Mick Malthouse is prepared for any scenario St Kilda throws up in terms of who might and who might not play, ahead of Saturday’s round 14 clash at the MCG.
Speaking to the media at the Lexus Centre on Friday, Malthouse said he expects the 22 the Saints named, which includes returning big men Justin Koschitzke and Matt Maguire, to play, but has certainly looked at which players might come in should they, or any other St Kilda player, not take their place.
“I expect their 22 that’s named (to line up), that’s always the case,” he said. “You’ve always got to look at their 22 and say that’s what they’ve put up, that’s what you’ve got to be able to counter, and I don’t see any reason to pick against that.
“If someone doesn’t come up, you look at their emergencies, and some clubs you look outside their emergencies.
“It would be fair to say we’ve looked at all possibilities and probabilities, and I don’t think it’s wise not to look at full lists of players to make sure that you can do your best to counter those players.”
Malthouse went on to declare emerging defender Harry O’Brien fully fit to take his place for the first time since dislocating his shoulder against Melbourne in round 11 after it was the coach himself who made the final call on him not playing last week.
“Our medical people actually cleared him last week. I’ve got to say I was the one with the cold feet.
“Last week he was ready to play, I had him in the side, he was picked in the side. For all intents and purposes he was picked to play. We weren’t playing games.
Thursday to Sunday is just a bit more thinking time, and under those circumstances I just got to the point where I thought ‘do we really need to rush him’, and we didn’t. So this is not being rushed. Certainly, he’s right now.”
Malthouse also commented on a number of other injured players, including Brodie Holland, who will miss this week with Achilles soreness, while Nathan Buckley, Simon Prestigiacomo and James Clement were also brought up.
On Holland, Malthouse said he should only miss one week.
“He had an Achilles the last third of last year, maybe the last half of last year, and because of his suspension we really didn’t push him (during the pre-season),” Malthouse added.
“So he went through a pre-season without a lot of the work done by these other blokes, and he’s just come up a little bit sore. I don’t think he’ll miss next week, he’s had it for a couple of weeks and we’re hoping he’s on the end of that now.”
Meanwhile, Malthouse is encouraged by the progress of skipper Buckley and vice-captain Clement.
“I’d like him (Buckley) to be playing for us, but he’s making steady progress. Under those circumstances of why he missed before, I think it’s encouraging to see him out there running quite well.
“We’ve been very confident about Jimmy for the last six weeks. We’ve known exactly to the one or two weeks what it’s going to be.”
Speaking to the media at the Lexus Centre on Friday, Malthouse said he expects the 22 the Saints named, which includes returning big men Justin Koschitzke and Matt Maguire, to play, but has certainly looked at which players might come in should they, or any other St Kilda player, not take their place.
“I expect their 22 that’s named (to line up), that’s always the case,” he said. “You’ve always got to look at their 22 and say that’s what they’ve put up, that’s what you’ve got to be able to counter, and I don’t see any reason to pick against that.
“If someone doesn’t come up, you look at their emergencies, and some clubs you look outside their emergencies.
“It would be fair to say we’ve looked at all possibilities and probabilities, and I don’t think it’s wise not to look at full lists of players to make sure that you can do your best to counter those players.”
Malthouse went on to declare emerging defender Harry O’Brien fully fit to take his place for the first time since dislocating his shoulder against Melbourne in round 11 after it was the coach himself who made the final call on him not playing last week.
“Our medical people actually cleared him last week. I’ve got to say I was the one with the cold feet.
“Last week he was ready to play, I had him in the side, he was picked in the side. For all intents and purposes he was picked to play. We weren’t playing games.
Thursday to Sunday is just a bit more thinking time, and under those circumstances I just got to the point where I thought ‘do we really need to rush him’, and we didn’t. So this is not being rushed. Certainly, he’s right now.”
Malthouse also commented on a number of other injured players, including Brodie Holland, who will miss this week with Achilles soreness, while Nathan Buckley, Simon Prestigiacomo and James Clement were also brought up.
On Holland, Malthouse said he should only miss one week.
“He had an Achilles the last third of last year, maybe the last half of last year, and because of his suspension we really didn’t push him (during the pre-season),” Malthouse added.
“So he went through a pre-season without a lot of the work done by these other blokes, and he’s just come up a little bit sore. I don’t think he’ll miss next week, he’s had it for a couple of weeks and we’re hoping he’s on the end of that now.”
Meanwhile, Malthouse is encouraged by the progress of skipper Buckley and vice-captain Clement.
“I’d like him (Buckley) to be playing for us, but he’s making steady progress. Under those circumstances of why he missed before, I think it’s encouraging to see him out there running quite well.
“We’ve been very confident about Jimmy for the last six weeks. We’ve known exactly to the one or two weeks what it’s going to be.”
