Autopsy 2025 AFL Round 6: A Dog day afternoon

[SG34]

I don't get the Hill criticism after last night. Yeah he wasn't great, but he was running so hard to try and give options, break lines and create drive, which is his role. We got torched on the inside so our outside players had hardly any supply and when he did get it we had no space and rarely any options

I agree with this. Hill made some errors, was embarrassed, but he got his hands on the ball, tool chances and really tried to make things happen. He overcooked it a few times, and so did even NAS. There are some players who get no margin with us, he is case no. 1. Do others get smothered with love and a gentle pass? Hill is now 31 too, and I think he's been pretty good. By the way, does anyone notice that Steele was 65% T.O.G? (time on ground)

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[dudeintheswamp]

The Box with 33 disp, 6 marks, 9 tackles, 11 clearances.

 

[D2D3]

Has their first win.
Heath Box Trav

Hastie too. Would love to see all 4 in tbh.

 

[SaintlyHymns]

I agree with this. Hill made some errors, was embarrassed, but he got his hands on the ball, tool chances and really tried to make things happen. He overcooked it a few times, and so did even NAS. There are some players who get no margin with us, he is case no. 1. Others get smothered with love and a gentle pass. Hill is now 31 too, and I think he's been pretty good. By the way, does anyone notice that Steele was 65% T.O.G? (time on ground)

Hill made some glaring errors but had endeavour throughout, and when nothing was working at least he and Nas tried to change angles and take the game on. Too many guys happy to take easy options that don't move us forward.

Unfortunately for Steele, if he's not going at 100% on ball there's nowhere else you can put him where he'll do damage. Bont started back, rolled through the middle and kicked goals forward. Did as he pleased.

Need effort this week then hope to god Phillipou is at Bontempelli-like preparation and ready to return.

 

[AirWinmar]

Did Sandy have a game over Easter? If so whom played well?

Yeah played Footscray, 11 saints listed players v 11 Bulldogs listed players and Sandy won. Basically all the Saints young guns played very well. Heath / Boxhall bog

 

[mad-saint-guy]

Seems controversial but I didn't mind Hill. He was at least trying to make things happen.

A question I have is why do our players always come back from injury underdone. Bont comes back and absolutely dominates. Our guys take weeks to get back to form or get subbed at half time.

Steele's demise has been pretty untimely. Need to move past him ASAP, he has no ability to run clear from a stoppage and just spends his time on his knees. Dogs just handpassed their way out of every stoppage into space. Probably the most one-sided midfield battle I've ever seen.

We are still in a better position than last year, but how do we respond from that performance and actually challenge the Lions? Feels like we probably just need to get more kids in, Hastie, Box and Trav all look too good for VFL footy and we need to look at Tauru and Barratt in time, but what's the right balance? Can't see any of them helping against the A grade midfields unfortunately.

Agree on all points.

Not sure why Hill is getting so much hate. Only 4 players had more tackles and he had the best disposal efficiency of anyone with more than 15 touches. 3rd on meters gained as well. He wasn't perfect but he was one of the few senior players trying to make things happen.

The game was lost because Steele, Mckray, Windhager, Garcia and Jones were utterly destroyed by the dogs midfield.

Our injury management is diabolical. Marshall hasn't been right all season, Steele is listless, Henry looked nowhere near it. King's 3 week injury has become at least half a season. It was not this bad before Misson returned.

 

[chris_h_11]

I don't get the Hill criticism after last night.

It's probably more cumulative at this point, he's been poor this year, and getting rundown by Libba just summed up the night for all of us.

Hill is a senior player in a team with a lot of youngsters, but he seems so happy to make it someone else's problem when the pressure comes.

 

[The Jack]

MDid Sandy have a game over Easter? If so whom played well?

 

[thekizzler]

As one of those peanuts -

Boxshall has yet to debut? No kidding.
But based on his pre-season and recent games it’s time to blood a new midfielder. Of course he’s not the finished product but sometimes it’s good to throw them in, like Garcia. He can’t start to truly develop until he’s actually being played at the level. It’s not like there aren’t others he can replace.

And no, Boxshalls inclusion was far from the only solution offered.

I 100% agree with you. But there were quite a few posters that just said put Boxshall in. Play Boxshall. And that's it. Nothing else. Like it was a solution. I meant no offence to you personally.

 

[The Jack]

If you’d watched Herny stink it up in the VFL for 2 weeks you shouldn’t be surprised with his non performance last night. I’m not a coach’s arseh*le, but thought it was pretty obvious he was no where near ready yet.

Must give Boxshall an opportunity this week and get Trav back in.

If Marshall and Steele aren’t injured then we have a big problem. Unleash the Moose.

 

[Kilroy]

Crucified

Glad I didn’t bother going to the pub. Just listened on the radio.

At least you can get other stuff done.

No injuries, yeah?

 

[SaintsofSteel]

If you’d watched Herny stink it up in the VFL for 2 weeks you shouldn’t be surprised with his non performance last night. I’m not a coach’s arseh*le, but thought it was pretty obvious he was no where near ready yet.

Must give Boxshall an opportunity this week and get Trav back in.

If Marshall and Steele aren’t injured then we have a big problem. Unleash the Moose.

Henry's wasn't interested last night I wouldnt be surprised if his knee is still not a 100%.

 

[SaintlyHymns]

Crucified

Glad I didn’t bother going to the pub. Just listened on the radio.

At least you can get other stuff done.

No injuries, yeah?

Other than the blokes who came in half injured already (i.e. Steele, Marshall, Henry), think it was a clean bill of health.

No danger in us sustaining injuries from tackling too fiercely or running too hard, that's for sure.

 

[Miha]

Bring mouth guards to training all week.

Make them bleed they own blood

 

[Pakenhamsaint]

Just over 12 months ago same round.
Dogs won by 60.

This year
Dogs win by 71.

 

[Sully111]

Two weeks in a row we've started well then our ball use and decision making has gone to shit.

Obviously last night our mids were smashed.

I still think beating Carlton late last year was incredibly stupid.

Regardless, I would have taken 3 and 3 at the start of the year. We've played some good footy and have some really good young talent. Finals was always going to be a big ask with our ridiculously shitty draw, and with the injuries we've had it's that much harder.

Umpiring atrocious.

 

[SaintlyHymns]

Just over 12 months ago same round.
Dogs won by 60.

This year
Dogs win by 71.

And after that game last year we went on one of the all-time bad stretches of form, where we couldn't kick a goal to save ourselves.

Let's see if the next few weeks will be any different.

 

[Pakenhamsaint]

And after that game last year we went on one of the all-time bad stretches of form, where we couldn't kick a goal to save ourselves.

Let's see if the next few weeks will be any different.

We have Brisbane next week so....

 

[Saintos The ITK]

We’re lacking the big bodies.
That’s probably fine if we’re full of run.
Which we are but we just don’t use it. We should have multiple options presenting every time we get the ball, especially at stoppages allowing us to quickly play on. But we don’t.

 

[thekizzler]

And more talls would have done nothing. The Dogs talls were hardly the difference. Owens and Sharman were making the most of everything and Naughton got on top of us but most of the damage was done by their smalls and mids. Naughton is a mobile tall forward and not someone you play Dougal Howard on.

I disagree. Of course it would not have meant we would have won but it's a general sentiment through the start of the season. The Punter has been going on about it the last few weeks and I agree wholeheartedly.

We are too short but with the injuries we have, it has severely depleted our tall options. So this is not a crack at selection. It's bemoaning our bad luck with injuries

The Dogs defensive talls didn't have a huge impact on the game stats wise. You're right. That's because we had 11 inside 50's in the first half lol. But the problem was that when our ball movement was shut down, we went long down the line to the contest and we simply couldn't halve it. Sharman halved so many contests against the Power. But he struggled last night. Not a criticism. A fact. He wasn't alone. All the forwards struggled. But no surprise as we are undersized.

Also, we are struggling with the amount of talls and quality in the backline. Aaron Naughton looks like prime Wayne Carey every time we play the Dogs. Caminiti is still learning. So no criticism in his direction but there is no guarantee he makes it.

In regards to your point about Dougal, agree that he would struggle against Naughton pushing up the ground, but how many shots did Naughton have within 20m last night? 4 or 5 maybe?

Imagine if Darcy didn't go down? Although to be fair to Hammer, he was matching up pretty well until the injury.

I've been pretty disappointed and not really a fan of Max Heath's inconsistency. But I hope he gets a debut this week. I think he can make a better contest than what Keeler did. Can chop Rowan out. Allows Owens to stay in the forward line where his contest work for an undersized forward is impressive.

I can guarantee you that our best team this season and going forwards would have at least two or more genuine talls in it. It would be nice if we can start getting them fit or developed enough to play.

 

[beside the seaside]

Two weeks in a row we've started well then our ball use and decision making has gone to shit.

Obviously last night our mids were smashed.

I still think beating Carlton late last year was incredibly stupid.

Regardless, I would have taken 3 and 3 at the start of the year. We've played some good footy and have some really good young talent. Finals was always going to be a big ask with our ridiculously shitty draw, and with the injuries we've had it's that much harder.

Umpiring atrocious.

What difference would winning the Carlton game have made though? We'd maybe have Langford instead of Tauru, but Travaglia and Boxshall both killed it in the 2s yesterday playing midfield. The issue is the senior mids being either injured, underdone or not good enough.

 

[Saints TV]

 

[Teflon]

June 12 we have these pricks again
If we don’t come up with a game plan that shuts them down and roll over again for another rogering then we are pathetic
Line in sand game
Just stop being these scumbags biatches

 

[Train12]

This is probably the most flat i have felt with the saints for a while.

Dogs hit the post 6 times last night.

Should of been 100 points.

It’s two smashing in 6 weeks.

We are 3-3
Richmond are 2-4

I think the difficult thing to stomach is the ease of scoring against us - one end to the other without us touching it.

I read a poster said we gave effort. I disagree with that. Centre clearance it starts at - when you’re getting hammered in that area, SOMEONE do something. Stand up for yourself, the jumper, fans, teammates, your pride, anything.

It’s also an important year for us - it’s unlikely TDK will come (same with other players from other clubs) if we get hammered this year, and might make the decision easier for NAS?

Also the afl tried a Sunday evening game that they want to continue and we shit the bed with the performance.

With that smashing, does that deter people rocking up to our home game next week?

Just a putrid night for the footy club all round.

I do think some changes have to be made at the selection table - TT and Boxshall and if Marshall isn’t fit, give him time off.

And agree with the comments RE Hill - at least he had a crack, took the game on. Bit of dammed if you do, dammed if you don’t with him.

And Wilson needs to stop kicking it off the ground!!

 

[RBW_007]

It's probably more cumulative at this point, he's been poor this year, and getting rundown by Libba just summed up the night for all of us.

Hill is a senior player in a team with a lot of youngsters, but he seems so happy to make it someone else's problem when the pressure comes.

This is exactly what frustrates me about Hill. Goes out of his way to avoid contact. Will run around packs looking for a cheapie (which is fine), but there are times where he will wait to see if someone else will tackle when he is the one that should be committing to it.
When there is a loose ball to win you can tell he is conscious of getting hit by the way he tries to win the ball. Instead of going down to pick it up he tentatively reaches for it and tries to pull the ball back towards him or he'll run over the ball and miss/fumble it because instead of focusing purely on the ball he is watching his peripherals to see if someone's going to crunch him.