Preview Round 14, 2020: Melbourne v St.Kilda - TIO Traeger Park, Saturday 29th August, 7:40PM AEST

[George]

 

[George]

Huge night for the club up in the NT, a special night for our Indigenous boys, we don't play here very often.

And a huge night for the football club. 9 years since our last finals series. Win here and it will be very hard seeing us miss out this year.

Hope we come out firing given what is at stake and dismantle a club in poor form.

 

[aussierulesrules]

Out: Paton
In: Savage

 

[#gosaintas]

King needs a break

 

[bird_man]

King needs a break

Does he?

Should have kicked two goals yesterday. I'm not sure we'd be saying he needs a rest If he slotted them.

If the fitness team see an issue there then let's rest him, but if he's fine he needs to play IMO.

This is a huge game for us. If we lose we are probably fighting off for a spot in the 8 in round 23 against the Giants.

 

[BrutThough]

If we don't win this game, we might as well pack up and go back to Melbourne.

In: Clark and Lonie
Out: Bytel and Hind

 

[BrutThough]

King needs a break

He has 6 days until this game. He's fine.

 

[bird_man]

No idea what the changes will be outside of Clark in.

Bytel struggled But I don't know if we can afford to drop him with very little midfield depth.

Both Hind and Kent were pretty ordinary but I don't mind their pace against the Demons. Kent did some good things in the last qtr.

Sinclair was pretty poor for 3 qtrs but stood up in the last when the game was there to be won.

I'll go for Clark in, Hind out

 

[Klaatu]

Bytel stays in his quick hands out of packs helps release our runners.

 

[bennymc7]

Massive game for both sides... Cement our place vs keeping the dream alive..

Can't wait!

Clark comes in for Hind.. could we move JB fwd pinch hitting on ball?

 

[SaintersUnite]

Out: Hind, Sinclair
In: Lonie, Clark


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[#gosaintas]

Does he?

Should have kicked two goals yesterday. I'm not sure we'd be saying he needs a rest If he slotted them.

If the fitness team see an issue there then let's rest him, but if he's fine he needs to play IMO.

This is a huge game for us. If we lose we are probably fighting off for a spot in the 8 in round 23 against the Giants.

Mentally he looks shot.

 

[bird_man]

Mentally he looks shot.

As someone said on the other thread, he looked well beaten and down on confidence. Not surprising for a kid that has played 13 games.

He's looked like that in other games though and has come back well.

Couldn't get near it against the Cats and then kicked 3 goals the following week.

Similar game to yesterday against Port and then kicked 3 the following week against the Swans.

I think we've just got to accept he's not going to have a big game every week, but he's still very important to us IMO.

Huge game this week.

 

[dazzledavey36]

You are guys are going to pump us. Your outside speed and spread will expose our slow and one paced mids. I'm cringing to think what Brad Hill will do to Vandenberg on a wing...

This loss will be lights out for our year.

 

[Mowman]

You are guys are going to pump us. Your outside speed and spread will expose our slow and one paced mids. I'm cringing to think what Brad Hill will do to Vandenberg on a wing...

This loss will be lights out for our year.

Really hope you're right

But we are St Kilda and we can snatch defeat from anywhere and against anyone

 

[Saintbloke]

We need to get more goals from our forward line- it was a mess yesterday with little system.

 

[Plugger35]

Sounds like Gawn will be back for this game but I'm not sure he will be 100% if he plays so hopefully Ryder and Marshall can get an advantage for us there.

I think we have them covered in most other departments so if we bring the required effort and take our chances we should win.

Hopefully we get a better run with the umpires than we did yesterday, being at a neutral ground should help but it's a lottery from week to week.

 

[TheEnsign]

This is one of the more fascinating games (for mine) of the last few years.

Melbourne's season (sort of) on the line - I don't agree that it's lights out if they lose (because percentage and a soft run home); but it would certainly mean there was no room for slip ups along the way for them. For us, I feel like (thanks Bruce) that was a pretty deflating loss and we might not get a big response to it. If there's a few tired guys with one eye on the bye next week we'll be in real trouble. Either that; or we win and have almost stamped our finals credentials.

In terms of our setup, I'd like to see us play Max higher up the ground; a roaming CHF if you will. I am sure everyone has noticed / lamented how many balls he gets two hands on but just can't complete the mark. I'd rather give him a week or two playing a bit freer and building up confidence by clunking a lot; particularly this week since he'd otherwise be stuck wrestling with May (at 100 kegs) all day. Max has shown a pretty long leg too so take marks on the edge of the 50 is within his range.

This opens a FF hole. The obvious choice is RoMA playing most of the game there; Battle is undersized but makes up for it with campaigner factor. That said, if it was me coaching, I would throw the magnets around a bit - Carlisle to FF; Battle to play full-time CHB (for this game only); Paddy at the stoppages and RoMA to pick up Gawn and follow him around the ground.

We then come to Clark in (seems almost automatic) so who is out? I would keep things simple and go Clark for Hind; I think we benefit from beefing up those who can run through the midfield, since that's a strength of Melbourne's. This does of course raise questions about who is going to kick the goals, but we haven't had much in the way of that from Hind the last few weeks. This is where we really miss Gresh.

Only other factor to think about is if Paton comes up or whether he should be rested due to the head knocks. His health comes first and it's a medical decision obv; but if he's not able to play then we have a problem. Their top scorers are Fritsch and Melksham who need medium, mobile defenders. If Paton's out the we probably bring Sav in; but he (Sav) has never had a massive defensive side to his game (although it was much better against Sydney I thought).

If no Paton it's have to be Gears on Fritsch and Wlikie (I guess) to Melksham; Coff needs to be left a bit loose as he seems to play that role really well. But if no Paton I could see problems matching against all the smalls including Pickett.

 

[theprospect]

Lose this week and then the game against GWS will be a playoff for 8th spot. This game is absolutely massive for both teams seasons.

 

[bird_man]

Oliver and Petracca are their most important players.

Stop those two and we win I reckon.

 

[Mowman]

Oliver and Petracca are their most important players.

Stop those two and we win I reckon.

Ross to Oliver

 

[CarnTheSAINTERS]

Ross to Oliver

Steele to petracca or let Steele do his thing?

 

[Mowman]

Steele to petracca or let Steele do his thing?

They can send Petracca to Steele if they want

 

[bird_man]

I reckon Wilkie to Petracca forward.

I wouldn't be tagging both he and Oliver in the middle though so we probably pick one for Ross to go to.

 

[BrutThough]

Oliver and Petracca are their most important players.

Stop those two and we win I reckon.

Jones will be our most important player here. None of there inside mids have the speed that he has. Getting the ball into his hands will go a long way to us winning.