Interesting

[grazman 6,480]

Saints went in with a near full strength team to battle it out with the Cats today...

So far in a match that's worth zero premiership points they've lost:

Gehrig - Calf

Hudgton - Hamstring

Kosi - Unknown.

Kosi should be right, but it's unlikely the other two will be ready for a while.

[Nasher 33,068]

Calf injuries are real "old man" injuries. The P-train should've stayed retired.

[grazman 6,480]

Calf injuries are real "old man" injuries. The P-train should've stayed retired.

Agreed. Double the number of weeks for a youngster and add 2 more.

[Jaded No More 58,117]

Hudgton - Hamstring

While I passionately hate the Saints, I really do feel for Max Hudgton. He can't get a break when it comes to injuries.

As for your point Graz, I've been saying all along that we should keep our key/senior players safe and protected for as long as possible. You would think that an injury-prone list like Saint Kilda's would have learnt that by now.

[Mr Magic 0]

Hi guys, just visiting from SaintSational. Good win by you guys last weekend against us!

Grazman, whilst I accept the premise of your thread about getting injuries to your good players, I've got a feeling that there would not be many who would agree that the Saints went into the game with a near 'full strength team' today.

7 of the players have never played a senior game.

5 more have played a total of 10 senior games between them.

12 of hte best 22 did not play today.

I thought I would just set the record straight.

Good luck for the season (except against the Saints)

[Jerry Lundergard 382]

Good call Magic.

I was thinking the same thing when i was reading that post, because when i was watching the game i was quietly thinking to myself "Why can the Saints compete so well against the Cats with an understrengthed an inexperienced team, when we just capititulate?".

[Bruce Almighty 0]

Saints went in with a near full strength team to battle it out with the Cats today...

So far in a match that's worth zero premiership points they've lost:

Gehrig - Calf

Hudgton - Hamstring

Kosi - Unknown.

Kosi should be right, but it's unlikely the other two will be ready for a while.

Players Missing:

Hayes

Ball

Gardiner

King

X Clarke

R Clarke

Magiure

Harvey

Goddard

Gwilt

Riewoldt

Schnieder

If you call there side today almost full strength you are a fool.

Note: I know the cats were missing a number of priemiership players also.

[grazman 6,480]

Hi guys, just visiting from SaintSational. Good win by you guys last weekend against us!

Grazman, whilst I accept the premise of your thread about getting injuries to your good players, I've got a feeling that there would not be many who would agree that the Saints went into the game with a near 'full strength team' today.

7 of the players have never played a senior game.

5 more have played a total of 10 senior games between them.

12 of hte best 22 did not play today.

I thought I would just set the record straight.

Good luck for the season (except against the Saints)

It probably just looked that way to me, because whilst the Saints did have a few youngsters, bye and large I could identify who most of the players were - so yep my bad.

Looking at the list I saw

Hudgton

Gehrig,

Kosi,

Fisher

Fisher

Dal Santo

Milne

Blake

Gilbert

Baker

Gram

Montagna

Fiora

Charlie Gardiner

I'm no expert on the Saints, so I won't argue the toss about who should be in their best 22, but I count 26. If CJ and PJ miss for us do we count them as part of our best 22?

it's also debatable about how many games they can squeeze out of Gardiner, King and Harvey collectively, so once again my apologies, I should have qualified my comment as a near full strength side for a preseason match (most sides rest 5-6 senior players a game in the preseason)

It's just interesting to compare the approaches. I'm not sure that restricting senior players programs and limiting their game time (putting them in cotton wool - according to the press) is a mutually exclusive term to having them prepared for the season proper. Yes they probably need some match fitness and need to play some game time, but the new NAB format isn't the best format to manage this - I'd go even further and suggest that the Saints really had nothing to gain by playing very senior players with histories of soft tissue injuries for extended periods in a preseason game, and a lot to lose. It won't be easy for either Gehrig or Hudgton to regain the fitness base they had. (As for Kosi, I don't think he was badly injured, but has he ever played more than two or three senior games in a row without being injured? - I won't be picking him for my dream team)

Maybe we weren't fair dinkum about going all the way in the NAB, but if we get games into our younger players in the preseason, if our key players get enough match fitness to be ready for round 1 and if we've got as close to a full list as possible to choose from (remembering that Whelan was broken before the Preseason) then I'll be very happy.