Roast St Kilda in no mans land

[aussierulesrules]

I don't actually think this is the case.

EVERY team floods in modern footy. All of them do it.

The teams that 'don't flood' leave maybe one guy in their front half - but that's it!

I don't think it's as simplistic as flooding. That's just normal footy for all clubs. I think it's more about where on the ground you put the ball. That's really the difference in modern footy in terms of attacking versus defensive game styles.

Defensive footy is less about your actual defence, and more about attacking conservatively. So you just don't give the opposition the chance to rebound on you. If that means you dominate the midfield and only kick 5 goals in the half - so be it. That's what Lyon's defensive footy is really about.

Even when you have the ball, you're defending.

Exactly, every team goes up and back like a basketball team pretty much.

Some just do it better than others, if they’re an elite running team, like we are.

And he barracks for Geelong, who generally have a spare in defence all game long, which is something we rarely do, that I’m aware of (if we have an extra anywhere it will be at the stoppages).

 

[littlecreatures]

Is there a more uninspiring captain than Jack Steele?

Callum Mills, Jy Simpkin and Oscar Allen

 

[TheUnicorn]

Callum Mills, Jy Simpkin and Oscar Allen

Hard to argue with those list of players.

 

[MCG-Unit]

They are just softening you up before they lower the boom on you, they did the same thing to Fitzroy and forced them into the merger with Brisbane.

If the Saints get on the front foot and agree to a relocation then they will be showered with AFL gifts for some years as that is also what the AFL do when they get what they want.

Toys and Pram Bored

 

[LordLucifer]

Toys and Pram Bored

That'd be the board you are a life member of then ??

 

[MCG-Unit]

That'd be the board you are a life member of then ??

On the waiting list...

 

[Freomaniac]

Doesn’t he? He just comprehensively destroyed a very good midfield with a bunch of kids and Steele and Macrae.

Freos midfield is semi decent but for some reason can't gel well to play decent footy.

This isn't the 1st time this season where Brayshaw and Serong and other Freo mids played poor.

Geelong smashed us in round 1.

Swans beat Freo at home with 4-6 players out of their best 23. They beat us in Perth partially thanks to a late goal from Amartey.

Demons beat Freo 2 weeks back at the MCG. Demons had half their best 23 out with injuries or suspensions. They kicked 12 goals in the 1st half.

Saints won through effort and a will to win. Plain and simple.

Fremantle's midfield isn't bad with Brayshaw, Serong and Young in the middle.

On paper, saints have a semi decent midfield with Steele, McRae, NWM, Sinclair and other rotating mids.

I won't deny saints did well to beat the dockers. But the dockers are mentally weak.

Unpopular opinion, I think the saints were a solid side last season. They had their fair share of close games.

Saints made finals in 2023 and should of beaten GWS in that elim final

 

[SaintsSeptember]

Freos midfield is semi decent but for some reason can't gel well to play decent footy.

This isn't the 1st time this season where Brayshaw and Serong and other Freo mids played poor.

Geelong smashed us in round 1.

Swans beat Freo at home with 4-6 players out of their best 23. They beat us in Perth partially thanks to a late goal from Amartey.

Demons beat Freo 2 weeks back at the MCG. Demons had half their best 23 out with injuries or suspensions. They kicked 12 goals in the 1st half.

Saints won through effort and a will to win. Plain and simple.

Fremantle's midfield isn't bad with Brayshaw, Serong and Young in the middle.

On paper, saints have a semi decent midfield with Steele, McRae, NWM, Sinclair and other rotating mids.

I won't deny saints did well to beat the dockers. But the dockers are mentally weak.

Unpopular opinion, I think the saints were a solid side last season. They had their fair share of close games.

Saints made finals in 2023 and should of beaten GWS in that elim final

Just had a look at this year's stats for contested possessions.
Macrae is leading with average 16.1 , Serong is second with 15.4.
Brayshaw is around 20th.

But that's not how it played out on Friday.
I didn't notice if we had someone tagging Brayshaw , but he was well down the pecking order.
And apart from Macrae's massive work, Saints had some non-traditional ball winners doing as well as the best of of Freo in that regard, namely Owens , Boxhall, and Garcia.

 

[PJays]

Players like Tim Membrey

28

Tim Membrey

Age

31

Ht

188cm

Wt

92kg

Pos.

Fwd

Career

Season

Last 5

D

12.2

3star

K

8.1

3star

HB

4.1

3star

M

5.8

5star

T

1.5

3star

G

1.8

5star

D

9.4

2star

K

6.5

3star

HB

2.9

2star

M

4.5

4star

T

1.3

2star

G

1.5

5star

D

9.6

3star

K

4.8

2star

HB

4.8

4star

M

3.2

4star

T

1.4

4star

G

0.6

3star

and Bailey Smith

3

Bailey Smith

Age

25

Ht

185cm

Wt

86kg

Pos.

M/F

Career

Season

Last 5

D

18.3

5star

K

8.5

3star

HB

9.8

5star

M

2.3

2star

T

3.8

5star

CL

2.7

4star

D

19.8

5star

K

9.6

4star

HB

10.2

5star

M

1.8

2star

T

3.2

4star

CL

3.2

4star

D

14.8

4star

K

7.6

3star

HB

7.2

5star

M

2.0

3star

T

3.4

5star

CL

1.6

4star

recently commented about how they love playing at the G in front of big crowds.

This demonstrates one of several reasons why St Kilda was so desperate to be upgraded with more MCG home games. The club would be a more attractive proposition for players.

I'll be there on Friday night- my first game for the year.

Hoping many Saints fans turn up and again show the AFL we can bring in big crowds- as we did in 2023 and 2024.

 

[demondavey]

Beat Carlton this week and it’s looking very interesting for their season. That puts them right in the mix.

 

[aussierulesrules]

Just had a look at this year's stats for contested possessions.
Macrae is leading with average 16.1 , Serong is second with 15.4.
Brayshaw is around 20th.

But that's not how it played out on Friday.
I didn't notice if we had someone tagging Brayshaw , but he was well down the pecking order.
And apart from Macrae's massive work, Saints had some non-traditional ball winners doing as well as the best of of Freo in that regard, namely Owens , Boxhall, and Garcia.

Watched First Crack last night with Joey and Kingy and they said what we did was move a half forward and a half back up to the stoppages, to give us a better chance of winning clearances (after being belted there the last two weeks) and they said that unusually Freo just had their opponents follow them there, which meant that there were significantly more numbers around the stoppages than usual, resulting in an unusually high tackle game for Marvel. And presumably high stoppage numbers.

So Serong and Brayshaw didn’t have their usual space to work in and we just mauled them when they got it and they just didn’t have any answers to our tactic.

Ross actually said in his presser that we didn’t tag at all in this game. With Windhager playing on the wing, replaced by Boxshall.

 

[aussierulesrules]

Beat Carlton this week and it’s looking very interesting for their season. That puts them right in the mix.

Absolutely. To put our season so far into a bit more perspective, we’ve played 7 of the top 10 teams going into this round in our first 8 games, and only one of the bottom 8, yet are 4-4, and all the teams we’ve lost to are in the top 8.

We’ve beaten all 3 of the non top 8 teams we've played (including 9th and 10th going into this latest round) by an average of 53 points, plus Geelong, who we dominated for much of that game, before trying to defend that lead from a long way out (largely due to being down a man on the bench for most of the 2nd half, and all of the last quarter).

So we’ve played just 1 game out of 8 against teams that were in the bottom 8 going into this round, but have 8 games to come against those teams, from our last 15.

We’re well poised to strike, if we’re good enough, only being outside the 8 on percentage right now.

 

[Mat Mann]

Who are the young midfielders coming through?

 

[yeee_haaaa!!!!!]

Don’t worry about the saints, can at least see what they are building. If you want to see a team in no man’s land, keep an eye on their opponent this Friday night

 

[Saints4ever]

WalshistheGOAT If the Saints win on Friday night and go 5-4 and the Blues are sent to 3-6 what will your thoughts be?

 

[WalshistheGOAT]

WalshistheGOAT If the Saints win on Friday night and go 5-4 and the Blues are sent to 3-6 what will your thoughts be?

That the Saints are in no mans land and the Blues are shite

 

[Saints4ever]

That the Saints are in no mans land and the Blues are shite

Fair call let’s check back in Friday night.

 

[WalshistheGOAT]

Fair call let’s check back in Friday night.

I'll give you a tip, this will be my view regardless of result.

 

[Saints4ever]

I'll give you a tip, this will be my view regardless of result.

Would you rather be shit or in no man’s land?

 

[WalshistheGOAT]

Would you rather be shit or in no man’s land?

S***. But each to their own.

 

[Mr Meow]

Absolutely. To put our season so far into a bit more perspective, we’ve played 7 of the top 10 teams going into this round in our first 8 games, and only one of the bottom 8, yet are 4-4, and all the teams we’ve lost to are in the top 8.

We’ve beaten all 3 of the non top 8 teams we've played (including 9th and 10th going into this latest round) by an average of 53 points, plus Geelong, who we dominated for much of that game, before trying to defend that lead from a long way out (largely due to being down a man on the bench for most of the 2nd half, and all of the last quarter).

So we’ve played just 1 game out of 8 against teams that were in the bottom 8 going into this round, but have 8 games to come against those teams, from our last 15.

We’re well poised to strike, if we’re good enough, only being outside the 8 on percentage right now.

Geelong were also missing a player the whole match: our best defender Stewart. It's one reason our late charge ultimately fell flat. The players were making all sorts of fatigue based errors.

 

[jumperfan]

If Carlton lose I’d say they’re in no-man’s land. Their list build and trade/draft strategies show that they think they should be competing for a flag yet their results show that they’re nowhere near that. They’re going to get burnt in a few years when their current crop ages out and they don’t have any young guys coming through because they traded all their picks away.

 

[LuckyBounce!]

If Carlton lose I’d say they’re in no-man’s land. Their list build and trade/draft strategies show that they think they should be competing for a flag yet their results show that they’re nowhere near that. They’re going to get burnt in a few years when their current crop ages out and they don’t have any young guys coming through because they traded all their picks away.

And isn’t it glorious!

 

[Mr Meow]

If Carlton lose I’d say they’re in no-man’s land. Their list build and trade/draft strategies show that they think they should be competing for a flag yet their results show that they’re nowhere near that. They’re going to get burnt in a few years when their current crop ages out and they don’t have any young guys coming through because they traded all their picks away.

I somewhat agree with this, but St Kilda having a younger list doesn't excuse them either.

Macrae, Sinclair, Wilkie, Marshall, Steele and Webster aren't young - most are playing great footy or in core positions. Fair enough if ones like Wood, Hill and Jones could be considered disposable. You need the youngsters to keep taking strides before those veterans decline/retire or else no man's land will still be locked in.

 

[jumperfan]

I somewhat agree with this, but St Kilda having a younger list doesn't excuse them either.

Macrae, Sinclair, Wilkie, Marshall, Steele and Webster aren't young - most are playing great footy or in core positions. Fair enough if ones like Wood, Hill and Jones could be considered disposable. You need the youngsters to keep taking strides before those veterans decline/retire or else no man's land will still be locked in.

I didn't mention St Kilda, was just responding to the discussion above regarding Carlton.