Preview Round 6, 2019: St.Kilda v Adelaide - Marvel Stadium, Saturday 27th April, 4:35PM AEST

[plugger66]

What's the go with Bruce? I heard talk that he might not come up for this game. Could be a chance to slot a wildcard like Marsh in at FF.

I would seriously hope not.

 

[bird_man]

Nothing is a sure thing, however it would be nice to acknowledge that the Saints are playing good football instead of diminishing our victories.

V GC, close all game, a makeshift backline, no Brown, Joyce third game, Wilkie first game. A close tussle against an underrated team.

V Essendon. Shut down their run with structure. When they got going we held them and were 4 goals up with 2 minutes to go.

V Freo. I reckon our poorest game but took them to within 5 points and Freo has a great formline

V Hawks 26 points down midway through the 3rd. They dont kick another goal we kick 5 snd win. They had two down, we had one. No excuse.

V Melbourne. Just smashed them all over the park. Them 10 day break us 6. 4th qtr we looked gassed and just shut the game down. Most professional display since RTB's days.

I think you play as well as the opposition lets you and our victories have all been meritorious.

Nothing lucky about the way we have played.

I've acknowledged we have been playing good football on dozens of occasions Joff. Definitely nothing lucky about the way we have played. We've been very good, but what I stated were facts and anyone that thinks because we are sitting second we will walk over Adelaide may well be setting themselves up for disappointment.

It's a ridiculously close competition and our biggest tests are all ahead of us, not behind us.

I've been rapt with the start of the year but there is still plenty to prove.

 

[bird_man]

What's the go with Bruce? I heard talk that he might not come up for this game. Could be a chance to slot a wildcard like Marsh in at FF.

I hope that's not true, but if it is, surely it makes more sense to play Marsh out of the back line and move Battle forward?

By all reports Marsh still has a way to go with his fitness so I'd probably look at Joyce instead.

 

[Sheepey]

Derm doing work with the forwards now while the rest do match sim

King can LEAP


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Great to see if he's retained his power and agility

 

[cooperrules]

Bruce looked very sore at training today. Kent had his knee heavily strapped but seemed to move freely. Steele a little restricted with a heavily strapped calf. Everyone else looking great dmac trained fully. King in full training great to see. You can feel the confidence just watching training. There ready to beat the crows.

 

[WhiskySaint]

Think this place has become way too confident as the week has gone on. The Crows aren’t in form and we are coming off a good win. But, although we won by 40 last week, both teams had 20 scores and the crows are a seasoned team with some serious talent. Hopefully we get up, but think it will be close.

 

[cooperrules]

I hope that's not true, but if it is, surely it makes more sense to play Marsh out of the back line and move Battle forward?

By all reports Marsh still has a way to go with his fitness so I'd probably look at Joyce instead.

Marsh was great when he went forward for sandy. Had 2 goal assist and a goal of his own. Attacks the contest hard.

 

[austinnn]

We cant gauge any real improvement until we beat the bogey teams for us like the Crows, PA, Gerlong, and Sydney

Listen I'll agree that Gold Coast Essendon Hawthorn and Melbourne aren't top ranking opposition, but it's clear there's been real improvement from last year, anyone watching the games could see that.

Our tackles stick harder
Our forwards are marking better
Our defence is meaner
Our disposal is cleaner/less chaotic
Our stamina is higher and we're running harder
Our spirit is more positive
Our targets are finding space better

Yes, we won't know how much we have improved until we play the teams you mentioned.

But don't try to tell us that we haven't improved.

 

[plugger66]

Marsh was great when he went forward for sandy. Had 2 goal assist and a goal of his own. Attacks the contest hard.

Dont think he hardly touched it in the last. Good second quarter but ran out of fitness. Doesn't look ready or good enough to play as a key forward.

 

[BrutThough]

If Bruce isn't right to go, would you prefer bringing in Joyce and moving Battle forward or bringing in Longer and having Marshall play as a forward?

They would be our only 2 options.

 

[plugger66]

If Bruce isn't right to go, would you prefer bringing in Joyce and moving Battle forward or bringing in Longer and having Marshall play as a forward?

They would be our only 2 options.

First option ok. Second is terrible.

 

[saintsrfreak]

If Bruce isn't right to go, would you prefer bringing in Joyce and moving Battle forward or bringing in Longer and having Marshall play as a forward?

They would be our only 2 options.

The first one. We've seen now that Marshall is too good as a ruck to play him anywhere else.

 

[KingJim]

If Bruce isn't right to go, would you prefer bringing in Joyce and moving Battle forward or bringing in Longer and having Marshall play as a forward?

They would be our only 2 options.

I wouldn't want to mess with back line right now.

 

[Snailspace13]

To be fair, we've been pretty lucky with our draw also.

We caught Essendon at a good time and Melbourne are a shambles. We were very lucky to get over Gold Coast and got Hawthorn on a good week too.

It's far from a sure thing this week.

There is no sure thing in any game of AFL football
This 2019 Saints team is already a far better outfit than what took the field in 2018,thats clear to see.
We deserve to be 4 - 1 after 5 Rounds.
Being lucky playing certain teams early in the season is CRAP.
Every team has an off season to sort out deficiencies and improve on the previous season and we have obviously done that particuarly well.
We also entered the season decimated by injury,so that makes our efforts in the 5 games to date much more worthwhile.
We entered the season in good form and ready to go,if the other teams werent thats not our problem.
And to all the Media Experts who said we havent played anybody of signifigance yet.Maybe they should revisit their Preseason Ladder Predictions.

 

[Hugh Jars]

There is no sure thing in any game of AFL football
This 2019 Saints team is already a far better outfit than what took the field in 2018,thats clear to see.
We deserve to be 4 - 1 after 5 Rounds.
Being lucky playing certain teams early in the season is CRAP.
Every team has an off season to sort out deficiencies and improve on the previous season and we have obviously done that particuarly well.
We also entered the season decimated by injury,so that makes our efforts in the 5 games to date much more worthwhile.
We entered the season in good form and ready to go,if the other teams werent thats not our problem.
And to all the Media Experts who said we havent played anybody of signifigance yet.Maybe they should revisit their Preseason Ladder Predictions.

This. We were widely tipped to finish 16th or worse, the only game we were expected to win so far was rd 1. So I’m taking what we’ve done so far & running as far as I can! If the boys keep playing the way they have been other teams are actually going to have to play well to beat us, as opposed to us just laying down & letting them walk over us like last year. Keep up the good work Sainters!

 

[austinnn]

We all know they are better than their form shows and the fact is we havnt beaten them in 7 years

Irrelevant.

Different players and coaches on both sides. Different form of key players on both sides.
Different styles of play and immediate form of teams.

Callum Wilkie
Matt Parker
Dean Kent
Rowan Marshall ? (Edit: played last year only, cheers SaintersUnite!)
Ben Paton ?

...never played them in the seven previous games.

Jack Billings
Jade Gresham
Josh Battle
Blake Acres ?

...played in different positions.

Jack Newnes
Jack Lonie
Shane Savage

...had different form going into the game.

Brett Ratten
Brendan Lade
Billy Slater
John Donahoe
Darren O'Shaughnessy

...had nothing to do with our club.

They may be "better than their form shows", but they won't be finding their form with a team like us, we make teams earn every kick, we punish every mistake. We won't drop our heads, we will fight for 4 quarters.

And we're not playing them at their place, they're on the road and in the Saints' home for the first time in a while, big difference when you're used to a hometown advantage which they are.

As another poster said, the only way we're losing this is if we go in with a different attitude to the last 5 games, acting floggish or taking our foot off the pedal. Don't see it happening.

Saints by 4 goals/2 goals and 12 behinds ;-)

 

[DGontheQT]

If everyone chips in for my hire car, petrol and hotel each week id drive the 730kms for every home game

If everyone chips in for my airfare , hotel and slush money , I'll go to China ....... for our home game that is.

 

[SaintersUnite]

Irrelevant.

Different players and coaches on both sides. Different form of key players on both sides.
Different styles of play and immediate form of teams.

Callum Wilkie
Matt Parker
Dean Kent
Rowan Marshall ?

...never played them in the seven previous games.

Jack Billings
Jade Gresham
Josh Battle

...played in different positions.

Jack Newnes
Jack Lonie
Shane Savage

...had different form going into the game.

Brett Ratten
Brendan Lade
Billy Slater
John Donahoe
Darren O'Shaughnessy

...had nothing to do with our club.

They may be "better than their form shows", but they won't be finding their form with a team like us, we make teams earn every kick, we punish every mistake. We won't drop our heads, we will fight for 4 quarters.

And we're not playing them at their place, they're on the road and in the Saints' home for the first time in a while, big difference when you're used to a hometown advantage which they are.

As another poster said, the only way we're losing this is if we go in with a different attitude to the last 5 games, acting floggish or taking our foot off the pedal. Don't see it happening.

Saints by 4 goals/2 goals and 12 behinds ;-)

Marshall played against them last year. Others are correct though.


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[SaintersUnite]

Regarding Bruce’s soreness, the club released their Injury Report just yesterday and it had no mention of Bruce. But that could just be to throw Adelaide off the scent.

Hope he’s fine, but I also don’t want us playing injured players like last year.


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[bird_man]

Listen I'll agree that Gold Coast Essendon Hawthorn and Melbourne aren't top ranking opposition, but it's clear there's been real improvement from last year, anyone watching the games could see that.

Our tackles stick harder
Our forwards are marking better
Our defence is meaner
Our disposal is cleaner/less chaotic
Our stamina is higher and we're running harder
Our spirit is more positive
Our targets are finding space better

Yes, we won't know how much we have improved until we play the teams you mentioned.

But don't try to tell us that we haven't improved.

No one is saying we haven't improved. Not one person. That's not the argument.

 

[George]

Hey George, are they training today? 10am?


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Sorry mate I hadn't logged in untill after 12. Yeah there was a session on today...hopefully you took the punt and got down?

 

[DarkSaint]

Any report from training today besides coopers one that everyone's sore?

 

[gringo2011]

Nothing is a sure thing, however it would be nice to acknowledge that the Saints are playing good football instead of diminishing our victories.

V GC, close all game, a makeshift backline, no Brown, Joyce third game, Wilkie first game. A close tussle against an underrated team.

V Essendon. Shut down their run with structure. When they got going we held them and were 4 goals up with 2 minutes to go.

V Freo. I reckon our poorest game but took them to within 5 points and Freo has a great formline

V Hawks 26 points down midway through the 3rd. They dont kick another goal we kick 5 snd win. They had two down, we had one. No excuse.

V Melbourne. Just smashed them all over the park. Them 10 day break us 6. 4th qtr we looked gassed and just shut the game down. Most professional display since RTB's days.

I think you play as well as the opposition lets you and our victories have all been meritorious.

Nothing lucky about the way we have played.

You can only beat what's in front of you and each victory builds belief. That said Don't disagree that we have had a bit of luck on our side. We have also had our run of shit luck with injury though. We should enjoy the wins but be cautiously optimistic. I ran into a mate who follows Brisbane, a few weeks ago they were top 3 and he was on top of the world talking up finals, he looks dispirited all of a sudden and nervous about getting over GC now.

I don't want to get ahead of myself and find myself like him but can enjoy the victories still. I'm feeling like we are going into a 50/50 game, if I'd done a predictor preseason I would have had Adelaide jumping us by 40 points so it's nice to even feel nervously optimistic.

 

[George]

Listen I'll agree that Gold Coast Essendon Hawthorn and Melbourne aren't top ranking opposition

Huh??

Melbourne made a preliminary final last year and Hawthorn finished in the top four.

This isn't directed at you, but I find it funny when other teams win games we just take it on face value but when we win games there's always a 'BUT'...

We beat Gold Coast BUT they are bottom four so it doesn't count.
We beat Essendon BUT they were in poor form so it doesn't count.
We beat Hawthorn BUT they had a heap of injuries so it doesn't count.

Well Gold Coast are better than people expected, Essendon on their day can beat anyone, and we had just as many injuries as Hawthorn did.

And now people think we won't beat Adelaide because we haven't beaten them for 7 years and they are an experienced team? How's that relevant?

Always some excuse at St.Kilda...we've won the games, fair and square. No ifs or buts. And if we win on Saturday it won't be because Adelaide "are on the decline" or "dont travel well" or whatever the case may be. It'll be because we beat them.

 

[The_Steadier]

I wouldn't want to mess with back line right now.

Yeah nah- the backline has been 'messed with' plenty this year.

Dmac, gears, joyce, paton, brown all been in and out without detriment.

Joyce has shown he could comfortably slot into battles spot without diminishing our defence.

Battle himself has been a useful cog in the machine- but hardly a key factor in the same way as say wilkie, gears, savage have been.