Gram/Ray/Goddard from behind the pill...

reserves
Maguire
Raph
Begley
Miles

[Rickabee]

BigMart - I just had the same thought on Dempster under the "Geary" thread.

He could potentially shut down those mid-sized players that usually kick the goals against us. e.g. Stevie J.

Isn't it interesting how few KPP's kick many goals against us!

[saintjake]

when my family said that it was a shallow win without stevie.j playing.
i brought up dempster and how he would be able to take him.
they all laughed,
he will be key ingredient come finals

[Solar]

I also think he would be a great option if a chapman or ablett goes forward. It was the only time CJ looked under pressure was playing full back on ablett. We ened someone to help him out (ablett goes forward and dempster gets him while CJ slips onto someone else or keeps going in the midfield.

[bigcarl]

i like him as a player, but who goes out to get him in and will it leave us short of run and offensive players?

ie, will it upset balance?

[Beej]

Dempster was BOG for Sandy on the weekend according to Lyon on One Week at a time

[desertsaint]

Lovely problem having too much talent for the 22 - and the main driver of debate on here while we keep winning!
Do think max might be a good option on SJ!
But Dempster is simply not rated by non-saints fans - may well surprise many come finals!

[Legendary]

Raph is the obvious out ... same style/position of player, with Dempster IMO a better footballer ...

[bigcarl]

Raph is the obvious out ... same style/position of player, with Dempster IMO a better footballer ...

completely different style of player from what i've seen of dempster. one is a shutdown artist, the other is an offensive runner.

[Legendary]

Raph is the obvious out ... same style/position of player, with Dempster IMO a better footballer ...

completely different style of player from what i've seen of dempster. one is a shutdown artist, the other is an offensive runner.

Struggling to see much offensive running from R. Clarke of late? All he seemed to do was punch or knock the ball on the weekend.

They both play off the backline, and both are medium-sized and IMO give a similar amount of run ... many times last year Dempster gave us some good run from half-back.

[stkfc1]

i like him as a player, but who goes out to get him in and will it leave us short of run and offensive players?

ie, will it upset balance?

Geary out Dempster in. Geary has been great all year but is obviously dropping off a bit which was to be expected.

Dempster has excellent negating skills, a booming ( and accurate) left foot.

Can run forward and kick a goal (rare), but excellent 50m entry.

But most importantly FINALS EXPERIENCE. The guy has a premiership medal.

Must come in.

[Teflon]

Raph is the obvious out ... same style/position of player, with Dempster IMO a better footballer ...

completely different style of player from what i've seen of dempster. one is a shutdown artist, the other is an offensive runner.

Id take Dempster in the back half over Raph anyday - people forget how good he was before he went down. Will be crucial for us in finals against mid sized players like S Johnson,

[bigcarl]

many times last year Dempster gave us some good run from half-back.

did he? i had him in my mind as more of a negating type.

[Legendary]

i like him as a player, but who goes out to get him in and will it leave us short of run and offensive players?

ie, will it upset balance?

Geary out Dempster in. Geary has been great all year but is obviously dropping off a bit which was to be expected.

Dempster has excellent negating skills, a booming ( and accurate) left foot.

Can run forward and kick a goal (rare), but excellent 50m entry.

But most importantly FINALS EXPERIENCE. The guy has a premiership medal.

Must come in.

Geary is a creative, attacking player who runs all day ... he is also very mobile ... Dempster does not have the same mobility (at 191cm) and is not as attacking or creative ... he also does not rack up as much of the ball as Geary ...

IMO Raph and Dempster is the obvious swap ... but maybe I can't see it properly, who knows what will happen

[Legendary]

many times last year Dempster gave us some good run from half-back.

did he? i had him in my mind as more of a negating type.

I thought he started to find space towards the end of the year ... averaged around 14 disposals in his last 5 games before the injury ...

Certainly no where in the league of Fisher/Gilbert for his run from the backline, but I thought it was area of his game he improved to the point where is was equal to the like of Clarke.

[Bernard Shakey]

The OP is wrong.

Dempster is fit!

[BigMart]

Obviosly not AFL fit.......otherwise he'd be in.......easily in best 22...as will be found out soon.......

[saintDal]

many times last year Dempster gave us some good run from half-back.

did he? i had him in my mind as more of a negating type.

Many time last year he ran forward and had a few shots from outside 50. Not sure he kicked many goals but he certainly made the distance.

[jonesy]

Dempster was BOG for Sandy on the weekend according to Lyon on One Week at a time

He was handy,but no way BOG. He moved well though. He'd be right to go if he got a call up now.

[meher baba]

Dempster was BOG for Sandy on the weekend according to Lyon on One Week at a time

He was handy,but no way BOG. He moved well though. He'd be right to go if he got a call up now.

It sounds to me if you were at the game on Saturday actually watching Sean play.

The rest of the forum seems to have been down on the Esplanade waiting for him to walk across Port Phillip Bay!!

Sheesh guys, he's a tagger. A GOP.
His previous club was happy to let him go as part of a two man swap for a second round draft pick.

Yes, Schneider and King, Sean has played in a premiership winning team. Let's not think that this fact gives these three some sort of special magic that means we have to have all three of them in our top 22.

We just beat a team that had won 53 out of their last 56 without either Dempster or King playing

[BigMart]

Couple of things

Dempster would have been more than Handy if given BOG by Lovell and Lyon......if he was handy with the ball, he would have been better without it.....his first role is stopping, second is creating.......who did he play on???? how much influence did they have????

MB - Would we be a better team with King 30yo 224games, Hudghton 33/231 and Dempster 25/75 games - all mature bodies.....all have played in more than 10 finals all have played in Grand Finals???? -- if they were all fit and ready to go

than

McEvoy 19yo 5games, Raph 23/45 (and zero confidence), Geary 21/23 (just running out of steam a bit) - all of whom have futures (as have Armo 21/16, Eddy 21/15, Lynch 18/0, Steven 19/0, Stanley 18/0)...

You can always look to improve the side.....regardless of how well you are travelling.....I saw weaknesses in all three I named above under extreme pressure - at this stage of thier development..

[matrix]

its a tough one huh
i was thinking this last night
obviously King has to come in
so ben is out
but then max and dempster???
do they come in for raph and geary??

i mean why geary?...he isnt a defender.
max is a deff IMO
so king and max for ben and raph
question is do we bring dempster into a side where the defence is actually doing well enough to be the best in the league??.

very tough calls
and im glad i have nothing to do with making them

[Winmar7Fan]

Agree going on last years form IMO he's a big in when it happens.

[borderbarry]

I would suggest that the more likely swap would be Eddy for Geary this week.

[older saint]

Lovely problem having too much talent for the 22 - and the main driver of debate on here while we keep winning!
Do think max might be a good option on SJ!
But Dempster is simply not rated by non-saints fans - may well surprise many come finals!

As Lyon said last night if you put Max on Sj they will push him up the ground and he will lose him on the midfield. Obviousl SJ matchups are Gilbert, Dempster ( if in) S Fisher (maybe).
Interesting RL also said that Gilbert was SJ match up for the weekend.