That's why we call them the 'Aints

[jimmyc1985]

Out: Dal Santo, Milne, Gardiner (inj), Schneider (inj).
In: Armitage, McEvoy (debut), Allen (debut), Eddy (debut).

From premiership favourites and No-one-Gives-A-Hoot-Cup Champions to "shit, time to rebuild!" in 3 months. Brilliant.

[KaaN10]

f*** sake. I have Dal Santo in SC

[2QIK4U]

With that many debutants I am tempted to pick Freo, but in Melbourne?

My in-laws are all St Kilda supporters, I am looking forward to dinner at their joint tomorrow night .

I hope Freo smash them - hate St Kilda......

[BenDoolan]

Nick Dal Santo dropped? Lets pick him up....

[Megan]

Lets hope Del Santo cracks the shits at this treatment and leaves, and comes to Essendon

[Madden]

Milne is my most hated player in the comp. But I reckon he's had a good year and is a bit stiff.

Dal Santo is their leading possession winner this year. Unbelievable decision.

[BenDoolan]

I wonder what his contractual arranegements are. IIRC, he was a huge Bomber fan.

[bomberdonnie]

And IIRC he was very interested in coming to Windy Hill a few years ago and the only thing that kept him at the 'Aints was his close relationship to the father of the millenium?

[Rossoneri]

Stating the obvious here but I would pick him up in a heart-beat.

Wonder why he has been made the scape goat, plenty of others should have been dropped before him.

[j-mac31]

Dal Santo is their leading possession winner this year. Unbelievable decision.

Lyon said the decision wasn't made on possessions only (well I guess that is obvious) and having not seen them play recently can't comment on how he was going, but perhaps he was just getting cheap possessions.

[BenDoolan]

Dal Santo is their leading possession winner this year. Unbelievable decision.

Lyon said the decision wasn't made on possessions only (well I guess that is obvious) and having not seen them play recently can't comment on how he was going, but perhaps he was just getting cheap possessions.

Not everyone in the team is designed to be contested possession winners. Without outside runners, a team would be useless. Dal Santo provides a great ability to evade opposition tackles and then deliver with wonderful skills.

[dom_105]

I wonder what his contractual arranegements are. IIRC, he was a huge Bomber fan.

End of 2010.

[Bomber_Fan]

Ross Lyon trying to blame his own coaching ineptitude on players. But that's what you get when you have Robert Walls on your coach selection committee. Looking like a great choice hey Wallsy. Oh but hang on a second, it's not the coaches fault, it's the lack of players at his disposal. BULLSHIT! How come is it that whenever St Kilda are playing badly, it seems that Milne is always the first one to be blamed for their performances. He's a ******* forward crumber FFS, he's not going to be tearing it apart every week. I just look at the Saint's choice of coach and shudder. When I look at the coach we have chosen, I think we're a million times better off. And this is coming from someone who wasn't exactly over the moon by our choice of coach. No excuses - Lyon has had a reasonable list and has turned it into an absolute rabble. One of the few Friday nights that I probably won't even bother watching football. But I would much rather Aint's make it into the top eight if it means those cheats Carlscum don't.

[jimmyc1985]

Ross Lyon trying to blame his own coaching ineptitude on players. But that's what you get when you have Robert Walls on your coach selection committee. Looking like a great choice hey Wallsy. Oh but hang on a second, it's not the coaches fault, it's the lack of players at his disposal. BULLSHIT! How come is it that whenever St Kilda are playing badly, it seems that Milne is always the first one to be blamed for their performances. He's a ******* forward crumber FFS, he's not going to be tearing it apart every week. I just look at the Saint's choice of coach and shudder. When I look at the coach we have chosen, I think we're a million times better off. And this is coming from someone who wasn't exactly over the moon by our choice of coach. No excuses - Lyon has had a reasonable list and has turned it into an absolute rabble. One of the few Friday nights that I probably won't even bother watching football. But I would much rather Aint's make it into the top eight if it means those cheats Carlscum don't.

Kind of agree. Lyon has got them playing some ordinary football at times for which he should be accountable, but, their list was hideously over-rated leading into this year as a result of winning the NAB Cup and an absurd amount of media hype. And it's not like i'm a sudden convert to the theory that their list is over-rated, either - i didn't tip them to finish in the top 4 in a thread here on BT prior to the season starting (but i think i tipped West Coast and possibly Freo ) and i've usually taken every opportunity afforded to tell the world that their list is mediocre.

Basically, their list has a lot of "plodders" (Schneider, Birss, C Gardiner, Dempster, Gwilt, Blake, Rix, Fiora, Baker), a lot of "has-beens" (Hudghton, Harvey, M Gardiner, Gehrig, King, maybe Milne), and a lot of injury-prone players (Clarke brothers, Koschitzke, Maguire, plus some players from the has-been and plodder categories). They were backed into equal premiership favouritism on the basis that everything would go right for them this year, which meant:

- M Gardiner and King would have to manage 45+ games between them, which was a ridiculous assumption when you consider how few games Gardiner has played in the last 4 years, and King is renowned for getting soft-tissue injuries;
- Gehrig would come back from his temporary retirement and be as good as he was 2-3 years ago;
- The aforementioned 'plodders' would gel and form a tough unit like Sydney in 2005, which clearly has not happened;
- Maguire would come back from missing 18 months no worries, which clearly has not happened;
- Injury prone players like Kosi and the Clarkes would be able to string together some games, which clearly has not happened.

Their list ain't that good, and if Lyon deserves criticism for anything, it isn't the game plan; rather, it's the fact that he thought they were within touching distance of a flag when he arrived at the end of 2006, and it's on his head that he's gone out and topped up with players like C Gardiner, M Gardiner, King, Birss, Schneider and Dempster. Their list is now completely f***** and they remind me very much of where Essendon were in about 2004.

[ealesy]

I believe Lyon make comments in his presser stating that the people who had been dropped had been not so much on form, but because of their lack of defensive pressure and the fact they had only been working one way, had not been willing to do the 1%ers and did not put their bodies on the line when required.

On that criteria it does not surprise me in the least that Dal Santo and Milne were dropped.

[paddyl90]

Even that performace was sh*t. Don't care no excuses with injuries. Pathetic side and I hate them so much.

[billyduckworth]

Anyway, they still won. So what does that say for Freo?

[jimmyc1985]

Anyway, they still won. So what does that say for Freo?

They're in a uncannily similar position to St Kilda, actually. Lots of middle-aged "plodders" who aren't getting any better (Bradley, Duffield, Dodd, Gilmore, Schammer, Solomon, Thornton, Webster, Headland, Hasleby), a panoply of "has-beens" (Tarrant, McManus, Mark Johnson, Farmer, Josh Carr, Grover, Bell, Heath Black), and a couple injury-prone players (Murphy, Hayden, and a few from the plodder and has-been categories).

Freo and St Kilda are both in for long, painful stints in the bottom 4 from anywhere between 2009-2013 (well, Freo are already there this year), depending on how well they draft and how crudely they choose to prune their lists. They will go through the period of pain we have been going through since 2005 and Melbourne started last year - long, drawn-out rebuilding from the bottom up.

[Rossoneri]

Gotta love St. Kilda radio (1116AM) this morning, saying it was a brave win and a tough win for the saints. They beat a team who hasn't won in Melbourne for god knows how long and have only won two games this year.

Absolutely over-rated and the best thing is, its only going to get worse for them. Their best players are in their prime at the moment and they are struggling big time, with their kids not getting anywhere near any decent game time. They drop their most prolific ball winner yet the greatest front-runner playing ATM, apart from Andrew Embley still gets a game. Their best player is 157 years old, their second best is on one leg suffering from OP, their 3rd best is recovering from a knee reco and their captain is probably the worst in the AFL. Beats up the shit teams but gets found out against a team that is half decent.

As I said earlier, with the new team coming in and taking heaps of picks, this team is going to be farked in about 3-4 years time, and I cant wait to see it.