Review Saints versus Sydney - Positives & Negatives

[Sunshine Saint]

Positives
- Roo was back to his best. In slippery conditions that made marking difficult, he had the ball on a string
- Lenny was back in the groove. No longer frustrated and second to the contest. Lenny was showing his 2012 form
- Geary gets better and better. A hardness and a never give up attitude
- Steven great in tight conditions. Kicking still needs work
- Clinton Jones deserves his spot We all know he is not there long term, but I must say his hunger and hardness at the contest is an inspiration to our younger players
- Youth, youth, youth. How exciting are Ross, Wright, Murdoch, Saunders? Loved seeing them play and can see lots of positives with each of them

Negatives
- Kosi's game reminded those who had forgotten that his time has gone.

 

[saintsrfreak]

Negative - We really need to improve our F50 entries

 

[Tragic sainter]

Positive: reiwoldt Was on fire!

Negative: reiwoldt was absolutely robbed of the medal.

 

[mysainters]

Positives:
Nathan Wright, found a good one there. Composure, good decision making.
Swans had to flood because we were better than they anticipated

Negatives:
Milne would of relished all that footy on the deck, silly silly Milney
Saad and Milera may be small, but not quick, we need some smalls that can skate around

 

[Tragic sainter]

Positives:
Nathan Wright, found a good one there. Composure, good decision making.
Swans had to flood because we were better than they anticipated

Negatives:
Milne would of relished all that footy on the deck, silly silly Milney
Saad and Milera may be small, but not quick, we need some smalls that can skate around

Saads pretty quick, just not smart enough to use it ATM.

 

[mysainters]

Saads pretty quick, just not smart enough to use it ATM.

Is that it?

Seems slow to me, quite chunky for a small...think they need to lean him up a bit.

 

[Stan_Darsh72]

POSITIVES
Our young players played well against the swans
Roo is back to good form
The crowd was good for us
Geary is a star
Len is back to good form

NEGATIVES
Our forward entry kicks are shizenhousen
We need to craft goals when the ball in in our 50
We could of used Siposs and his kicking skills
We lost

 

[adambrown]

Positives:
Roo amazing game
Lenny, Geary, Jones, Gilbert, Joey did whats expected of them now
Roberton and Wright have slotted in to the backline nicely
Ross, Saunders and Murdoch quite impressive cant wait to see Newnes in there with them
Won the tackle and contested ball count against the best in the business
Negatives:
The Saints lost
Armo and Dal really need to find something
Need to play 2 ruckman against teams that have two ruckman (Ess/Syd)

 

[aussierulesrules]

Negative - We really need to improve our F50 entries

​

 

[Rors]

IMO The small forwards have no desire to win their own ball at the moment... They all want it kicked to space or on the lead or over the back

Hey guys, how bout earning a crumb? How bout putting your head over the ball? How bout getting into the pack? How bout doing anything other than standing back waiting for someone to feed it too you?

Sheesh! I've said it a million times already in this thread & other game threads. Sit em down in front of the screen & show them how Stokes, Christensen, McGlynn, Bolton, Wingard, Elliott, Blair go about it... And learn!

 

[Manimal_Dunstan]

Positive:
Loved the work of the young side tonight. Even with the loss

Negative:
Need to learn to hit a bloody target by hand and foot!

 

[puppy_dog7]

Positives:
Nathan Wright, found a good one there. Composure, good decision making.
Swans had to flood because we were better than they anticipated

Negatives:
Milne would of relished all that footy on the deck, silly silly Milney
Saad and Milera may be small, but not quick, we need some smalls that can skate around

Don't know what you're on about.. Saad had the best 20m sprint result at 2011 draft camp with 2.86 sec, best repeat sprints time. And the 2nd fastest agility test time?

 

[aussierulesrules]

Considering the fact that we went in with 5 who had played 5 senior AFL matches between them, I think that was about as good as we were ever going to do. Great effort, especially early, where we saw the "maniac" back, but just not poised enough across the ground, or probably fit enough to maintain that manic start we made for longer.

Really liked a lot of what I saw from Seb Ross and Murdoch and also liked what I saw of Saunders, who did some really good stuff in the packs. He is one that did actually have poise and a very cool head in very heavy traffic. Just needs a haircut!

Negs: Kosi giving away bloody stupid free kicks yet again. Cost us Sydney's first goal through an interchange infringement, when we had all the momentum and they hadn't looked like scoring, then that late free kick for a completely unnecessary late bump that was just ridiculous, but oh so typical, plus another one or two on top of them.

Still giving away too many free kicks as a team, too. That's four and a half weeks in a row where it's been very lop-sided against us. We need to cut that shit out, as it's costing us wins.

Picking three "talls" for the forward line when it was always going to be wet and very slippery. Would have thought we would have learned from R1 when we made the same mistake.

 

[Sainttony]

Loved the effort tonight. It is a pity that this level has not been seen until tonight. Lets hope we have turned the corner and this level of hardness at the contested ball will be seen every week.

This same sort of commitment would have defeated GC and Richmond. Bring on Collingwood with that level of effort and we will do them.

We must play the kids. Wright, Saunders, Murdoch all did good things and will only improve. A good game by Spencer just might see him play next week.

Unfortunately Kosi the old warhorse is probably finished. I would like to see him get to 200 games but in reality he doesn't do enough to warrant a place. Prefer Hickey

 

[God Save Max King]

POSITIVES

• Nick Riewoldt was marking strongly and kicking goals. He worked his opponent into the ground. Played wing, full back, full-forward and in the ruck. Surprised he didn't get the ANZAC Medal. 27 disposals, 13 marks, 7 tackles, surprising 5 rebound 50s and 2 goals.
• Nick Riewoldt. There were 2 Riewoldt's playing today, right?
• Jarryn Geary's play off half-back. He's really elevated his game again this year. Goes hard at the footy and has courage
• Lenny Hayes and Leigh Montagna are still playing well. Despite years of hard work, Hayes and Joey are still brilliant. They're both in our Top 5 right now IMO. Hayes 11 clearances. 11, ELEVEN! Massive effort. 4 center clearances and a huge 8 tackles. Showing that he is still willing to get his hands dirty on the inside.
• Effort in the first 2 quarters was top notch. That proves that our best is still good enough to match it with the best in the league right now. We moved the ball well and our pressure was great.
• I know it is still early but these 1st year players + Ross look great. Wright started to gain some confidence in his abilities and Murdoch and Saunders weren't afraid to take the game on.
• Broke even with Sydney in clearances and contested possessions and we defeated them 13-9 in center clearances. Improved work out of the middle from St Kilda.

NEGATIVES:

• Ball usage was horrible, AGAIN. We cannot continue to turn the footy over. A lot of bad decisions. I know the conditions were horrible but surely we can do better? Dempster, Stanley and TDL were horrible here.

 

[God Save Max King]

In regards to the small forwards, I think it is just Milne's bad form and 2nd year blues for Milera and Saad. They'll be good, but they will take time to develop.

 

[lewdogs]

POSITIVES:
Great signs from young players. Saunders, Ross, Wright, Murdoch all played well.
Contested ball was back up, lots of pressure from our players in MOST areas of the ground.
Many had good games... Geary, Roo, Leny especially.
We actually could have won in the last quarter had we made some good decisions... we were unlucky in some ways. Against the Premiers this shows we aren't that far off it.

NEGATIVES:
Dal needs a rocket from either the coach or captain. He was weak today.
The forward pressure from Saad and TDL was crap.
Macca needs support in the ruck.
Please lets not complain about that Stanley free against, clear free in my opinion. Stanley had a great game but that was a poor decision.
We lost this game in the period just after half time. Came out not ready and got pummelled, really disappointing period.

Happy with the progress of young players at this stage. We need a win though.

 

[Saint_Dos]

Positives: all the previously mentioned plus thought Gilbert played well as defender again. Still poor use at times but overall good.

Negatives: Dal cant get rid of that tag. Watters needs to come up with some strategies to keep him going. Stick on a flank, back pocket, up fwd whateva just give him a chance to try something. Otherwise get some guys to create some legal blocks to give him space. Something has to be done he is having little influence week in week out.

 

[mysainters]

Don't know what you're on about.. Saad had the best 20m sprint result at 2011 draft camp with 2.86 sec, best repeat sprints time. And the 2nd fastest agility test time?

So why does he continually get caught?

Overthinking it?

 

[Questorian]

I can't post a new thread to make my comments just yet so I shall do so here as it seems like the best place:

As an Englishman who has been living in NZ for the last 7 years (and who may well be movnig to Melbourne in the very near future) I went along tonight, partly because I love live sport, but I think broadening NZs sporting viewpoint can only be a good thing. I apologise in advance for my complete murdering of player names and game terms - I have watched the odd AFL game, but it is VERY rarely shown here - we get the grand final if we're lucky!

So on the basis of what I saw tonight:
Riewoldt is a LEGEND - he looked your best forward tonight.
Dunno who kicked those 2 crazy angle goals in the 4th quarter, but they were right in front of me, and whoever it was needs a pay rise!
Your marking (as in taking marks) seemed poor and your ball control also - it was a bit chilly tonight but it wasn't really wet - mind you all you lot will be used to soft Melbourne weather... *Flame Proof jacket on! *

The umpires SEEMED from my perspective to give the Swans the benefit of the doubt with a lot of calls - ok I was sat at one end of the ground so it was of course harder for me to see some stuff, but it did seem like the 50-50 calls went their way. Mind you, an interchange ****-up - that was just silly....!

As I say I am not an expert on the game so please feel free to tell me I have gotten everything wrong, but I thought it might be interesting to get a neutral's take on the game.

I was sadly sat near a lot of Kiwis who didn't really seem to know what was going on so I did spend an inordinate amount of time trying to explain things as best I could - hopefully playing more games here might increase understanding. Personally I think it was a good start - just wish we could get it on TV a bit more easily!

 

[Sunshine Saint]

I can't post a new thread to make my comments just yet so I shall do so here as it seems like the best place:

As an Englishman who has been living in NZ for the last 7 years (and who may well be movnig to Melbourne in the very near future) I went along tonight, partly because I love live sport, but I think broadening NZs sporting viewpoint can only be a good thing. I apologise in advance for my complete murdering of player names and game terms - I have watched the odd AFL game, but it is VERY rarely shown here - we get the grand final if we're lucky!

So on the basis of what I saw tonight:
Riewoldt is a LEGEND - he looked your best forward tonight.
Dunno who kicked those 2 crazy angle goals in the 4th quarter, but they were right in front of me, and whoever it was needs a pay rise!
Your marking (as in taking marks) seemed poor and your ball control also - it was a bit chilly tonight but it wasn't really wet - mind you all you lot will be used to soft Melbourne weather... *Flame Proof jacket on! *

The umpires SEEMED from my perspective to give the Swans the benefit of the doubt with a lot of calls - ok I was sat at one end of the ground so it was of course harder for me to see some stuff, but it did seem like the 50-50 calls went their way. Mind you, an interchange ****-up - that was just silly....!

As I say I am not an expert on the game so please feel free to tell me I have gotten everything wrong, but I thought it might be interesting to get a neutral's take on the game.

I was sadly sat near a lot of Kiwis who didn't really seem to know what was going on so I did spend an inordinate amount of time trying to explain things as best I could - hopefully playing more games here might increase understanding. Personally I think it was a good start - just wish we could get it on TV a bit more easily!

Thanks for your feedback. And you are right, Riewoldt is a legend.

What was the feedback from the Kiwis and those around you? Did they enjoy it? Did they find it entertaining?

And is it a fair question to ask, that whether you remain there, or come to Melbourne, that St Kilda is now YOUR AFL TEAM?

 

[WesternSaint84]

Positives
-The younger fellas stepping up at times and taking the game on
-Nick's best game in years and has shown the locals what some of the best afl players can do
Negatives
-I expect Kosi will get to 200 games and then get given his marching orders. Looked good for about 2-3 minutes
-The commentary was abysmal. It doesn't help to promote the game in nz for the next few years when you completely trash the host team for 4 quarters. It will also hurt us when the club tries to bring in new sponsors
-umpires enough said

 

[stkildathunda]

Positive: Kosi really shown his worth to team wih his structure work and his elite skills of crashing packs and bringing ball to ground.

Negative; playing 30+ year old that hasn't performed in VFL let alone AFL ahead of exciting young kids.

 

[Defacto]

so many positives, but best summed up as the club finally seriously invested in and trusted the "youth" and they stepped up in return. take ross for example, he has stepped up again. 17 disposals, 10 contested possession, didnt look lost. he will only get better and will be a mix between mitchell and dane swan.

we've finally found our sub in saunders. zippy, quick, impacted the contest. wright was good and allowed geary to push up the ground. murdoch look composed, will get better like ross, if given more game time.

we've finally stopped the gilbert experiment and surpise surprise he's back to his 2009/2010 form. please please please do not stuff him around again. roberton solid. going to be hard for gwilt to push back into the side

roo inspirational. perfect tonic for a young developing list.

stanley is our full back. perfect for where the game is at, where the resting ruck is often the full forward. how many

negatives
- small fwds are down on form and are stunting our development in that they rob a spot for a younger mid. 1 of hyphen/saad needs to be dropped. possibly both if milne comes back in
- lee is struggling. said it before, will say it again. needs time in the VFL to build his tank and develop
- dal santo. ross knew how to get him to stop going into his shell and just going through the motions when he is tagged. watters needs to find a way. if that means sending him back to the VFL then so be it


is it possible to put kozi in the negative and possitive? see how he almost killed another player yet again?

 

[FlyingSledghamer]

our forward pressure in parts of the game was excellent.