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Reality

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The reality at this stage is that we have shown improvement on last year which was the main concern of a majority of posters on this board. The gap between Players 1-16 and then 16-22 has shrunk dramatically and this again was something we needed to work on.

No one is getting out of control Carlton style, but let's be confident in ourselves and know that if our boys put up an effort like that most weeks it won't be a question of "if WE can beat other sides" it'll be a question of "if THEY can beat us".

Let's focus on Fremantle and keep the improvement up. By the way if you're a member who hasn't yet renewed, what more motivation do you need?!
 
Yeah fair responses lads - I prob am just a bit keen not to temp bad karma by blowing any lids in round 3.

1st quarter metal was prob what impressed me the most. 2nd quarter onwards the Eagles laid down and copped it. They are better than that but we were also good as noted.

I haven't read anything re our efficiency in field kicking (which effective kicks don't always hit their targets), but I thought we did miss some targets that we should have hit (hence the Geelong comment as they take no prisoners on those kicks). No doubt we got a bit lazy once we were so far in front - but those bad habits remind me of 2004 so I am still a bit nervous about being the April premiers.

Hope the lads prove me wrong :thumbsu:
 
I agree with this thread.

I was delighted pre-season that we entered 2009 without any hype. I reckon it has troubled us in recent years.

I was delighted when I looked at our early draw and realised we could get a great, confidence building jump. Freo next week should see another belting.

I'm absolutely delighted with our start to the season, we could not have been more impressive. But we won't be seeing Sydney or West Coast in September and Adelaide would be making up the numbers at best.

We haven't beaten another side of note, that is true. And the last time we met both Hawthorn and Geelong, the game was over at half time. They deserve to be above us in flag favouratism, the Bulldogs too. But you can only beat who you play and after three weeks, I couldn't be happier with our start.
 
Rough_Edges said:
Before we get ahead of ourselves.

3 wins against 3 bottom 8 sides.

Although promising and fantastic to get off to a good start, lets not get to excited.
Click to expand...

Hold on, 2 of the sides sides you've beaten have been very regular finalists and still a very decent chance to be.

Don't want to underrate the effort. Not as if you've beaten Melbourne and Fremantle.
 

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"reality"

this is my reality

its round 3 st kilda is undefeated averaging 114 for 66 against

we're currently the best defensive side and 3rd highest scoring team...
we're averaging the most tackles per game... and backing our team up

we're a closer unit as a team and i think roo and dal hugging was a clear sign of that

currently atop the ladder for the first time in a while... playing sharp footy


yes we cant pencil in a premiership or finals yet but the reality is we are playing an exciting brand of footy that is highly defensive but is now generating our attack

dont talk premierships yet its rnd 3 alot can happen but be excited, get behind the boys and back them...

go sainters
 
WASaintsFan08 said:
"reality"

this is my reality

its round 3 st kilda is undefeated averaging 114 for 66 against

we're currently the best defensive side and 3rd highest scoring team...
we're averaging the most tackles per game... and backing our team up

we're a closer unit as a team and i think roo and dal hugging was a clear sign of that

currently atop the ladder for the first time in a while... playing sharp footy


yes we cant pencil in a premiership or finals yet but the reality is we are playing an exciting brand of footy that is highly defensive but is now generating our attack

dont talk premierships yet its rnd 3 alot can happen but be excited, get behind the boys and back them...

go sainters
Click to expand...

OK.

Can I talk premierships after we flog Freo next week?
 
Three great wins for the Saints, but lets make sure the Sainters make the Eight first. West Coast could be the wooden spooners for all we know by round 22. Port in round five will be a very big test, as we never beat Port in Adelaide, or anywhere in general.
 
It's been said that there has been no passengers, but Geary has been ok without being good, same can be said of Gwilt. Dawson is getting a lot of help from his fellow defenders and will be out when Max is back. I'd love to see Armitage get a decent crack as I think he has far more upside than Geary, Gwilt, Eddy or McQualter. My comments don't relate to McQualter or Jones though, I think they've been good the past few weeks.
 
Everyone can jizz their pants if we hit 11-0.
Because 10-0 did us SFA. Im taking absolutley nothing from the 3 games thus far. Rnd 5 & 6 is where its at.
 
WASaintsFan08 said:
we're a closer unit as a team and i think roo and dal hugging was a clear sign of that
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That was relief as Roo marked, Dal pointed to the big sticks, but Roo got confused and gave off to him even though Dal wasn't expecting it. Good kick in the circumstances - Roo thought so!
 
CHBench said:
Everyone can jizz their pants if we hit 11-0.
Because 10-0 did us SFA. Im taking absolutley nothing from the 3 games thus far. Rnd 5 & 6 is where its at.
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Lol - love it. Couldn't agree more! 3 wins over teams that aren't realistically going to take the flag isn't anything to go throwing your cash on at the TAB. Lets talk in the alst week in September... Pleeease!

Also re Roo - I think he actually just didn't want the shot - however this week will hopefully give him plenty of goal kicking practice.
 

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Sir Robert said:
Lol - love it. Couldn't agree more! 3 wins over teams that aren't realistically going to take the flag isn't anything to go throwing your cash on at the TAB. Lets talk in the alst week in September... Pleeease!

Also re Roo - I think he actually just didn't want the shot - however this week will hopefully give him plenty of goal kicking practice.
Click to expand...

im gonna say Roo kicks 5.3 this week along with 17 marks and 28 disposals.
 
It's not who we've beaten, it's the way we've beaten them.

Plenty of hard tackling and defensive pressure, high intensity, risk-taking and a wide spread of goalkickers.

As has been said, you can only beat who you play. We have come back against two teams - against the Swans we hunted them down, against the Crows we let them back in late in the game yet kicked away to record a comprehensive win on their own dungheap. Both teams will be middle of the table this year, although Swans are more likely to miss the finals.

West Coast are certainly not a finals teams on Saturday's performance, but it was pleasing to see the intensity and desperation maintained for the full four quarters.

Imagine if we had had Geelong, Hawthorn and the Doggies to start; I'd take 2-1 after three rounds with that draw. We possibly would have lost a close, tightly-contested match to the Cats, rolled the injury-ravaged Hawks, and the Dogs game would be a 50-50 - with a win, there's the 2-1 record against three premiership contenders and we would have been "getting ahead of ourselves".

Instead, we score three comfortable wins against two middle-of-the-road and one bottom four team, and we're still "getting ahead of ourselves".

Can't bloody win.
 
SammyFish25 said:
I wouldnt expect much from Roo until R5-R6 onwards,
isnt playing at 100% and wont have as many shots on goal it reduce pain in his knee...
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:thumbsu: - agree Sammy. He's still underdone and isn't being risked. I think the commentators are wrong suggesting Roo is "off the boil" or out of form and I think we are managing him well.
 
krusden said:
Originally Posted by SammyFish25
I wouldnt expect much from Roo until R5-R6 onwards,
isnt playing at 100% and wont have as many shots on goal it reduce pain in his knee...

:thumbsu: - agree Sammy. He's still underdone and isn't being risked. I think the commentators are wrong suggesting Roo is "off the boil" or out of form and I think we are managing him well.
Click to expand...

Commentators are incorrect, i know his uncle personally and have been told the above infromation from him...
 
SammyFish25 said:
Commentators are incorrect, i know his uncle personally and have been told the above infromation from him...
Click to expand...

from mine, the management of roo has been pleasing as it's better an underdone player in rounds 1-5, rather than the other end of the season
 

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Feerits Elf said:
It's not who we've beaten, it's the way we've beaten them.

Plenty of hard tackling and defensive pressure, high intensity, risk-taking and a wide spread of goalkickers.

As has been said, you can only beat who you play. We have come back against two teams - against the Swans we hunted them down, against the Crows we let them back in late in the game yet kicked away to record a comprehensive win on their own dungheap. Both teams will be middle of the table this year, although Swans are more likely to miss the finals.

West Coast are certainly not a finals teams on Saturday's performance, but it was pleasing to see the intensity and desperation maintained for the full four quarters.

Imagine if we had had Geelong, Hawthorn and the Doggies to start; I'd take 2-1 after three rounds with that draw. We possibly would have lost a close, tightly-contested match to the Cats, rolled the injury-ravaged Hawks, and the Dogs game would be a 50-50 - with a win, there's the 2-1 record against three premiership contenders and we would have been "getting ahead of ourselves".

Instead, we score three comfortable wins against two middle-of-the-road and one bottom four team, and we're still "getting ahead of ourselves".

Can't bloody win.
Click to expand...

Spot on. Last year we beat Sydney round 1 but the way we won and the way we were playing was hardly convincing. As far as winning and losing goes I simply want to see us maintain the high intensity game and win enough of the hard games to get into the right spot on the ladder. Against the top teams we need to perform well enough so that the players can "know" that it is possible to beat them.
 
I agree it is the manner of the wins that is most pleasin,g the four points is great don't get me wrong, but the style of play, the tackling, the pressure, the defense that sees us currently ranked as number 1 for points allowed is bloody fantastic.

Adelaide, IMO will make the 8, and will prove hard to beat at AAMI, Sydney will be there abouts. But still, as good sides always do, we showed up with intensity against the WCE, and never took our foot off.

The other pleaseing aspect is "touch wood", the injury front and for that matter form front. We have front liners in our magoos, who cannot crack our senior side. Goose is making steady progress, Maxxy and Raph aren't far away, then you have Armo, Eddy and X!!!!!

To add to that is the great form of Kosi and Dal as well as Gardi, and the fact that we are less reliant on Roo than ever because other guys have stepped up a gear. All of these are great signs for the club.

The real tests are yet to come, but the foundations have been laid:thumbsu:
 
Something else I find pleasing.

Max was just about our second most important player last year. We lost to WC when we didnt have him last year. If we lost Max before the game, we were pretty much giving the win to the other team.

And this year, not only are we doing fine and winning without him...but we've got the best defense in the league at the moment! Don't think we've had 10 goals kicked against us yet.

So by that logic, when Max comes back teams will struggle to kick any goals at all!
 

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