Autopsy Round 9 - St Kilda v Carlton *SPUD'S GAME*

[The Jack]

My favourite bit was Hammer head butting the ball instead of marking it in the F50 and having a shot late in the game. Summed us up.

 

[The Jack]

Wilson will never be a mid. I've never seen a bloke as scared of contact in my entire life.

Harsh. Brad Hill?

 

[Ricmel]

Pretty typical StKilda game. 2 parts scrambling effort, 5 parts butchering opportunities.

Hard to see how we lost. Hard to see how we could have won.

 

[Coconut_twirl]

I'm still not sold on him as a best 22 player. I didn't believe him as a defender, and while he can occasionally take a mark, I'm not sold on him as a forward. Does he play 100 games? I don't think he does.

Best chance he makes it is as a defender. No impact as a forward and hasn’t really improved since his first year. As a forward, he doesn’t impact enough contest for mine and that might be a reading the play issue. As a defender, it’s easier to read the play since you have a marker to follow.

That’s my take.

 

[SaintsofSteel]

Yep, Carlton suck. They won’t go anywhere but neither will we atm.

Agree we have far too many holes in our list to expect much this year!

Our midfield apart from Macrae is the worst in the competition. We have too many players who can't win a one on one contest. Plus tonight there were too many players who couldn't handle the pressure.

We are at least 1 tall defender down in defence. Marshall needs help in the ruck.

Overall we are a poor marking team and without King we struggle to take a contested mark forward.

Our kids will be good but they will take time and will have their up and downs. Hence we are a very inexperienced side and the gaps often show.

 

[SaintsSeptember]

My boy Boxshall is going to be a top midfielder I reckon.

Maybe but this isn't the game to single him out.

 

[SaintsSeptember]

Played into Carlton's hands in the second half, nothing worked and when we did get something to work the next possession didn't. Clunky, clumsy through the midfield, dropped marks, very poor decisions. All that over and over.

Thought the defense wasn't too bad considering. Just too hard up forward without a key target to lean on,. Can't expect Sharman to play like last week every game.

Sharman was playing pretty well, despite not putting it on the scoreboard.

 

[malevu]

Seems like an opportunity missed tbh

Yep, I thought during the week that we've had a tough fixture to start the season but 4-4 was reasonable in the circumstances. Games still to come against Carlton, Essendon, Melbourne, North and the Eagles were must win games. All our standard or worse.

One done already.

I also think the Spud game should resort to a black arm band game from now on. Continue to honour the guy but let's move on.

 

[Southeastsainter]

Sharman is the best forward on our entire list.

Brad Hill and Darcy Wilson are scarily similar, both can absolutely butcher the ball and have zero interest in the contest.

Not sure I’ve been to a game where I’ve been more frustrated watching. The Owens free out of the middle which he then underkicked by about 5 metres just killed us. Watching us constantly switch the ball and switch it back to end up in the same place we started was infuriating. Not sure if it was the game plan or if we were scared to move the ball or what.

Byrnes was very good and I’m not a big fan of his. Caminiti is an awful awful awful forward, he has to be a defender or in the VFL.

Phillipou needs to be in the midfield next week. I’d give Hill a rest, bring in Travaglia. Give Heath a game instead of Caminiti for a week & see how he goes. Tauru in after his suspension.

We aren’t winning the flag in 2025, give our top 10 picks a chance to develop in the AFL.

Disappointing result, on to next week!

 

[Sol Goodman]

Time to stop holding the funeral style stuff before the game. We lose these games way too often, no wonder when the pre-game stuff is such a downer.

Sick and tired of this club bottling every single "marquee" game we get.

Player X should be in the VFL next week, doesn't deserve his spot. hopefully Higgins is back next week, was great to see Philipou out there.

If there that mentally weak then we've got no chance.
Personally I don't think that's the case.
But it's firmly on the players to prepare and perform to a certain standard every week and that's not happening right now and were miles off it.

 

[Max the great]

Harsh. Brad Hill?

It's insane to think there is a softer player than Hill. But unfortunately there is.

 

[jwikked]

Personally I don't think that's the case.

I get your point, but if it wasn't the case, why do most Spud games end up in us looking absolutely pathetic?

 

[PrimalConstruct]

I also think the Spud game should resort to a black arm band game from now on. Continue to honour the guy but let's move on.

Do any other clubs hold pre-game ceremonies for their deceased hall of famers?

I get that we've tried to do something different, but our marquee game record is deplorable.

Stick to the basics, keep it low-key and put the wins on the board first.

 

[Parkysp]

After the first Spud's game I said it was a killer for the players and it still is 5 years later.

The Spud's game ceremony should just be for the supporters. Do it between the first warm up when the players go back into the rooms and when they come back out. It can't be that hard. The players are there to play the game.

Like many others have also said, I reckon Spud would say ya can't be serious.

Onto the game. That kicking inside 50 has left scratches on my eyeballs. Was a horror show. Hill terrible, NAS making the simple look impossible and the impossible simple, Darcy in second mind every time he got the ball on the wing. Sincs running around in circles in the first half.

Thank goodness for Pou and Coops to make the night a little brighter but we lost by 15 points playing like that. Getting very frustrated.

Are we ever going to get out of this Severance maze of two steps forward, three steps back?

 

[Eldridge Mali]

Sharman is the best forward on our entire list.

Brad Hill and Darcy Wilson are scarily similar, both can absolutely butcher the ball and have zero interest in the contest.

Not sure I’ve been to a game where I’ve been more frustrated watching. The Owens free out of the middle which he then underkicked by about 5 metres just killed us. Watching us constantly switch the ball and switch it back to end up in the same place we started was infuriating. Not sure if it was the game plan or if we were scared to move the ball or what.

Byrnes was very good and I’m not a big fan of his. Caminiti is an awful awful awful forward, he has to be a defender or in the VFL.

Phillipou needs to be in the midfield next week. I’d give Hill a rest, bring in Travaglia. Give Heath a game instead of Caminiti for a week & see how he goes. Tauru in after his suspension.

We aren’t winning the flag in 2025, give our top 10 picks a chance to develop in the AFL.

Disappointing result, on to next week!

Let’s see how the seconds go tomorrow and promote on consistent form for Sandy. On that basis eg there is no chance Heath plays in front of Boyd.

 

[Jade Buddha]

Well done saints make a bunch of hopeless Carlton wan$ers look like the most skilled team in the land.
Forward line?? What forward line?

 

[saint_]

Howard doesn't have a tank at all and i'd say Harry McKay

10

Harry Mckay

Age

27

Ht

200cm

Wt

106kg

Pos.

Fwd

Career

Season

Last 5

D

9.9

3star

K

7.5

3star

HB

2.4

2star

M

5.5

5star

T

1.6

4star

G

1.4

5star

D

6.6

1star

K

4.6

2star

HB

2.0

1star

M

3.6

4star

T

1.4

2star

G

1.4

5star

D

8.8

3star

K

6.8

3star

HB

2.0

2star

M

4.4

4star

T

0.8

3star

G

2.0

5star

beat him convincingly. He genuinely has no fitness whatsoever from what I saw at the ground. Darcy Wilson has the 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

's where he takes too long to think of what he is going to do. Steele and Sinclair did alright, so did Byrnes, otherwise he was just a frustrating game to watch.
I don't think you can have two of Hill and Byrnes in the team, if there's no running game they don't add a lot. As already stated Hill looked like he lost his talent from the monstars from Space Jam.

 

[sauce_head]

It’s like all our key takeaways from last week vs Freo were to emulate Freo and that is the sort of insipid, lack of real pressure, no risk taking slip we serve up.
Never mind, at least it wasn’t Saturday night and we can move on with our weekend.

 

[Saints43]

Yep, Carlton suck. They won’t go anywhere but neither will we atm.

We haven't rolled into the season as supposed premiership contender.
I'm still picking our problems over theirs.

 

[SaintsofSteel]

A novel idea St Kilda:

Get the entire team in the gym and don't let them out until each player has put on 10% of body weight in muscle (excluding Stocker). Our entire list are light weights and don't have the physical strength of the majority of clubs in the competition. Forget about fu<king times trials, get these blokes looking and playing like professional footballers.

 

[Sol Goodman]

I get your point, but if it wasn't the case, why do most Spud games end up in us looking absolutely pathetic?

Just because we've been pretty pathetic for a long time now and only play well sometimes on the rebound or when they've been screamed at by the coach. But the players need to mature and get better than that and start winning games on there own merit despite what's going on.
Until that happens were just making up the numbers.

 

[StFly]

This year it was fine tbh. Boxie will be decent, Trav will be decent, Said seems to be a mid but I haven't seen him play.

Last year was ok, Hugo and they reckon Wilson will be a mid.

Year before only one, but it was Pou.

I don't think we're making those same mistakes any more, but it just takes time for the guys we have to get to AFL quality in there. George Hewett is playing career best footy this year at 29. Probably not surprising Hugo can't really compete with him considering he's 10 years younger.

Consider;

Calder used Said in place of Garcia.
Calder recognised that Said had more forward nuance.
We list him as a small forward/flanker type.

That first part is important though, yes he's undersized comparatively but, Said can theoretically be a Garcia mk2 with greater forward nuances. I do not think he'll get there personally, but it won't be from lack of trying.

 

[luca77]

Carlton were in and under a lot more when they built their lead. We were a bit tentative, and leaving it up to others.

They had 2 big forwards (who also drew 6 pretty soft free kicks between them). We kicked long to a congested forward line, hoping to bring the ball to ground - which would be fine if we had Collard out there, rather than in the sub vest all night.

We were a bit more fumbly, they had a few more plays that got them into space, partly as a result of not f****ing it up like we did.

That was pretty much the game, because there wasn't much else going on.

I agree - this Spud's game is a noble cause, but do some midweek stuff and a presentation at the end. That pregame is not a way to begin a game of footy. Not an excuse, both teams are out there.

To the person earlier in the thread who asked how many frees Dougal gave away, it looks like he was 2 frees for, one against. Owens 5/1.

Look, in the end, it was another close game vs Carlton, so we appear pretty evenly matched despite their big names and aspirations this season. But by evenly matched, I mean neither team is very good going on tonight's evidence.

 

[SpannaMan]

I was really disappointed with Dougal Howard

20

Dougal Howard

Age

29

Ht

199cm

Wt

94kg

Pos.

Def

Career

Season

Last 5

D

10.9

3star

K

7.8

3star

HB

3.1

3star

M

4.4

4star

T

1.4

3star

MG

176.2

3star

D

9.9

3star

K

8.4

3star

HB

1.4

1star

M

4.7

4star

T

0.6

1star

MG

171.9

3star

D

9.0

3star

K

5.4

2star

HB

3.6

3star

M

2.8

3star

T

2.8

5star

MG

133.8

3star

tonight, and I'm usually a big supporter of his.

There was so many times behind the ball where it looked like he could not move. So much limping around, had the same look on his face as when I was trying play through shin splints. He couldn't follow his man and just signalled for someone else to look after them over and over again.

In the 3rd it looked like he had given up on the game. He was in the centre square standing near Harry McKay

10

Harry Mckay

Age

27

Ht

200cm

Wt

106kg

Pos.

Fwd

Career

Season

Last 5

D

9.9

3star

K

7.5

3star

HB

2.4

2star

M

5.5

5star

T

1.6

4star

G

1.4

5star

D

6.6

1star

K

4.6

2star

HB

2.0

1star

M

3.6

4star

T

1.4

2star

G

1.4

5star

D

8.8

3star

K

6.8

3star

HB

2.0

2star

M

4.4

4star

T

0.8

3star

G

2.0

5star

, but told Wilson to look after him. Wilson was basically begging Dougal to step up, but Dougal just waved Wislon forward. Needless to say, Harry got out on an easy lead and got a goal.

There was 2 more times afterwards where Wilson was made to defend Harry deep in defence while standing next to Dougal. Once we got away with, and the other was when Harry got that cheap free in front of the goals.

That's 2 of Carltons 3 goals in the second half, coming from Dougal being unwilling to play on the 2metre forward, passing him off to a second year winger.

I don't like bagging players, but that made me really worried. Looks like Dougals body may not be up to it anymore.

 

[StCicatriz]

Love the cause but **** me dead it's a terrible idea for a footy game.

All these type of marque events always have an up lifting feel or a message of hope. Its energising. See the big freeze or breast cancer game.

This feels like a ****ing funeral every year.

It's not energising at all. Before the balls been bounced you're flat. The worst part is every year it's going to come around and will go through the motions all over again.

If the concept stays it needs a serious rethink on how they approach it. Cause this ain't it.