Autopsy Round 2, 2021: St.Kilda v Melbourne *SPUD'S GAME* *SINCLAIR 100TH*

At the ground at one stage in the 2nd half i said something like "is there any danger you could give our defence a rest boys?". I didn't feel like our defence was the issue in fact I think there were misses from Melbourne due to our defenders pressure/perceived pressure. Did they have the best night? No, but they were handed a losing situation by players up the field. My thoughts anyway.
 

AirWinmar

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I wrote in my original comments in this autopsy thread that I wasn't looking for excuses for our performance, but I was looking for reasons. If ....and it is if....we were heavy legged that would explain a lot. If in coming weeks we see more of the same, then I think we can melt away.

But I am erring on the side of caution. Judging by GWS's performance, it is a strong possibility that an early season game with little match practice behind us contributed to the poor showing. The fact that we stayed in it is perhaps meritorious. We just had no spark. And that isn't us at Marvel. If you are fatigued and have little energy it is hard to replace it just with pride. I think the pride kept us in it.

I'm big on my cricket analogies. If a good batting line up gets caught on a wet deck, and is bowled out for a low score do you criticise them? You are not going to go out there and cream the ball around as you probably would in good conditions. It's just realism. We weren't at our best, and they couldn't lift to play at our normal level.

I am going to hold my horses and see how the next few weeks unfold. Essendon a good chance to find some touch. We have had two strange games. Now for a run of games at Marvel where we should run into fitness and form.
I wonder if they did modified training sessions or something because their legs were heavy. It's just strange that so many players were missing fairly easy kicks.
 

AirWinmar

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Two very good posts.

I just watched the 2nd Q on replay trying to get some sense of how we turned up our toes and lost that game from a dominant position. That Brad Hill I50 mis-kick was the turning point. Not blaming him specifically but we can't hide from the fact that his poor kicking at crucial moments stopped us taking advantage of any moments of dominancy. I hope he will play himself back into our good books since it's clear he won't be dropped.

I thought Sinclair initially was worth dropping but really at least he was getting some action. Our kicking was just so bad, unfortunately the ones like Hill, Jones, Ross and Sinclair that were getting their hands on it were just handing straight back to the opposition.

So who do you drop? The passengers like Higgins and Butler who were nowhere near it, or the poor disposers who were letting the Demons control the game? Personally for me, it has to be the latter, with Crouch coming in and personally I'd start Bytel too, he seems to be calm and clean. I would trust that with better delivery the passengers will get better chances to impose themselves. Trouble is, how do you drop sloppy disposers when they put in the effort that someone like Ross put in? That tackle on Viney should be the kind of thing that is rewarded at the club.

Cal Wilkie has been having a mare so far, hope he sorts himself out. The backline still looks pretty suspect and disorganised. Such a shame Frawley is unavailable. Maybe it is time to try Battle down back again, he's such a good forward though that we'd be robbing Peter to pay Paul. I know no one here has the answer, but what on earth is keeping Carlisle out of the side? It's one of the biggest current footy mysteries, up there with "What TF is wrong with David Teague's hair?" (Something is definitely not right but I can't put my finger on it, he still looks like he's wearing a disguise.)

I also agree with Diehard, I haven't been seeing Roughy on the bench lately; is it just that he was there but no one is focusing on him or he isn't there? That was definitely working for us in 2020. Good to see Gears up in the coaches box, but no Roberton? Anyone know what he's up to? Wouldn't blame him for taking some time away with his family, just interested to know as I read plenty of times that he was interested in pursuing a coaching career.

So annoying to have to go through a whole week like this, unsure of where we are all of a sudden. Once again, blowing a massive opportunity on the big stage, it does get under my skin. We can't win them all though, so hopefully in a month we'll be feeling more confident again after a few more competent efforts. Really can't wait to have Rowan and Paddy back though, and to see what Bert Crouch does for us. Next match can't come quickly enough.

Go Saints!
Tbh, not playing Carlilse and not understanding why is annoying the hell out of me🤬
 
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At the ground at one stage in the 2nd half i said something like "is there any danger you could give our defence a rest boys?". I didn't feel like our defence was the issue in fact I think there were misses from Melbourne due to our defenders pressure/perceived pressure. Did they have the best night? No, but they were handed a losing situation by players up the field. My thoughts anyway.
Fair point. Hard to see some of the efforts on tv. Dees were streaming forward at times in numbers. They missed a lot. Some of those misses were down to skill, but quite a few due to pressure.
 
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My main concern is that it is these kind of performances are common when we play teams who set up in a similar fashion behind the ball - i.e. usually play a spare or a ruckman who drops back, and have 3-4 better than average intercept markers.

These teams also stifle our pressure by moving forward with short, deliberate chip kicks which we can't seem to cope with.

Our lack of a plan B is what is most frustrating, once teams set up in this fashion we run out of ideas. Fast.
 
Exactly

3 newbs and flat from a huge game in the wet last week.

I stated that it was a risk that we'd be flat, and got howled down that we weren't accepting excuses this year.
People can accept what they wan't , but reality is reality. First game is the worst to have everyone working so hard, because none of them have match fitness yet.

I'M NOT ACCEPTING THIS STUPID GRAVITY ANY MORE, I DEMAND TO FLY.
 

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Ok, now that I've seen the replay, I understand all the frustration, but I'm not overly worried yet. The skill errors were bad, but the boys didn't give in. They kept trying hard, players like Gresh and Clark who weren't hitting targets still backed themselves and were able to win their one on one contests. Hill; that was shocking but we know he hits those kicks more often than not. The defensive structure was worrying, but to balance it Dougal stepped up and had an amazing game.

Ross and Billings have started the year well and when we add crouch to the mix it should help.


I haven't lost hope, blips happen, and players are adjusting to the new rotation caps and some might be feeling the pinch. but despite how bad our errors were, if you take Gawn out of their side, or put either Marshal or Ryder into our side, then things even up a great deal.

Still getting a sense of the season, Melbourne have started well, GWS have started poorly, we're 1 and 1. Will be a couple more weeks until we can start seeing where we rightfully stand.
 

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They had our measure across the ground except in front of goal. Petracca and Fritsch missed a heap of easy conversions. Those two alone missed 6 goals and 12.19 to 11.7 suggests that had they could have won 19.12.126 to 7.11.53 without to much imagination....that's only 73 points but it's not hard to imagine that had they converted a bit more accurately they would have snuffed us and gained more momentum. We kicked a few junk time goals when the game was already over too. The way we played didn't look anywhere near them.
39 V 21 shots at goal says we got off pretty lightly with only an 18 point loss.
 

Tommy Wigs

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More BS catastrophizing. At the game it felt like a five or six goal loss. Our game was holding up but the turnovers in this modern game will kill you.

Hill had 7 on his own, god knows how many we had. And not under pressure, just rank turnovers, many in the midfield opening up the whole defense.

To play so badly and get beaten by only three goals tells me our backline stood up. 50-70 points easily. Yeah jog on :rolleyes:
Agree. Maybe it was my angle, but it felt like most of their shots were coming from leads on angles. They didn’t appear to miss a lot of sitters.
 
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Commiserations on the loss.

Here are the midfield frequency stats from the game - if you haven't seen these before this is an overall summary of how often your players were lining up as one of the mids (inside + wing) at bounces.

Overall Summary - 26 Bounces

Ross 20 (4w)
Steele 20
Billings 18 wing
Gresham 15
Battle 14 wing
Jones 13 (8i, 5w)
Clark 9
Hill 8 wing
Sinclair 7 (4i, 3w)
Bytel 6

Hunter 23
McKernan 3

Centre Clearances

Gresham 4
Sinclair 2
Hunter 2
Steele 1
Ross 1
Clark 1

Notes:
- Half as many starts as last week for Clark & Hill. Clark's TOG was also 6% lower than last week
- Much more inside this week from Ross (only 20% wing starts last night vs. 55% against GWS)
I have been absolutely ropable the last few days so have held off posting to clear my head. Still honestly fuming at losing to such a pathetically average unit. Identical feelings to the Froe game last year actually!

With a slightly clearer head, I have just watched the game back - and specifically with these stats in mind. My 2 cents: Ratts got comprehensively outcoached, and his stubbornness in not making moves greatly contributed to us dropping the 4 points.

A couple of notes specifically regarding the above. Of Smacks three centre bounce ruck attendances, two led to clean St.Kilda clearances. One directly to a goal within 40 seconds.
This goal came during middle of the final quarter. At this bounce, Hunter was on the bench (Smack in the ruck), Clark was in the middle, Ross on a wing and Battle up forward. We held this structure for a grand total of 40 seconds while we kicked a goal straight from a Gresh clearance. At the next bounce, Hunter goes back into the ruck, Battle back on a wing, and Ross back to the defensive sweeper role in the middle standing Oliver. Gawn monsters Hunter, taps directly to Oliver who walks through the Ross tackle. The ball spends the next 5 minutes in the Melbourne half and the game is effectively over.

Anyone remember that 3-4 minute burst of momentum we got in the last quarter? That was McKernan in the ruck, Clark in the guts, Ross bursting from the outside (not defensive inside) and Battle as a forward target (King and Membery both with genuine 1v1). As soon as the structure was reset to the setup we overwhelmingly used for the night (Hunter 23 CBA's - Smack 3, Ross 16 in the middle 4 on the outside, Battle 14 on a wing and Clark in about 1 in 3 setups). Why would we reset to the structure that got our pants pulled down time and time again?

Round 1, Hunter rucked almost the entire first half. Our second half push was due in a big part to swinging McKernan into the ruck. The ruck contests ended up being shared 50/50 between Hunter and Smack last week. Why in the F**KING HELL were they 23 / 3 this week? Why is Battle ineffectively running up and down a wing all night, while Brayshaw did largely as he wanted? Why after Ross kicked two great goals last week, and he was probably our best at delivering the ball inside 50 all night (when given space on the outside) was Ross playing a defensive inside mid role on Oliver? Watch the replay. Oliver runs over the top of him again and again and again. Why are more then 90% of our kick-ins either going long to the side of the ground Gawn is standing, or short to the pocket? Hell, why is our 200cm KPP kicking the ball long to sub 6 foot targets in the first place?

Yes our skills and decision making were diabolically poor at times (looking at you Hill, Coff, Long and Sincs). Yes we were flat for long, long periods. But Melbourne were actually pretty damn terrible (thought that at the ground, and reinforced watching the replay). For the record, they also have the most selfish and least team oriented forwardline I have ever seen! But for me, we lost this one in the coaches box by sticking to structures and positioning that time and time again did not work!

Is our season over? Of course not. Is this inflexibility something that needs to be fixed? Absolutely. A 10 goal belting of Essendon should not allow us to simply forget that.

Over to you Ratts...

Ps. Paul Hunter should never ever, under any circumstances, play for St.Kilda again. 3 goals in the first half against Carlton came directly from his mistakes. We only got momentum in the GWS game once he was moved out of the center (and as far away from the ball as humanly possible). Against Melbourne, we would have genuinely been better of playing with 4 mids and not even contesting the ruck. Smacks 4th quarter CBA attendances showed all we actually needed was a genuine contest, and Gresh / Clark / Steele can make things happen. Hunter did not even provide that. Bloke is 28. There is no short or long-term upside to playing him. Combine his traffic cone like efforts in the ruck with his skills around the ground, and I would honestly rather play with 17 then give Hunter a game next week.
I know he was playing state league a few weeks ago and he is 'trying his best'. But this is pro-league. Unless your name is Dan McKenzie, you don't get participation awards and a pat on the back (and a long contract) for simply trying really hard. I don't care if it is McKernan, Carlisle or Lonie in a pair of really really high heels. Anyone is a better ruck option then Hunter
 
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AirWinmar

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I have been absolutely ropable the last few days so have held off posting to clear my head. Still honestly fuming at losing to such a pathetically average unit. Identical feelings to the Froe game last year actually!

With a slightly clearer head, I have just watched the game back - and specifically with these stats in mind. My 2 cents: Ratts got comprehensively outcoached, and his stubbornness in not making moves ultimately cost us the 4 points.

A couple of notes specifically regarding the above. Of Smacks three centre bounce ruck attendances, two led to clean St.Kilda clearances. One directly to a goal within 40 seconds.
This goal came during middle of the final quarter. At this bounce, Hunter was on the bench (Smack in the ruck), Clark was in the middle, Ross on a wing and Battle up forward. We held this structure for a grand total of 40 seconds while we kicked a goal straight from a Gresh clearance. At the next bounce, Hunter goes back into the ruck, Battle back on a wing, and Ross back to the defensive sweeper role in the middle standing Oliver. Gawn monsters Hunter, taps directly to Oliver who walks through the Ross tackle and kicks it forward. The ball spends the next 5 minutes in the Melbourne half and the game is effectively over.

Anyone remember that 3-4 minute burst of momentum we got in the last quarter? That was McKernan in the ruck, Clark in the guts, Ross bursting from the outside (not defensive inside) and Battle as a forward target (King and Membery both with genuine 1v1). As soon as the structure was reset to the setup we overwhelmingly used for the night (Hunter 23 CBA's - Smack 3, Ross 16 in the middle 4 on the outside, Battle 14 on a wing and Clark in about 1 in 3 setups) we got our pants pulled down time and time again.

Round 1, Hunter rucked almost the entire first half. Our second half push was due in a big part to swinging McKernan into the ruck. The ruck contests ended up being shared 50/50 between Hunter and Smack last week. Why in the F**KING HELL were they 23 / 3 this week? Why is Battle ineffectively running up and down a wing all night, while Brayshaw did largely as he wanted? Why after Ross kicked two great goals last week, and he was probably our best at delivering the ball inside 50 all night (when given space on the outside) was Ross playing a defensive inside mid role on Oliver? Watch the replay. Oliver just keeps running over the top of him again and again and again. Why are more then 90% of our kick-ins either going long to the side of the ground Gawn is standing, or short to the pocket? Hell, why is our 200cm KPP kicking the ball long to sub 6 foot targets in the first place?

Yes our skills and decision making were diabolically poor at times (looking at you Hill, Coff, Long and Sincs). Yes we were flat for long, long periods. But Melbourne were actually pretty damn terrible (thought that at the ground, and reinforced watching the replay). For the record, they also have the most selfish and least team oriented forwardline I have ever seen! But for me, we lost this one in the coaches box but sticking to structures and positioning that time and time again did not work!

Over to you Ratts...

Ps. Paul Hunter should never ever, under any circumstances, play for St.Kilda again. 3 goals in the first half against Carlton came directly from his mistakes. We only got momentum in the GWS game once he was moved out of the center (and as far away from the ball as humanly possible). Against Melbourne, we would have genuinely been better of playing with 4 mids and not even contesting the ruck. Smacks 4th quarter CBA attendances showed all we actually needed was a genuine contest, and Gresh / Clark / Steele can make things happen. Hunter did not even provide that. Bloke is 28. There is no short or long-term upside to playing him. Combine his traffic cone like efforts in the ruck with his skills around the ground, and I would honestly rather play with 17 then give Hunter a game next week.
I know he was playing state league a few weeks ago and he is 'trying his best'. But this is pro-league. Unless your name is Dan McKenzie, you don't get participation awards and a pat on the back (and a long contract) for simply trying really hard. I don't care if it is McKernan, Carlisle or Lonie in a pair of really really high heels. Anyone is a better ruck option then Hunter
Geez mate sounds like you didn't enjoy the game. Lol . Great points tho and in depth analysis of what we did that didn't work comparing to the GWS game
 

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I have been absolutely ropable the last few days so have held off posting to clear my head. Still honestly fuming at losing to such a pathetically average unit. Identical feelings to the Froe game last year actually!

With a slightly clearer head, I have just watched the game back - and specifically with these stats in mind. My 2 cents: Ratts got comprehensively outcoached, and his stubbornness in not making moves ultimately cost us the 4 points.

A couple of notes specifically regarding the above. Of Smacks three centre bounce ruck attendances, two led to clean St.Kilda clearances. One directly to a goal within 40 seconds.
This goal came during middle of the final quarter. At this bounce, Hunter was on the bench (Smack in the ruck), Clark was in the middle, Ross on a wing and Battle up forward. We held this structure for a grand total of 40 seconds while we kicked a goal straight from a Gresh clearance. At the next bounce, Hunter goes back into the ruck, Battle back on a wing, and Ross back to the defensive sweeper role in the middle standing Oliver. Gawn monsters Hunter, taps directly to Oliver who walks through the Ross tackle. The ball spends the next 5 minutes in the Melbourne half and the game is effectively over.

Anyone remember that 3-4 minute burst of momentum we got in the last quarter? That was McKernan in the ruck, Clark in the guts, Ross bursting from the outside (not defensive inside) and Battle as a forward target (King and Membery both with genuine 1v1). As soon as the structure was reset to the setup we overwhelmingly used for the night (Hunter 23 CBA's - Smack 3, Ross 16 in the middle 4 on the outside, Battle 14 on a wing and Clark in about 1 in 3 setups) we got our pants pulled down time and time again.

Round 1, Hunter rucked almost the entire first half. Our second half push was due in a big part to swinging McKernan into the ruck. The ruck contests ended up being shared 50/50 between Hunter and Smack last week. Why in the F**KING HELL were they 23 / 3 this week? Why is Battle ineffectively running up and down a wing all night, while Brayshaw did largely as he wanted? Why after Ross kicked two great goals last week, and he was probably our best at delivering the ball inside 50 all night (when given space on the outside) was Ross playing a defensive inside mid role on Oliver? Watch the replay. Oliver just keeps running over the top of him again and again and again. Why are more then 90% of our kick-ins either going long to the side of the ground Gawn is standing, or short to the pocket? Hell, why is our 200cm KPP kicking the ball long to sub 6 foot targets in the first place?

Yes our skills and decision making were diabolically poor at times (looking at you Hill, Coff, Long and Sincs). Yes we were flat for long, long periods. But Melbourne were actually pretty damn terrible (thought that at the ground, and reinforced watching the replay). For the record, they also have the most selfish and least team oriented forwardline I have ever seen! But for me, we lost this one in the coaches box but sticking to structures and positioning that time and time again did not work!

Is our season over? Of course not. Is this inflexibility something that needs to be fixed? Absolutely. A 10 goal belting of Essendon should not allow us to simply forget that.

Over to you Ratts...

Ps. Paul Hunter should never ever, under any circumstances, play for St.Kilda again. 3 goals in the first half against Carlton came directly from his mistakes. We only got momentum in the GWS game once he was moved out of the center (and as far away from the ball as humanly possible). Against Melbourne, we would have genuinely been better of playing with 4 mids and not even contesting the ruck. Smacks 4th quarter CBA attendances showed all we actually needed was a genuine contest, and Gresh / Clark / Steele can make things happen. Hunter did not even provide that. Bloke is 28. There is no short or long-term upside to playing him. Combine his traffic cone like efforts in the ruck with his skills around the ground, and I would honestly rather play with 17 then give Hunter a game next week.
I know he was playing state league a few weeks ago and he is 'trying his best'. But this is pro-league. Unless your name is Dan McKenzie, you don't get participation awards and a pat on the back (and a long contract) for simply trying really hard. I don't care if it is McKernan, Carlisle or Lonie in a pair of really really high heels. Anyone is a better ruck option then Hunter
Agree Hunter is not AFL standard in any shape or Form-Ruck with McKernan and chop out with Battle and maybe King in the FWD line-go one on one with the opposition Midfield when Smac is being rested if necessary-
 
Agree Hunter is not AFL standard in any shape or Form-Ruck with McKernan and chop out with Battle and maybe King in the FWD line-go one on one with the opposition Midfield when Smac is being rested if necessary-

So who is better, Abbot or Hunter? or Rix? or Ackland ?
 
That is easy - in 2005 Ackland finished 8th in the St Kilda B&F. He did his knee in about Round 20 and was never the same. Pre-knee Ackland was pretty good.

The others are a wash.

Rixxy was told, when drafted , that he would never play a game for the Saints, and apparently he was fine with that.
Ended up playing 29.
 
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I have been absolutely ropable the last few days so have held off posting to clear my head. Still honestly fuming at losing to such a pathetically average unit. Identical feelings to the Froe game last year actually!

With a slightly clearer head, I have just watched the game back - and specifically with these stats in mind. My 2 cents: Ratts got comprehensively outcoached, and his stubbornness in not making moves greatly contributed to us dropping the 4 points.

A couple of notes specifically regarding the above. Of Smacks three centre bounce ruck attendances, two led to clean St.Kilda clearances. One directly to a goal within 40 seconds.
This goal came during middle of the final quarter. At this bounce, Hunter was on the bench (Smack in the ruck), Clark was in the middle, Ross on a wing and Battle up forward. We held this structure for a grand total of 40 seconds while we kicked a goal straight from a Gresh clearance. At the next bounce, Hunter goes back into the ruck, Battle back on a wing, and Ross back to the defensive sweeper role in the middle standing Oliver. Gawn monsters Hunter, taps directly to Oliver who walks through the Ross tackle. The ball spends the next 5 minutes in the Melbourne half and the game is effectively over.

Anyone remember that 3-4 minute burst of momentum we got in the last quarter? That was McKernan in the ruck, Clark in the guts, Ross bursting from the outside (not defensive inside) and Battle as a forward target (King and Membery both with genuine 1v1). As soon as the structure was reset to the setup we overwhelmingly used for the night (Hunter 23 CBA's - Smack 3, Ross 16 in the middle 4 on the outside, Battle 14 on a wing and Clark in about 1 in 3 setups). Why would we reset to the structure that got our pants pulled down time and time again?

Round 1, Hunter rucked almost the entire first half. Our second half push was due in a big part to swinging McKernan into the ruck. The ruck contests ended up being shared 50/50 between Hunter and Smack last week. Why in the F**KING HELL were they 23 / 3 this week? Why is Battle ineffectively running up and down a wing all night, while Brayshaw did largely as he wanted? Why after Ross kicked two great goals last week, and he was probably our best at delivering the ball inside 50 all night (when given space on the outside) was Ross playing a defensive inside mid role on Oliver? Watch the replay. Oliver runs over the top of him again and again and again. Why are more then 90% of our kick-ins either going long to the side of the ground Gawn is standing, or short to the pocket? Hell, why is our 200cm KPP kicking the ball long to sub 6 foot targets in the first place?

Yes our skills and decision making were diabolically poor at times (looking at you Hill, Coff, Long and Sincs). Yes we were flat for long, long periods. But Melbourne were actually pretty damn terrible (thought that at the ground, and reinforced watching the replay). For the record, they also have the most selfish and least team oriented forwardline I have ever seen! But for me, we lost this one in the coaches box by sticking to structures and positioning that time and time again did not work!

Is our season over? Of course not. Is this inflexibility something that needs to be fixed? Absolutely. A 10 goal belting of Essendon should not allow us to simply forget that.

Over to you Ratts...

Ps. Paul Hunter should never ever, under any circumstances, play for St.Kilda again. 3 goals in the first half against Carlton came directly from his mistakes. We only got momentum in the GWS game once he was moved out of the center (and as far away from the ball as humanly possible). Against Melbourne, we would have genuinely been better of playing with 4 mids and not even contesting the ruck. Smacks 4th quarter CBA attendances showed all we actually needed was a genuine contest, and Gresh / Clark / Steele can make things happen. Hunter did not even provide that. Bloke is 28. There is no short or long-term upside to playing him. Combine his traffic cone like efforts in the ruck with his skills around the ground, and I would honestly rather play with 17 then give Hunter a game next week.
I know he was playing state league a few weeks ago and he is 'trying his best'. But this is pro-league. Unless your name is Dan McKenzie, you don't get participation awards and a pat on the back (and a long contract) for simply trying really hard. I don't care if it is McKernan, Carlisle or Lonie in a pair of really really high heels. Anyone is a better ruck option then Hunter
[/QUOTE]
"This goal came during middle of the final quarter. At this bounce, Hunter was on the bench (Smack in the ruck), Clark was in the middle, Ross on a wing and Battle up forward. We held this structure for a grand total of 40 seconds while we kicked a goal straight from a Gresh clearance. At the next bounce, Hunter goes back into the ruck, Battle back on a wing, and Ross back to the defensive sweeper role in the middle standing Oliver. Gawn monsters Hunter, taps directly to Oliver who walks through the Ross tackle. The ball spends the next 5 minutes in the Melbourne half and the game is effectively over."

At least try to be accurate.

The goal you are talking about came about because Petracca missed a straight forward handball to Viney after Gawn monstered McKernan and put it straight in Petracca's lap - ball spilled out and Gresh ran onto it.

McKernan had one handball to half time - perhaps you could discuss that part of his performance.

More concerning is why Steele, in a contest that Gawn would always win, ended up way behind Petracca when Hunter Clark and Bytel seem to have managed to stay ruck side of their opponents.

1617085297268.png




1617085839474.png





 
I stated that it was a risk that we'd be flat, and got howled down that we weren't accepting excuses this year.
People can accept what they wan't , but reality is reality. First game is the worst to have everyone working so hard, because none of them have match fitness yet.

I'M NOT ACCEPTING THIS STUPID GRAVITY ANY MORE, I DEMAND TO FLY.


Robert Murphy thought it was a bit rich as an excuse at round 2. He seemed to think it wouldn't be that big a deal to pull up from. Seemed to suggest the Saints and GWS might just not be very good.
 
[="gringo2011, post: 69303066, member: 126671"]
Robert Murphy thought it was a bit rich as an excuse at round 2. He seemed to think it wouldn't be that big a deal to pull up from. Seemed to suggest the Saints and GWS might just not be very good.
[/QUOTE]

On the contrary, the fact it was only round 2 makes it completely understandable I think.
A one-game preseason and one match beforehand. Hard to believe any team would be match hardened enough at the start of the season to come through those conditions without any effect.

May I say, not even taking this comment into account, I find Bob Murphy incredibly irritating.
 
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Robert Murphy thought it was a bit rich as an excuse at round 2. He seemed to think it wouldn't be that big a deal to pull up from. Seemed to suggest the Saints and GWS might just not be very good.
Ratten thought the same
 

ScrappyDo

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+1. Agree with most of your points.

I think we are starting to see the reasons why Sydney let go of Jones. After a purple patch, he really hit a form slump when he started getting some attention and he didn't look any better tonight (despite seemingly not getting any attention)
First game back and most the rest of the team played like crap.
2020 is his formline. Be at peace.
 
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