Our use of the substitute

[mad saint guy]

One glaring weakness of St Kilda since the beginning of last year has been our poor selection of sub. While most other teams have caught on that you need a fast runner capable of doing damage against a fatigued opposition, we seem simply make the 22nd player picked the sub. Siposs isn't suited to it, Ray isn't suited to it and nor is Polo. We've had some success with Cripps, Peake and some impact last week from Saad as the sub.

I think that from now on we need to be much more strategic with our selections, mostly rotating Saad, Milera, Cripps and perhaps Schneider and Gram as substitutes. I'd prefer to see Ledger brought in and get full games but he could also be an option as well as Peake if his VFL form warrants it. Against Port Adelaide we saw Rodan tear us a new one when he was brought on; his impact was heightened by the fact that he had his already explosive pace against tired opponents, possibly moreso than if he had been in the starting 21. Meanwhile our sub was simply brought on to try to limit Rodan.

Against Carlton the team made a statement that they are well and truly in the mix this year, I think the use of the sub is something that really needs to be addressed to give ourselves the best chance of making it into September.

[mr six o'clock]

agree
last night we ran out of legs , it would have been nice to have someone pacy there to do allot of gut busting running around the packs in the final 25 minutes !

[plugger66]

One glaring weakness of St Kilda since the beginning of last year has been our poor selection of sub. While most other teams have caught on that you need a fast runner capable of doing damage against a fatigued opposition, we seem simply make the 22nd player picked the sub. Siposs isn't suited to it, Ray isn't suited to it and nor is Polo. We've had some success with Cripps, Peake and some impact last week from Saad as the sub.

I think that from now on we need to be much more strategic with our selections, mostly rotating Saad, Milera, Cripps and perhaps Schneider and Gram as substitutes. I'd prefer to see Ledger brought in and get full games but he could also be an option as well as Peake if his VFL form warrants it. Against Port Adelaide we saw Rodan tear us a new one when he was brought on; his impact was heightened by the fact that he had his already explosive pace against tired opponents, possibly moreso than if he had been in the starting 21. Meanwhile our sub was simply brought on to try to limit Rodan.

Against Carlton the team made a statement that they are well and truly in the mix this year, I think the use of the sub is something that really needs to be addressed to give ourselves the best chance of making it into September.

Why would you want to have player who deserves a full game to be the sub who usually plays about 25% of game time. I agree the ideal sub is someone with a bit of pace but he must come from the seconds and not be a firts player who deserves to be in the 21. Carltons sub had a huge impact but I bet he isnt sub next week.

[vacuous space]

I'd rather play the best 21 for as long as possible than try and be crafty with sub strategy. Either way you're taking off a guy you deemed to be in your best team for somebody you didn't. In the vast majority of cases, sub usage does not impact the result. I'd rate it as low in terms of importance. If that's our glaring weakness, we're doing well.

[SainterK]

+1

If you're good enough, you're in already.

Should be the last guy that wasn't squeezed in because of matchups etc.

[BigMart]

Players who run and carry

[saintsRrising]

I'd rather play the best 21 for as long as possible than try and be crafty with sub strategy. Either way you're taking off a guy you deemed to be in your best team for somebody you didn't. In the vast majority of cases, sub usage does not impact the result. I'd rate it as low in terms of importance. If that's our glaring weakness, we're doing well.

Yes.

Plus we have tended to use the Sub to give younger players a go at senior level which is a good thing.


The Blues would have been delighted if Saad had been our sub.

[Cairnsman]

I don't think the sub needs to necessarily be a fast runner but more like being up to the pace and intensity of the game at the time of coming on. I reckon Wilkes was subbed off last night because he was well and truly not up to the pace and intensity of the game from the get go. Regularly the sub comes on and looks like he's at another game so being a fast runner doesn't help at all.

[TJMcCarthy]

[quote="mad saint guy"]One glaring weakness of St Kilda since the beginning of last year has been our poor selection of sub. While most other teams have caught on that you need a fast runner capable of doing damage against a fatigued opposition, we seem simply make the 22nd player picked the sub. Siposs isn't suited to it, Ray isn't suited to it and nor is Polo. We've had some success with Cripps, Peake and some impact last week from Saad as the sub.



I disagree, I think Siposs and Ray can easily do it. Polo isn't suited towards our good form atm, so i agree there.

I'm a bit biased re Sipposs, i really want more games in him, he's got skill.

Peake is a good choice for sub.

[Unforgiven]

It's also important to consider the roles the sub can play. Sometime the sub is brought on in not ideal circumstances, such as early injury.

In these cases they may be required to get extended game time, or play out of position (unless we rotate other players around).

I think ideally the role of the sub player would be a high half forward. Someone who can come in a be part of the midfield rotation, bring some forward pressure, be the link between wing > forward, and potentially kick a goal.

Peake seems a resonable choice, either thay or one of the young blokes who can bring some real hunger to the contest.

[dragit]

the ledge…

[noob]

I reckon Schneider would be a good fit for it.

[Enrico_Misso]

I reckon Schneider would be a good fit for it.

Yep - he was born for this role.

Can come on fresh and use his relative speed and smarts to make an impact through the centre and vision and delivery to hurt.
Can run himself ragged for one quarter and create havoc.

[Con Gorozidis]

I reckon Schneider would be a good fit for it.

very interesting suggestion.
schneids could come on and kick 4 goals in 40 minutes and you wouldnt be the least surprised. could do some damage...

[saintspremiers]

Just a question. At what point in the last term was our sub activated?

Might have been one of the latest substitutions we've seen by any team IMO??

Can someone please dig up sub time stats for us and all teams?

Might make a good newspaper article for dissemination.

[Ross who?]

Ledger would have been highly effective vs Carlton on Monday. Has pace and intensity and burrows in to packs. (Inside and outside player)

Peake would have been another but is an outside player only.

Schneider would need to be 100% fit before he can do it. If one of our guys got KO'ed, for instance, in the first 10 mins, we need someone who can run out the game.

Cripps was good in the role last year as he pushed forward hard to create goals at times.