Intra Club Tonight

[Savatage]

Yes...it was on tonight....would give a report....however.....ready to fall asleep.....

IN BRIEF:

Low standard game (as to be expected with such blustery conditions)

Impressive:

Peckett, Hamill, X Clarke, Thompson, Jones, Black, Hayes, Hudghton, Callaghan, Riewoldt (super game), Voss, Ball, Gram (really stood out, fluent mover & clever), Penny, Murray (looked sharp), Ferguson (read the play beautifully in the backline), Fisher (solid, like a veteran), Stone (vintage brownlow form), Houlihan (every touch was class), Guerra (4 goals, set up more), Harvey (duh), Milne (very lively).

Any questions? Don't bother, I'll be asleep...

 

[sainter]

Not the best standard game but that's not unexpected for this time of year.

Nick Riewoldt was clearly the best on ground. If tonight was a sign of things to come then he's set for the best season of his short career.

Brent Guerra was very impressive (7 goals). I'd be very surprised if he wasn't in the team for round one. Former Port teammate Al Murray kicked 3 goals and looks set to improve on his promising start.

Penny completely shut Gehrig out of the game. I'm still trying to work out if this is a good or bad thing.

One of the things you love to see in these games are the younger, unheralded players showing signs of being capable to step up to the senior side in the forthcoming season. To me Matthew Ferguson and Jason Gram were the two kids to shine.

The only players I would have added to your list Savatage was Jason Blake who was everywhere, Nick Dal Santo and the guy with the Southampton shirt who did James Beattie proud.

 

[Groove]

Guerra is a very good player... he definitely should be in your starting 22. he should have been in ports starting 22 dagnabit

 

[sainter]

Originally posted by Groove
Guerra is a very good player... he definitely should be in your starting 22. he should have been in ports starting 22 dagnabit

We were rapt to get him.

He played mostly in the forward line tonight but he's versatile enough to play in the backline and have a run on the ball if needed.

From what he's said since crossing over, he played 14 games last season but most were off the bench and he really just wants the opportunity to play regular footy.

Allan Murray kicked three goals tonight and is looking good.

If Warren Tredrea ever feels the need to move to Melbourne, he'll be more than welcome.

 

[HTB Saints]

Did anybody else get a flashback when the skinny kid with blond hair in the number 15 (Jason Gram ) went running downfield with the ball.

It was Frankie Coughlan all over again.

 

[fugazi]

Bit disappointed in Goddard, and didn't see that much of Dal Santo. Impressed with X-man, Roo & Guerra (in the fwd line).

 

[HTB Saints]

Originally posted by fugazi
Bit disappointed in Goddard, and didn't see that much of Dal Santo. Impressed with X-man, Roo & Guerra (in the fwd line).

I was pleased at the start to see Goddard on Riewoldt, as it was a sign that they think he might be up to that class now, however Nick killed him.

Ball was very impressive first half before taking a rest. He looks to have filled out considerably, and is much broader across the shoulders.

Hayes is silk. Harvey should learn not to sprint and work his guts out in an intra club practice game before the middle of Feb, as he doesn't need to do it. When he came off, he walked the boundary in front of us, and his calves were massive.

Good to see Kosi out there, if the rumours of ongoing back injury were true, they wouldn't have risked him.

I don't remember Gehrig getting a kick. Not worried about that though, it is Feb 13 after all. Hamill similarly did little, and still drops marks he should take.

Dal Santo had much darker hair than last year, he just didn't look the same. When he got the ball, I had to doublecheck it was him.

I've always liked Guerra and believe he will be a good addition for us. The concern is how he. Murray, Milne , Callahan all play the same role as small forward, we can't use them all. I would have preferred to see somebody more experienced on Guerra, so we can really judge how he went, Murray similarly.

Jeez, I miss watching footy at Moorabbin. But they could lose the guys on the microphone referring to Brent Guerra's first goal in St Kilda colours. By all means have an commentary that is informative, especially around the new players, but don't make us cringe.

 

[Savatage]

Originally posted by HTB Saints
.

Good to see Kosi out there, if the rumours of ongoing back injury were true, they wouldn't have risked him.

I agree with virtually everything else, just on this point. It ain't a rumour. It's something he's going to deal with for the rest of his career.

 

[Savatage]

Originally posted by sainter
The only players I would have added to your list Savatage was Jason Blake who was everywhere, Nick Dal Santo and the guy with the Southampton shirt who did James Beattie proud.

Yes! Blake was great. His skills are terrible but his work rate is enormous...Dal Santo? Wasn't that impressed last night.

I reckon half the players go flat out in these things & some don't give a ****. Which is fair enough considering it's against your team-mates.

 

[Savatage]

Originally posted by HTB Saints
Did anybody else get a flashback when the skinny kid with blond hair in the number 15 (Jason Gram ) went running downfield with the ball.

It was Frankie Coughlan all over again.

Good call that

Seriously, he looked all silk Gram. Very, very impressive.

 

[Savatage]

Originally posted by sainter
and the guy with the Southampton shirt who did James Beattie proud.

He was good, but the strapping young lad dobbing goals from outside 50 with a crappy synthetic footy was quite impressive also!!!

Unimpressive was the dip**** that stuffed up James Beatties car keys.

 

[sainter]

Originally posted by Savatage
He was good, but the strapping young lad dobbing goals from outside 50 with a crappy synthetic footy was quite impressive also!!!

Unimpressive was the dip**** that stuffed up James Beatties car keys.

Yes, that was a very unimpressive effort. Reminded me of Rooney 6 yards out in the final minute of injury time against Manchester United.

I thought Dal Santo was one of the better players for the yellow team. He would have had the ball about 15 times, I think the fact that his performance wasn't really rated is a sign of what we expect from him already.

Goddard and Gehrig were smashed by their opponents but it's nothing to worry about at this stage. Fraser won't be the last person to have his colours lowered to Luke Penny this season.

It wouldn't surprise me if Ferguson is in our team come round one. The only problem is that he might be fighting for the same role as Leigh Fisher.

Welcome back HTB Saints. It must have been two years unless you have been around under another guise.

 

[Falchoon]

I took some piccies, I'll post 'em on Tues or Wed. Going away for the weekend.

 

[Groove]

Originally posted by sainter
We were rapt to get him.

He played mostly in the forward line tonight but he's versatile enough to play in the backline and have a run on the ball if needed.

From what he's said since crossing over, he played 14 games last season but most were off the bench and he really just wants the opportunity to play regular footy.

Allan Murray kicked three goals tonight and is looking good.

If Warren Tredrea ever feels the need to move to Melbourne, he'll be more than welcome.

ahhh... how about no sainter
the thing is with guerra is that he isnt just a forward pocket player, can play half foward/back.
You got yourselves an absolute steal with Guerra, he has a big kick, he lays hard tackles and most importantly he keeps his feet in a contest! so many times he has beaten opponents because they have gone to ground where he has stood up. Good luck to him because he really was hard done by at Port. He is still very young tho as well. im glad to see he got four goals. i just hope he doesnt cut us up when we play him.

 

[HTB Saints]

Originally posted by sainter
Yes, that was a very unimpressive effort. Reminded me of Rooney 6 yards out in the final minute of injury time against Manchester United.

I thought Dal Santo was one of the better players for the yellow team. He would have had the ball about 15 times, I think the fact that his performance wasn't really rated is a sign of what we expect from him already.

Goddard and Gehrig were smashed by their opponents but it's nothing to worry about at this stage. Fraser won't be the last person to have his colours lowered to Luke Penny this season.

It wouldn't surprise me if Ferguson is in our team come round one. The only problem is that he might be fighting for the same role as Leigh Fisher.

Welcome back HTB Saints. It must have been two years unless you have been around under another guise.

Haven't bothered posting at all here, I'm too old and impatient to argue the toss with serial trolls. This place has gone down the tubes so much it is a real shame.

 

[TheHeatleyStand]

Went along as well, slill level was right down.
Reiwoldt tried hard to lift the game , absolutely gave Goddard the run around, in marking contests in the forward line Goddard didn`t go with him.
Kicking was atrocious,not too many targets hit. I found the game plan difficult to follow, often a handball would go back into a pack and the kicking was too wide.
At times it looked like a huge rugby maul, i`m not too sure if it was because the sides were split into 2 where the usual suspects wernt playing together on the same side.
I thought there wasn`t much pace out there and that needs to be asessed. The rucks were also 0-0 draws.
Knoble is a huge man but needs to hold his marks.
Kosi didn`t do much in the first half before coming off. Anyone who thinks he is 100% is kidding themselves.
Raph looked out of it.One handlball and a perfect pass to his brother, who just happened to be playing for the other side (yellows)was more or less all i saw him do.
Went into the huddle and said hello to Hamill He was shaking his head and rolling his eyes with Gehrig about the way the ball was moving into the forawrd line.
Goddard looked very flat, hardly did a thing all game.
Gram looked ok some times but his disposal was very wobbly.
On a brighter note i thought it was a fantastic concept to hold the intra club game at 6 pm allowing people to get there after work. Huge crowd and a great money spinner.
Also a few of the players have considerably bulked up, including Reiwoldt,Kosi,Ball,DalSanto and X Clarke.
I noticed if players couldnt take the mark cleanly they wereinstructed to bring the ball to ground for the crumbers.
The 2 most impressive players on the ground were Murray and Guerra.
I`m not a big rap for Murray(even though he can do some amazing things) Though full marks to him for continuing to present himself in a very confusing forward game plan.
Guerra will be more than a handy footballer for you guys. His best work isnt in the forward pocket where he impressed.
Ball, Harvey and Hayes did some good things without doing that much.
Voss and Penny were solid .
I actually thought a midfield with Harvey, Goddard and DalSanto would have been much more impressive.(Throw in Clarke from HBF)

Overall the endevour was good with some huge hits attempted and some nailed but alot of work to be done in the midfield area. Too much over posession, poor decision making, going wide and poor execution.

Just giving you my impressions. Not trolling...

 

[Munga]

Thanks Heatley, always good to get opposition opinions (without being a troll).

 

[ComicStoreGuy]

Went to the game too. Things that stood out were

- Lacked the ability to hit targets(early season not worried)
- No fat on any of the boys(looked like grey hounds)
- Toughness in and around the ball(you could hear body on body from the opposite wing)
- The way TD spoke in the huddle(good get GT)
- Nick Stone even though he is on the rookie list he will really help the guys out at springy(really talked it up in the huddles)

 

[sainter]

Interesting thoughts THS.

An intra-club game is not exactly the best place to judge the merits of a game plan because the opposition know exactly what the team with the ball are trying to do.

While I wasn't enthused by the skill level, I can't say I've ever walked away from one of these games salivating at the thought of how well we went.

The most important thing was to just get some match fitness into the players. We got through relatively unscathed apart from Sam Fisher and Kosi did look proppy while on the ground.

From our perspective it was pleasing to see players like Ferguson and Gram play good games and put their names forward for senior selection. Most thought Guerra was a steal for a mid 3rd round pick and that looks to be the case. Luke Penny is set for a big year. I don't expect to see players like Goddard and Maguire have as poor a game as they did on Friday again.

Adelaide have been on record saying they want to win the Wizard Cup and will be fielding an almost full strength team so it won't be an easy task but as long we go over and continue to show some solid improvement we'll be right round one.

 

[sainter]

Originally posted by HTB Saints
Haven't bothered posting at all here, I'm too old and impatient to argue the toss with serial trolls. This place has gone down the tubes so much it is a real shame.

It's definitely gone downhill from a Saints supporters perspective. No coincidence that's it come at a time that we've started to deliver on our potential. Nothing like a bit of a positivity to bring out the trolls.

At least stick around and keep posting on the Saints board. This place will be better if we can keep posters like yourself around.

 

[TheHeatleyStand]

Originally posted by sainter
Interesting thoughts THS.

An intra-club game is not exactly the best place to judge the merits of a game plan because the opposition know exactly what the team with the ball are trying to do.

While I wasn't enthused by the skill level, I can't say I've ever walked away from one of these games salivating at the thought of how well we went.

The most important thing was to just get some match fitness into the players. We got through relatively unscathed apart from Sam Fisher and Kosi did look proppy while on the ground.

From our perspective it was pleasing to see players like Ferguson and Gram play good games and put their names forward for senior selection. Most thought Guerra was a steal for a mid 3rd round pick and that looks to be the case. Luke Penny is set for a big year. I don't expect to see players like Goddard and Maguire have as poor a game as they did on Friday again.

Adelaide have been on record saying they want to win the Wizard Cup and will be fielding an almost full strength team so it won't be an easy task but as long we go over and continue to show some solid improvement we'll be right round one.

Ive actually watched StKilda train also and theres too much over posessing, and going too wide. I think under the match conditions with pressure too many short touches meant alot of mistakes.

 

[Joffaboy]

My thoughts on the intra club match.

Poor skills but it is early Feb and the conditions were a little blustery.

Kosi - OK but hampered a little by the back
Ball - looks bigger and looked OK in the midfield

Both off at halftime.

Physical attack on the ball and man quite good.

Sam Fisher injured in first quarter, could be shoulder or collarbone
Guerra looked good up forward injured a calf in final quarter.

Murray looked OK, played like he did last year in intra club, impressed while others didn't. No big impression made there.

Goddard didn't get a kick, played on Riewoldt and was beaten.

All in all unimpressive, but typical of an intraclub.
Best

Reiwoldt
Guerra
Murray
Jones
Hayes
Penny
Blake

A word on Houlihan. Why is he still on our list? Can see no redeeming feature in his play.

Good news on membership 17,000 with 20% new members. Looking for 27,000 this season.

 

[TheHeatleyStand]

Goddard got one kick i think( i left 5 mins into the last 1/4)... but he looked like there was something wrong with him. He was very flat footed and didnt track his man .He didn`t look right in the huddle either.
Sam Fisher is a chance this year.

 

[Savatage]

Originally posted by Joffaboy
A word on Houlihan. Why is he still on our list? Can see no redeeming feature in his play.

.

Umm....well I actually thought he was one of the better players on the ground. Every touch was silk & he set up many scoring opportunities.

I think he's a good chance of getting early games this year.

 

[Savatage]

Originally posted by Joffaboy
Sam Fisher injured in first quarter, could be shoulder or collarbone

Chipped collar bone.