Preview Round 4, 2021: St.Kilda v West Coast - Marvel Stadium, Saturday 10th April, 4:35PM AEST

[Groater]

Clav isn't playing. Is injured which is why he was wearing the same colour as the best 22.

Interesting and disappointing

 

[Stewart66]

Training the other day, did you find it interesting that Rath spent more time “inspecting” then normal?

I find the fitness query you have puzzling as I’m pretty sure there is a quote floating around from the summer saying the boys put in the work.

There didn’t appear to be a fitness issue prior to the Melbourne game either.

The king king ball kick is frustrating. Granted.

But is that a by product from the smalls not doing enough?

Roughys 360 comments are frustrating. Mentions maybe we were better suited to smaller quarters with games more congested.

The one shining light, is that if true - the playing list is suited to what the game plan change should be. It’s the work ethic that needs to be challenged.

Have sent PM

 

[saintsrfreak]

A pretty pessimistic bunch of supporters here, never seen supporters toss it in so quickly.

Mate, we've just been done to the tune of nearly 100 points by a team of pimply faced goobers and a fat Jake Stringer, I reckon some pessimism is warranted

 

[Groater]

Have sent PM

So tempting to just derail this thread and add on another 30 pages this afternoon

 

[bird_man]

Have sent PM

Did you receive this PM Joffaboy ?

Very interesting

 

[kernelT]

Did you receive this PM Joffaboy ?

Very interesting

Unbelievable, mixed emotions really.

 

[SaintSteele9]

Let’s just do this again Saturday, JB the finisher

 

[gringo2011]

Dgs played Norf. They are Bruce’s bunnies. Tell your mate not to get too confident just yet,


Bruce, Hind, Newnes, Sav and Parker etc, etc, etc.
They’re gone. Let’s move on.
Hindsight is a perfect science....and what’s more, it tends to elevate certain players into the superstars they never actually were.

I said not to trade him before we did it though. Seemed to leave King exposed.

 

[BrutThough]

Let’s just do this again Saturday, JB the finisher View attachment 1096997

Steele was a beast that game.

26 disposals with 20 contested, 12 tackles, 10 clearances and 2 goals.

 

[gringo2011]

Why don't we learn how to play keepings off footy?

Y'know - if you can't beat them - join them

That was what we were trying when we kept kicking to the opposition for the last few weeks.

 

[stavro#4]

I said not to trade him before we did it though. Seemed to leave King exposed.

There was a lot of issues with Bruce behind the scenes.

Wanted big money. Acted like he was prime Rooey.

Wasn’t the most likes guy on the list either.

He isn’t as good as what you think and you should know that having watched him for us.

 

[bird_man]

Yep that is exactly what I'm hoping we do, and I think until we do- we are gonna continue to lose most of our games under these new rules... regardless of 'workrate' or 'effort'.

If we continue to play a game style that is centered on getting the ball forward quickly... even to a 50/50 or worse contest- an increase in 'workrate' is going to do little to help- we will still be giving the opposition the ball back far easier than they are handing it back to us.
That is a death sentence against any opponent who plays possession football.

It will take a major pivot in the way we play though- but I hope we start trying to change our style this week.

Chaos balls forward = out
Quick kicks to teammates and maintaining possession = in

Can't see us making that big of a change and to be honest I don't see it working.

We defintiely need to tweak some things, going to keepings off footy will slow down our play and make it harder to get one on ones forward meaning we are just stuck bombing it into f50 again.

I agree we need to start kicking in front of our forwards more though and I'd like to see us push an extra defender back as much as possible and change the way we set up as we are really lacking quality one on one defenders.

Can't afford to lose the first 6 or 7 centre clearance like we did on the weekend either

 

[George]

There was a lot of issues with Bruce behind the scenes.

Wanted big money. Acted like he was prime Rooey.

Wasn’t the most likes guy on the list either.

He isn’t as good as what you think and you should know that having watched him for us.

Yep

 

[FQFjt]

They were practising exactly that. Pretty poorly too.

I know last couple of weeks have been very poor, but when you look at our team on paper most seem to be good kicks, so I don't see why we aren't capable of this. Wasn't good kicking also Ratten's number one agenda item upon being appointed senior coach?

 

[gringo2011]

There was a lot of issues with Bruce behind the scenes.

Wanted big money. Acted like he was prime Rooey.

Wasn’t the most likes guy on the list either.

He isn’t as good as what you think and you should know that having watched him for us.

He's not a star and was only serviceable but I'd take serviceably over the s**t we are dishing up to be honest.
Steele, Membrey and Howard are the only players to have backed up or improved since last year. Maybe Ross a touch too but if we went through every player on our list there is hardly a winner amongst them. Nearly every player apart from the ones mentioned that polled well in our B and F are either injured or might as well be.

 

[lewdogs]

Marshall back in is massive.

 

[Browny2Carlisle]

He's not a star and was only serviceable but I'd take serviceably over the sh*t we are dishing up to be honest.
Steele, Membrey and Howard are the only players to have backed up or improved since last year. Maybe Ross a touch too but if we went through every player on our list there is hardly a winner amongst them. Nearly every player apart from the ones mentioned that polled well in our B and F are either injured or might as well be.

Were you saying this about Bruce last year? Seriously one good game a year is what you get from him. And having him now wouldnt change a thing.

 

[stavro#4]

He's not a star and was only serviceable but I'd take serviceably over the sh*t we are dishing up to be honest.
Steele, Membrey and Howard are the only players to have backed up or improved since last year. Maybe Ross a touch too but if we went through every player on our list there is hardly a winner amongst them. Nearly every player apart from the ones mentioned that polled well in our B and F are either injured or might as well be.

Look, having met Ratten and having spoken to those who work with him...

I’m going to believe him when he says there will be a response.

I don’t for one second believe the list is poor or overrated.

I do believe the effort isn’t there and players who achieved their first decent season have gotten carried away with that. I hope/suspect that we see the st Kilda we expected this week.

Who knows if that’s enough.

But our best is good enough. Simpson didn’t need to put that in the public arena. He believes it and obviously has concerns we might bring it.

Let’s hope so.

 

[gringo2011]

Marshall back in is massive.

Please don't hurt him.

 

[Pardon me]

Marshall back in is massive.

A fit, game ready Marshall is massive - I hope he's not underdone and we've rushed him back for his sake.

 

[BrutThough]

I know last couple of weeks have been very poor, but when you look at our team on paper most seem to be good kicks, so I don't see why we aren't capable of this. Wasn't good kicking also Ratten's number one agenda item upon being appointed senior coach?

A lack of confidence probably isn’t helping the kicking.

 

[plugger66]

It was plugger66's post in the injuries thread:

You don’t have to keep bringing it up. Yes I would have got black cavier beaten.

 

[gringo2011]

Were you saying this about Bruce last year? Seriously one good game a year is what you get from him. And having him now wouldnt change a thing.

It was fine last year because he played s**t, but it was always coming if he played well and our form fell away. I'm pretty sure our list management would have known that would happen even. Same as any list management decision, last year we performed and Ratten was a god and the best coach we'd ever had, now he's an incompetent second rate Richo. AFL is a tough gig, you have to be made of hard stuff. Wins =grins, failure = hate everyone involved in the club and the AFL. I really chose the wrong club, I hate losing and take it quite badly. It probably wasn't an idea fit. I found out another family link to Richmond recently, how in the * did I manage to end up here. We at least had Carlton and Essendon to laugh at once.

 

[plugger66]

There was a lot of issues with Bruce behind the scenes.

Wanted big money. Acted like he was prime Rooey.

Wasn’t the most likes guy on the list either.

He isn’t as good as what you think and you should know that having watched him for us.

Pretty sure has many good mates at the club going Instagram. He left so I don’t like him.

 

[stavro#4]

A fit, game ready Marshall is massive - I hope he's not underdone and we've rushed him back for his sake.

Honestly, it reeks of desperation that we are praying Marshall’s return from injury and a total of 3 quarters of football in 6 weeks will change our fortune.

If he does perform well and we win. He is our best player. Bar none. But he would have to have a special game for that to happen.