Discussion How do we beat geelong?

[vinum coupe]

you need to create doubt in our back half.

Kosi and Roo need to run back into the 50 numerous times (and take some grabs) to make the back 6 think twice about peeling off up the ground.

Without it you are stuffed.

The day a team works it out we will have a loss.

 

[alo_saints_fan]

Clearances were clearly in St. Kilda's favour the last time we played (round 4), but the scoreline obviously went Geelong's way, largely due to their run from the backline..

This is why we definatly should bring X Clarke Back.
he has had 4-5 weeks in the VFL, and he should now be match ready.

X can put some serious forward line pressure on and this is what we need, we need to give geelong as little time as possible to clear it out of our 50, by pressuring them, and make them rush it out, or bomb it.

Hopefully with Gram, Goddard, Fisher buiding a wall they can take the pill and pump it back in as soon as it comes out and give Roo and Kosi a fair crack at the pill in the air, with Milney and Schnider runniong back with the flight to get the crumbs, if no mark is taken 1 on 1.

 

[Half Back Pocket]

Pray Geelong play bad!

Rather that saints play really well.

Perhaps somewhere in the middle (Cats play bad, Saints play well).

There's no doubt that the Saints playing well - and I'm not talking about kicking 20 goals playing free-wheeling, pretty footy - will seriously hamper the Cats ability to play well, and vice-versa.

As has been mentioned before...a tough, hard-tackling, high-pressure game is required to stifle Geelong. Limit their run from defence, applying heaps of pressure on Milburn, Mackie, Harley & co.

Saints 11. 6. 72 def Geelong 9. 9. 63

Would love to see this type of low scoring result. Whoever gets the young kid (Roo or Kosi) needs to fire and kick a bag. Roo playing high (and running back with the flight), Kosi in the square on Scarlett could be the best option.

 

[Squizz]

you need to create doubt in our back half.

Kosi and Roo need to run back into the 50 numerous times (and take some grabs) to make the back 6 think twice about peeling off up the ground.

Without it you are stuffed.

The day a team works it out we will have a loss.

Agree. Usually the game is won in the middle, but I also think it will be won or lost in our forward half.

I fear Geelong's rebound, and we will need to ensure that Kosi's man does not go charging off up the ground. The Saints need to work it so that we keep our structure i.e. get one of the smaller guys to switch opponent and run with them.

Thanks for your post which (1) acknowledged that Geelong can lose (2) actually had some thought put into it (3) still expressed confidence that the Cats will win (without talking the other team down).

 

[vinum coupe]

Agree. Usually the game is won in the middle, but I also think it will be won or lost in our forward half.

I fear Geelong's rebound, and we will need to ensure that Kosi's man does not go charging off up the ground. The Saints need to work it so that we keep our structure i.e. get one of the smaller guys to switch opponent and run with them.

Thanks for your post which (1) acknowledged that Geelong can lose (2) actually had some thought put into it (3) still expressed confidence that the Cats will win (without talking the other team down).

no probs. To define it further.
I'd probably have Kosi at full forward leading out and Roo on the wing leading in. Just to change the angles a bit and not let the cats know where they have to run to, to double team those guys at the same time. After that it's up to your guys to choose the correct option.

You'll get enough forward 50 entries to win.
We'll probably get more but if you upset our back 6 then the ball wont come in too well.

If we get on top just take notice of how many shots are within 30 metres. We run it in a long way.

The other issue you may have is legs. One of the benefits of the cats game style of 'over using the footy' is that we create a lot more mini contests all over the ground than other teams. (i.e. opportunities for us to turn it over to you) Some (most) teams get sucked in by trying to attack the ball carrier to get the ball off us all day. But due to all that running to each opportunity to block a handball, or tackle, or smother it tends to run teams down. Which is what I suspect happened to the hawks versus us. They made skill errors late which I put down to fatigue.

Anyhoo, I'm off.

Good luck

 

[Hinkley29]

......New England was undefeated for the entire season until they lost the Superbowl against the Giants.......

A comparison between NE and Geelong is flawed.

NE were amazing for the first two thirds of the season as they were trying to give the big F-You to the NFL because of the Spygate controversy.

However from about week 10/11 onward, they were nowhere near the same team. They stumbled over the line against some ordinary teams in the last 6 weeks and won a couple of games that they were extremely lucky to win.

NE then were ok in the playoffs without being good. By the time the Superbowl rolled around, they were nowhere near as good as their record. They were prohibitive favourites in the Superbowl because of their record, not because of how good they were playing.

Geelong on the other hand, started the season in average form, winning games in fairly unconvincing fashion. The late preseason start (along with Ottens not playing - our most important player) impacted our early season form pretty badly. Then over the last 2 months, we have hit our best form and we our playing our best footy of the season right now.

Geelong are steamrolling into the finals, NE limped into the playoffs. The comparison is flawed.

 

[SaintsSeptember]

I think we can all agree that there a number of Cats supporters who agree that the Cats are unbeatable and that the Saints do not have a chance.

Thank you for your input. Now please stop repeating it.

 

[SaintsSeptember]

no probs. To define it further.
I'd probably have Kosi at full forward leading out and Roo on the wing leading in. Just to change the angles a bit and not let the cats know where they have to run to, to double team those guys at the same time. After that it's up to your guys to choose the correct option.

You'll get enough forward 50 entries to win.
We'll probably get more but if you upset our back 6 then the ball wont come in too well.

If we get on top just take notice of how many shots are within 30 metres. We run it in a long way.

The other issue you may have is legs. One of the benefits of the cats game style of 'over using the footy' is that we create a lot more mini contests all over the ground than other teams. (i.e. opportunities for us to turn it over to you) Some (most) teams get sucked in by trying to attack the ball carrier to get the ball off us all day. But due to all that running to each opportunity to block a handball, or tackle, or smother it tends to run teams down. Which is what I suspect happened to the hawks versus us. They made skill errors late which I put down to fatigue.

Anyhoo, I'm off.

Good luck

Thanks for the constructive postings. I hadn't really noticed the mini-contests. It will be interesting is the Saints try their slow start , fast finish game. If we get to far behind we will be doomed.

 

[Persevering Saint]

Okay, this is going to be a long one. Here we go.

I read 4 pages of this thread before I'd had enough of Geelong supporters basically writing us off. Two things. The thread is on the St Kilda board and isn't "CAN we beat geelong?" but "HOW DO we beat Geelong?" Apart from the fact that you do not constitute the "we" and so have no part in the conversation, even if you DO have something to contribute, your not-so-subtle implying that, "Simple, you Sainters CAN'T beat us" is not constructive to the point of the thread. If all you've got to say is that it's impossible, alright, we get that this is your point of view, now leave.

Second, this "You can't beat us" is EXACTLY what helps teams from a momentum point of view - the weight of past victories is meant to play on the opposition's mind. You Cats supporters are displaying exactly what you hope is going through our players' minds - you want them freaking out at your momentum. Here's the problem for you - Ross Lyon has shown over the past 10 weeks that he has psychologically trained our players to not listen to that kind of stuff, but instead to focus on their goals and parameters, irrespective of who they play. The intimidation of you blessed 21-1 is worth very little when playing St Kilda.

Might I remind you that the last time we lost to you, we were in terrible form, nothing like the 8-2 form we have now. We had Fraser playing in one of his last games, allowing Scarlett to charge off the backline. And we only lost by 42. Might I also remind all of us that we beat you in the NAB comp, and while that doesn't count for much, I do remember that Kosi did very well that day. Further, our forward line pressure in the 42-point loss was terrible, bordering on non-existant (partly, as I said, because of a tired old Frase). Now we have several players, such as Gwilt, Raph Clarke, etc, who have been played in the backline for ages to develop pressure tactics, and have now been moved to the forward line to create defensive pressure from the opposition backline. Essendon had 21 chances to come out of defense from behinds-scored on Sunday, and couldn't break us - and YES, you're heaps better than the Bombers, but the point remains: we have a vastly improved defensive forward line.

Next, our midfield has increased its ability to tackle people like crazy - that is what lost you that 1 game this year. At the beginning of the year, the only tacklers we had were Ball and Lenny - now Jones is going nuts, as is Birss, McQualter, Gram, Beeg. Your magnificent ability to have 8 or 9 midfielders is offset by our ability to have people from our backline, such as Gram or Beeg, also play on the midfield very effectively.

Moving to our backline, we have two All Australian nominees there. We afford all due respect to your backline, which is also filled with AA nominees, but don't forget that Sam and Maxy are part of that bunch, and Beeg could well be in that group as well, if not for having spent the first half of the year regaining form after a knee reconstuction.

Basically, you haven't played the current Saints team. Our forward, backline and midfield are all completely different. There are players you haven't played against, there are players who were inexperienced before but are now pretty darn good, there are players who weren't played in the positions that they have now made their own. Throw in that we have, technically, more finals experience in our side than yours do, and that we have the emotional pull of Harvey's last chance at flag, and that my friends, is how the Saints may well pull off an upset.

Have a nice day.

 

[dg102]

I just watched the geelong - wc game from last weekend. Ive seen alot of geelong this year, but something that was very apparent in thier last game was that they short pass alot around CHF and around thier 50m line and espesially in the coridor inside 50. Against WC they kicked 10 goals at least that i noticed in the 2nd half from these type of chips to open midfielders inside 50.
Very different to us where we ussually try boot it to a big marking forward and let crumbers try get on the spoils.
I think playing a zone defence with an extra player filling in that danger zone would be a nice start to stopping thier marking inside 50 and scoring.

 

[beejay]

well said perservering saint. and wce did stay with geelong for a quarter which is interesting.... we just need 4 hard quarters from the boys which wev struggled to do this year.

i do remember earlier this yr against cats that first quarter which we had the better of gee but only had a slim lead due to the fact we kept missing. I remember the commentators sayin that would come back to bite us and it most certainly did. we just need 4 hard quarters with accurate disposal and we're a chance.

 

[geelong_crazy26]

I think Geelong by a point. As silly as this sounds if all of our impact players played well. E.g Kosi, X Clarke, Nicky Dal, if all of these guys played at their full potential i reckon we'll get very close. We're an extremely talented side, we just don't perform like you guys do. This week tho, Cats by 30 i reckon

So you believe St.Kilda's best 22 s just as good as Geelongs best 22? I measure talent of a team on the outcome of performances, not on hypothetical nonsense and "what if's".

If your list has a much tallent as you make out, and is close in comparison to the tallent of the Geelong side, then you would have performed much better, performance is a indication of tallent and St.Kilda are a country mile behind Geelong the past two years.

Stop living in the past of your 04 side and move on, your window of opportunity has been well and truely closed, it is time to start rebuilding a team around riewoldt, ball, kosi, goddard, so when these players are 27-28 you have another shot at a flag.

You are no where near as talented as Geelong, i would say the gap is pretty accurately resembled in our last outing where we won by 10 goals, about 10-12 goals better we are roughly at our best compared to yours.You have a couple of good players, but after this you have no depth at all, their are 22 players in a football side, not half a dozen, and Geelong have a list of 22 tallented players they name, St.Kilda's best 22 compared to Geelong's best 22 would not even compare, If you were to go thru the two lists and rate each player compared to the oppositions equal player in position, Geelong would win hands down well over half, about 15 or 16 of them.

 

[Squizz]

 

[HoldenMCaulfield]

Squizzy -

geelong_crazy26 - please just go away !

 

[geelong_crazy26]

Squizzy -

geelong_crazy26 - please just go away!

I came on here thinking this was a realistic proper discussion, to my amazement, their has been excessive ammounts of drivell been posted about by St.Kilda supporters.

I will be back after sunday's game to quote all of the stupid obsurd posts you have been making here and have a big laugh directly at it and remind you how unintelligent and unknowledgable you all are for even saying it in the first place.

Untill then keep posting, just give me more evidence to quote and laugh at.

 

[Squizz]

I will be back after sunday's game

What, you don't think the psychiatric authorities will be able to catch up with you before then?

 

[WASaintsFan08]

and ill laugh if st kilda pull the upset of the season and beat geelong and then collingwood go and exit geelong in straight sets..... not impossible we just need to cause a stirring win

 

[cartwright]

Squizzy -

geelong_crazy26 - please just go away!

I came on here thinking this was a realistic proper discussion, to my amazement, their has been excessive ammounts of drivell been posted about by St.Kilda supporters.

I will be back after sunday's game to quote all of the stupid obsurd posts you have been making here and have a big laugh directly at it and remind you how unintelligent and unknowledgable you all are for even saying it in the first place.

Untill then keep posting, just give me more evidence to quote and laugh at.

it was, until you entered the discussion.

god forbid supporters of a footy side think their side can actually beat another.

 

[Signd Sealed Saint]

omg if the Saints win i dont want to see the state of the Geelong board...

 

[Might&Magic]

*Sigh* A lot of these Geelong supporters have absolutely lost all sense of humility. I wonder if they realize how much embarrassment they will be subjected to IF (I admit the odds are against this happening but it is not totally impossible) the Cats actually fail to lift the Grand Final trophy at the end of this season. Total devastation for these guys I would say. Many would lose face... I hope they will have enough balls to offer their apologies to all those people they've been very boastful and arrogant towards these last few months or so.

I agree the Cats are currently a champion team. I believe however that it is the element of humility that makes any champion truly great --- respected and admired by all --- not despised. Just ask Robert Harvey.

 

[SaintsSeptember]

I'm not saying the Saints will beat the cats, but I reckon they can have as good a shot at it as any other team in the contest.

 

[Joffa 5]

So you believe St.Kilda's best 22 s just as good as Geelongs best 22? I measure talent of a team on the outcome of performances, not on hypothetical nonsense and "what if's".

lets not trim around the edges here, i will ask you a direct straight forward question

hypothetically if both Geelong and St. Kilda play at their 100% best, what do you think the results would be?

Ummm, I rest my case your Honour

 

[My5t3r10u5]

I came on here thinking this was a realistic proper discussion, to my amazement, their has been excessive ammounts of drivell been posted about by St.Kilda supporters.

I'm not sure what drivell you are talking about. Most comments on here seem to acknowledge that Geelong are likely to win but are suggesting how St Kilda should play if they are to pull off an unlikely win (and only an idiot would say Geelong are certainties). If you are going to disagree with what is being said then by all means constructively criticise, but it is a cop-out to get personal (ie. "drivell") with out one shred of argument as to why it's drivell.

From my perspective the issue in this game, and in every game the Cats play, is confidence. Geelong think they are going to win and they therefore play with dare and confidence. If the Saints can make the Cats start to doubt themselves, this is where the game will be won or lost. To do this the Saints must come out firing. If the Saints lose the first quarter I cannot see them coming back.

 

[Squizz]

Ummm, I rest my case your Honour

Ahhhh ... Borat!!! .... Vary Nice Joffa ....

​

 

[Squizz]

From my perspective the issue in this game, and in every game the Cats play, is confidence. Geelong think they are going to win and they therefore play with dare and confidence. If the Saints can make the Cats start to doubt themselves, this is where the game will be won or lost. To do this the Saints must come out firing. If the Saints lose the first quarter I cannot see them coming back.

I for one thank Geelong for playing the game as it should be with an attacking flair. Confidence does breed confidence.

Unfortunately for some supporters it breeds complete arrogance, but your post helps to prove not all of the posters are nutters with the blinkers on.