Game Day Round 7, 2018: St.Kilda v Melbourne

[George]

Previous Meetings:
Round 21, 2017 - Melbourne (14.12.96) defeated St.Kilda (10.12.72)
Round 1, 2017 - St.Kilda (13.12.90) lost to Melbourne (18.12.120)
Round 17, 2016 - St.Kilda (15.20.110) defeated Melbourne (11.8.74)
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Preview

St.Kilda v Melbourne

It seems like a broken record for many Saints fans this year. Bad disposal, shocking accuracy in front of goals, and lack of structure has lead to the Saints falling down the bottom end of the ladder, sitting 16th after 6 rounds with 1 win and a draw to show for it. Media scrutiny at Moorabbin has been intense since St.Kilda's abysmal performance on Good Friday against North Melbourne and it has not let up. A spirited effort from the Saints in Round 5 led some to believe there was light at the end of the tunnel, but last Saturday night's performance against Hawthorn left much to be desired with St.Kilda soundly beaten and the same issues that have plagued the club all year rearing their ugly heads.

Melbourne on the other hand were coming off a 5 day break to face Essendon who also had a short turnaround given both clubs played during the ANZAC Day tribute games. With little rest the Dees looked impressive, taking control of the game after half time to run out 36 point winners. Max Gawn took control late and was arguably best on ground in a superb display.


Let’s have a look at possible best 22s:

St.Kilda Best 22
B: Jarryn Geary, Nathan J Brown, Dylan Roberton
HB: Jimmy Webster, Jake Carlisle, Shane Savage
C: Ben Long, Koby Stevens, Jack Newnes
HF: Blake Acres, Paddy McCartin, Jack Billings
F: Jade Gresham, Josh Bruce, Tim Membrey
FOLL: Billy Longer, Sebastian Ross, Jack Steven
INT: Jack Steele, Hunter Clark, David Armitage, Jack Sinclair

Melbourne Best 22
B: Neville Jetta, Oscar McDonald, Jake Lever
HB: Jayden Hunt, Joel Smith, Michael Hibberd
C: Dom Tyson, Nathan Jones, Christian Salem
HF: Alex Neal-Bullen, Tom McDonald, Christian Petracca
F: Jeff Garlett, Jesse Hogan, Mitch Hannan
FOLL: Max Gawn, Clayton Oliver, Jack Viney
INT: Angus Brayshaw, Jake Melksham, Jordan Lewis, Cameron Pedersen


Medical Room

Midfielder Christian Salem will miss Sunday's vital clash with the Saints following a broken thumb. Meanwhile, star Demons Jesse Hogan (ankle/knee) and Christian Petracca (finger) will have to pass fitness tests later in the week to be cleared to play.

St.Kilda looks to have come out Tasmania last weekend unscathed, and pending Thursday's main training session most of the senior list bar Josh Bruce, Dylan Roberton & Darren Minchington look available for selection.


Preview

St.Kilda's issues continue for another week with the Saints inability to hit a target going inside 50 and poor disposal across the ground leaving them vulnerable in defence, and as much showed last Saturday night with Hawthorn kicking away in the last quarter to inflict the Saints fourth loss from six games, this time by 35 points.

Frustration with the way the Saints have been playing has been well publicised in the media in recent weeks. Questions about the direction of the club will continue being raised until St.Kilda can turn their season around. After a spirited performance from St.Kilda against GWS in Round 5, they were back to their sloppy ways again last weekend and were beaten convincingly in the end.

In a disappointing night for the club, star midfielders Jack Steven and Seb Ross led the way for St.Kilda with 29 and 21 possessions respectively. Steven was named Best on Ground for his efforts in a losing side. Inaccuracy in front of goal continues to plague the Saints, who over the past 5 rounds have kicked only 36 goals. 36.65 to be exact, making it a league worst for set shot accuracy and overall score.

St.Kilda's forward structure seems to be one of it's biggest issues in 2018, Paddy McCartin the only shining light in a forward group that has been deplorable.

Melbourne need to be given due credit for the way they ran over the Bombers in the second half of their game last weekend, having come off a short ANZAC Eve break to take the chocolates. Salem & Jones led the midfield brigade for the Demons, which makes Salem's omission from the senior side this weekend (thumb) even bigger as he has been very solid for the Dees in 2018.

With midfield studs like Clayton Oliver & Dom Tyson only held to 19 disposals each last weekend, I'd expect them to come out looking to turn their individual form around.

Melbourne's season overall has been an interesting one to judge. Wins against Brisbane, North Melbourne and Essendon show signs of improvement from a side looking to play finals for the first time since 2006, but losses against Geelong, Hawthorn and Richmond show me that the Dees aren't quite there just yet. They seem to be beating the teams around and below them, and losing to sides above them. If they are meant to be taken as a serious threat this season, they'll need to start winning the big ones.


Potential changes

After missing last weekends game in Tasmania, rookie Hunter Clark will be keen to regain his place in a side that is crying out for some polish around the ball. With St.Kilda's season on the brink, and many pundits claiming it's season over for the young side, the addition of Clark could provide some much needed experience to the youngster and give us some clean disposal around the ground. With Sandringham having the bye last weekend, it's difficult to see who can stake their claim to come back into the senior side but I feel Hunter deserves a second go.


Key Match-Ups

Gawn v Hickey/Longer
To say Max Gawn's performance against Essendon last Sunday was instrumental would be an understatement. Gawn was back to his stunning best, amassing 42 hit-outs to go with his 16 disposals and snuck forward at stages to come away with two majors. It's never an easy task matching up against one of the premier rucks in the competition and this Sunday will be no different for whoever is selected for the Saints.

Steven v Jones
Two prolific ball-winners who should play majority of the game in the middle. Whoever is able to get an upper hand in the contest will go a long way towards winning the game. Nathan Jones racked up 24 touches in a fantastic skippers outing, leading the Dees to a well deserved victory, whilst for the Saints it was 3 time Trevor Barker Award winner Jack Steven leading the way on Saturday night, with the speedster finishing with 29 disposals in a near best on ground performance for the Saints.

Brown v Hogan
Will be one of the more important areas of the ground on Sunday. Jesse Hogan only finished with 2 goals last week but has the capability to kick plenty more on any given day and St.Kilda defender Nathan Brown will have to play as he has been for most of the season - reliable down back, for the Saints to have a better chance at quelling the Demon's scoreboard potency.

Tip

Disappointment continues at St.Kilda this year after a horror month of football where the Saints have registered just one victory from six outings for the year. I think that the Saints will definitely bring the intensity on Sunday but ultimately fall short, with the Demons being the better form side going in.

Demons by 17 points.


Thoughts?​

 

[Kildonan]

Big match this afternoon - I hope we get a good crowd going

 

[Kildonan]

Remember to wear as much white (and black) as possible

 

[Indie Rock]

Great write up George.

I’m going Dees by 44. This is as negative as I’ve felt about the Saints in a very long time.

 

[MUFKilda]

An excellent piece, George. I've decided to tip Saints by 25 points every week. By the law of averages, it has to happen at some point

 

[nitewalker13]

I am in double mind whether to go or not?

My heart says yes i should go and support players.

My mind says have you seen their games in last 5 rounds?

 

[Pardon me]

This is my sook post before my blind optimism comes roaring in before the bounce so bear with me....

Is acres in?

Dees by 80

 

[MUFKilda]

I am in double mind whether to go or not?

My heart says yes i should go and support players.

My mind says have seen saints playing last 5 rounds?

If you can get along, mate, do so, and give them a cheer for the pommy Saints.

 

[TheEnsign]

I'm not tipping us for the win, but I don't think we're as far off it as the results suggest. It's a very even year and each match is winnable to a greater extent than recent years imo.

North is a much, much better team than they were tipped pre-season (just look at last night) and that wasn't immediately apparent when we played them.

In the last week we've had two fancied finals teams (EFC heavily tipped to rise into the top 8, Swans pencilled in for Top 4 contenders) score a single pointin a quarter of footy - worse than our worst, and normally fatal in terms of winning the game in question. GWS only managed two behinds in 3Q on Friday, and finished with a total (32) lower than any of ours this season.

Melbourne are one of the more consistent teams of the comp at the moment but they struggled to score against Richmond and put in a very unimpressive first half. We play well at Etihad. Although it's an Americanism, this season is very much - on Any Given Sunday, anything can happen.

Go Saints.

 

[DarkSaint]

We have to click sooner or later with our goal kicking and have a perfect game almost.... Think this one might be it strangely

 

[Saint_Matt]

I'll be there. Hope the Saints put in a good showing regardless of the result. Would love to beat the Dees though. In the medallion club so I'll have a good day either way. Go Saints!

 

[Hayes4PM]

I hope we don’t plonk Coffield forward like part of last week, our forward line is struggling can’t expect a bloke who isn’t a half forward and Ha only played a few games to get it done. Membrey, Paddy, Billings and Gresham are the regulars who need to start getting it done.

 

[bennymc7]

I've tipped this every week...

Saints by 2 goals,

Billings to break the shackles with 30 and 2

Longy to start 7 scraps and iron out oliver

Hopefully he remembers the campaigner he played with last year when his eye closed over

 

[MUFKilda]

This is my sook post before my blind optimism comes roaring in before the bounce so bear with me....

Is acres in?

Dees by 80

 

[VDS66]

We always lose games we expect to win, so I reckon we'll win.

 

[Yabadoo22]

I’d rather us get beat 130- 100 rather than 70-60. Just wanna see us play an attacking style of footy with plenty of goals. Give us something. Someone take mark of the year, or kick goal of the year or someone kick 5 plus goals or have 40 touches. Coffield or hunter break out and have 20 odd touches. I just want something to look back on after the game that gives me some sort of optimism. Is that to much to ask

 

[Hayes4PM]

Remembering that first loss to Melbourne in about 10 years

 

[The Jack]

Kick good. Kick straight. All I want.

 

[Saint Watto]

I am in double mind whether to go or not?

My heart says yes i should go and support players.

Go with the heart........it makes it more special if we in fact get up.

 

[Saint Watto]

It seems like a broken record for many Saints fans this year. Bad disposal, shocking accuracy in front of goals, and lack of structure has lead to the Saints falling down the bottom end of the ladder, sitting 16th after 6 rounds with 1 win and a draw to show for it.

An excellent preview post there George.

 

[Saintbloke]

Wouldn't it be good to see a little "out of the box" thinking from Richo today. Carlise starts the game at CHF, Paddy at CHB, Armo as a small FF.Must be dreaming

 

[tim_saints]

Play like we did vs The Giants we are a show, Melbourne have been inconsistent as hell this year too, hopefully we catch em on an off week and we have an on week.

Saints by 15

 

[Tempy Tiger]

Let me tell you from the perspective of a dees supporter, you guys are massive chances. Petracca shouldn’t be playing and Hogan was very proppy last week. Plus we have a lot of plodders lining up, Lewis, Vince, Tyson across the guts. And us playing Weid is like playing with 21.
Very much a 50/50 game.

 

[Joffaboy]

Wouldn't it be good to see a little "out of the box" thinking from Richo today. Carlise starts the game at CHF, Paddy at CHB, Armo as a small FF.Must be dreaming

With Paddy at CHB it would be a nightmare not a dream.

Win the midfield, kick to targets and go in hard.

If we do that ut means we have played to the best of our ability.

If they do that I will be satisified. Not satisified with a loss but the fact we seem to be going forward.

Any more of the dross served lately is just not on.

On [device_name] using BigFooty.com mobile app

 

[Masquerade]

I have a good feeling I think we'll win.