Jump to content

The Saints Underdone

grazman
in Melbourne Demons

Featured Replies

Posted

After reading the papers it appears that none of Riewoldt, Kosi or Gardiner will play a practice match between them prior to Rd One.

I can understand how important all three will be to the Saints chances of winning, but I wonder if he will risk them all or start some in the VFL? I wonder if he thinks he has the depth to adopt a longer term view?

  • Quote
    •  

    How fit will Gehrig be this year?

    I thought he looked disinterested for alot of last year.

    FWIW, I think Clarke can cover for Gardiner in the short term. I am not sure what Gardiner will actually do for the Saints, He definitely has a large monkey on his back to deal with.

    Is Maguire going to be ready also?

  • Quote
    How fit will Gehrig be this year?

    I thought he looked disinterested for alot of last year.

    FWIW, I think Clarke can cover for Gardiner in the short term. I am not sure what Gardiner will actually do for the Saints, He definitely has a large monkey on his back to deal with.

    Is Maguire going to be ready also?

    Never underestimate the wounded Saint.

    Having said that, here is the latest word on St. Kilda's injury woes:-

    Aaron Hammill - definitely not there in Round 1 and perhaps not ever again.

    Nick Riewodlt - has nagging hamstring problems and is not ready to return just yet. Havily in doubt for round 1.

    Justin Koschitzke - has a back injury and in doubt for Round 1. Whatever happens, if he starts against us on Friday fortnight, he'll be very much underdone.

    Max Hudghton - struggling with his injury and in doubt for the first 2 or 3 rounds.

    A couple of others like Maguire and Hayes are just coming back from long term injury.

    And then there are the Clarke brothers who are alwys iffy.

  • Quote
    •  
    • Author
    Never underestimate the wounded Saint.

    Which one Jack? It looks like they will be carrying three or four, and no Hamill. I'm not suggesting in anyway shape or form that we will smash them simply because some of their players are underdone, but I did want to raise the issue. It will be a test for Lyon? I'm not sure Danners would play all three if the positions were reversed.

    I believe Maguire is ready to go and will play this weekend, although both he and Hayes will take a while to find their legs again (no pun intended)

  • Quote
    Which one Jack? It looks like they will be carrying three or four, and no Hamill. I'm not suggesting in anyway shape or form that we will smash them simply because some of their players are underdone, but I did want to raise the issue. It will be a test for Lyon? I'm not sure Danners would play all three if the positions were reversed.

    I believe Maguire is ready to go and will play this weekend, although both he and Hayes will take a while to find their legs again (no pun intended)

    I think I answered some of those questions in my edited post above (source: a frustrated Saint fan)

  • Quote

    • Author
    I think I answered some of those questions in my edited post above (source: a frustrated Saint fan)

    Raph Clarke is out I think, and Gardiner is still overcoming the effects of his ankle (it was his ankle he broke at the end of 06 for Claremont wasn't it?) and may not play either.

  • Quote

    The Age reports Kossi and Hayes to play their first games tomorrow and Maguire his second. Reiwoldt will not play a practice game before the season starts.

    I always thought that an ACL was a twelve month injury but Hayes is back in less than 10. He's a very good player and I hope they are not rushing him back to early. Maguire had the same injury as Brown. I doubt he'll be the same player for sometime. From memory he did it later in the season than Brown and will be back quicker.

  • Quote

    Given some of the injuries involved it certainly is not a matter of just when they play their first game but also when they are confident enough to rely on their body fully without concern of the underlying injury.

    Given the role Hayes will be playing, he will need to totally over his ACL problem.

    BTW, does Luke Ball still have OP? :unsure:

  • Quote
    •  

    How often in footy does the wounded under-dog snatch a win under adversity.

    Hopefully we come out firing on all cylinders and not take them easy.

    However I agree that out of all the teams, St.Kilda is the perfect round 1 opponent in terms of lack of preparation.

  • Quote
    How often in footy does the wounded under-dog snatch a win under adversity.

    Hopefully we come out firing on all cylinders and not take them easy.

    However I agree that out of all the teams, St.Kilda is the perfect round 1 opponent in terms of lack of preparation.

    ____________________________________________________________________________________

    Mate, overall (i.e all teams) not very often, but in the past Demons have dropped too many of this type of game.

  • Quote

    ____________________________________________________________________________________

    Mate, overall (i.e all teams) not very often, but in the past Demons have dropped too many of this type of game.

    True, it will be an interesting test.

    If Riewoldt and Hudghton are out it is a huge blow for them. Rivers will be freed up to sit in Gehrig's space and Neita, well he usually kills Max but it will most likely be Maguire on Neita (Who Neita towelled up last year) which will stuff up their structure.

    I wouldn't think they'd play Hayes, he'll be doing a lot of running and they don't want to risk a midfielder who has done an ACL less than 12 months ago.

  • Quote

    i think everyone would agree that after losing to the almighty (not) blues last year in Rd1, we will never take a team lightly, especially not a fellow top-eight contender

  • Quote

    • Archived

    This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

    Go to topic listing

    Featured Content

    • REPORT: Port Adelaide

      Of course, it’s not the backline, you might argue and you would probably be right. It’s the boot studder (do they still have them?), the midfield, the recruiting staff, the forward line, the kicking coach, the Board, the interchange bench, the supporters, the folk at Casey, the head coach and the club psychologist  It’s all of them and all of us for having expectations that were sufficiently high to have believed three weeks ago that a restoration of the Melbourne team to a position where we might still be in contention for a finals berth when the time for the midseason bye arrived. Now let’s look at what happened over the period of time since Melbourne overwhelmed the Sydney Swans at the MCG in late May when it kicked 8.2 to 5.3 in the final quarter (and that was after scoring 3.8 to two straight goals in the second term). 

        • Clap
        • Thanks
        • Like
      • 2 replies
      Demonland

    • CASEY: Essendon

      Casey’s unbeaten run was extended for at least another fortnight after the Demons overran a persistent Essendon line up by 29 points at ETU Stadium in Port Melbourne last night. After conceding the first goal of the evening, Casey went on a scoring spree from about ten minutes in, with five unanswered majors with its fleet of midsized runners headed by the much improved Paddy Cross who kicked two in quick succession and livewire Ricky Mentha who also kicked an early goal. Leading the charge was recruit of the year, Riley Bonner while Bailey Laurie continued his impressive vein of form. With Tom Campbell missing from the lineup, Will Verrall stepped up to the plate demonstrating his improvement under the veteran ruckman’s tutelage. The Demons were looking comfortable for much of the second quarter and held a 25-point lead until the Bombers struck back with two goals in the shadows of half time. On the other side of the main break their revival continued with first three goals of the half. Harry Sharp, who had been quiet scrambled in the Demons’ first score of the third term to bring the margin back to a single point at the 17 minute mark and the game became an arm-wrestle for the remainder of the quarter and into the final moments of the last.

        • Clap
      • 0 replies
      Demonland

    • PREGAME: Gold Coast

      The Demons have the Bye next week but then are on the road once again when they come up against the Gold Coast Suns on the Gold Coast in what could be a last ditch effort to salvage their season. Who comes in and who comes out?

        • Thanks
      • 94 replies
      Demonland

    • PODCAST: Port Adelaide

      The Demonland Podcast will air LIVE on Monday, 16th June @ 8:00pm. Join Binman, George & I as we dissect the Dees disappointing loss to the Power.
      Your questions and comments are a huge part of our podcast so please post anything you want to ask or say below and we'll give you a shout out on the show.
      Listen LIVE: https://demonland.com/

        • Thanks
      • 31 replies
      Demonland

    • POSTGAME: Port Adelaide

      The Demons simply did not take their opportunities when they presented themselves and ultimately when down by 25 points effectively ending their finals chances. Goal kicking practice during the Bye?

        • Haha
        • Thanks
      • 252 replies
      Demonland

    • VOTES: Port Adelaide

      Max Gawn has an insurmountable lead in the Demonland Player of the Year ahead of Jake Bowey, Christian Petracca, Clayton Oliver and Kozzy Pickett. Your votes please; 6, 5, 4, 3, 2 & 1.

        • Thanks
      • 32 replies
      Demonland
    View All