As for Stanley, i see him as a fantastic prospect – i watched many of him games at Sandy last year and he has plenty of talent, whether it is in the ruck or up forward. The Saints are grooming him as their next CHF/FF, and so far he is showing great signs that he will fit the bill nicely! But i don’t think 2010 will be his year. Unfortunately, for a team such as the Saints who are fighting for the flag, blooding kids will not a be a priority, as we saw last year when only Jack Steven debuted. The only way he would get a game is if three of King, Gardiner, McEvoy or Pattison were injured in the ruck. Or if either of Kosi or Riewoldt missed. And if these last two were off the park, it is much more likely McEvoy will take their role with his stronger body. But well done for doing your homework on him as he is a star in the making – just unfortunately not for this year!

And as for DalSanto, i really like his chances this year – he and Montagna were the only two Saints premium midfielders to do a full pre-season, meaning he is very fit coming into round one. He is typically the first tagged Saint and up until last year he seemed unable to deal with it. Fortunately, he showed in 2009 that through hard work and support from his teammates that he can break a tag. And when not tagged, he has the ability to pull in some massive scores! Also, i expect that Goddard, Gram and Montagna will all receive plenty of attention this season (yes, i left out Hayes, but being an inside midfielder he is less likely to get tagged), meaning Dal will get more games without an opponent. His ability to win his own ball in 2009 also really helped him score bigger. Essentially, with Dal you should expect some pretty consistent large scores – but there is still going to be the odd game with 60 points thrown in. I don’t believe his price will go down this year, so he is a good buy in the sense that you get what you pay for with him!