Review Mid-Season Review

[hayes]

Probably should have mentioned Paton too. Came in and looked like a 200 gamer in defence looking extremely composed. Made it look easy, complete opposite to “deer in the headlights” McKenzie who’s starting to remind me of Raph with his back half turnovers that just kill you.

 

[bennymc7]

Quick one..

W/L is a positive, on paper our first half of the season looked horrific.. we're still a show for finals which is exciting for the players.

Players- Marshall, Billings, Gresham, Parker, Wilkie, Battle and recently Dunstan have all been excellent

Negatives are without question injuries and Clark and Coff.. I would have hoped they would both be in our 18 at this stage, need to lift... Also Acres, Ross, Bruce (more goals pls)

A win for me before the end of the year would be a couple of upsets, couple of stinkers but more importantly a King debut and Clark and Coff making a place their own

 

[CaptainRisky]

Part 1

TBH i think we are lucky to have as many wins on the board as we do , we got both the Bombers and Melbourne at the right time. There is a lot of talk how we have improved so much , id say we have improved but not as much as some think , i feel our pressure and effort has been better this year which is why we have more wins on the board not so much skill level . Game plan and players making the same bad decisions hasn't changed at all as you will see by us being unable to kick 100 points so far this year.
There are a few positives though , Marhall, Gresh , Wilkie , Dunstan and a few others but we have way too many who stink it up in the back line , seriously the best back man we have with any skill is Battle and he is just a kid , the rest either sh1t themselves or have limited skill which will take us nowhere .
For those thinking finals is still possible well ,,,,,,,,,,, I can only see us winning another 2-3 games this year , i hope im wrong.
If we are gong to improve next year , yes next year as i think this year is done and dusted , we need to get some time into Clark, Coff, Clav get Bytel and Austin right and hope he can learn to play on a man .

 

[SufferingS8INT]

Prior to the season I had us winning about 10 games worth a healthy list.

After watching our first few games the bar was raised as we seemed to have fixed many of the problems that haunted us and were playing some organised, aggressive and exciting football regardless of a loss to some key players. Unfortunately further injuries amounted and we couldn’t plug all the holes and those old problems came back as did the saints of 2018 which was evident in our China disaster. Poor decision making, skill level and goal kicking, an extreme drop in tackling and pressure and our confidence overall.

The silver lining being the uncovering of some young guns in Paton, Wilkie, Parker, Phillips (has been ok but will be a player) and Battle.

As mentioned by many the biggest and most disappointing factor is players like Acres, Ross, Newnes and Sincs just not performing consistently or well enough.
As far as I’m concerned they’re all on the trade table (I know Newnes is UFA).

I won’t go into development of Clark and Coffield as it’s been done to death but something isn’t right there. I’m sick of watching other clubs draft picks blossom and ours wither up and die.

Our biggest trade target should be Port Adelaides recruitment manager!!!

I think we’ve done well to be in the position win/loss we are all things considered and the bye couldn’t have come at a better time. We have 2 weeks to rest some weary legs, refresh our game plan and practice some ******* goal kicking!!

Hanners and Carlisle along with others will be welcomed back with open arms but IMO a little bit of Stuv is who and what we really need.

We can only hope our luck changes in the back half.

 

[bird_man]

Observations so far..
A bunch of scrambling wins, with no real dominance over the opposition in most cases.

The only shining lights so far have been the improvement of Marshall and Battle, the good form of Wilke, and Lonie (until injured)and OK form of Dmac and Geary(until injured). I actually think that Lonie's intensity at the contest is above all others in the team, and with him gone, it exposed a lot of lazy players.

Gresh is too slow and not strong enough as a midfielder- he is a skilled opportunist forward. Ross and Dunstan try hard, but are one-paced and slow to recover in contests and don't penetrate or hurt the opposition with their disposals. Steel tries hard defensively, but is opponents do well too. Phillips is not quite up to it yet. As a matter of fact, our onballers just don't get their hands on the ball enough to have a major influence.

Parker will get better with this season under his belt, Membrey suffers from not having another big marking forward to help out- Bruce is not making a statement in the forward line and I just don't think his place can be justified. Kent also suffers from not having effective big forwards to feed off as a small forward, and our stupidly congested forward line structure doesn't help. Long and Young are not up to it.

General skill errors are still there and haven't improved (coaching fail)

Not sure where we go from here for the rest of the season.

Can't agree that Gresham is too slow and not strong enough to play midfield.

He's not lightning quick, but there is nothing that tells me you have to be to play midfield. What he lacks in speed he makes up in agility and evasiveness. He's not big but he's bloody strong through the lower body, thick legs and strong hips. And he's proving he can win contested footy. He's leading the club for contested touches with almost half of his possessions being contested.

 

[Saints TV]

 

[joop]

Besides the last few weeks, Billings has really stepped up this year.
We just need players like Acres, Sinclair, Dunstan, Newnes to go with him.

Marshall & Gresham are clearly our biggest positives so far.

The Melbourne game easily our best performance.

The biggest question for mine still remains, what the * are we paying Ben Dixon for? I'm being 100% serious...

But to be 5-6 with all our injuries is definitely a pass mark, we've been shown up the last few weeks but we've played teams that are just way better than us.

 

[AirWinmar]

I have a rant after a loss at times, but overall i think we have done very well this season considering our injuries to experienced players. With Gears, Steven, Carlisle and JWeb out last year we probably would lose any game by 100+

Positives:
Parker, what a pickup. Exciting quick player. Very excited with what he will be able to do with more games
Billings has stepped up, has played very well overall
Gresh while not consistenly awesome in the middle has had some very good games in there and is just getting started
Battle has been amazing
Wilkie, another great pickup. Guy barely makes a mistake
Dunstan stepped up after being dropped
Lonie looked very good before injury
Clarke, while not getting games regularly in the 1sts is developing well in the 2s as a good mid, which we need
Big man Rowan Marshall has been a revelation
Weve shown this year we have the capability to play different tempo and styles, although still play metres gained too often
King looks a star in the making
While Hanners has taken awhile, happy we have 'rebuilt' him and excited for what he will bring

Disappointed
Long, thought he would have a break out year but hasnt set the world on fire so far
Coffield, had high hopes he would start showing good development as a big bodied mid with his pace and ball use. Actually thought he would come on better than Clarke but looks like he has gone backwards
Bruce, started well but just isnt kicking enough goals
Steele has be ok-good but i thought he would be setting the world in fire this season
Goal kicking frustrating

Hopefully we can continue on with the positives and turn those dissapointing points into highlight reels in the next half. Go Saints

 

[St Kilda Death]

Disappointed we aren't 11-0 going into the bye....
But 5-6 is so much better than most expected from us with our best 22 on the park, and we did it without Jake, hanners, robbo, paddy. And without stuv, Webster, Lonie, Geary for half of it.

Last week was extremely disappointing, but I'll chalk it up as bad dim dins and move on.

Really need some better mids.
Could that be hanners and Steven?
Really, really need a big body up fwd.

I'd say we are only a few list changes away (as long as they are the right ones) from having a crack at finals next year.

 

[StCicatriz]

Well guys and girls we're at the halfway point now probably not where we expected to be at 5-6 (for multiple reasons)

What are your thoughts on the season so far? Are we ahead of where you had us pre-season? Do you think finals are still possible?

Personally I'm thinking this feels like 2016-17 St Kilda again in that they can win every now and then but put in some absolutely stinkers and will probably finish the year with 11 wins or so.

After being 4-1 the last 6 weeks have been utter crap which is really disappointing, but hopefully Hanners can fill that leadership void from losing Gears in the 2nd half of the year, and we can see Maxy debut without injuries.

we'll finish around 11th. we've improved on last year but last year was bottom of the barrel type stuff. doubt anyone wants to hang around there. nor do they wanna continually be around 11th.

we are a mediocre football club.

 

[Moral Decay]

I haven't been anti Richo till this point in the season.
The off season delivered the decent assistants and the defensive forwards that were meant to make his preparation and game plan work and for the first 5 games it did work defensively and forward but then the opposition took a look at what we do and worked their way around it. All fair and good but now we haven't adapted to the way our opponents have studied us.

We still have about 20 shots on goal and when we kick straight he can win but the laddder leaders are averaging as many as 30.

Given our injury list I don't have a problem being middle of the road, the problem is that we keep doing the same thing when we know it doesn't work, there is no point in multiple forward entries and no point in forward tackles and pressure if we can't hit the scoreboard.

Unless there is significant change in game style with a return of senior personel in the back half of the year I want Richo gone, I can handle losing, I can't handle losing the way we do. I'd rather have GT as coach.

Like everyone I'm pleased with the progress of a few players, Marshall in particular.

 

[George]

Good start. A solid base to build off of for the easier run home. Get some key players back and we can really make a push for a finals berth.

Marshall and Gresham been immense this year.

Haven't had a good last month but have played top four teams. Last week unacceptable but our only real bad loss for the year.

I expect to finish with 12 wins minimum.

 

[Saints TV]

I’d love to know your positives, negatives and player of the year so far.

Here are mine:

Positives:

Parker
Wilkie
Marshall
Battle at CHB
Gresh
Billings
Dunstan after being dropped

Negatives:

Geary injury x2
Ben Long
Other injuries
Steven out
Bruce’s form lately
China
China
Did I mention China?

Player of the year:

No argument, the prospect. Marshall.


On iPhone using BigFooty.com mobile app

 

[cooperrules]

Marshall was my fav player last year even when he was playing for sandy. I always thought he was a better player than pick 1 paddy. He even exceded my expectation of how good he is.

Langlands is another of my faves who cant get a game. The club have no ******* idea what talent looks like.

White the same.