Saints vs Crows: Good and Bad

[Radius]

Watching players like Geary and Ray makes me question whether we're doing enough to develop foot skills. I can't really think of anyone who's kicking has improved the last few years (could be way off). Even Montagna's kicking has gone backwards a bit.

I was listening to Al Clarkson on the radio the other day and he said while kicking skills is a high priority in draftees they still do plenty of work on it. I wonder if we're putting in that extra work.

IMO with Jones it's more poor technique, with Ray it's poor vision/decision making. He made some really smooth passes out of defence, but they were going straight to Crows players half the time. As for handballs, everyone stunk here, even Dunstan was a little sloppy here.

Hawthorn are so well drilled, yes their kicking is good but so is their ability to handball out of congestion. Super clean. Hopefully Gilbee can prove his worth here.
---------------
Now if it really is 10-12 weeks with Wright, then the question arises: do we elevate a rookie and if so, who?

-Shenton: about as close as like-for-like as we can get I think. I haven't paid much attention to the VFL performances but according to this forum he's going alright.

-Weller: If we want another more mature body in the clinches, though we do have Ross waiting in the wings obviously. I didn't see him much up at GC so I'm not sure how he plays exactly but could be valuable.

-Minchington: a handy attacking player but what he can provide that Eli + Billings won't be able to this year? Probably not ahead of Milera either?

Optionally if we think we can cover the loss fine we can just bring Wright straight back in when he's good to go again. Reasonable opportunity though to trial one of the above given where the team is at this year. I'm inclined towards Weller because we know he can handle himself well at AFL level but replacing Wright's run might be top priority.

 

[cooperrules]

Roo awesome jack did his best. Geary what does this guy offer he seems slow and generic? Looked flat and tired Nothing good about a thrashing.

 

[Dopey BJ]

Just got back to the hotel after the game and dinner, not sure if its been mentioned but J Web got Crouch right on the chin with the best elbow l have seen for a long time, my highlight.

 

[Defacto]

I agree, think we are too Roo focused when we are going forward, if we are going to do it, at least ensure there is a small at his feet!

Good today:
Saunders - too his opportunity after being down last week
Dunstan - Great inside, think he looked tired 2nd half so easy week on the track I think!
Webster - think he did some good things today and some not so good, but is young so to be expected
Roo - is Roo as always
Stanley - think he doing better in ruck and took couple good marks today, think it will come for him

Bad:
Jones - getting lots of possies but dont think he did much with them today, looks a bit lost not taggin when watching @ the game I think
Ray - butchers just bout every disposal, but I may just notice his bad ones. Sharron does jump up into contests and spoils opposition marks
Wright - Such a great young bloke who is having crapola luck with injuries, was hoping he'd play 22 this year

both players inside our top 10 for best disposal efficiency. both in our bests this year. would be inside top 10 for b&f.

fair go

 

[StFly]

P.s why was Geary running into open goal 30m out and trying to pass it into the pocket where he missed the target and it rolled out of bounds? My melbourne supporting mate with me told me it was like watching melbourne play, still baffles me.

Confidence, plain and simple.

I recall just starting out, not at all confident in my kicking running into open goal looking to dish off for fear of shanking it and humiliating myself, and easy scenario since I was flanked by 2 teammates who urged me to take it, but Gears no doubt knows he's prone to shanking on the burst, knows he was having an "off day" and subsequently had no confidence taking the shot.

 

[VDS66]

Geary, whilst having a great work rate and grunt is an ordinary footballer. Players like he and Jones will be made redundant once the new crop of kids develop. Some of older players are simply making up the numbers through the transition.

What he did in that instance is inexcusable. he should have taken a shot on goal... show leadership... unless there was a better option

The game was a reality check and on par with what was originally expected. Given more games, we will improve.

What really concerns me are teams like Melb, GWS and Carltank.

We have done our dues and had to make good with what we had re draft picks over the past 10 years. Now its our turn and these bastards keep getting the cream. I am sick of GWS getting top 3 picks after all the concessions they have had. Melb FFS! And now we have Carlton... fckuing pathetic rabble that they are.

 

[The Magnificent Seven]

Hello from a 'neutral' - I'm a Collingwood guy but was invited today because my brother-in-law's mate son was playing (i.e. Billy Longer)

I have to say that I rated Saints in Q1 and fully expected a fight.

Was surprised by 2, 3 & 4 because I don't rate Radelaide. Saw Billy being a big in for you - the stats don't show him being effective but around the ground I saw him contribute to 2 goal assists. He was one of top tacklers! Big upside - keep the faith and back him, he's a good kid and willing to learn and to use his body.

Not sure you'll roll the Dons but I hope you make them earn it next week.

 

[Nutsngum]

Unfortunatly some days you just get a perfect storm of issues that ruins the way the entire team plays.

Soreness and injuries have compounded a bit and this dashes your mental confidence when you lack the experience over half our team (doesnt) have. The veterans stuffing up is more the dissapointment such as Geary and Armo, although he didnt seem right at all most of the match and wont be back next week.

Even in the second quarter, watching Adelaide just get away with so much and out boys just being outclassed was frustrating. Made me want Simpkin in the team to start laying a few bumps to make them feel it.


Dissapointing but right now it is about the future and winning a flag. The kids will learn from this and be better for it.

 

[SaintsSeptember]

Lets remember that Geary is operating outside of his comfort zone. He was perfectly good playing in the backline last season, but because he hasn't made the jump to midfield immediately we're upset. Just like we're upset because we lost a game in a manner that many observers would probably have expected every week this year.

 

[Defacto]

Hello from a 'neutral' - I'm a Collingwood guy but was invited today because my brother-in-law's mate son was playing (i.e. Billy Longer)

I have to say that I rated Saints in Q1 and fully expected a fight.

Was surprised by 2, 3 & 4 because I don't rate Radelaide. Saw Billy being a big in for you - the stats don't show him being effective but around the ground I saw him contribute to 2 goal assists. He was one of top tacklers! Big upside - keep the faith and back him, he's a good kid and willing to learn and to use his body.

Not sure you'll roll the Dons but I hope you make them earn it next week.

thanks for stopping in mate, couldnt agree more. theres massive upside to billy. i thought he battled hard, against tough opposition. thought he moved around quite well and like you said created some opportunities for other players

if i were to compared longer this year to hickey last year, i think longer is ahead already

i'll admit when the rumors circulated of us being into longer (this was before mcevoy left), i wasnt keen at all. given we already paid a price for hickey and had big ben. after the trade i warmed to the idea. wasnt entirely sold. however after seeing him, i am very happy we acquired him

 

[bird_man]

What disappointed me most is our defensive pressure at both ends of the ground. Obviously the delivery forward was woeful but our forwards didn't try hard enough to keep it in and at least slow it down a bit. I reckon our main forwards would have been lucky to have laid one tackle each.

And then the way were able to run the ball through the middle and score at will was disappointing. It's not what Richo has been about the first 3 weeks and I hope it doesn't last.

That thrown in with our appalling disposal and this is what we end up with. Anyway, we are a young team and that is bound to happen so hopefully we move quickly into next week amd are able to put up some kind of fight.

Maister is an obvious out and I think Savage should be sent back to get some touch also.

 

[VDS66]

Lets remember that Geary is operating outside of his comfort zone. He was perfectly good playing in the backline last season, but because he hasn't made the jump to midfield immediately we're upset. Just like we're upset because we lost a game in a manner that many observers would probably have expected every week this year.

Meh, he has been average from the get go IMO. He hasn't suddenly lost his skills. and dare I say it... he has been in the system for ages.

 

[Baldur]

The Good

We know where we are. After defeating two poor teams and pushing a team some expect to be good, but which in fact is poor. We were undecided. Now we know, if we are not bottom four it is only due to some other teams being hopeless, not us being good.

We never quite looked Melbourne or Carlton like, we kept trying to pressure, even if we failed to do it.

The Bad

We know where we are.

Our tackling and pressure skills. Adelaide would draw the tackler in and most often another player as well and just as our tackler reached him but failed to trap his arms the hand ball would go out to the player on the inside in the clear. Left us chasing jumper all day until we knocked up.

Non functional forward line. A forward line does not consist of one player, champion or not. We need to kick to people other then Roo. People have been getting stuck into Maister, but how often was it kicked to him? Given how often Roo was double and triple teamed, somebody must have been eithier free or at least one on one.

 

[StJimmy]

I was also at the game and made it my mission to watch Maister closely as I've had my doubts for quite a while. I'm not happy potting players but if he's AFL standard then i'm coming out of retirement even though it's been 20 years since I've kicked a footy in anger. Seriously he's 100kg and 6'5" and gets out bodied in every contest. Was poor up forward and downright embarrassing down back which is highlighted whenever we won the ball he simply didn't know where to run to create an offensive option. He must be stamped 'never to return', play Lee for the rest of the year so we can make a call if he's a viable long term option.

In complete contrast is our captain who tried his guts out and must be sick of the fact that when they shut him down we simply don't score. If Roo's dodgy knee gives out in the short term we are in a whole new world of pain and will replace the Ds as the easybeats of the comptition. Big forwards are hard to find so we'll need to throw some cash around to see if we can snag someone like Patton.

 

[Sir Skid]

Not taking all that much out of it to be honest.
WA trip took it out of them last week IMO and probably trained too much before this game.

Most looked flat apart from Roo. Eli ran his @ss off from what I saw and tried hard all day.
I went to the game and no wonder Farren Ray was known as APPLE.
Fair dinkum, the coaching staff should introduce him to a saints jumper so he knows which ones to try to hit.

Frustrating seeing Maister flash across the contest neither taking the mark nor gaining possession.
Took one good grab in the fwd line and still missed.
Gotta bring in Tom Lee (Pamela can come too!) next week.

 

[FlyingSledghamer]

Adelaide were hungry and desperate for a win. They played well, and by the start of the 2nd quater some of our guys had already given up at the contest. Plus Jacobs killed Longer.
Sandy were good, time to make some changes for next week.

 

[gringo2011]

I really thought we missed Gilbert and Roberton. Both provide that run out of the backline and once there was no Wright there was no one to run and carry the ball. We seemed to stuff around until we turned it back over to them and looked all at seas. I thought Gilberts game against Melbourne was the difference. Even when he just drew a man to him to create space for the others to position themselves. Roberton was the guy who did a lot of that last year but obviously hasn't been there or up to it this year.

Time to elevate Shenton or Mav who played that role at GCS.

 

[bird_man]

I really thought we missed Gilbert and Roberton. Both provide that run out of the backline and once there was no Wright there was no one to run and carry the ball. We seemed to stuff around until we turned it back over to them and looked all at seas. I thought Gilberts game against Melbourne was the difference. Even when he just drew a man to him to create space for the others to position themselves. Roberton was the guy who did a lot of that last year but obviously hasn't been there or up to it this year.

Time to elevate Shenton or Mav who played that role at GCS.

Fair call. With Wright and Gilbert injured and Roberton struggling I'd definitely bring up Shenton.

 

[Ice-Wolf]

I think Maister needs to be dropped, his inability to mark and poor disposal over the last few weeks have been pretty costly. Needs some time in the VFL to work on the basics.

 

[Curious George]

Good-
Saunders- has something about him! Was breaking the lines when he had the ball and giving 2nd efforts after he disposed off the ball! Great to watch!
Steven- having him back will only help the development of the young blokes in the midfield, get some match fitness and he'll be back to his best!!

Bad-
Kicking to Riewoldt- we kick to him too much!!! At times he had 2-3 guys surrounding him and they still kicked it too him, even though Stanley/Maister were 1 on 1. If we kick to Stanley more it will do his confidence and improve his development faster!!
I think the kids think that if Riewoldt has the ball he will always do something good with it, which is not the case when his outmanned
End of game- didn't stick to Richardsons game plan, so many Adelaide players free towards the end, getting easy touches and making them look better than they actually are!
Wright- poor kid! Last year jaw, this year leg, as Richardson said his here for a career not just 2014!
Some fans- had a lady a few rows infront of me that had to leave at 3qrt time because her son said there's nothing good about this game and wanted to have dinner earlier, She turned around to me and said, 'I'm 74 years old and I've never left a match early before' And i can tell you she wasn't a happy lady!

 

[Half Back Pocket]

Adelaide were hungry and desperate for a win. They played well, and by the start of the 2nd quater some of our guys had already given up at the contest. Plus Jacobs killed Longer.
Sandy were good, time to make some changes for next week.

Danger
Sloane
Thompson
Douglas
Smith
Mackay...

...pretty good midfield.

 

[Rors]

Some fans- had a lady a few rows infront of me that had to leave at 3qrt time because her son said there's nothing good about this game and wanted to have dinner earlier, She turned around to me and said, 'I'm 74 years old and I've never left a match early before' And i can tell you she wasn't a happy lady!

I feel our start to the year (2 wins from 2 games) has lured the 'average' StKilda supporter into a false sense of grandeur for this season.... People are still dreaming of 2009, when in reality, we're starting at 2001-2002 all over again...

Now we just need Carlton to remain shithouse, like 2002, & cheat on the Salary Cap again so we can pilfer their #1 selection...

 

[L_W_P]

Good - Richo showed his willingness to mix things up to try and win. He swung Gwilt to half forward, parked Roo deeper and had the team slow down a little in the second half to try and get the momentum swinging.

Bad - Why didn't he do anything about the Kerrdige/Montagna tag? This was Maccaffer v Cotchin 2.0 and poor Joey was left on the wing all day getting smashed. Why not park him in the forward pocket (or one out in the square?) to get Kerridge out of his comfort zone?

Injuries hurt us alot. Roo and Armo shouldn't play this week. Get them both right for ANZAC Day.

 

[felsty]

I think some plaudits need to go to Adelaide, their strategies and ball use were second to none.
Smith and McKay were switching it every single time they got it which was the majority of times it came into our forward half.
Don't know about McKay but I think Smith had 1 contested possession out of 30 being the loose man.

If Port are the team that is fit. Adelaide is the team that questions your fitness, with them covering a lot of ground through kicking into space. We were buggered.

 

[SaintLex]

I think some plaudits need to go to Adelaide, their strategies and ball use were second to none.
Smith and McKay were switching it every single time they got it which was the majority of times it came into our forward half.
Don't know about McKay but I think Smith had 1 contested possession out of 30 being the loose man.

If Port are the team that is fit. Adelaide is the team that questions your fitness, with them covering a lot of ground through kicking into space. We were buggered.

Yeah, I think we were outcoached. Richo was happy to let Dempster be the spare man in defence but it just meant that Adelaide were double teaming Roo and always had that extra back, which killed us when we tried to go forward. Also helped that they were running and spreading harder than us, and were able to rebound the ball just by sheer numbers.

Outplayed and outcoached, imo. Full credit to the crows.