Review Positives & Negatives V Saints

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Virtually no chance of a home final for us this year. We're likely off to Adelaide to play Port. Although if we lost to North next week we would finish 5th and maybe play the Saints or Giants at home in an elimination final.
Assuming we beat North (nightmares of the hawks loss last year still with me) and the cats win tomorrow night, we'll play Port in Adelaide. If the cats lose, we'll most likely play Collingwood in Perth. The pies side will be almost at full strength compared to when we played them earlier, it would be a tight tussle. I started off not minding finishing 5th if it meant getting an extra week in Perth but now I'm on the 4th boat and giving us a shot against a mentally fragile Port who may or may not still have nightmares about playing us at their own home ground lol.
 
Great win, just below the Geelong comeback for mine

+ Kelly, repeat multiple efforts, keeps his feet and has such clean skills, throw in a crucial goal for an all round performance
+ Gaff, his across the body kicking still irks me, but he was great tonight, putting himself in the right spot all around the ground and playing the percentages
+ Nicnat - didn't have it all his own way, but persevered and was highly influential when the game was there to be one with some key clearances and a sublime handpass (18 disposals in the wet!)
+ Duggan is joining Sheppard as being one of our most solid, week in week out, supreme confidence whenever these two are involved in the play
+ Darling, great hands in the wet and is our most important lead up target when we get stuck on the wing - rarely seems to get beaten these days
+ Barrass, outstanding marking and spoiling as usual
+ Hurn, seems to cop it on here, sure he's dropped off compared to recent years, but he still does all the basic things right
+ Schoey, great to see him back, his hairline has receded even further but his game hasn't
+ O'Neill, felt like he had more than 6 touches to me, starting to look like he belongs more and more
+ Ainsworth, his best game so far? shut down Jones and seemed more involved than he has been, massive confidence booster
+ felt like watching the future of the eagles, have a look at the team song and see the younger boys getting around each other
 

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Gutsed that one out. Fantastic win. Keeps the top 4 dream alive.

Kelly. What a game!! Gaff and NN damn good as well. The remnants of our midfield want a flag as well!

Ryan continuing his form, seemed to have kicked Kennedy out to a wing today (might just be perception but seemed Kennedy got most of his disposals in the back half)

Everything else as mentioned

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Gov. How many more injuries can we get!

Nothing else negative to say about it. Walking away with the four points was crucial and guys stood up when it was their turn.
 
All the stars (injuries) lined up to make this a reality, but it's pretty astonishing that they all actually ended up playing a game together. The full set lol.
I'm really happy that Brayshaw got to have this moment.

The magnificent 7, there’s a book in there somewhere
 
Positves-
+ liam ryan- gun
+ time kelly- should have kicked 3 but awesome game
+ being able to yell out “your goal hill “all night much to the supporters of the saints around me getting more and more annoyed
+ qld eagles fans rocking out to the song- dont know why everyones complaining


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The 2017 draftee pic is cute and all but it stings that half of them were our worst on ground. Petch and Brander give me Houlihan/Staker/Lamb ptsd. These guys are coming into their 4th years and we still have such a low bar set. Not sure how Ainsworth is effective as a tagger but hopefully he can carve himself out that niche and contribute to the side. Felt a little bit embarrassed for Brayshaw - surely he doesn’t get drafted if he has a different surname.
 

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When the team pulls off a win like that it makes the world ok again for a few days 🦅

Kelly showed what his future will hold, anyone who judged him early based on this crazy season at the club is seeing a glimpse of why we wanted him so bad...absolute gun for us going forward.
Nic Nat - the heart and soul of the club.
Ryan just love love love him.
Gaff 100% game time and 100% work rate, he needs a premiership
Everyone who stood up, thank you
Our coach...what a guy 😍

- Gov 😢
 
When the team pulls off a win like that it makes the world ok again for a few days 🦅

Kelly showed what his future will hold, anyone who judged him early based on this crazy season at the club is seeing a glimpse of why we wanted him so bad...absolute gun for us going forward.
Nic Nat - the heart and soul of the club.
Ryan just love love love him.
Gaff 100% game time and 100% work rate, he needs a premiership
Everyone who stood up, thank you
Our coach...what a guy 😍

- Gov 😢
:westcoast: :westcoast: :westcoast:
 
Duggan - Patrolling the centre square with that look of toughness about him, quick to react and lay a tackle and stop the ball going out the other way, the perfect match for Kelly who is looking to attack. Duggan played out of position tonight, laid 6 tackles, had a massive amount of metres gained per possession because he fully understood the game situation and what needed to be done, pumped it inside 50 5 times and top 3 for pressure acts.

Kelly - BOG here, just grit and courage over the ball, 9 clearances, got hands free, lead the game for pressure acts. He looked like Elliot Yeo in the sense that you could tell he wanted it. The spotlight was on him and he delivered in spades. Tackled well, handballed amazingly well and controlled the ball with ease where others struggled. Kicked a goal and had 2 goal assists himself with over 500 metres gained. Again, he just understood the way the game needed to be played.

Barrass - An absolute mountain of a performance! He held the Saints at bay and took 7 marks, 11 intercept possessions and 16 one percenteres (mostly spoils)!! The entire backline was good for the majority of the middle portion of the game, but Barrass was the one who stood up early. sh*t mixed someone in the second quarter that really set the tone for the others to stand the fu** up when the ball is in pursuit on the ground.

Gaff - Surely a record for the season with 14.5 kilometres of ground covered!? Never seen numbers like that in the shortened version of the game. 100% TOG, 8 intercept possessions, kicked a goal, hit the handball release from Kelly at pace and broke the lines and laid 4 tackles as well, with a great one on Jones in the middle of the ground to end the third quarter from memory. 13 contested possessions amongst that for a natural winger.

Darling - Another who had to play 100% TOG, lead the game with 4 contested marks, always keeps his feet, ran 12.9 kilometres which is the second highest on the ground behind Gaff (more than players like B. Hill, Ainsworth, Duggan, H. Clark). Kicked 2 goals, gave 2 goal assists and to be honest just did a mountain of work in a makeshift team that was lacking endurance players. Bravo Darling.

Naitanui - Got schooled early, then changed the game late. 18 touches, 16 contested, 9 of those clearances and 7 of those inside 50s. Like Kelly and Duggan, he knew where the tall timber was, and he knew that getting it in quick was the best way of giving them a fighting chance. Add 3 tackles to the mix, 2 marks and 3 intercept possessions and he basically won his position through determination and strength. Had a poor moment over the ball in the last quarter, but again he dug deep and then was instrumental in giving us the late momentum. The issue for the opposition is that they know what he wants to do, but are powerless to stop him.

Ryan - The most dynamic player on the field, can change a game and often will. Can roost the ball from 55m much like Jetta and all of a sudden he is looking more confident with his field kicking and ability in traffic. Seriously exciting.

Hurn - Played a great game, got rested, came back and played another very good game. It is great to see that he knows the tempo of the game and he can move the ball still when the desire is there. Much preferred his direct approach over the short kicks this season. 17 touches and every single time it was a kick.

Mentions also to Sheppard, Nelson and Schofield, both of whom played very good games and held the team together down back. Sheppard stands out a lot down there as the only defender with good acceleration. Schofield is just old school reliable, big fists, good bumps, good tackle technique. Nelson got better as the game went on, for those willing to see the replay I think you'll see his work was good at ground level was awesome after quarter time. I trust him with the ball in hand.


As for the negatives;

Passengers - We have too many, and that's the way it goes with this amount of injuries. Would have been nice to see XON get more than 55% game time, but he was one of the worst for standing back and waiting for the ball, then getting stuck in no mans land, neither on top of the ball nor manning someone. Brayshaw also didn't see much game time. I am sure they are fit enough, but it sucks having us rely on so few. Almost like they're passengers by design.

Brander - Some good signs, but again just looks a bit soft sometimes. Capable at AFL level though, no doubting that.

Petruccelle - Never looked dangerous, I don't even mind that he fluffs the kicks, but just get it some more and set someone else up for goal. Put his head over the ball that one time and got hit hard, good on him though.

JK - Took ages to get going but he finished strong, like he had more energy late than he did at the start of the game.

Rotham - Love him, think he has what it takes, but that was a shocker. Dropped marks and fumbles at ground level, you're better than that.

Ainsworth - If he tagged Jones, then awesome work on that front. Jones had 8 touches at quarter time, finished the game with 15. Awesome work. But please go in and get the ball when it's your turn and try get more than 6 disposals. Not a bad handballer and can hit a target by foot if given time. I think he is clean below his knees, confused why he appears to have lost weight, but assuming it's to fit the running role more.
Great write up.

Gaff not getting enough love for playing 100% every game in the midfield with the condensed fixtures. It's a phenomenal effort and greatly helps the load management for everyone else.
 
Brander - Some good signs, but again just looks a bit soft sometimes. Capable at AFL level though, no doubting that.

I hope I am wrong but to me Brander seems to overthink and doesn't play naturally.

You see him look really fluid on the wing, running picking up the ball and spinning etc. But then when it comes to a simple handball give it's like he has to think about if it is the right call and all of a sudden it's knocked down etc.

I am not sure if he makes it in the midfield where there is more action going on. Putting him in a spot where he has to worry about traffic coming from one general direction could remove these excess decisions.

He needs to simplify his game.

That hit late, to me seemed like he was again overthinking the contest and trying to win a free kick.
 
Positves-
+ liam ryan- gun
+ time kelly- should have kicked 3 but awesome game
+ being able to yell out “your goal hill “all night much to the supporters of the saints around me getting more and more annoyed
+ qld eagles fans rocking out to the song- dont know why everyones complaining


Sent from my iPhone using BigFooty.com
queagles?
 

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