Game Day St Kilda v Brisbane Round 1 NAB Cup 2015

[Noidenous]

Seems everyone's done a 180 on Curren.

Who was he running with?

 

[Axcellence]

The videos are up on the saints website..

 

[Defacto]

Went to the match yesterday with my other half and a mate who follows the Lions. A new venue at Burpengary, that is literally right next to the Bruce Hwy so access driving down from the Sunshine Coast or up from Brisbane was sensational. Parking was over a km away but they had a fleet of buses at the car parks, taking you straight to the ground and the same on return. Very well organised from the Lions and AFL Queensland.

It was hot here yesterday, 30C with high humidity in the morning. Thankfully with a later start time, the humidity had dropped noticeably and there was a gentle cross ground breeze for the first three quarters and a slightly stronger one favouring the Lions in the last. Stadium lights were turned on at 3/4 not because they were needed, but I think they are a shiny new toy that someone wanted to use.

Random thoughts on game and players:
- Skill level from both sides was diabolical. Saints hand balling was atrocious, but Brisbane goal and field kicking was even worse. Lions missed 2 shots from 1 metre out and another where a Lions player ran in and kicked straight through the behinds
- Their kicking for goal was shocking. If accurate we could have been beaten by 10 goals
- Absolutely amazing how many times Lions players kicked it straight to one of our guys, or that we hand balled it to them. Thank god its a practice match and you could see that they were as rusty as us
- So pleasing that we ran out the game. The final quarter was entirely ours, seemed that it only got to Lions forward line 2 or 3 times in the last quarter. BUT if there goal kicking wasn't so atrocious they would have won by miles. The score was irrelevant for both teams, but Lions would have been robbed up if he kicked more in the last

- McCartin was impressive. He presents, leads second and third times and clearly is highly skilled. At warm up he was popping them through from outside 50m over the height of the goal posts. You saw during the game that he was from full forward to back flank. Maybe a little Riewoldt influence there. He is going to be a fantastic long term player for us
- Acres I know many have said on here is deceptively tall, but I couldn't help thinking the same all game. He did enough to also think he could be great for us. Sniper Robinson tried to manhandle him a number of times with Acres giving as good as he got. Also seemed to have a fair tank on him as he covered a lot of ground. Must say he found himself out of position at times, but you could see him seeing that he was wrong and then working hard to fix it
- Newnes best Saints player. Poise, clean, kicked well. He is set for a big year
- Geary - had him next best player after Newnes. He makes such a difference as not only won't he let anything past him, his desperation to make a contest is as always brilliant
- Holmes - WOW firstly he is HUGE. Holmes was one of the ones that I really wanted to see yesterday. After coming on at half time, he had an impact immediately. His kicking isn't long but it is accurate. But it was in the last quarter that he came into his own, with winning one centre ruck contest after another, the ball being cleared and heading straight down to our forward line. I thought he would be unlikely to be elevated this year, now would be amazed if he isn't.
- Templeton - Super super impressive. How he got to the rookie draft is amazing. Genuine pace and covers kms Thought he would tire with distance he was running and heat but seemed as fresh as the end as he was at the start. He will be even better than his start for last year
- Lonie - also came on at half time. This kid has a lot of Stephen Milne about him. Fast, cocky and has a great sense of where the ball will be. Lonie when he has the ball you know he will do something constructive with it. His kicking and passing is very very good
- Lee - bulked up from last season. As a ruck man, he is not. Its NAB, Richo tried that one and now leave him in the forward line.
- Longer - he was actually pretty good. Very competitive in the ruck and was mobile, but not a great impact around the ground, but it was a scrappy low skills scraggy sort of game, so not really going to see ruck men have a big influence around the ground
- Steven - quiet game but some of the things he did showed his speed and ability
- Armitage - was surprised to read earlier someone here saying that Armitage had 28 possessions. He didn't seem to have a big impact on the game, but he was obviously much busier than I thought
- Bruce - made a contest when in ruck, but see that he will end as a back man
- Delaney - quiet game Did appear to be late to spoil at one to one's
- Curren slow, poor skills with few contests and possessions he did make. Suspect he may be filling a spot until youth develop or next draft picks come in, as was very disappointing
- Fisher - came alive in last quarter, but before that looked out of sorts. Not sure whether he wasn't too comfortable with weather
- Ross was good in close, kicking was certainly better than last year, but out wide or in pursuit, he is as slow as treacle. Couple of times Brisbane players used him as a witches hat to simply ran past / around
- Membrey - give him the benefit of the doubt. Did try and did make the contest, but not a one grab player by any means. Needs Riewoldt to teach him not to lead into the dead pocket on so many occasions you wanted to scream
- Montagna - very quiet No real influence on the game at all
- Billings - didn't last very long at all. Didn't see him come off very early in the first. But saw him after half time walking around the boundary without a limp, so hopefully not a big problem. Wasn't iced and he was walking comfortably with Jack Steven (who only played first half)

Love the write up!!!! Especially the bit about acres. I think there's more to be taken out of how a player responds to a mistake than the actual mistake

 

[aussierulesrules]

I agree the other thing I noticed is we were probably doing everything we could to win where as Brisbane seemed to just be going for the run. Just the vibe I got. We just seemed to want it more

It's also worth remembering that that was their first major hit-out of the year after their intra-club game last week got washed out, so they may have been running up and down on the spot by the end of the game, while we at least had last week's hitout under our belts.

 

[Defacto]

It's also worth remembering that that was their first major hit-out of the year after their intra-club game last week got washed out, so they may have been running up and down on the spot by the end of the game, while we at least had last week's hitout under our belts.

Great point!!! Didn't know that

 

[Sunshine Saint]

It's also worth remembering that that was their first major hit-out of the year after their intra-club game last week got washed out, so they may have been running up and down on the spot by the end of the game, while we at least had last week's hitout under our belts.

Very true ARR Lions definitely ran out of legs in the last quarter and seemed to have stopped.

 

[Sunshine Saint]

As to the streaming at yesterdays game. They had two scissor life cranes, one near the northern goals, with one camera man and the other on the wing near the coaches box, with a camera and two guys on the crane. On the wing under a shade shelter there were 3 tech guys with their laptops, control boards etc trying to get all the streaming to you. It was surprising how many people and resources they had to get that to happen for yesterday.

 

[hayes]

Yeah he does nothing at all:

Goals?

 

[hayes]

Lonie did a couple of Schneider-esque things. If he's anything like the Schneiderman that is a massive win.

 

[dewah07]

Damn I wasn't very impressed but I think I had to high expectations on some of our players

 

[SaintsSeptember]

I agree the other thing I noticed is we were probably doing everything we could to win where as Brisbane seemed to just be going for the run. Just the vibe I got. We just seemed to want it more

probably the young guys more than anything else. Players like Fisher, Dempster, Beams , Rockliff etc etc dont need to prove anything

 

[VDS66]

I'm on the Holmes band wagon!

 

[King_Steele]

Thought bruce was fantastic in the last quarter

He was ok, bit of a liability though if you can't kick it through the big sticks, hence that comment.

Heart on sleeve post, as the competitive juices were kicking in.

 

[hayes]

Bruce was probably our best forward. Didn't get an over the back or 50m penalty for a goal but took some marks and was getting touches all over the ground. Nobody wants to see him forward though so he's not going to get the credit.

 

[Defacto]

I'm on the Holmes band wagon!

It's sure is a tight squeeze on here and damn it's good!!!!

 

[Big Mart]

Thought we played ok in the first real hit out

Armo, Weller, Geary.... Very solid... Armo actually better than that...

Everyone else showed a bit here and there

Funny with Ross... He always plays better in the second half of games?!
Does he need the pace of the game to settle, and open up a bit

His disposal, especially by hand was very efficient

The disposal of most players is very ordinary but... Some big worries there

Bruce was a real presence fwd... And defends!

 

[Big Mart]

Leonie is very similar (not fat though) as Schnieder

I think he'll be as good or better

 

[mysainters]

Thought we played ok in the first real hit out

Armo, Weller, Geary.... Very solid... Armo actually better than that...

Everyone else showed a bit here and there

Funny with Ross... He always plays better in the second half of games?!
Does he need the pace of the game to settle, and open up a bit

His disposal, especially by hand was very efficient

The disposal of most players is very ordinary but... Some big worries there

Bruce was a real presence fwd... And defends!

Matrix hands...

 

[Big Mart]

Maybe Membrey was doing a team thing leading wide... To open space for Lee and Bruce?

Wasn't Membrey touted a one grab FF as a draftee and at Sydney.

Leonie seems to play higher than Milne... Like Snieds.

 

[SK_MD_#7]

This Leonie sounds like a good recruit.

 

[Ian Dunross]

I always thought James Hird played better in the second half.

The bluster would fall out of the game, and his reading of the play and skill would allow him to stand out.

Plenty of examples of players looking better later in games when mental fortitude and gut running take over.

The athletes can look good in the first half, the footballers can take over in the second half. Ross definitely a footballer and not an athlete.

On that front, goodness I wish they would cut rotations, the rolling maul style of football is not only ugly, it makes it easier for unskilled footballers to keep up with your Billings, etc.

 

[Kildonan]

Great to hear. What part of half time was that, because immediately after the 2nd quarter ended I watched as everyone walked onto/across the ground from the bench, to see if I could see Billings and he was the last one to cross and he was walking very gingerly and slowly indeed. I haven't checked out the replay, but if they haven't cut it off it ought to be in the footage.

I did hear last night that it may have just been a cramp though- although getting a cramp in the first 5 mins of a game is pretty unusual I would have thought! Hopefully that's all it was.

Great to hear about the slippery ball as well. That could explain a lot. I think we'd have to be pretty happy with the hitout overall, for a number of reasons.

I saw Steven and Billings walking just after the siren to start play for the third, I think.

 

[ike2112]

I found it interesting that the best 2 rucks on the day were Smith and Holmes; the two least-experienced players on the ground.

For Brisbane Smith looks a beast, if he could just guide the footy a little better - he was getting first touch almost every time in the first half, but not always to a colleague. I reckon they must surely feel with him and Stefan Martin, they ought to have traded Leuenberger.
Holmes looks a little more awkward, especially that moment where he got a free kick and looked a bit clueless as to what to do with it, but he was able to give Saints great first chance at the restarts. Longer still looks a little lightweight, and a bit one-dimensional in his ruckwork to me, but he was obviously fitter than Leuenberger as had more spring left in the 4th.

A little worried that once again Lee was posted missing a lot of the time. One great piece of play in the 2nd, other than that barely noticed him. Membrey had moments, but was frustrating. Saw more of McCartin than either of those two, and that leads me to think he might well be pushing to play round 1. Bruce was the only tall forward that was a consistent presence, and he's the one who has to do the least to get a spot given he will offer pressure, versatility and is expected to pinch in the ruck better than Lee. No he doesn't exactly look like a AA KPF, but remember he's basically the foil for the other forwards - he is playing what was the Beau Maister position this time last year, so I'd say he's a definite upgrade!

 

[Kildonan]

I don't think this match was a good one to assess Membrey's performance. His stats don't reflect all the unrewarded efforts and physical contests he was involved in. Add that to a first half that provided limited opportunities for the forwards, they all performed quite efficiently.

 

[joop]

I found it interesting that the best 2 rucks on the day were Smith and Holmes; the two least-experienced players on the ground.

For Brisbane Smith looks a beast, if he could just guide the footy a little better - he was getting first touch almost every time in the first half, but not always to a colleague. I reckon they must surely feel with him and Stefan Martin, they ought to have traded Leuenberger.
Holmes looks a little more awkward, especially that moment where he got a free kick and looked a bit clueless as to what to do with it, but he was able to give Saints great first chance at the restarts. Longer still looks a little lightweight, and a bit one-dimensional in his ruckwork to me, but he was obviously fitter than Leuenberger as had more spring left in the 4th.

A little worried that once again Lee was posted missing a lot of the time. One great piece of play in the 2nd, other than that barely noticed him. Membrey had moments, but was frustrating. Saw more of McCartin than either of those two, and that leads me to think he might well be pushing to play round 1. Bruce was the only tall forward that was a consistent presence, and he's the one who has to do the least to get a spot given he will offer pressure, versatility and is expected to pinch in the ruck better than Lee. No he doesn't exactly look like a AA KPF, but remember he's basically the foil for the other forwards - he is playing what was the Beau Maister position this time last year, so I'd say he's a definite upgrade!

Did we watch the same game? Holmes and smith were most definately not the best rucks out there. Here's some stats that would suggest otherwise too.

Luey: 6 disposals, 2 marks, 12 hitouts.
Smith: 5 disposals, 1 mark, 8 hitouts.
Longer: 7 disposals, 0 marks, 26 hitouts.
Holmes: 2 disposals, 1 mark, 7 hitouts.