Autopsy Round 2, 2021: St.Kilda v Melbourne *SPUD'S GAME* *SINCLAIR 100TH*

[puppy_dog7]

Commiserations on the loss.

Here are the midfield frequency stats from the game - if you haven't seen these before this is an overall summary of how often your players were lining up as one of the mids (inside + wing) at bounces.

Overall Summary - 26 Bounces

Ross 20 (4w)
Steele 20
Billings 18 wing
Gresham 15
Battle 14 wing
Jones 13 (8i, 5w)
Clark 9
Hill 8 wing
Sinclair 7 (4i, 3w)
Bytel 6

Hunter 23
McKernan 3

Centre Clearances

Gresham 4
Sinclair 2
Hunter 2
Steele 1
Ross 1
Clark 1

Top 5 Pressure Acts (from that group)

Hill 27
Billings 21
Battle 20
Steele 19
Ross 19
Jones 19

Breakdown by Quarter - Q1

Ross 6 (1w)
Gresham 5
Steele 5
Billings 5 wing
Battle 4 wing
Jones 3 (2i, 1w)
Sinclair 2 (1i, 1w)
Hill 1 wing
Clark 1

Q2

Hill 7 wing
Steele 6
Ross 5
Gresham 5
Jones 4 (2i, 2w)
Clark 3
Billings 2 wing
Battle 2 wing
Sinclair 1 wing

Q3

Billings 6 wing
Ross 5 (3i, 2w)
Steele 4
Battle 4 wing
Jones 3
Clark 3
Gresham 2
Sinclair 2
Bytel 1

Q4

Steele 6
Billings 6 wing
Bytel 5
Ross 4 (1w)
Battle 4 wing
Gresham 3
Jones 3 (2w, 1i)
Clark 2
Sinclair 2 (1i, 1w)

Notes:
- Half as many starts as last week for Clark & Hill
- Much more inside this week from Ross (only 20% wing starts last night vs. 55% against GWS)

Pretty disappointing to not see Higgins rotate through especially considering he was so quiet forward

 

[Tyrian Lonestar]

Still believe nearly every side bombs the ball forward.

Agree and sides do it all the more when they start losing in a game.

 

[Munga]

The play that summed up the night was Hill calling for the ball and having a ping from 60 meters out instead of trying to hit up one of the guys who'd lead for the ball. We were down at ground level and Hill calls for the ball in bad positions. He's a liability. You can see him asking for the ball and think it's already turned over before he takes it. Him and Jones are going to have to do some seriously good high effort football before I can even look at them again. I am repulsed by both after last night, a sh*t fake tough man that looked like something out of the Dees and a soft moisturiser addict who is more interested in his instagram profile than his football craft. ******* embarrassing, if you are going to be a mercenary footballer who asks for top dollar at least be good when you do play.

Yeah I've noticed that too, calling for it in bad positions. It's all gone to sh*t a bit, the big signing struggling, the coach and press calling to use Hill more, now he's calling for it in bad positions... it's not ideal. It seems the other players are damned if they pass to him and damned if they don't.

 

[AFLOnline]

Anyone else still *in filthy or just me?

 

[SAINTsincebirth]

I thought that Howard with 29 possessions and 8 marks was terrific for us, but Salem had 30 possesions and 10 marks and IMO was one of their most influential players. Our forwards need to be better than that and not allow a defender to have so much impact on a game.

Actually wonder why if a defender is having that sort of game why one of the small forwards who was having a s**t night anyway was not given a shutdown role?

 

[NarklesHelmet]

I think Ratten needs to own this error.. The game plan hasn’t really changed that much from Richo’s long bomb and pressure only game.. the only difference is we traded in better players last year and Ratten asked the ball to be hoofed to 1-25 metres from goal (deeper entries).. This is a flawed/predictable game plan and will be found out against good teams or teams who plans for this. Hope Ratten wise up to this.. because currently when we do win, we never control the midfield battle, just a rush kick/bomb to the hot spot and expect our small forwards to pick up the slack if tall forwards can’t mark.. basically riding our luck which worked in a shortened games last year. teams like Geelong/Collingwood/Richmond/West Coast can control the midfield, we need to as well if we want to be a top team.

Spot-on.

You look at the teams playing well this year (Eagles/Dogs today a good example but there are plenty more, like Adelaide last week). They’ve adjusted to the new rules really well. The play on often and roll off, knowing the man-on-the-mark rule means no-one can touch them, and use that time to decide which leading forward to hit up. No “kicking to a spot”.

This new rule gives players who can kick and are good decision makers the time and space to execute their skills.

As you mention, the ball simply doesn’t hit the ground as much now, meaning our pressure game is largely negated.

Unfortunately, we’ve kept our long bomb game plan after it did so well last year (plenty of dewy games that suited it), and, on last nights evidence, don’t have the players with the skill to really take advantage of the man-on-the-mark rule.

We have to completely change our forward entries, and hit up Membrey Winx and whoever else with kicks out in front of them. Small forwards will be less effective now (we can probably even do without one of them). But as we’ve set up our team and list for the long bomb, not sure it will happen.

Massive few weeks coming up for the footy club. Time for the coaches to earn their money.

 

[SAINTsincebirth]

Pretty sure there were fans at the finals. My point stands. This week was no more important than last week.

Sorry Gringo, I was there. There was aleast my Family & I there.

 

[puppy_dog7]

Anyone else still fu**in filthy or just me?

Not just you.

 

[Tyrian Lonestar]

Anyone else still fu**in filthy or just me?

I've moved on already.

3 newbies in Bytel, Highmore and Hunter, no Carlisle, Ryder, Marshall, Crouch, Geary etc.

Sure Saints played a bad game but Dees didn't really capitalize did they. Imagine if we'd played that way against a top side.

3 years ago we'd have lost that game by 100 points and taken a huge % hit!

 

[Jade Buddha]

I don’t think turning Danny’s tribute game into a wake helped. Should have been a celebration of the man not a funeral.

 

[Diehard Saint]

I don’t think turning Danny’s tribute game into a wake helped. Should have been a celebration of the man not a funeral.

Exactly my thoughts when seeing it.

 

[Roddy Grant]

Ed Sheeran said earlier in the week that his way of processing bad news is to write a new song.

Heard he was at the game last night so expecting a belter of a hit to be released soon.

 

[Joffaboy]

I've moved on already.

3 newbies in Bytel, Highmore and Hunter, no Carlisle, Ryder, Marshall, Crouch, Geary etc.

Sure Saints played a bad game but Dees didn't really capitalize did they. Imagine if we'd played that way against a top side.

3 years ago we'd have lost that game by 100 points and taken a huge % hit!

I had moved on by 3/4 time.

 

[Jade Buddha]

Still believe nearly every side bombs the ball forward.

Yeah but they have a capable tall forward to mark it. Ours seem to go missing when the entries come in.

 

[LiterallyNobody]

I had moved on by 3/4 time.

I moved on when the ******* on the seat in front of me turned around to tell me be quiet.

I had bigger things to worry about than football at that point.

 

[Diehard Saint]

Anyone else still fu**in filthy or just me?

Pretty disappointed still.
Especially when I watch a game like the Eagles/ Dogs have just played by comparison.
Just trying to convince myself it was an aberration. I guess we’ll soon find out.

 

[Joffaboy]

Ed Sheeran said earlier in the week that his way of processing bad news is to write a new song.

Heard he was at the game last night so expecting a belter of a hit to be released soon.

Ed cant wait to get the scarf off

 

[kernelT]

Anyone else still fu**in filthy or just me?

The Ivan Milat doco got my head back on track.

 

[stfan]

Top 5 Pressure Acts (from that group)

Hill 27
Billings 21
Battle 20
Steele 19
Ross 19
Jones 19

Thanks for the stats.

But with Hill topping the pressure acts, one has to wonder what it measures as from a spectators view his game was very much the opposite of pressure on an opponent.

So quite amazing that he could be top of such a statistic.



It is was inducing pressure in fan's watching then I can relate to that.

 

[LiterallyNobody]

Thanks for the stats.

But with Hill topping the pressure acts, one has to wonder what it measures as from a spectators view his game was very much the opposite of pressure on an opponent.

So quite amazing that he could be top of such a statistic.



It is was inducing pressure in fan's watching then I can relate to that.

That makes sense actually. He was in a lot of contests but it was his disposal that let him down. Pressure acts don’t measure efficiency unfortunately.

 

[Jay Beast]

Anyone else still fu**in filthy or just me?

Embarassing display.

 

[stfan]

That makes sense actually. He was in a lot of contests but it was his disposal that let him down. Pressure acts don’t measure efficiency unfortunately.

I often saw him arrive at a contest, but not apply what I would consider real pressure. So I suspect proximity may be included.

 

[kernelT]

Zak Jones

3

Zak Jones

Age

29

Ht

182cm

Wt

84kg

Pos.

Mid

Career

Season

Last 5

D

17.8

4star

K

10.0

4star

HB

7.8

5star

M

3.4

3star

T

3.0

5star

CL

1.7

4star

D

19.1

4star

K

10.6

4star

HB

8.6

4star

M

3.4

3star

T

3.1

4star

CL

4.9

5star

D

7.0

2star

K

2.8

1star

HB

4.2

4star

M

1.0

1star

T

1.6

4star

CL

1.0

3star

- how many other top 8 midfields would he get a regular gig in?



Asking for a friend.

 

[Jade Buddha]

Seems we’ve turned on Hilly pretty quickly. He was being praised last week for clever play and a great wet weather goal. This week he’s an absolute disappointment that should be dropped.

 

[SAINTsincebirth]

Seb was one of our better players so in a way it was vindicated, but I found it strange to see him start in the middle yesterday after the round one game. Ross didn't go to many CBAs for the entire GWS game and Clark was clearly preferred, so it was odd to see him start yesterday as a midfielder and Clark spent the game in between half back and midfield. Clark played pretty poorly anyway so it didn't really matter but it was interesting to see a concerted adjustment before the game had even started.

I think due to Melb's mid field being bigger, Hunter was getting man handled.