no footy for 5 weeks

[sammm]

Hi all, i am away for for the first five weeks of the season, and i am wondering if people, or someone would lbe able to summarise the games?

it would be until anzac day. i have the use of the internet but will not be albe to log on every day.

just thought i'd ask!

 

[Squizz]

Fair enough too - I read the newspapers the next day, and often wonder whether I've watched the same game. There won't be any point reading the Herald Sun after our round 3 match. They somehow managed to squeeze the word rape into the match review of the StK v Syd game (bravo Jon Ralph!).

 

[krusden]

I think someone should do this for the entire season.

It'd be handy for say sammm and say myself who is away rounds 5-13 and will have to log onto the bl***y HUN website to get a crap review of the games......

I really didn't plan my holidays well and shall go in the off-season next time

 

[StFly]

I'm sure a few of us could do a summary of the match from a Saints perspective when the time comes, I mean we discuss indivifual players anyway so it's not much of a step up for quarterly reports.

 

[sammm]

I'm sure a few of us could do a summary of the match from a Saints perspective when the time comes, I mean we discuss indivifual players anyway so it's not much of a step up for quarterly reports.

that would be really fantastic, and would most appreciate it.

last time i was away, 2 years ago, i really missed not being at the games, and not knowing what happend. i was able to get to an internet cafe occasionally, but still

hearing about the games from the saints supporters would be great.

especially as this time i am leaving before the first game (march 21) and won't be back until just after anzac day.

 

[The Punter]

I'm on my honeymoon from March 14-May 16 so would appreciate some chatter about the first seven games.

 

[HoldenMCaulfield]

gee, is it just me or does anybody else feel there's something wrong with you...

- sammm will be on a five week holiday

- krusden will be on a eight week holiday

- the Punter will be on a two months honeymoon (congratulations anyway !)

 

[sammm]

gee, is it just me or does anybody else feel there's something wrong with you...

- sammm will be on a five week holiday

- krusden will be on a eight week holiday

- the Punter will be on a two months honeymoon (congratulations anyway !)

its just you!

 

[BigManFromMiniTown]

http://aus.sierules.com/

 

[Zagg]

I'm happy to do some comprehensive write-up our games. I'll be missing rounds 18 & 19 (in the U.K.), so will be expecting reports for those two matches.

 

[sainter]

gee, is it just me or does anybody else feel there's something wrong with you...

- sammm will be on a five week holiday

- krusden will be on a eight week holiday

- the Punter will be on a two months honeymoon (congratulations anyway !)

Yep.

There are 6 months of the year that are set aside for holidays, weddings, etc.

I was in Munich for the opening day of Oktoberfest in 2008 but missed it because I was in an internet cafe following our preliminary final against Hawthorn. I was all set to book my flight home. Even though I left the cafe at about 1pm every single tent was full with at least 100 people at the entrance of each one. Great day that one!

Moral of the story:-

Bad things happen to those who travel, get married, etc during footy season.

 

[sauce_head]

I can not resist.

I am away from footy for five weeks as well to get married and jar a honeymoon. Mine starts in July though.

Having said that I don't live in Australia right now so I am always in need of good updates.

And as for Oktoberfest, you need to pay 10euros to security to get in - that is why the line is so long! I missed an afternoon beach party last year for the preliminary while sitting in a cafe in Rohdes in Greece, lucky we did not play on the Sarurday or it would have been the wedding.

Anyway, this September flying back to hopefully watch us win the GF could be capped by nothing better than Oktoberfest for the 200th anniversary! The saints top will have taken a pounding!

 

[IllBeTheJudge]

gee, is it just me or does anybody else feel there's something wrong with you...

- sammm will be on a five week holiday

- krusden will be on a eight week holiday

- the Punter will be on a two months honeymoon (congratulations anyway !)

I don't get the Moving Pictures reference ... is it a Days of Innocence (or loss of) reference?
A Bustin' Loose reference?
A What About Me reference?

Help!

 

[HoldenMCaulfield]

I don't get the Moving Pictures reference ... is it a Days of Innocence (or loss of) reference?
A Bustin' Loose reference?
A What About Me reference?

Help!

I don't remember...

It was a bit early to have been drunk, so I guess that I either

- had a smart, funny and clever wordplay in mind;

- heard one of their songs while I posted; or

- had moving pictures in my mind (it wasn't Friday afternoon, was it ?).

But it was a great album, right ?

 

[IllBeTheJudge]

I don't remember...

It was a bit early to have been drunk, so I guess that I either

- had a smart, funny and clever wordplay in mind;

- heard one of their songs while I posted; or

- had moving pictures in my mind (it wasn't Friday afternoon, was it ?).

But it was a great album, right ?

was ... and still is good IMO
I think What About Me is my least favourite song on there ... maybe I got sick of it in 1982

 

[karmafree]

I'm away for the first three games. I've got a bottle of duty free whatever, or a case of beer or lollypops for anyone who wants to make this an ongoing service for the year to help their fellow brothers out.
I get pissed off by some of the reporters and would love to hear from a totally biased Saints perspective.
I leave on Wednesday and return on 14th of April so after that the turps goes to whoever wants it. I am going to the jungle so will only log on once or twice a week. Let me know the order before I go through the airport on return.
Work it out amongst yourselves on who wants to do it, but a little lovin' coming from me for who does it and at least one fine night.

 

[Zagg]

I'm away for the first three games. I've got a bottle of duty free whatever, or a case of beer or lollypops for anyone who wants to make this an ongoing service for the year to help their fellow brothers out.
I get pissed off by some of the reporters and would love to hear from a totally biased Saints perspective.
I leave on Wednesday and return on 14th of April so after that the turps goes to whoever wants it. I am going to the jungle so will only log on once or twice a week. Let me know the order before I go through the airport on return.
Work it out amongst yourselves on who wants to do it, but a little lovin' coming from me for who does it and at least one fine night.

I'm happy to writer a few reports, but as previously stated can't do the whole season (as I'm away for round 18 & 19).

 

[Persevering Saint]

Interpol / AFail did those awesome pre-game reviews last year, and they pretty much always worked (he picked against us just so we'd win, and well, we won most of the time...). It'd be nice if he maybe did a post-match as well.

 

[karmafree]

OK guys I"m out of here tomorrow at 9am. I am chasing a rumour that there is a lost tribe of Saint supporters hidden in the jungles of South India and I am determined to get photographic evidence of our brothers. Kind of like the lost tribe of Jews I guess. I'ii keep you all posted.
Regarding the match reports, PS and Zagg work something out please as I don't trust the connections in the jungle. Maybe we can get one of the Mods to sticky it.
I look forward to Saturdays report.
Tally Ho old Chaps!

 

[sammm]

ok guys i am also now out of here.!!

thanks for all those people who intend to write aobut the afl games. it will be appreciated!!!!

 

[sauce_head]

Maybe we should start a "saints abroad" thread which has only reports and big news stories I.e. Less personal comment and discussion than normal?

 

[HoldenMCaulfield]

The game thread includes some nice quarter by quarter summaries by StFly but I'll give it a go for a game summary.

St Kilda started with five changes compared to the GF - Fisher (inj), Dempster (inj), Clarke (very limited pre season), Gardiner (limited pre season) and Ball (delisted) were replaced by Gwilt, Geary, Peake, McEvoy and Armitage.

The game started with Koschitze doing it all - contesting the opening bounce in the ruck, contesting a mark in the forward line, spoiling a pass in the backline and laying a huge bump into Malceski (for which he may get a few weeks given the 'protect the head' rules of the AFL nowadays) - all within the opening two minutes.

Other than that, Syndey dominated the first fifteen minutes. And I mean dominated. St Kilda hardly got their hands on the ball and was lucky to be just 15 points down thanks to some inaccurate kicking by the Swans. Goodes probably got himself a first contender for goal of the year with a freakish mid air soccer goal from about 30m out - late in the quarter he went one better by soccering a ball close to the boundary line back into the centre square (Bradshaw's only highlight of the game - Dawson held him well).

But just when the first articles about the end of our premiership window and our horrid off field pre season were written, St Kilda suddenly stepped up a few gears with five straight goals (including a confidence building 50m Koschitzke goal). Gram was outstanding during this time (Hayes was still a bit rusty and Dal Santo tagged out of the game by Kirk - Montagna and Goddard were a bit quiet at this stage, but came alive when Gram went quiet for the rest of the game).

From then on, the game became the typical St Kilda / Sydney fight with a lot of contested footy, stoppages and tackles (and all players in one half of the field). St Kilda kept a lead of between 4 and 15 points through the next quarters and led by 20 at the end of the third, only to see Sydney kick the first two in the last quarter. Riewoldt and Goddard (thanks to a 50m penalty with Mattner (more on him below) running through his mark before the umpire called play on). The Swans had a few chances to get it within one goal, but missed various kicks until St Kilda ran out the game, winning it by eight points.

The talking points of the game as I saw them (apart from the above Koschitzke bump) were :

- The umpires. They had an awful night. The free kick count ended clearly in Sydney's favour (29-18), but there were some terrible decisions on both sides with both teams copping some awful decisions at critical stages of the game.

- Riewoldt & Mattner. Half way through the fourth quarter, Riewoldt and Mattner got into a pushing contest before Riewoldt turned around to proceed with the game. Mattner then charged into his back and a free kick was awarded against him (Riewoldt did fall a bit theatrically maybe, laughed before taking his free kick and was accused of staging by some - including Luke Darcy (more on him below). He went on to kick a point.

- Dawson & Kennelly. A few minutes before the final siren, Kennelly (who was very good for the Swans in his first game back, albeit he over kicked a few passes) was about to take a mark about 50m out when he was crunched by Dawson trying to spoil. Dawson never took his eyes off the ball but he was late and Kennelly had to leave the ground (with a suspected broken nose).

- Armitage. This was the first game without Ball, meaning there was a bit of pressure on Armitage. Well, Armitage did not have a good day. Some say that he was tagging O'Keefe, but that certainly did not work very well with O'Keefe running riot for the Swans while Armitage ended with just one clearance and 10 possessions (seven tackles). But he'll learn from this and I'm convinced he'll do better next week. And for the record, Ball did not have a good game today either (in a surprisingly deserved win over the Doggies).

- Jones. We're expecting quite a bit from Jones now and have declared him to have passed Ling as the premier tagger. He went to McVeigh again (as in the NAB cup), but was clearly beaten this time. McVeigh was one of Sydney's best and managed to get away from Jones again and again.

- Ruck work. King (good in the ruck, but beaten on the ground), McEvoy (not his best game, neither in the ruck nor in the forward line) and Koschitzke (late in the game together with King, but smashed into King twice - he also crushed into Montagna late in the game forcing Montagna off with a lot of pain in his shoulder, albeit he did come back a bit later) took turns in the ruck, but were beaten around the ground by the more mobile Seaby (and to a lesser extent Mumford). Gardiner apparently played well for Sandy yesterday and should come in next week.

- Gilbert. Best on ground for me, playing a lose defender role throughout the entire game (for some reason, Sydney did not man him up a all). Ended the game with 10 marks, many of which were turnovers from long Sydney kicks.

- Goodes. The Ten commentators exaggerated his performance in my opinion (Gwilt may not have beaten him as clearly as a few weeks ago, but hedl his ground well in my opinion), but he is freak and will create a lot of problems for opposing backlines throughout the year.

- Riewoldt. He was beaten in marking contests a few times and two of his goals were rather lucky due to Sydney brain fades, but still, he ended the game with 22 possessions and 4 goals. He is a superstar, no doubt about it.

- The Channel Ten commentators. Gee, they were awful. Luke Darcy tipped an upset and obviously didn't like what he saw. Suffice to say that Tim Lane (!) had to lecture him regarding the rules after the Mattner bump which Darcy would not accept as a free kick. Lloyd made his debut for the fifth quarter and was just as awful as the rest (he has the personality of a sea cucumber, e.g. when comparing his Sewell bump last year to Koschitzke).

Okay, that's all I can think of for now.

 

[Squizz]

Nice report Holden - but I fear you are being far too harsh on sea cucumbers.

 

[Zagg]

I've written a review of the North match on page 10 of the Kangaroos match thread.

http://www.bigfooty.com/forum/showthread.php?t=686817&page=10

 

[StFly]

For our friends still away;

Round #3 vs Collingwood

The game was marred before the siren sounded by Collingwood players streamlining for Clint to assert their dominance early in the match which forced Clint from the ground merely because they would not let up otherwise. As such the start of the match was a farce of their design in a free against Gardiner resulting in a goal, free for Fisher resulting in a goal and then a bounce and a free against Dawson resulting in a goal. 1/4 time saw a furor erupt in the high tension quarter resulting in several sledges between players before the Collingwood coaching staff decided to intervene and sledge both Baker and Milne.

In the end, it was a relatively low scoring affair which saw injury come to Riewoldt not once, but twice in rolling an ankle over O'Brian's glazing before doing a rather severe hammy that is speculated to keep him out until around 15-19 unless there's any set backs. Good news is, it was not off the bone.

Key Players
Gilbert: continued his good form in another close to if not BoG effort, controlling the back half with his partner in crime.

Chips: After a lay off and wtfing with his inclusion he played his usual role and barring a crunch which saw him KO'd was his usual reliable self, and even drifted forward at a time when Rooey went down.

Goddard: Becoming a bit of an everywhere man and spending some time down forward has him 2nd behind Riewoldt in the goals kicked.

Gwilt: seems to have found confidence as a rebounding backman with brilliant jobs, penetrating kicks and impressive strength running. May have taken that next step we've been waiting for him to do.

Bakerdog: Collingwoods small forward brigade met the dog and left with a few less limbs in the process. Gave better than he took.

To see the rest of the players, K's rankings were pretty spot on.

Key Points
-Collingwood had a goal accuracy of 19% and did not kick a goal in the second half of the match.
-Lenny got a broken nose by running into King, bouncing off and then looking like he wanted to kill him.
-Not one player, not one got fined or suspended for any action undertaken from the game itself, however Milne got fined for sledging the Collingwood staff and they got fined for sledging him.