Angry - very angry

[sauce_head]

What is the point of having an ultra defensive game plan if you can not protect a 40 point lead? Four goals in three quarters is never enough, even if you keep the other side to the same.

And, more worringly, why not keep attacking?

I am not saying season over but the damage is done. No side this year will ever feel out of the contest against us. That is damaging two ways:
1. We are always susceptible to getting beaten no matter the score
2. It will take additional effort and injuries to get wins.

This reminds me of 98 and losing to the Hawks after being up by 60.

Yes it is a rant but I am so bitterly dissapointed the old saints have resurfaced.

 

[35Harvs]

I hear ya, don't know where to start, & yes reminded me of that friggen hawks game.

& we've got geelong next week.

FFS

 

[Bourky23]

absolutely disgraceful. gee the boys would wanna play their hearts out next week against the cats. no excuses

 

[Saints Premiers 2006]

round three....

 

[dan0z]

how the hell does raph clarke and jason blake keep getting a game, they are shockaz..

st kilda just stopped running tonight, i dont know why..

 

[sauce_head]

round three....

I know I am over reacting, but that is the anger talking.

I can nto help but compare to the hawthorn match, which took us about three years to get over. A result like this sends the very worst message to the rest of the league - we can always be beat, never stop trying.

Geelong, for instance (and I know I am comparing to the premiers for effect) would be no chance of losing after up by 40 and the other team would just stop.

We are in danger of now having made our job vastly harder to win matches.

 

[seanoff]

seemed a very strangely coached game

why play a zone and let the WB runners run. - Gilbee/Gia etc had a field day running into holes left by the zone and it was killing the backline

X Clarke plays 2 good games as a mid, so tonight he plays as a defensive hff.

slows the game at the 20 min mark of the 1st qtr when WB are on the ropes

I think Lyon's instincts told him to defend when he should have kept going.


Well coached by Rocket tho, got his boys up when they looked dead.

 

[sauce_head]

seemed a very strangely coached game

why play a zone and let the WB runners run. - Gilbee/Gia etc had a field day running into holes left by the zone and it was killing the backline

X Clarke plays 2 good games as a mid, so tonight he plays as a defensive hff.

slows the game at the 20 min mark of the 1st qtr when WB are on the ropes

I think Lyon's instincts told him to defend when he should have kept going.

That is what annoys me the most. Why not go for the kill and build some offensive belief? Now the forwards have not had it and the defenders confidence is down. We need something other than just defence. I agree with the defence to win, but you can not be a one trick pony.

In my opinion we should have experimented with all out attack once it started to work.

Maybe now we will abandon the absorption of the oppostions attack at the start of the 3rd. Carlton and the Doggies are vastly different teams.

Let's hope at least Llyon can keep the spirits in the camp up. But FFS, if we can not get up for two 100 game milestones and Goddard back, what sort of motivation do we need.

I remember reading that the roos on game day were so pumped before matches that Pagan was worried they would have nothing left to elevate finals time. While our general work rate is much better, it needs to be when playing a defensive based game as it is vastly more dificult to counter punch with goals.

 

[foxy_dal]

very annoyed, one excellent 1/4...and lets not even talk about the other 3.

 

[Kildonan]

how the hell does raph clarke and jason blake keep getting a game, they are shockaz..

st kilda just stopped running tonight, i dont know why..

Very uncalled for to try and make Raph a scapegoat in this match.

He did quite well tonight.

I must admit that Blake was ordinary though - Eade repeatedly capitalised on Blake's weaknesses. But Blake wasn't the only disappointment. There were plenty out there.

We were shut down, and the Doggies found their legs after the quarter time break. We need to look at what changes to match ups were made and what we need to do to reverse that. Eade also changed the structure of their offence and defence - making it 6 on 6 rather than allowing both teams a free man in defence.

I need to re-watch the match to fully understand what problems we had.

 

[Carlton_Blues]

Just got back from the game.

Umpiring was atrocious particularly in the first half, it knocked the wind out of the sails of the Saints. You lost your engune room in the final two qtrs, I dunno what happened there!
Then there was Reiwoldt who after the 1st qtr couldnt even buy a mark, I think the bad umpiring got to him. It was deflating and I dont even barrack for the Sainters. Gehrig was quiet. Kosi had a good first qtr but was missing in action after that (except for a goal in the last).
Also, I noticed the Saints playing the centre corridor in the 1st qtr and were killing the Doggies, but when the Doggies got their running game up and going the Saints seemed to change their game plan and move the ball along the flanks. I was cheering like mad in the 1st quarter and then the Doggies started spraying th eball at the goals and there was very little to get excited about.

But it all started with umpiring decisions that favoured the Doggiew and resulted in goals which kept them in the game and frustrated the Saints and their supporters.

 

[sauce_head]

What did Firoa do in a game we lost?

 

[BrianSpeaking]

The writing was on the wall last week if any of you went to the game. We arw a lower end top 8 side at this stage coming off a good pre season. We will be 3-2 after 5 and need to win 14 to play finals...relax.
Where is Nexus Helen, sure shell be calling for Thomas to come back. We also badly miss Baker and need Armo and Eddy.

 

[bubblegoose]

Where is Nexus Helen, sure shell be calling for Thomas to come back. We also badly miss Baker and need Armo and Eddy.

Thomas was a late inclusion on SEN. Didn't hear too much of it though so can't give him a NH rating.

 

[Speck]

*$^%*%@!

I think the thread title is an understatement. I am so bloody friggin angry! We had no idea what to do when they got their run going. No friggin idea! Riewoldt's positioning was ridiculous all night, should have been leading from the square and recieving the ball 35 to 45 metres out, not at bloody 65! Raph Clarke needs to be sacked, Blake doesn't deserve to be in my u/14s side and I will be typing all night if I continue. That game frustrated me so much, they were just too athletic and quick for us.

 

[Rough_Edges]

____ me dead.

What a shit match.

 

[mick13]

flipping hell, at quarter time I was thinking we would win a premiership playing like this.

Man did it go wrong...

 

[mailman4]

that just hurt to watch...
what i cant understand is why we kept bombing it long, yes in the 1st quater it worked well but after that i dont think we took another forward 50 mark from a long bomb. the doggies just peeled off and spoiled and once the ball hit the ground we had kossie, roo and gehrig chasing alot of pace there but yet ross couldnt think of another game plan!
also blake and raph need to be dropped to auskick and left there, clarkes effort against hahn nearly made me break my tv.
the only plus i could pull out was goddard coming back because it actually have us some composure in the back.
and after all that we have geelong next week

 

[Saint4Life]

Ah, the joys of football...

There is a major problem with our game style, and I think it's been quite highlighted for the past few games, and even last year.

The problem is we kept winning games by less than a goal, heck, we should of lost against Sydney, but the media hyped us up as favourate's and all these problems have just faded into the background, but are still there, but I guess people didn't care, a win is a win. Dont forget about the loss against Collingwood last year, it's the same thing, all over again. I think tonight's lost is what we needed. Ross will be under the pump the next few weeks, next week wont be so nice, nor will Port.

Ross needs to change the style of play, or at least tweak it. There are too many problems with it. The first quarter was good, plenty of run, and we seemed to be getting the ball first, we used the middle corrodor alot too, was good to see, but there was barely any lead's from the forwards, I cannot see Kosi taking those pack marks every day of the week.

From then on, we went into our defensive shell type flood, worrying about the opponent. Now there is a HUGE problem with this. I see F.Gehrig at CHF nearly in the centre of the ground. The forward fifty is empty. Player's are just marking space, not an opponent. The problem is player's just kick to the loose man and then it passes the flood into the oppositions 50m. When/if the opposition then make a mistake, we get the turn over/mark. We then HOLD the ball because there's no one to kick to, whilst EVERYONE runs straight back down.

In this confusion of players running down as fast as they can, the player with the ball has to kick/hit a target, which is usually a small kick sideways, trying to get some space. Then we move it down and when we're ready its a long bomb into the 50m hoping for a mark, where Gehrig, Roo and Kosi are all in a big cluster, so its basically 2v2 or 3v3 with milne and schnider not too far away, so any hope of getting the ball in the pack and running out is a slim chance with 4 or 5 opponents around.

As a consequence of all this, there is also no space to lead, nor would you. How can you expect F.Gehrig to be able to run to the centre, then run back to full forward square, and then present a lead when Kosi and Roo are 10-15m from the front of the goal square? There is no accountability in the side, a player's job seems to be to guard space, not be accountable for your opponent.

Why cant Ross play Roo at LHF, Kosi on the other side at RHF, and G at Full Forward where there is plenty of space for him to lead into. This give's the person with the football 3 choice's to kick to, and we actually might see a few leads where there is some space to kick to. If you think back to 2004 most of G-Train's goals were from leads, get the dvd's out...

Problems we face atm are...
1. Flooding, protecting space but not manning up on players is a problem.
2. Kicking to packs
3. No forwards leading, due to being in a big cluster hoping for a mark or free
4. Cannot get pass Half Forward Flank, always Roo vs 2 or more.
5. Barely any blocks or protecting the player with the ball
6. Playing far too wide, indirect football.
7. Didn't win the ball in the middle of the ground, went totally quiet (seen it all before in previous years)
8. Forward handpasses, player not protecting reciever one handball has been given off.

 

[Expatriation]

Now I know my side are gonna get put over Geelongs (and others) knee and spanked but if you blokes play like that against Geelong you gonna get kicked into oblivion!!!!!!

 

[CHBench]

O.k i don't post much, but tonight's performance has urged me to let out steam.

Our game after quarter time was absolutely disgusting.

Sorry to state the obvious but our biggest problem is our lack of leg speed and line breakers in the midfield.

I also think we lack fitness to run out 4 hard quarters of football. We ran out of legs after 30 minutes of dominate footy and simply that is not right.

Another problem may lie with the players believing the media hype. When there touted as hot premiership chances, we under perform. But when there was nothing expected of us (2nd half of last year) we were 3rd on the ladder win/loss ratio.

But there are some promising signs, that we can play attacking footy and forward line was working very nicely.

Hoping that this was the wake up call we need to get these players to realize they're potential.

But after this dark night we need to keep our chin up, our time will come.

All the best.
GO SAINTS

 

[Knackers]

Just got back from the game.

Umpiring was atrocious particularly in the first half, it knocked the wind out of the sails of the Saints. You lost your engune room in the final two qtrs, I dunno what happened there!
Then there was Reiwoldt who after the 1st qtr couldnt even buy a mark, I think the bad umpiring got to him. It was deflating and I dont even barrack for the Sainters. Gehrig was quiet. Kosi had a good first qtr but was missing in action after that (except for a goal in the last).
Also, I noticed the Saints playing the centre corridor in the 1st qtr and were killing the Doggies, but when the Doggies got their running game up and going the Saints seemed to change their game plan and move the ball along the flanks. I was cheering like mad in the 1st quarter and then the Doggies started spraying th eball at the goals and there was very little to get excited about.

But it all started with umpiring decisions that favoured the Doggiew and resulted in goals which kept them in the game and frustrated the Saints and their supporters.

You are delusional.

I saw plenty of shocking free kicks paid to St.Kilda throughout the game. The game was turned around due to the Doggies winning the centre and running the Saints off their feet.

You really have no idea.

 

[Unnamed1]

Just got back from the game.

Umpiring was atrocious particularly in the first half, it knocked the wind out of the sails of the Saints.

I think both teams had their fair share of poor decisions.

 

[sauce_head]

I think both teams had their fair share of poor decisions.

Certainly no saints supporters are putting any blame whatsoever on the umpires, we were not playing Freo after all!

Great post Saints4Life. If you look at the biggest goals kickers off all time, they could pack mark but took their meat and veg on the lead - desert was top of pack stuff.

I think Frase and Kosi need to work a bit harder and double, triple lead. We obviously need a fair bit of forward line structure work (a bit of hawks with appreciation of kicking to advantage) and when we flood back (if we must persist to such a degree), leave a few players down the spine or on the weak (non ball) side so that they have space to run to and more the ball back quickly. Then we can leave Frase in the square, even if his man runs off, in the knowledge that the ball can get back to him quickly. Nobody used to run off Lockett or Dunstall because it was a bad bet. Everybody was not behind the ball then though so it could be moved at a kicking pace, rather than foot pace...

Let's face it, the opposition want to keep their forward line free so not all of them are going to head to the ball, so we should be able to keep a structure down the spine, whilst accountable, to move the ball back quickly and get the fowards one out leading to space, Milne and Schnieder will get where they are meant to. Let the defenders be accountable. We have good ones now so lets back them one on one, or three on two, not eighteen on six.

 

[Duff TV]

the boys are human

everybody needs to settle down and remember the boys are human

But I will say that you don't win premierships with a Raph Clarke!

They did look shell shocked though and thats a concern

No-one I mean no-one stood up.

Its only round 3