Game Day Round 5 St Kilda V Sydney Match Thread

[Gongswan]

well, we got teh 4 points. Intensity seemed to drop a bit in the last, but job done in poor coditions. I'll wager we'd be hoping to win 7 from the first half of the year, and then hope to win 8 or 9 from the second once Tippett comes in. Slow build toward teh finals

 

[MarkP]

Bird should off played last week to shut down selwood joke

At least we know that his career is not at the crossroads or whatever other stupid thing was being argued

 

[S120]

Surely that was another game in which we lost the clearances. Would make it 5/5 this year. Getting pretty silly.

 

[RUNVS]

Surely that was another game in which we lost the clearances. Would make it 5/5 this year. Getting pretty silly.

That is something I am a bit worried about as well as the commentators constantly talk about what a great clearance team we are but it is amazing how many times during a match we can be completely dominated in that area.

 

[BarneyBent]

Very strange game. We played some extremely good footy in very brief patches, with honest but ordinary footy dominating. Same can be said of the Saints. Also, the first 10 minutes were like the second half against Geelong all over again, but we got back into it, which was good.

Keep in mind that the guys have traveled overseas to play this game, completely unfamiliar ground, greasy conditions, and honestly, the Saints played with a lot of intensity. In the end they lacked the killing power of a truly great side, but their effort was the best they've put in all year, and we matched it, while putting the game away when it counted. We're still searching for our best, but at least our effort was improved compared to the Geelong game.

 

[Blood Bath]

We didn't play well, although I was not nervous when the Saints got within 10 points in that 4th quarter, I knew we'd hang on and I guess that's one of the expectations you have after your side wins a premiership. Jetta looked good when he came on in the 4th and you can tell Longmire just told him to go back to his old ways and not to be afraid to take on the man and run with the ball, and he did that so kudos to him. Was tough conditions for both sides. Parker seemed to handle them really well and I thought he was best on ground.
We need to tighten up on one thing for the coming rounds however. Our tackling intensity and making them stick has been below par this year and that hardly changed today. But yeah w/e we got the four points and that was our main goal I guess.

 

[vonn]

Aside from a few periods, I felt like we only just did the bare minimum.

 

[GotTheGoodes]

Blah... 4 points? Yes. Win? Not by my books.

Certainly we are nowhere near close to back to back material atthe moment... Hopefully there will be a nice slow build up to the finals.

 

[Membling]

Aside from a few periods, I felt like we only just did the bare minimum.

Kind of the feeling about the wins we have had this year

 

[grimlock]

I think due to the conditions, it's going to be a tough slog and we're going have to grind this one out. It won't be pretty but I won't care one iota as long as we win.

Thanks. I'll be here all week.

Some people have peculiarly high standards, the Saints fumbled and bumbled as much as we did but once we imposed ourselves on the contest after the first quarter, we were clearly the better team.

 

[alanlau34]

Didn't catch last weeks game or today's, being on holidays does have some downsides I guess. Just glad to get the 4 points, no further injuries to report, and another game to shake off the rust before the real action starts soon.

 

[Wolfgang West]

Surely that was another game in which we lost the clearances. Would make it 5/5 this year. Getting pretty silly.

Spot on and i can tell you straight up what the problem is. Our midfield who get accolades for their workrate are not on the the move at stoppages and are stationary to often. Golden rule for a mid is to be on the move at stoppages. If you watch close enough this is happening alot at centre bounces where it is making it look like Pyke is hitting to the opposition when he gets his hand to it. Need to pull their fingers out of their arse and rectify it quick smart because a decent midfield will cane us.

 

[RUNVS]

Spot on and i can tell you straight up what the problem is. Our midfield who get accolades for their workrate are not on the the move at stoppages and are stationary to often. Golden rule for a mid is to be on the move at stoppages. If you watch close enough this is happening alot at centre bounces where it is making it look like Pyke is hitting to the opposition when he gets his hand to it. Need to pull their fingers out of their arse and rectify it quick smart because a decent midfield will cane us.

Is it possible we and the media have overrated our in and under midfielders? They get beaten to often in the clearances for it to be classified as a one off.

 

[vonn]

Pretty sure we've never been a good clearance side, even in 2012. Someone who's good at stats do a search

 

[BarneyBent]

Surely that was another game in which we lost the clearances. Would make it 5/5 this year. Getting pretty silly.

Was dead even, 43 apiece. At times it seemed we were dominating, but then at others the Saints got a roll on as well. Pyke won a lot of hitouts but I noticed they weren't directed as well as they usually are off his hand.

 

[BarneyBent]

Is it possible we and the media have overrated our in and under midfielders? They get beaten to often in the clearances for it to be classified as a one off.

I think it's more that our in and under midfielders are praised for winning contested ball, tackling hard and impacting the scoreboard, rather than winning clearances. We've never been a dominant clearance side, but we've always rebounded extremely well, and when the ball is in dispute in a non-stoppage situation, our inside mids often find a way to clear it out to our outside mids or rebounding backs.

 

[S120]

In 2012, we averaged the third most clearances but that doesn't give a good indication of how many clearance counts we won throughout the year. Games with more stoppages (which he averaged the most of any team in 2012) are going to have more clearances so that is unclear.

What is interesting, and something I didn't know at all, was that in 2012 we averaged the equal least centre clearances per game with Melbourne (11.5). Hawthorn were first with 15.5 per game. So the woeful centre clearance work from us has been ongoing.

SOURCE: AFL.com.au statistics page

 

[Stan_Darsh72]

Good game Lads tough and hard. but i have a question about Jetta, What has happened to him? Bad Presason, Injury?

 

[Heeney2Franklin]

Good game Lads tough and hard. but i have a question about Jetta, What has happened to him? Bad Presason, Injury?

Just been worked out and in general drifting through games half-arsed.

 

[MarkP]

Good game Lads tough and hard. but i have a question about Jetta, What has happened to him? Bad Presason, Injury?

I am (wishfully perhaps) just putting it down to poor form and a preponderance to hard tag him this year. He does need to pull the digit out but really seemed to respond this week - meaning he was having a go and didn't sulk at being sub. We also have played a few wet and windy games - I will be interested to see a game on a hard deck in the sun to be honest. It is hard to line up how people are going when they a slipping everywhere chasing a greasy ball.

 

[grimlock]

In 2012, we averaged the third most clearances but that doesn't give a good indication of how many clearance counts we won throughout the year. Games with more stoppages (which he averaged the most of any team in 2012) are going to have more clearances so that is unclear.

SOURCE: AFL.com.au statistics page

In the regular season 11-11. In total we lost 882-892.

Qualifying Final Sydney 42 Adelaide 33
Prelim Final Sydney 46 Collingwood 39
Grand Final Sydney 35 Hawthorn 58

SOURCE: Me via AFL.com.au

 

[Stan_Darsh72]

Thanks for the replies it's a shame that he is not at his best he is an electrifying player at great to watch.

 

[GoTheSwannies]

Thanks for the replies it's a shame that he is not at his best he is an electrifying player at great to watch.

Yeah, I was hoping Jetta was going to have a few electrifying runs for the sake of putting on a great show for nz viewers. Would have been a great advertisement for the game, unfortunately it didn't pan out that way

 

[Bloods_33]

I think our mids are getting sucked into contests too much , too many on the inside trying to win the footy and too few outside of the contest ready to break away. This means the opposition just push the ball outside of the contest and they're away

 

[Jack Lord]

Goodesy's poorest game for a while.