Autopsy Saints forget how to kick a ball and lose to Hawthorn.

[Jade Buddha]

Completely happy to trade Marshall next year and at least one of Steele or Macrae only. Not both at clearance work.

 

[Jade Buddha]

Our forward line is an utter abomination

 

[aussierulesrules]

I liked Steele's game

Just the lazy 15 tackles. Imagine how many he’d have if he cared!

 

[projectv]

That is truly extraordinary!

The way we’ve played the last 3 weeks we would have beaten plenty of the lower ranked teams.

If we can maintain this form we could win as many as 4 in a row in that last 5 weeks.

Don't tell the coaches that, I'm starting to enjoy draftwatch and wondering who we can get with a top 5 pick.

 

[PJays]

I’m usually somewhat glass half full, but that was absolutely abysmal.

Totally disagree

Saints had 11 more inside 50s and 18 more contested possessions.

We lack the polish and skill to beat the good teams. That's been evident over the last couple of months.

Other than NWM, we don't have many who deliver high quality ball.

But we compete hard, and have decent structure and field positioning.

I'm optimistic about what I've seen this season from Hall, Tauru, Keeler, Travaglia, Garcia.

Meanwhile NWM has become one of the best players in the comp, while Caminiti, Owens and Windhager are maturing players but aren't prime age yet.

Get King and Phillipou healthy, and more improvement from that group, and we might see quick improvement in the win column next year.

 

[MightySaint]

Despite our record this is about as confident as I've been about the club for a while.
The game looks like it has slowed down for Garcia and Hall. Viking looks great. Nas is great. Hammer is getting better by the week. Mitch is going to be good. Windy has less of an upside but can be deployed in a bunch of roles. They are starting to put in consistent performances at AFL level.
I think one of the challenges for the coaching staff going forward will be to integrate Trav and Boxshall without going too much younger. This is already a team with 2 clear age profiles (over 28 and under 23).
We've been doing a lot right in the last 3-4 years in terms of recruiting. We didn't win tonight but you can see where this is going in 26/27. If by some miracle we can get King and Pou a consistent run I think we will spike.

 

[austinnn]

Nas.

I love his game, but he's just too casual with simple disposals, he turns so much over unnecessarily. Eliminate those and you're looking at a generational player and future hall of famer

 

[StFly]

As an aside, Windy is getting the Seb treatment with peeps.

When he's prolific it's how great he looks and wouldn't it be nice to have more of him, when he's just serviceable it's how he can't dispose of it and he's just not there. It's kind of hilarious to me to read commentary about him NGL.

 

[stavro#4]

That is truly extraordinary!

The way we’ve played the last 3 weeks we would have beaten plenty of the lower ranked teams.

If we can maintain this form we could win as many as 4 in a row in that last 5 weeks.

Yeah had a look at the fixture and we could win 4 or 5.

Hopefully it’s Surgery time in a few weeks

 

[Jade Buddha]

Can our coaches please find a game for Owens. Frock it’s frustrating watching our most competitive beast getting around 5 or 6 possessions because he can’t get on the game.
Moving Marshall from the ruck was smart but we need another plan.

 

[stavro#4]

Also… Hawthorn aren’t a contender.

Just didn’t look that great and seem to only look impressive when the game is on their terms.

Brisbane and Collingwood both comfortably clear of them.

 

[Mat Mann]

Don't think Max Hall is getting enough love, that 1st term, just so damn clean with the ball, give him 4 years Saints
Garcia just continues to fight, really impressed
Hastie was bad early, but gee he cleaned it up, that running spoil in the last? It was so impressive, he ran so far to get to that, needs a continuous block of games.

Nas just needs to play mid more, it's a waste having him on the hbf, esp taking kick outs

edit. Missed Windy it's been a long while since we've had a goal-kicking mid. He will be a decent rotation for a while to come

 

[projectv]

Also… Hawthorn aren’t a contender.

Just didn’t look that great and seem to only look impressive when the game is on their terms.

Brisbane and Collingwood both comfortably clear of them.

It's hard to gauge Hawthorn after that game because they barely got out of second gear all night. Did just enough to keep us at arms length. That's what really good sides do.

That's a bank it and forget about it game for them, I reckon they'll do ok.

 

[Jade Buddha]

Some think it was great to be competitive against this team but I seriously can’t stand it. Shote skills against an ok team. We really just shot ourselves in the foot.
At times tonight it was barely watchable.

 

[stavro#4]

It's hard to gauge Hawthorn after that game because they barely got out of second gear all night. Did just enough to keep us at arms length. That's what really good sides do.

That's a bank it and forget about it game for them, I reckon they'll do ok.

Contenders skip away in the end. Collingwood did. Brisbane did when challenged.

Hawthorn very lucky our boots were on the wrong foot all night.

 

[Ads734]

Maxy hall is just that good. Imagine another few pre seasons.

 

[OxSaint]

Certainly had our chances but lacked too much class in the end.

The forward line is none functional. Keeler is non competitive more often than not so I am not sure the games can keep getting gifted for a few good 10 minute patches each month. Surely Heath competes better and allows to have a break and rotate forward more. On top of this Owens and Sharman aren’t getting it done. Wood is the only one looking likely but has got the Yips.

Time for Boxshall and Trav to play out the year. I think we need to stick with Henry for the rest of the year.

Tauru and Hall are going to stars.

Not convinced Wilson will become an above average AFL footballer. He is certainly not becoming a midfielder at afl level.

Hastie was shocking early but really felt he had an impact in the second half. Hopefully we give him a little block of games to find his feet.

 

[stavro#4]

Good chance that the start of next season we could have:

King
Pou
Aleer
TDK

In this side, instead of:

Keeler
Webster
Butler
Clark/Hill

 

[projectv]

Happy for Butler to get to 150, but I'm not sure why we signed him for another year. Every game he plays it's another game that Collard doesn't. We don't need him, Hall and Higgins in the same 22.

 

[Confuscius]

Some of our turnovers/skill errors defy belief. It is just absolutely comical. We make things so incredibly difficult for ourselves.

NAS deserves 3 million. What a player. I normally watch from standing room but watching him kick from the third level was something else.

Hastie was terrible early but really bounced back strongly. I was like everyone here irritated by his use by foot in the first quarter but the bronx cheers he got when he hit a pass left a sour taste. Kid's played 9 games we can back him in a bit longer than that

I feel like ive seen a version of that game like four times a year for a decade now... theres lots of positives but those basic skill errors... realistically we should have been in that game up to our eyeballs but instead it felt like hawthorn were never threatened because we just kept capitulating with the basics.

 

[Saints TV]

 

[bergholt]

Not convinced Wilson will become an above average AFL footballer. He is certainly not becoming a midfielder at afl level.

Second year blues has hit better players than him, he’ll be fine.

 

[Jade Buddha]

Happy to call time on Butts. Has set standards for pressure in the forward line but is way off those standards this year.

 

[aussierulesrules]

Contenders skip away in the end. Collingwood did. Brisbane did when challenged.

Hawthorn very lucky our boots were on the wrong foot all night.

Aside from how clinical they were going forward, they didn’t really impress me at all.

So much if it has to be about confidence. Play that exact game when we’re coming off a couple of wins and we’re feeling good about ourselves and we could have won it comfortably.

They badly need Day and Weddle back. And maybe Lewis.

 

[stavro#4]

Aside from how clinical they were going forward, they didn’t really impress me at all.

So much if it has to be about confidence. Play that exact game when we’re coming off a couple of wins and we’re feeling good about ourselves and we could have won it comfortably.

They badly need Day and Weddle back. And maybe Lewis.

By the same token give us a fully fit and firing King Pou and let’s slot Howard back at fullback.

They were just meh. You would hope their supporters don’t just think they can flip a switch come finals.