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Welcome to Tigers: Jason Castagna
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Apologies AA. I’ll attempt to express the nuance of my thoughts more clearly.
2019 was monumental. A dominant team stacked with talent that would ultimately win a flag!
We also had Dan, Butts, George, an emerging Shai, Higgo and the enigmatic Stacky. A plethora of small forward riches that was the envy of the comp. Butts was flying in the magoos after being dropped from the 1s early on but found it difficult to get back in. Quite simply, we had 6 quality small forwards vying for 3 positions on the ground. A numbers game which did not work out for Butts unfortunately.
Key point I was trying to make was that a poor list management in 2017 contributed to this situation.
So yes, with the benefit of hindsight, IMO recruiting Higgo was a big mistake by the club. Blair or Clarke? Dunno. And yes, I also reckon that letting Butts go at the end of 2019 was a mistake!
Hindsight can be helpful, but always much prefer the benefits of foresight myself.
The small forward role under Hardwick was extremely taxing. Almost a short career death sentence.
Butler the first to burn out. He was cooked and would never have reinvented himself in another position due to his football ability limitations. Next to go was George. Just couldn’t commit further to the relentless and thankless defensive running required with our game plan. Heading in the exact same direction was Rioli who was on the slide but redeployed as a defender which ended up being a masterstroke. And a career saver.
Those who think we made mistakes letting Butler go and others blaming us supporters for running George out of Richmond, don’t have a true grasp of the situation.
And don’t forget Stengle couldn’t get a game in the seniors under Hardwick as he didn’t fit the relentless running mould.
But agree that under the circumstances, we should never have recruited Higgins unless they thought he was a midfielder in the making. Didn’t make sense at the time and even less so now
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He'd have to be untaught a few things then
So far his kicks and handballs usually hit targets
DA don't think Butts suffered from burnout, more to do with lack of opportunity. Flying in the magoos in 2019 and was under consideration for AA selection in 2020. Hugely underrated imo. As for Tyson, was traded to the Crows in 2018 so not a consideration for 2019.
Can’t imagine a situation where Butler was flying in the VFL and unjustly denied an opportunity for promotion but I’ll defer to your memory as it’s probably better than mine.
But my recollection in his AFL games in 2019 was of a player so horribly out of form that he couldn’t get a kick standing behind a horse.
Think St Kilda’s use of small forwards gave Butler a renewed lease on life however his form in 2023 onwards has again declined significantly from his initial output.
Still think we could have got better than pick 56 for him though.
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Yep, Dimmas small fwd graveyard claimed alot of victims.
Higgins played a different role that Castagna, Butler etc. He did play midfield at times, played more as a roaming half forward than a forward pocket-maybe a cross between Kane Lambert and Butler. He walked straight into our dominant 2018 team and was one of our best in our 2 finals.
in 2019 he was averaging nearly 20 disposals and a goal a game through 10 games before his form fell away and his brain issue was subsequently discovered.
He made us better and if he stayed healthy and sensible he would still be making us better now- that from a pick 17 is a win.
Funny draft- 2017- i reckon picks 15-31 are better than 1-14.
A family member got a tattoo by him. Wasn’t too bad. I joked that he improved from the stick figures he started withI noticed Ant laughing so I might as well confirm I wasn't joking.
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May not have explained my point well enough, but think we had enough small forwards at the time and should have taken another tall marking forward. We went small again and picked a hybrid ruck with our next pick. Thank God Balta was available at our next.
Higgins doesn’t play midfield at St Kilda but agree he’s a very handy half forward. But he does love to lurk and none of our forward players are allowed to do that
Ah, totally get it now Aegean. Yeah .. the draft experts on here would know better but a quality mid or KPP would have been great to have instead of Higglet right now. We did have a surplus of seemingly very good small forwards at the time.
This idea that we recruited Higgins as a stay at home small forward is just wrong.
In his final year of u18s he averaged 24 disposals per game- plus 2 goals.
Playing for Vic Metro he averaged 27 disposals- plus a goal a game.
And then with us he often played further up the ground. At the Saints he has transformed into an I50 player, but that is not who we recruited.
Agree… and don’t forget Rioli… every forward in that 2017 GF team no matter how tall or small they were had the ability to compete in the air… this is why Dimma loved George and Dan… it’s rare… Butts and Stengel never had much of an aerial game… but good on the deck. Butts can chase, Stengel doesn’t have the leg speed to chase but high footy IQ for the crumb and finds space.
It’s why Bobby Hill and Ellliot are valued by McRae.
You need small forwards who can fly, crumb and chase. Rare commodity.
I still remember when Butts down with syndesmosis in 2018. Reckon it hurt the team and just possibly it took him a lot longer to get back to get back peak fitness then we realise.
Saints got a steal.
Was never ever going to be a full time mid in the AFL Brodders. Hybrid at best but no suggestion of this possibility even at the Saints. If Clarke recruited him as a mid then I’m even more pleased he is now with the Eagles.
Not a full time mid, but not just a "small forward" as is being suggested in here.
In juniors he played both roles well, and in his first year and a half with us he continued to play that role well.
