Preview Round 6, 2021: Port Adelaide v St.Kilda - Adelaide Oval, Sunday 25th April, 6:40PM AEST

[bird_man]

Don’t think I have ever felt my confidence in a game being so heavily dictated by selection between 2 games.
Really won’t know how I feel about this until the teams are named.

If Marshall or Ryder get up I expect us to be competitive.
If not I expect us to get beaten soundly.

Zak Jones hopefully in will be a big bonus but it seems we struggle to win a clearance without a ruck.

Marshall is a definite

Does not sound like Ryder will play though

 

[#gosaintas]

Marshall is a definite

Coast sound like Ryder will play though

jones a def too unless he breaks at training

 

[borderbarry]

I dont know if we can afford to play Jimmy. He is good for half a game before he is injured.

 

[FQFjt]

I dont know if we can afford to play Jimmy. He is good for half a game before he is injured.

His injuries aren't related though, and they're also often not soft tissue either, so you put it down the bad luck I think.

 

[gringo2011]

really starting to think we will win.
Marshall / Ryder / Jones makes us a lot better. first q and 10 mins we marched the tigers before mentally falling apart.
Those 3 players make us mentally strong.
We cant be this bad. Our players ive seen them be great. It makes no sense.
Lets win this injury free, get back
to 3-3 and have hawks / gc ahead.
butters / dursma out. Rozzee on one leg, maybe dixon goes down first q. Never know. GO SAINTS!

really depends on the side we select. If we bring in Marshall and Jones we are more chance. I'm not confident enough to suggest that we should win, I think with our best available side in we should make it a contest. They are still hard to beat on their turf.

 

[The Punter]

His injuries aren't related though, and they're also often not soft tissue either, so you put it down the bad luck I think.

They may have all been bad luck, but we've seen enough to reasonably categorise him as "perenially unlucky". And that's not going to change - some blokes just keep getting injured.

 

[Plugger35]

Delisting Savage was a silly move. Perfect stop-gap player for the situation we're in. Not a perfect player by any stretch, but could do a job, and was at least dependable....especially since we've done nothing with our game plan. He could bomb it on top of anyone's head from 70 metres out.

Yeah I thought it was dumb to delist Savage at the time and it looks even worse now with all the injuries we have, he was a quality depth player.

Terrible supercoach news

Thankfully I don't have him but I have Dangerfield who I traded in last week to replace Butters.

There seems to be more injuries than usual this year and some clubs like us have copped it worse than others.

 

[AirWinmar]

His injuries aren't related though, and they're also often not soft tissue either, so you put it down the bad luck I think.

Yeah had some terrible luck, they don't seem to be recurring although a groin injury can become a bad recurring one

 

[BrutThough]

Thankfully I don't have him but I have Dangerfield who I traded in last week to replace Butters.

There seems to be more injuries than usual this year and some clubs like us have copped it worse than others.

That's brutal. And with so little decent forward options, it's not going to be easy to replace dangerfield.

The increased game time and shorter preseason has to have had some impact on the increased injuries this year. It feels like there has been multiple medium-long term ones every week.

 

[AirWinmar]

That's brutal. And with so little decent forward options, it's not going to be easy to replace dangerfield.

The increased game time and shorter preseason has to have had some impact on the increased injuries this year. It feels like there has been multiple medium-long term ones every week.

Plus reduced rotations

 

[Circus]

I read most of the Richmond autopsy thread and was horrified by the scattergun insults to the universe in general. The Saints were flogged by a truly great team who were absolutely intent on getting their mojo back. We capitulated and were pathetic. Some players were more pathetic than others, but when your own system has collapsed some "role" players simply cannot be "in position" because that "position" no longer exists.

That being said a number of posters made astute observations about the causes - other than the obvious such as the midfielders got thrashed, or the centre bounce set up was wrong. Of course it was, that's why we got beaten and our defenders were overwhelmed and our forwards stared at the play from a very long way away.

What made the most sense in explaining the dramatic shift in our efforts this season is the psychological battering we took late in the pre-season. We lost player after player to an incredibly cruel run of injuries and unavailability at the critical juncture of stabilising the game plan and in trying to anticipate the effects of the new rules. We were forced to make so many quick changes and brought in players who couldn't do it, that things fell apart.

We have a list that requires all of our best players to play at their best for us to challenge the best teams. Those players aren't there and quite a few who are haven't contributed. They can't or won't. Now here's my point - the won't. That is non-negotiable. If you don't because you won't you must not play again until you redeem yourself elsewhere, if at all. The players who run onto the ground must be guaranteed by their team mates that they are all going to have a red hot go, whoever is on the field wearing the Saints guernsey. For all his limitations DMac, for example, is a team mate who can be guaranteed to give 100%. I would have in my team for that reason above all.

The coaches can only do so much (but fix the bloody kick-ins for christ's sake). The players must take complete ownership of the effort out there on the ground. They must make demands and enforce what they think is acceptable after each and every game. They must decide who is up to standard and who they don't trust. Every-one will make mistakes and some players will have to play out of their preferred positions, but they must give their all because some players do that all the time and some only when things are going well. Those that are the heart and soul of the team, Steele, Membrey, Howard etc, must let the others know whether they want them in the team any longer. This is a seminal season for our club.

Apologies, thus endeth the lesson!

 

[SaintsSeptember]

Love your optimism. Port is really impressive so far this year because unlike most of the other ladder leaders, they're winning games with significant players out of the team.

But I thought Ryder is basically no chance to play?

Paddy and Dougal know all their secret plans....such as....
1: Kick more goals than opponent.

 

[Greshs Eye]

What made the most sense in explaining the dramatic shift in our efforts this season is the psychological battering we took late in the pre-season. We lost player after player to an incredibly cruel run of injuries and unavailability at the critical juncture of stabilising the game plan and in trying to anticipate the effects of the new rules. We were forced to make so many quick changes and brought in players who couldn't do it, that things fell apart.

I think this is really the crux of it, the late preseason destabilisation to the side caused through that run of injuries. However that sadly also then speaks to the mental frailty of the group. The distinct drop in effort is above the shoulders.

 

[Roddy Grant]

I had a gut feeling at the start of the year that in spite of the positivity this would be a 'one step back' year.

Initially it was looking at the much tougher draw we had and then the injuries compounded it.

I still think that this year will be a step back expect us to finish around 10th but believe that we will learn a lot and next year will be 2 steps forward and we are back up and competing again.

 

[StCicatriz]

I had a gut feeling at the start of the year that in spite of the positivity this would be a 'one step back' year.

Initially it was looking at the much tougher draw we had and then the injuries compounded it.

I still think that this year will be a step back expect us to finish around 10th but believe that we will learn a lot and next year will be 2 steps forward and we are back up and competing again.

+1 to this. but not sure on what the future holds. gut tells me we make finals next year as a result of an improvement in form + an easier draw.

 

[nr914064]

No Paddy. ffs
Ins: Marshall, Jones, Byrnes, Joyce
Outs: Hunter, Dunstan, Clark (flu),
Webster

amazing effort from billings last week. Torn planta fascia in warm up.

Looks like Clark out. Not good.

 

[bird_man]

No Paddy. ffs
Ins: Marshall, Jones, Byrnes, Joyce
Outs: Hunter, Dunstan, Clark (flu),
Webster

amazing effort from billings last week. Torn planta fascia in warm up.

Looks like Clark out. Not good.

Clark ruled out with the flu 3 days before the game?

 

[BrutThough]

Clark ruled out with the flu 3 days before the game?

Ratts is expecting him to be fine since the game is late sunday but he didn't train today.

 

[Sully111]

Pretty surprised anyone thinks we'll win this.

 

[snails13]

SEN just mentioned that the Saints have won just 5 qtrs for season,the worst in the comp

 

[StCicatriz]

Lade didn't hold back in his SEN interview. nothing untoward either. just said it how it is.

 

[Mowman]

Clark ruled out with the flu 3 days before the game?

Say it isn't true
God dam

 

[FQFjt]

Lade didn't hold back in his SEN interview. nothing untoward either. just said it how it is.

Very good interview. Speaks a bit more openly than Ratten does these days.

 

[Plugger35]

Clark better not be out, he's in my Supercoach team too.

Hopefully the game being on Sunday gives him enough time to recover.

 

[Roddy Grant]

So JB injured his plantar fascia in the warm up last week and played through the pain:

Billings injury revealed, star Saint sent for COVID test

Brett Ratten has revealed Jack Billings played through injury against Richmond, while a young Saints defender missed training on Thursday to get a COVID test.

www.afl.com.au

Should be fine for this week though.

WTF is it with this injury and our 2021 season. Had never heard of this body part before and assumed it was latin for face plant.

Needless to say it's having a bigger impact on our season and my life than I ever thought it would.

Marshall confirmed in.
Hunter Clark

11

Hunter Clark

Age

25

Ht

186cm

Wt

83kg

Pos.

Mid

Career

Season

Last 5

D

17.5

4star

K

9.5

4star

HB

8.0

5star

M

3.6

4star

T

2.9

4star

CL

1.3

3star

D

16.0

4star

K

9.6

4star

HB

6.4

4star

M

3.1

3star

T

2.9

4star

CL

1.9

4star

D

13.2

4star

K

6.6

3star

HB

6.6

4star

M

2.2

3star

T

2.0

4star

CL

0.0

1star

has the flu so may miss.
Sounds like Joyce is on the cusp of a return according to the article.