Having quite a few friends who are suffering Saints fans i have had to tread very diplomatically around the topic of 2009, however when the topic has arisen, the prevailling view (sometimes said with great bitterness) is that the Saints would have won but blew it.
Now whilst I will admit that they missed about 5 to 6 gettable shots , the basic premise is that they played over Geelong at various stages and didn't put them away. The other premise (admittedly not spoken) is that Geelong took all its chances and likewise DIDN'T blow their chances..
Starting with the second premise first - agree the Saints did miss about 5-6 shots from about 25- 40 metres out. Probably were going to miss a number on a very, very wet and wild day under a fair bit of pressure. My biggest "beef"with this argument is that Geelong also "blew"about 3 goals - think Selwood missed a shot from approx 30 metres/no angle and two given away by poor discipline/free kicks by Scarlett and Milburn. In essence, pretty close to"evening up the "blowing it"ledger. (please note for any Saints fans reading this who may point quickly to the Hawkin's Goal that wasn't one - this is not relavent to this argument, as the claim is that ""the Saints blew it", not "the umpïring cost us.
the first premise - that Saints played all over Geelong (particularily in the Second quarter) - whilst the game definitely ebbed and flowed, I don't think that there was any 15-20 minutes where Saints so dominated the play that they were peppering the goal square. In essence my view is that this was a wonderfully contested game which did swing in ascendancy until the last 10 minutes where Geelong was a little better in the clinches and the Saints (probably) were more exhausted than Geelong due to the draining game against the Bulldogs the week before.
Views ?????
Now whilst I will admit that they missed about 5 to 6 gettable shots , the basic premise is that they played over Geelong at various stages and didn't put them away. The other premise (admittedly not spoken) is that Geelong took all its chances and likewise DIDN'T blow their chances..
Starting with the second premise first - agree the Saints did miss about 5-6 shots from about 25- 40 metres out. Probably were going to miss a number on a very, very wet and wild day under a fair bit of pressure. My biggest "beef"with this argument is that Geelong also "blew"about 3 goals - think Selwood missed a shot from approx 30 metres/no angle and two given away by poor discipline/free kicks by Scarlett and Milburn. In essence, pretty close to"evening up the "blowing it"ledger. (please note for any Saints fans reading this who may point quickly to the Hawkin's Goal that wasn't one - this is not relavent to this argument, as the claim is that ""the Saints blew it", not "the umpïring cost us.
the first premise - that Saints played all over Geelong (particularily in the Second quarter) - whilst the game definitely ebbed and flowed, I don't think that there was any 15-20 minutes where Saints so dominated the play that they were peppering the goal square. In essence my view is that this was a wonderfully contested game which did swing in ascendancy until the last 10 minutes where Geelong was a little better in the clinches and the Saints (probably) were more exhausted than Geelong due to the draining game against the Bulldogs the week before.
Views ?????