The AFL announces its fixture list for the 2013 premiership season.
The Saints are looking for a defender to replace Jason Gram. Source: Herald Sun
THE sudden sacking of Jason Gram means St Kilda heads to the national draft with five picks, but dumped Cats defender Tom Gillies is not the answer to their defensive frailties.
Coach Scott Watters has conceded the club will have to reinvent a tall like Rhys Stanley or Justin Koschitzke if it cannot identify a potential defender by the pre-season draft.
St Kilda has lost star onballer Brendon Goddard, the troubled Gram, and first-round pick Jamie Cripps from its midfield.
Gram and his management will consider his options, but he is likely to nominate for one of the coming drafts.
It is yet to be seen if a rival club would consider drafting the 28-year-old, but as a delisted player he becomes an unrestricted free agent.
St Kilda must negotiate the size of his payout with the player union and his management.
Yesterday the exodus continued, with the Saints releasing the much-maligned Raph Clarke and rookie Warrick Andreoli.
St Kilda has five picks - Nos. 25, 26, 41, 44 and 77 - in the November 22 draft.
It could end up saving its final list position for the pre-season draft and while it hasn't ruled out taking an experienced tall, it does not have a player in mind.
The Saints were ecstatic to snare Gold Coast ruckman Tom Hickey and Claremont forward Tommy Lee. But now they will quickly move on from the Gram sacking to try to restructure their defence.
The pressure is likely to be put on Koschitzke to justify his position given the club now has two A-Grade ruckmen and can play Lee and Stanley alongside Nick Riewoldt.
Watters said this week Sam Fisher might end up taking the opposition's main forward, which means the Saints might need to manufacture another rebounding defender.
"It is going to be a squeeze from a big-man point of view. Whether we look at Rhys Stanley spending time down back or Kosi, it all depends what becomes available in the draft and what type of role we want to use Sam Fisher in this year," Watters said.
"We are discussing all the possibilities pretty intently. Towards the end of the year we saw Sam Fisher when he locked down against the A-Grade key forward as opposed to a roaming defensive role, and he was very rarely beaten."
Anda sedang membaca artikel tentang
Saints struggle to fill defence holes
Dengan url
http://sudahterlupakan.blogspot.com/2012/10/saints-struggle-to-fill-defence-holes.html
Anda boleh menyebar luaskannya atau mengcopy paste-nya
Saints struggle to fill defence holes
namun jangan lupa untuk meletakkan link
Saints struggle to fill defence holes
sebagai sumbernya
0 komentar:
Posting Komentar