Review Round 1 2016 St Kilda vs Port Adelaide @ Adelaide Oval

[L_W_P]

Paddy kicked 7. I reckon he can fit into next week's side.

Id love him to but it means changing that whole forward setup. Paddy doesnt have the tank to keep running back to goal like that and we cleary want to leave the forward 50 open as "Richo's Paddock".

 

[George]

Dogs might be top 4. Wont be easy.

I reckon we can do it mate we showed last year we are thereabouts with them.

 

[Noidenous]

Dogs might be top 4. Wont be easy.

6 day break off a bruiser like today's game while Bulldogs ran drills against Freo.

Don't think we'll be up to it, somehow.

 

[George]

Id love him to but it means changing that whole forward setup. Paddy doesnt have the tank to keep running back to goal like that and we cleary want to leave the forward 50 open as "Richo's Paddock".

I reckon Roo can play wing with McCartin/Bruce up forward.

 

[saintsrfreak]

Fisher 13 x 1%ers.
Dunstan 9 x tackles.

The question is can we play all of Armo, Ross and Dunstan in the same 22 every week? I am not sure we can. Too similar for mine. Dunstan is on thin ice.

I'd say the potential threat to Dunstan's spot in the side could be Freeman if he gets up and going. Would give us more of that run we need, and looks like he may be a better kick too.

 

[RossFC]

Impressed with your tactic of when we were trying to lock your side inside 50.

You had about 1-3 players on the other side of the ground which forced our defenders to get back to hold them accountable or suffer several goals from out the back door (aka hugging the boundary and end up going to the spare players) from a metre out.

I reckon against sides with average/poor defences (not sydney) you will see scores of 100+ more often than not.

 

[lewdogs]

Lots of positives for today so I'll start with the negatives...

Inability to impact the last quarter. I make no mistakes, we will be disappointed with that effort. We were fumbly and didn't run out the game.
A few players just didn't have enough impact for mine... Eli, Gresham, perhaps others. Still happy with them but reality is there are players that would have had more impact that played reserves today.

So the positives. That's the first one, there are good players pushing for spots, makes a big difference.

Hickey just took a huge step. With Billy to come back, jeez that means we might just have the best young ruck duo in the comp.
Steven and Armo were immense. Also thought Mav was stellar.
Acres... ok, his disposal needs a LOT of work, but... he got involved when the game was still on the line. Very promising game from him in my opinion, I would lock him into the 22 for the year and just watch him improve.
Bruce... just wait till we play a team where we really get on top and he will be incredible.
The game plan had Port on the ropes. It was that period in the third where we were unlucky to concede a few that cost us, could have just as easily gone up a few more goals and really taken a stranglehold on the game.

Look, I am really impressed with today. Port away first round, doesn't get much tougher and we were awesome. It was a great game to watch. Can't wait to see Paddy and Sinclair come in. Exciting start to the season, and I'm still disappointed... that also bodes well I think. The players want to win every game. Go Saints!

 

[StKing11]

- Our midfield was on top today with Steven, Armo and Joey all great as usual. One of the weakest parts of our game last year were clearances, and today we won them 61-44 against a Port side featuring the likes of Boak, Wines, Gray, etc. Armo himself had a MASSIVE 14 clearances, great stuff. Steven just works himself into the ground, hopefully the rest of the comp give him the recognition he deserves this year.

- Ross looks like he's found it at AFL level now and was really good with 30 touches and 6 tackles, but made some poor mistakes in the last quarter (wasn't alone in this).

- Hickey with his best game for the club, now he needs to keep it up. This should light a fire under Longer's ass, there's gonna be a big fight for the No.1 ruck spot between those two going forward. In house competition is a very good thing

- Weller a superb first half and finished with 21 touches, 6 tackles and 2 goals. Has added so many strings to his bow since he's joined our club and looks to be a best 22 player and member of the leadership group for years to come.

- Acres' 3rd quarter shows that he could be anything, we just need to keep pumping the games into him. No stupid sub vest helps.

- Savage ended up with 25 touches but was ordinary, made mistakes and we didn't utilize his kicking enough. I'm still a fan though.

- Billings had a quiet 22 touches, was hoping he'd win us the game in the 4th quarter but we couldn't get it going our way. Still think he's primed for a break out year.

- Dunstan only the 10 touches but a game high 9 tackles and did a lot of the dirty work in and under. Templeton only 10 touches as well and probably the one that would make way for Sinclair next week if we went that way. Hopefully he can string a few games together though, thought he was better then his stats suggest today. Had 2-3 goal assists and makes things happen for us.

- Bruce had a solid game but looked dangerous at times, while Riewoldt was unusually quiet. Something we haven't improved is the constant bombing of the ball inside our forward 50, often not to the advantage of Riewoldt/Bruce.

- Fisher did a really commendable job on Dixon who's got 11cm and 18kg on him. Going to be a long year for Fish though if he's playing on the monsters every week, which is why Carlisle's suspension hurts so much.

- If Lonie can kick 2-3 goals a game like he did today along with the skill and forward pressure he always brings then he will become one of the elite small forwards in the comp. Gresham was fairly quiet on debut but looked like he belonged, great to see him kick a goal with his first kick.

All in all a great 3 quarter effort, followed by a poor final quarter. Dishearting as we should've won that. Onwards and upwards, Go Saints!

 

[PAWt]

Well played today. I thought your team was fantastic for 3 quarters. It was only our more advanced conditioning that won us the game. Good luck for the rest of the season. You're definitely heading in the right direction.

 

[CHBench]

I really can't wait until round 1 next year. Carlisle, Goddard, McCartin, Hurley...

And that Blake Acres 3rd quarter, wowee. That will propel him I feel.

 

[VDS66]

Biggest disappointment was that I thought we could win at 3/4 time, but their cream rose to the top.

Big call, but Jake's suspension might mean the difference between finals and also-rans this year.

Intensity and effort were there in spades, so as they get more games, they will improve - be patient.

Lol that people wanted Hickey traded and stated that Mav wasn't best 22,

Most of us would have taken a 6 goal loss before the game, but as mentioned, the fact that we were ahead makes it a bitter pill to swallow.

We really broke down going inside 50. We needed that 2nd target badly.

Plenty of positives for this old boy.

 

[Armitage2Riewoldt]

I really can't wait until round 1 next year. Carlisle, Goddard, McCartin, Hurley...

And that Blake Acres 3rd quarter, wowee. That will propel him I feel.

Missing 80% of our future/current spine in Carlisle, Goddard, McCartin and Longer.

 

[CursingFijian]

All things considered it was a solid effort. Underdone with match fitness, away from home, against a supposed 2016 contender I thought we attacked that game. Lots of positives.

We're not coming last in clearances anyway!

 

[Mowman]

Missing 80% of our future/current spine in Carlisle, Goddard, McCartin and Longer.

Really good point, Goddard, longer and McCartin with 50 games of experience and Carlisle at CHB

 

[CHBench]

Missing 80% of our future/current spine in Carlisle, Goddard, McCartin and Longer.

Im worried we have 2 #1 ruckmen who can't work in the same team together.. Interesting dual to come.
To be honest I was getting really frustrated with Hickey last year, but from what he produced today (and his previous best) - would be hard to not go with him as #1.

 

[StFly]

Like honestly who had us beating Port before the season started? I doubt anyone did. The dogs next week is a game I think we should win , so if we don't then that's when I'll be disappointed.

I had us getting close.

Port are an attractive team, they run carry and attack up there with the best of them but; they tend to start seasons slowly, they tend to take time to get rolling and if you are going to upset them and going to run with them, it is early. if you look at recent history, it's been their first 6 or so games where Port have been wibbly wobbly and lost unexpectedly against opposition that were frankly below par.

What it hinged on for us, was, for me 2 things;

If Port got challenged and were in distance to pinch a game, could we match them late when they surged?
Could we keep up our run and spread (both offense & defensively) to maintain a superiority over their own ability to spread and thus create enough gap to hold?

For 3 quarters it was unknown and yes, then it red flagged from there because question 2 hinges on question 1 if it occurs. Port should play finals, however after 6 rounds for me, we'll see if they're in line for top 4.

 

[Loyal Sainter]

The fact we won the clearances today (61-44) is a huge step forward for us. It was a real area of concern last year. We're clearly improving which is all we can ask at this point of our rebuild.

How good is it having footy back

 

[Glen Buterol]

Hickey was at Goldstein level today

 

[SK_MD_#7]

Sebby Ross is developing into a very fine player now. Staring to show he belongs at the top level..

Fantastic to see.

 

[hazard]

Yo, Persevering Saint was that you in Bay 536, still barracking hard when the Saints goaled late in the 4th?

If so, onya mate, that was awesome.

 

[mighty_sainters]

Me and my dad are divided, I'm saying Geary isn't good enough he thinks we need that in and under type of player. My point I'm trying to get across is a rebound defender needs to have good disposal, his kicking is abysmal.

I know he'll be playing every round this year and that worries me.

 

[Glen Buterol]

Gilbert's game was underrated. An absolute beast in the middle. 27 touches, 5 tackles & a goal.

 

[Mowman]

Me and my dad are divided, I'm saying Geary isn't good enough he thinks we need that in and under type of player. My point in trying to get across is a rebound defender needs to have good disposal, his kicking is abysmal.

I know he'll be playing every round this year and that worries me.

Hopefully Rice or White can step up and take his spot, from what a few have said on here Rice has a very good kick

 

[Barrels]

Gilbert's game was underrated. An absolute beast in the middle. 27 touches, 5 tackles & a goal.

In the middle as an inside big body, unlike in the backline, his mega shanks aren't so much of an issue.

It's a great move IMO.

 

[NarklesHelmet]

Me and my dad are divided, I'm saying Geary isn't good enough he thinks we need that in and under type of player. My point I'm trying to get across is a rebound defender needs to have good disposal, his kicking is abysmal.

I know he'll be playing every round this year and that worries me.

I really like Geary, hard-worker, intelligent guy, obviously a leader around the club and a great influence etc. The problem is that he is playing in an era when it is now pretty much impossible for a team to carry a poor kick in the back half of the field because so much is set up from there in modern footy. In any other era he would have been fine but footskills are where it's at now and forever more so we just have to keep on getting players in who can kick the ball out of defense.

We've been gradually phasing out our ball butchers over the past few seasons and don't have too many left now. Geary has been kept because he obviously provides fantastic leadership but you'd think that if blokes like Bailey Rice can step up they'll replace Gears in time.