Positives from the Freo game

[TonyModra]

Well I can only think of one..
I think Lenny Hayes played really well tonight and glad to see him back up and running.

What other positives do you think came from that game for you guys?

 

[Punter!]

Despite the injuries, we still played some good football and definitely had our chances to win the game, if not for our bloody inaccuracy. Lyon is trying to instill his preferred style of play into all the saints players. As compared to the hawthorn game, we were more attacking and direct, but still managed to maintain the defensive side of our game. If and when we get key personnel back, the football world will be shocked to witness the type of football stkilda can manifest. It will be a mixture of sydney and west coast i imagine..

Other positives:

Game time to Armitage - you can just see glimpses of his pending brilliance, with time and experience he will develop into a key player no doubt.

Koschitzke - he has played 9 games in a row!

Gilbert - playing some good football. Very impressed for his 5th or 6th AFL game. If he puts on size, he has the height (194cm) to play key position, but could see him as a running backman or even a wingman.

Gwilt - getting better as a key backman. Keep in mind he has only played around 10 games of AFL football, give the lad a chance. He's doing a sh*tload better than zac dawson or brett thornton or any of those bums. He might be better suited somewhere else, but we are yet to determine that position. In the interim he has been servicable. Might stand up as the 3rd key backman when hudgton retires and maguire/s fisher hold down the main defensive posts.

Hayes - simply inspirational, robert harvey like. The rest of the footballing community please take note.

Blake and Rix -despite their critics, I was reasonably impressed with their keen efforts. Rix is improving as a tap ruckman. Blake is becoming a decent tagger.

Another huge ask next week against geelong. Harvey out is no help. If we kick straight who knows.. So very frustrating when we don't capitalise on our opportunities.

Goal kicking is a controllable element stkilda needs to work on. Our innacuracy has featured in other games this year, but has hurt us none more so than against freo.

 

[BrianSpeaking]

The Scorpions, sorry the Saints are ****ed for this year, end of story. Roo needs to learn how to kick straight if he wants a 200K payrise.
We will get a top 4 draft pick I reckon, we are gone.

 

[Harvey's Crew]

A positive which I can kinda think of with our current position is, even though we are 4-5, we know how much of a change Lyon has brought in, and we look alot like Sydney. Now Sydney arent the greatest starters of seasons 2 but they build they're way up during mid season and end up getting in a final... hopefully that happens to the saints

++'s 4 the match tonight were Gilbert and Hayes good return... also Riewoldts work rate was superb despite inaccurate kicking

 

[West Coast 06]

Hayes, Gilbert and Gwilt were good.

You got plenty of inside 50's.

Fiora didn't break his neck!

 

[ricta]

The Scorpions, sorry the Saints are ****ed for this year, end of story. Roo needs to learn how to kick straight if he wants a 200K payrise.
We will get a top 4 draft pick I reckon, we are gone.

Scorpion tag is a bit of a scape goat, that game was winnable by the saints, scoreboard didnt reflect how much closer it was.

i think you need a real good kicking coach down there, too many behinds

get a few key players sooner rather than later and your season will be back on track

 

[ThomasR]

Positives: Lenny Hayes, Sam Gilbert, Riewoldt injured but busting his guts again, Armitage showed signs

Negatives: I think immobility is actually our biggest problem at the moment. We have a lot of talls out there but when we have players like Clarke, Kosi, Blake, Rix, Gehrig who take an eternity to change direction out there on the park at once, it makes ball movement difficult and turnovers imminent.

Skill below knee level was appalling, as was the kicking - worst I've seen it for a long time. Gwilt, Fiora and Kosi are the worst, and there were just too many kicks falling short or just going over players' heads. Bugger the game plan and tempo footy - can we just get back to basics?

It worked in Sydney because they're a bunch of hacks to which the game plan suited them perfectly, but we actually have a fair bit of talent on our list but it will just go to waste if we keep trying to thrash out games.

Milney has to go soon (probably when X returns) and should take John Barker with him. Average footballer considering what potential he had, who decided that he'd make a good assistant coach?

 

[Big Member]

Disagree with Gwilt, Rix and Blake being positives. You can't afford to carry that many blokes that can't kick a football.

Positives for me:
- Armitage showed his ball winning ability and hints of class that we may see in years to come.
- Kosi keeps showing glimpses of what he can do. Only a matter of time before it all comes together. Please leave him deep at FF next to the G-Train.
- Hayes = more clearances.
- Gilbert will be a very good player. Find of the year.
- Riewoldt never disappoints because he tries so hard, but it would be nice if he could improve his kicking for goal.
- Sam Fisher did a great job 1 on 1 against Pav. While Pav kicked some important goals, Fisher wasn't at fault and I thought he limited his effectiveness very well.

 

[ShadowFax]

POSITIVES

- Gilbert: Continuing to develop. Hes got a great build for the modern game. He's 194cm, hard at the ball, can run, breaks the lines and can kick 50m.

- Lenny hayes' return : simply, one of the elite midfielders in the comp.

- More game time for youngsters: gilbert, armitage, gwilt.

- Positive style of play: against Hawthorn we didnt initiate any attacking play or run off half-back. This week we did and we did it pretty well against a good running side on a big ground. Just too bad we didnt convert our good play into scoreboard pressure (dominated the 2nd & 3rd qtrs but only scored 4.12 to 4.3)

 

[pol06]

gwilt was terrible. key defenders must be able to defend, dont give them credit for cheap kicks they receive, gwilt was absolutly killed by tarrant

 

[LiterallyNobody]

For ****s sake, you guys sling the boot into Gwilt qwuick don't ya?


He's played ok the last few weeks and as soon as he has one bad game everyone's on his back - delist him, trade him, shoot him dead.... FFS, he hasn't even played TEN GAMES yet, give the kid a damn chance....

Positives - well i got a tip.... we played better than against hawthorn last week. Season isn't over yet. (there's 22 rounds in a season)

 

[Punter!]

gwilt was terrible. key defenders must be able to defend, dont give them credit for cheap kicks they receive, gwilt was absolutly killed by tarrant

- And there in your argument lies your key misjudgement. Gwilt is not a key defender. Do we honestly expect him to beat established key forwards every week with less than 10 AFL games experience and a handful of games playing at full back?? Of bloody course not. But with the backline decimated, he is one of the players being asked to step up and fill the void. If you ask me i think he's done a decent job. Tarrant only kicked 3, Hall only kicked 3 a few weeks ago, he wasn't disgraced against hawthorn and the best full forward in the comp kicked 6 against him (fevola). Fev kicked 8 against essendon, does everyone turn around and say 'let's shoot mal michael' or 'is dustin flether is past it?' No. It's not uncommon for key forwards to kick goals, especially on inexperienced defenders.

Everyone get a grip and stop taking your frustration out on gwilty.

Kick straight and we'd have won. End of story.

 

[bluejay]

- And there in your argument lies your key misjudgement. Gwilt is not a key defender. Do we honestly expect him to beat established key forwards every week with less than 10 AFL games experience and a handful of games playing at full back?? Of bloody course not. But with the backline decimated, he is one of the players being asked to step up and fill the void. If you ask me i think he's done a decent job. Tarrant only kicked 3, Hall only kicked 3 a few weeks ago, he wasn't disgraced against hawthorn and the best full forward in the comp kicked 6 against him (fevola). Fev kicked 8 against essendon, does everyone turn around and say 'let's shoot mal michael' or 'is dustin flether is past it?' No. It's not uncommon for key forwards to kick goals, especially on inexperienced defenders.

Everyone get a grip and stop taking your frustration out on gwilty.

Kick straight and we'd have won. End of story.

Oh how much do I agree with you. I don't get why some people in this board jump on Gwilt as soon as he has a bad game, after just only 10 AFL games on his body.
I just disagree with you on one thing: I still mantain Fevola didn't kick 6 on Gwilt, he kicked just 3, the other weren't Gwilt's fault at all.

 

[pol06]

as soon as he has a bad game........ when has he played well????? if you honestly think he is good enough to play afl football you obviously have no idea what so ever. and to the guy who said he isnt a key defender, well he is playing as a key defender when he lines up on tarrant isnt he! dumbarse

 

[Monika72]

I think Sam Gilbert who Grant wouldn't play is playing some good football he has been the stand out this year when you look at the youngstars at St Kilda. Gwilt is still learning the game and he will take time. The biggest frustration in the last two years has been new players coming into the team, or lack of them. That's why I beleive Gilbert can be special.

 

[sammm]

Positives: Lenny Hayes, Sam Gilbert, Riewoldt injured but busting his guts again, Armitage showed signs

Negatives: I think immobility is actually our biggest problem at the moment. We have a lot of talls out there but when we have players like Clarke, Kosi, Blake, Rix, Gehrig who take an eternity to change direction out there on the park at once, it makes ball movement difficult and turnovers imminent.

Skill below knee level was appalling, as was the kicking - worst I've seen it for a long time. Gwilt, Fiora and Kosi are the worst, and there were just too many kicks falling short or just going over players' heads. Bugger the game plan and tempo footy - can we just get back to basics?

It worked in Sydney because they're a bunch of hacks to which the game plan suited them perfectly, but we actually have a fair bit of talent on our list but it will just go to waste if we keep trying to thrash out games.

Milney has to go soon (probably when X returns) and should take John Barker with him. Average footballer considering what potential he had, who decided that he'd make a good assistant coach?

how would you know whether john barker is a good coach or not.? noone knows that bar the coaching staff and players.

 

[bubblegoose]

as soon as he has a bad game........ when has he played well????? if you honestly think he is good enough to play afl football you obviously have no idea what so ever. and to the guy who said he isnt a key defender, well he is playing as a key defender when he lines up on tarrant isnt he! dumbarse

Ease up polo, lets not turn this into a bitchslapping competition.

I'll give you Guilt is playing in the Key defender's position, and no his games haven't been flawless, but ...

We aren't blessed with a multitude of options at the moment. What better chance is there to see if he sinks or swims? Lyon's been throwing him into the deepend by matching him up against some of the competition's better players. If he does ok, improves & gets valuable experience, well you can't train that sort of stuff into people. Guilt has the characteristics of being a possible backup KPP. It's gotta speed up his development.

As mentioned above Guilt's played under a dozen AFL games, but he wasn't a first round draft pick. He was taken late, not as a gamble, but because the characteristics of a good player.

Anyway I'm not here to change you mind, but I reckon there are a lot of positives (especially long term) for Guilt & the Saints here.

 

[Fehring]

For me, there are two areas that are really letting us down:
1. - the obvious one - the fact that we don't have a backline (BJ, Goose, Gram, Hudghy)
2. The drop-off of defensive pressure in our forward 50. This has mainly happened due to the injuries to X Clarke and Clint Jones. Three weeks ago, we were magnificent in that area mainly because those two were creating turnovers which were resulting in goals. And, even when they didn't create turnovers, they were putting pressure on the opposition's rebounding defenders, making it harder for their teams to move smoothly into attack. That was a glaring weakness on Friday night. The only one in our forward line capable of chasing and tackling was Milne. Enough said.

 

[Fehring]

Re: Gwilt. He had a shocker, but has been a real bright spot for us. There is no point feeding him to the wolves at the moment - clearly he was caught in the spotlight because of Freo's massive flood leaving him a paucity of options. Would be great if he could develop into an impact player off the bench when we get close to full strength (whenever the F#$k that might be).

 

[The Punter]

For me, there are two areas that are really letting us down:
1. - the obvious one - the fact that we don't have a backline (BJ, Goose, Gram, Hudghy)
2. The drop-off of defensive pressure in our forward 50. This has mainly happened due to the injuries to X Clarke and Clint Jones. Three weeks ago, we were magnificent in that area mainly because those two were creating turnovers which were resulting in goals. And, even when they didn't create turnovers, they were putting pressure on the opposition's rebounding defenders, making it harder for their teams to move smoothly into attack. That was a glaring weakness on Friday night. The only one in our forward line capable of chasing and tackling was Milne. Enough said.

Come to think of it, that is a huge factor I hadn't thought about. Both Jones & Clarke, in career best form (a little premature for Jones I know), chasing and harassing rebounding defenders into mistakes. Sydney coughed it up something shocking two weeks ago and since then he just haven't had that pressure.

The positive was clear to see. Gilbert looks a 10-year player at the club who might just be wasted in a key position in the backline. Maybe he'll spend some time on a wing or in the midfield, or in the forward line. He's a player all right.

 

[Punter!]

as soon as he has a bad game........ when has he played well????? if you honestly think he is good enough to play afl football you obviously have no idea what so ever. and to the guy who said he isnt a key defender, well he is playing as a key defender when he lines up on tarrant isnt he! dumbarse

dumbarse - yeah, that hurts..

- 2005 Prelim final v Adelaide. 2nd game of AFL football. 18 disposals & 2 goals from limited game time. Maybe your memory doesn't stretch back that far..

You're clearly missing the point. - If Hudgeton and/or Maguire were playing Gwilt wouldnt be anywhere near FB or CHB. He is not a noted key position player but has been forced to play as a key defender because of our injuries. Who else do you suggest we throw to the wolves down there so you can have a good bitch about them?? Who should take his spot this week then if he's not good enough for afl by your judgement?? Enlighten us please..

Pavlich kicked the same amount of goals on S Fisher as Tarrant kicked on Gwilt - are you going to tell us how terrible Fisher is?? No.

I imagine the experience he is getting playing on the best forwards week in and out is very valuable and would translate very well if he is to be a running back pocket, a rebounding back flanker or our 3rd key defender in future years.

All players need to start somewhere! Tell us how many young defenders you know of who have hit the ground running at AFL level??

 

[bluejay]

as soon as he has a bad game........ when has he played well????? if you honestly think he is good enough to play afl football you obviously have no idea what so ever. and to the guy who said he isnt a key defender, well he is playing as a key defender when he lines up on tarrant isnt he! dumbarse

Either you have angry issues or you are just a kid. Anyway, I am not going to waste my time on you anymore.

 

[pol06]

dumbarse - yeah, that hurts..

- 2005 Prelim final v Adelaide. 2nd game of AFL football. 18 disposals & 2 goals from limited game time. Maybe your memory doesn't stretch back that far..

You're clearly missing the point. - If Hudgeton and/or Maguire were playing Gwilt wouldnt be anywhere near FB or CHB. He is not a noted key position player but has been forced to play as a key defender because of our injuries. Who else do you suggest we throw to the wolves down there so you can have a good bitch about them?? Who should take his spot this week then if he's not good enough for afl by your judgement?? Enlighten us please..

Pavlich kicked the same amount of goals on S Fisher as Tarrant kicked on Gwilt - are you going to tell us how terrible Fisher is?? No.

I imagine the experience he is getting playing on the best forwards week in and out is very valuable and would translate very well if he is to be a running back pocket, a rebounding back flanker or our 3rd key defender in future years.

All players need to start somewhere! Tell us how many young defenders you know of who have hit the ground running at AFL level??

all of a sudden a game 2 years ago in adelaide means that gwilt is a good player, i'll admit i was impressed that day, but i have since seen first hand his game against essendon this year which was one of the worst individual performances i have seen. The guy has ZERO awareness and cannot match key forwards without hacking there arms and holding there jumpers (which he has seemed to get away with)

if hudghton or maguire were playing surely gwilt wouldnt be because we have better players than him. you cant honestly think that he is good enough at the moment to be playing elite level football. i would have rathered seen sam gilbert, who played a terrific game up the ground, play key defender on tarrant as he has been projected as a key back rather than just concede the contest like we did.

as for sam fisher i thought he played a super game on possibly a top 5 player in the league and probably broke even with pav in the end. and that stat about the goals cant be taken very seriously when pavs goals were great goals and and well deserved and tarrant only kicked the same amount but missed quiet a few shots but easily beat gwilt. this is not even to mention when gwilt tryed to take on a player on the wing got caught holding the ball and fremantle put it straight back into there forwards and kick a goal, does this go on tarrant tally, i think not.