Discussion Match v Freo Thread

[Squizz]

It was a very good win. Beating Fremantle by seven goals interstate is a worthy win. Fremantle hase not been bad the past 2-3 weeks, and St.kilda has rarely won matches at Subi.

Not sure why so much negativity on this form tonight. Did it ever occur to posters that St.kilda do not have a great list, and that we are actually more a middle of the road club, than say a top four club.

We have 6-7 great players. That does not make a great list. It's by no means a bad list, but not a good one. (Players like M.Gardiner, Gehrig, King are past their best)

Agree. We have always needed another successful draft to address some deficincies in the list (pace & skill). McEvoy, Connors and Steven have hardly played yet, and Baker/X/Kosi/Goose/Gehrig injuries have exposed our depth.

The other thing holding us back is the goalkicking. Again a problem with Roo from set shots early in the game, and Milney's snapping (failing to make the distance from 20m out directly in front).

But the tackling pressure was unbelieveable - not something you can rely on every week (as we have seen this year) but it's great to watch when it happens, particularly on the road.

 

[Squizz]

- Raph Clarke forward of the ball. Looked relaxed, kicked a really good goal, and it's good to see him play well.
- McQualter's 2 1/2 quarters on Jeff Farmer. Took him completely out of the game.
- King to Hayes, King to Hayes, King to Hayes, King to Hayes
- Nick Dal Santo work himself into the game through his tackling, which was first rate
- Adam Schneider's best game for the club
- A game that should silence the knockers by Stephen Milne. Hurt early but kicked 3 goals and was inspirational
- The cameo by Robert Harvey. Had an influence on about 15 minutes of the game, but what a 15 minutes.
- Kosi took eight marks while looking unremarkable.
- Goddard's last quarter.
- Sam Fisher's second half on Pavlich, as well as Hudghton blanketing Luke McPharlin, who has kicked bags on us before.
- Joey's continuing love affair with Subaico.
- Gram's run, and Eddy's mark.

Incisive as would be expected Punter.

I was pleased that Eddy and Mini got another go, noting others were calling for their heads after last week. Really solid hardworking games from both of them. I laughed when I saw Mini credited with one tackle in the stats (absolute bullsh#t).

I think Big Carl was looking for 20+ bounces this week, and we had 36 - 5 from Joey.

Milne and Schneider are great frontrunners, so when the team is up they close the deal. Can be a problem when we are not playing well, but these types are always part of good teams. Like Stokes for Geelong who I think is crap but looks good with the Cats.

King was excellent - best game for us (except that period against Essendon before he got injured).

Max, Sam F and Lenny are just amazing the way they back up each and every week.

Happy for Raph - but very disappointed the coaching staff just don't seem to be able to work out where players are best suited (has the penny finally dropped in relation to Raph?).

 

[Look2Me4Guidance]

Milne should be off the ground, looking like that......As Gerrard Healey said, looks like a break....

Won't be surprised if there is a big whoo haa over him being still out there, and not off in the medical rooms..

Thanks for that Doc.

What time is Nexus coming over for tea?

 

[Look2Me4Guidance]

pfft... win yes. impresive not.

How about they make a rule that there not allowed to go behind thier mark. They have to play on at all times. We play such disorganised, slow football. They mark the ball from little dicky kicks, almost always go behind the mark. Then, they hardly ever get people running past (doing hard running instead of being lazy), then they have to kick sideways, then they have to kick backwards, then they kick back to where they started. Its such crap football were playing atm. Thanks RL. If you ever watch geelong they hardly ever go behind the mark, always playing on by hand, they run in packs and always have hard running support, and they always seem to find space at CHF. Genius.
Were gonna get romped by Adelaide next week. They made the bombers look slow. You watch em RL thats how a real team plays footy. Nothing against the players, their just badly coached.

Mate if you can't find positives after that effort, you are a sad human being.

 

[Look2Me4Guidance]

Incisive as would be expected Punter.

I was pleased that Eddy and Mini got another go, noting others were calling for their heads after last week. Really solid hardworking games from both of them. I laughed when I saw Mini credited with one tackle in the stats (absolute bullsh#t).

I think Big Carl was looking for 20+ bounces this week, and we had 36 - 5 from Joey.

Milne and Schneider are great frontrunners, so when the team is up they close the deal. Can be a problem when we are not playing well, but these types are always part of good teams. Like Stokes for Geelong who I think is crap but looks good with the Cats.

King was excellent - best game for us (except that period against Essendon before he got injured).

Max, Sam F and Lenny are just amazing the way they back up each and every week.

Happy for Raph - but very disappointed the coaching staff just don't seem to be able to work out where players are best suited (has the penny finally dropped in relation to Raph?).

That's pretty harsh.

Schneider bagged 3 goals in the first qtr and also bagged a clutch final qtr goal against Port. Milne was a key player in getting us back into the game in the last 10mins of the 2nd quarter.

 

[Half Back Pocket]

Incisive as would be expected Punter.

I was pleased that Eddy and Mini got another go, noting others were calling for their heads after last week. Really solid hardworking games from both of them. I laughed when I saw Mini credited with one tackle in the stats (absolute bullsh#t).

I think Big Carl was looking for 20+ bounces this week, and we had 36 - 5 from Joey.

Milne and Schneider are great frontrunners, so when the team is up they close the deal. Can be a problem when we are not playing well, but these types are always part of good teams. Like Stokes for Geelong who I think is crap but looks good with the Cats.

King was excellent - best game for us (except that period against Essendon before he got injured).

Max, Sam F and Lenny are just amazing the way they back up each and every week.

Happy for Raph - but very disappointed the coaching staff just don't seem to be able to work out where players are best suited (has the penny finally dropped in relation to Raph?).

Was gonna say the same thing Squiz...I thought both the smalls really kept us in it early (before 1/2 time). They both worked really hard.

What about that holding the man decision against Maxi in the huddle?? Joey had virtually been wrestled to the ground and Maxi gets pinged by the umpire 60 meters away!! Laughable!!

 

[Half Back Pocket]

Forgot to say...Sammy Fisher is a superstar.

 

[Squizz]

That's pretty harsh.

Schneider bagged 3 goals in the first qtr and also bagged a clutch final qtr goal against Port. Milne was a key player in getting us back into the game in the last 10mins of the 2nd quarter.

You can only go on what drives you nuts when you watch the games.

When we've had poor games, like Sydney and Brisbane interstate, they have often gone AWOL.

This is where you'd want them doing run-down tackles and smothers, but it's not happening. Both times the opposition did what they liked coming out of our forward line.

Milney's given away 25 free kicks and Schneider 19. Frees for : 13 and 6.

I am not for one second implying they are not important players, but to me the team has to be playing well for them to play well.

I thought the Saints played pretty well the whole game against Freo, and were pretty good against Port.

I'd probably need examples of where they had good periods against the flow to reconsider my view.

To me, when things look grim they don't take it upon themselves to defend or inspire like their lives depended on it.

One game which sticks in my mind is the Pies earlier in the year. Harvey was doing everything in the last quarter and I was out of my skin thinking we were going to run over them.

But Milne refused to pass to a player in better position late in the game (after getting it from Harvey who called him to pass the ball). He missed the shot from 50m. Schneider was hardly sighted all night.

 

[Goedy]

Forgot to say...Sammy Fisher is a superstar.

do u reckon he cud make the AA Team

 

[Look2Me4Guidance]

You can only go on what drives you nuts when you watch the games.

When we've had poor games, like Sydney and Brisbane interstate, they have often gone AWOL.

This is where you'd want them doing run-down tackles and smothers, but it's not happening. Both times the opposition did what they liked coming out of our forward line.

Milney's given away 25 free kicks and Schneider 19. Frees for : 13 and 6.

I am not for one second implying they are not important players, but to me the team has to be playing well for them to play well.

I thought the Saints played pretty well the whole game against Freo, and were pretty good against Port.

I'd probably need examples of where they had good periods against the flow to reconsider my view.

To me, when things look grim they don't take it upon themselves to defend or inspire like their lives depended on it.

One game which sticks in my mind is the Pies earlier in the year. Harvey was doing everything in the last quarter and I was out of my skin thinking we were going to run over them.

But Milne refused to pass to a player in better position late in the game (after getting it from Harvey who called him to pass the ball). He missed the shot from 50m. Schneider was hardly sighted all night.

I see where you're coming from. As I've stated previously Milne is a scapegoat. He is the best crumber off the pack in the entire AFL. Yes his defensive pressure is lacking, but it's difficult to exert pressure when you have the ball kicked to you 2 on 1 against. Of course he has faults, but these are not all his own doing.

Since Schneider returned to the team for the Hawks game he has been excellent. He has obviously improved his fitness and it shows.

If you look at the games where Milne has struggled, it will always correspond with either the forwards being held or more usually slow ball movement into the forward line. Very difficult for a small forward to ply his trade in this environment. Thus it's hardly surprising that our interstate record is so poor because slow ball movement is usually the order of the day here.

In regards to the free kick count. You may see it differently, but Milne is at a distinct disadvantage in regards to time to dispose of the ball compared to either players. You look at how long Chris Judd gets to release the ball in a tackle, compared to Milne. Massive difference. Barry Hall also suffers under this rule but he can cop everything that comes his way for all I care. For each time Milne gets caught holding the ball, consider the amount of tackles he evades. It's this aspect of his game which makes him an asset.

Our lack of forward pressure is also attributed to the amount of players we have inside 50. Various times yesterday Riewoldt was left one out in attacking 50 (not always a bad thing). This usually corresponds with the half forwards pushing up into the midfield creating a blockade of sorts there.

In regards to Schneider, watch the last quarter of the Port game. Let me know when you have and I reckon you'll change your tune about his efforts.

Sorry for the shocking structure (and length) of the reply, but that's what I think.

 

[Squizz]

Agree there is a different set of umpiring rules for Milne. It is so obvious that his backchat and previous tendency to play for frees (which he's almost eradicated from his game) are hurting him. It's the same with Brent Harvey who has had less than 1 free per game despite being one of the best in the comp.

My point is that if you are having a dirty day with respect to getting the pill, I'd want to see the defensive efforts increase.

We all rejoiced when CJ ran down Buddy from behind, but it is not happening anywhere near enough.

We are relying too heavily on the efforts of a half dozen guys for tackling pressure, and (in my opinion of course) Milne & Schneider need to step into the breach.

But they are great to have when we get our gameplan right, and move it into F50 whilst we are not outnumbered (which you have alluded to).

 

[Persevering Saint]

Totally agree with you about tackling pressure, and I think that could be said for the entire team. Whatever Rossco's game-plan is, it relies on lots and lots and lots of hard tackles. When we go out there to bring every player with the ball onto the turf, we do very well. When we want to give them a snuggle, and they slip us off, we lose.