Review Saints vs Top Ups

[hayes]

Lonie. As someone said in the game thread we basically get another 10+ years of Schneider with this bloke. What a ripper he looks to be.

Jack Steven got back to doing Jack Steven things.

We badly need guys like Webster, Savage and Billings back for obvious reasons. There's a few in our team who don't give us much value at all for their possessions.

Acres got better as the game went on after a nervy start. The important thing is he's getting to more and more contests.

 

[Devington]

I liked this game, for very unusual reasons of course!

I liked the look of a lot of your players though. I really hope you get on top of the injuries issues, and get some good skills coaches in soon.

Skills aside, you guys don't look too bad.

 

[Kilroy]

A good day for Bruce, Membrey, Minchington and Saad to stand up and salute.
Liked the games from Saunders, Lonie, Wright and Goddard, all showing plenty of promise.
Thought Acres, Dunstan and Hickey worked their way into the game too.
Hamstrings are a bitch!

 

[Flandersss]

Liking Wright today. Impressive

Kicking much cleaner IMO.

 

[joop]

Ross was dominating until injured.
Steven very good.
Lonie very good.
Bruce very good.
Goddard good.
Hickey very good when he came on, adds so much around the ground to go with his ruck work. Clear as the Flemington straight out number 1 ruck.
Wright and Eli got into it the last quarter.
Kicking extremely poor.

 

[SK_MD_#7]

One going a bit unnoticed in Minch. Did his round 1 chances no harm at all.

 

[SaintLex]

Small forwards everywhere... Saad, Templeton, Minch, Saunders and Lonie all performed well today, and add Jack Billings to that mix. Probably with the exception of Saad, who I see more as a traditional small forward, the rest will have the capability to spend some decent minutes in the middle or on a wing. We're starting to build our attacking side of the game nicely, and the spread of goal kickers today demonstrated that.

Josh Bruce made a strong case for himself so we're looking at who's going to fill that 3rd tall spot now. Hopefully we can see Lee and White have a go in the third NAB challenge game.

 

[CALL ME SNAKE]

Half here saying Saunders was crap other half praising him.
I liked his game

 

[aussierulesrules]

Good stuff, easy money and lots of positives by the end, excluding Ross, which sucks for both him and us. We're now seeing why we rated Jack Lonie so high in the draft, how bloody good is he!!

 

[SaintLex]

I love how we tried to use the corridor whenever possible. Obviously kicking was a let down, but if we can get that right then this attacking style will get us far.

We have some beautiful kicks in our side, but most are ordinary. The sooner Billings and Webster are back, the better.

 

[CALL ME SNAKE]

They are filthy cheats.
We are a young bottom side.
We won by 50 points.
They are starting to get what they deserve.

 

[SK_MD_#7]

I love how we tried to use the corridor whenever possible. Obviously kicking was a let down, but if we can get that right then this attacking style will get us far.

We have some beautiful kicks in our side, but most are ordinary. The sooner Billings and Webster are back, the better.

Along with Sav.

 

[SK_MD_#7]

Richo reckons Ross hamstring is reasonably serious.

 

[aussierulesrules]

Liked the fact that the likes of Minch, Lonie, Sinclair and Acres got to spend some (albeit minimal) time in the centre square during the game. Loved that late centre clearance from Hickey winning it clearly down in front of Minch who was strong over the ball and kicked it strongly into the forward 50. Really glad that he had a good game and snagged a couple as well.

HG has so much presence in packs, even against senior bodies.

A few more preseasons and he will be a ripper.

A whole lot of this. He got his fist to a lot of balls today. Reads it well in flight, is tall, has a good leap and a good strong fist. He's a ripper.

 

[CALL ME SNAKE]

Richo reckons Ross hamstring is reasonably serious.

Thats a massive bummer. But TBH im expecting us to finish bottom anyway. A few injuries at least gives us a few lame excuses to cling to.
Im just hoping we dont get as many injuries during the 2017/18 seasons.

 

[hayes]

Murdoch and McKenzie's boots yet to be unleashed as well.

 

[SaintLex]

Richo not happy:

 

[Hayes4PM]

Good

Brucey
Lonie
Holmes
Jack Steven back to his old self
Montagna
Ross
Newnes
Membrey's effort
Goddard's first game


Bad

Ross' injury
Dunstan's injury
Blacres looked very unsure of his role/position in that first half
Shaun McKernan, what a ****ing potato headed campaigner he is, deserves every punch in the ear he gets
Shenton's mistakes/brainfades appear to have him earmarked as the new Raph Clarke
Overall shitty disposal of the ball and inability to hit a target when the pressure is applied on us



These ****ing hamstring injuries are gonna see us field a 22 of cripples at this rate.

 

[Grav]

Josh Bruce crashing the pack ala Kosi, top game. Can see why they say Newnes is a future leader, very clever & safe footballer with heaps of awareness. Great game by Minchington, Lonie is going to be something else, Goddard very solid & Hickey if he stays injury free will ruck us to a premiership. Quite a few others I thought deserved a mention as well, but getting the dreaded one finger typing cramp. Highlight of the game was Jason Holmes kicking the match winning goal ( ok so it was early on, but good on him anyway ). We are still a fair way from the eight. But we are definitely heading in the right direction.

 

[aussierulesrules]

Did anyone see Jack Sinclair pull a total Sam Mitchell move late in the game? Worked his way through traffic really well, evaded one tackle and then made a last moment switch to his (non-preferred) left foot, to put the ball out to our advantage on the wing. Looked very natural doing it, just like Mitchell does. Did another good short left footed kick a few mins later as well.

 

[CALL ME SNAKE]

Good

Brucey
Lonie
Holmes
Jack Steven back to his old self
Montagna
Ross
Newnes
Membrey's effort
Goddard's first game


Bad

Ross' injury
Dunstan's injury
Blacres looked very unsure of his role/position in that first half
Shaun McKernan, what a ******* potato headed campaigner he is, deserves every punch in the ear he gets
Shenton's mistakes/brainfades appear to have him earmarked as the new Raph Clarke
Overall shitty disposal of the ball and inability to hit a target when the pressure is applied on us



These ******* hamstring injuries are gonna see us field a 22 of cripples at this rate.

Wasnt Dunstans just a corky and even though he was obviously sore he came back fo rest of game??

 

[Periphery]

Richo not happy:

I'd love to know exactly what he was referring to.

 

[CALL ME SNAKE]

I'd love to know exactly what he was referring to.

Hopefully playing in Morwell

 

[mad-saint-guy]

This was a positive day for us. Lots of good signs and not too many negatives.

Holmes' goal was great, that will do wonders for his confidence.

Lonie looks like an absolute gun. Should play a decent amount of senior footy this year, but once he has a couple of pre seasons behind him he could very quickly become one of our better players. He's just so clean and damaging with the footy.

Acres had a much better second half after some very sloppy disposal early on. He still has a long way to go but he certainly gets involved in the game.

Wright made a very solid return. Best 22 player

Minchington impressed me. He's quick, fairly strong and has excllent skills. If he can just get his disposal average up into the 15-20 range I don't see any reason why he wouldn't play plenty of senior footy this year.

Bruce has consolidated his spot in round one at FF. Fantastic attack on the contest and pressure once the ball hits the ground. He's taking some big contested marks, too. Right now I think we'd start the season with Roo at CHF, Bruce FF/ruck, Membrey third target and Hickey as the starting ruck.

Goddard was very solid down back. Rarely caught out of position, just a few times was out-muscled by Giles which is nothing to hold against a first year player.

Negatives are obviously Ross' hamstring and I think Saunders is probably just a VFL standard player. His endeavour is brilliant but just has no polish, composure or finishing skills at all. He's a bit like a midget Sam Gilbert - not very useful.

If we can believe what the club is saying about our injuries, I'm guessing this is what the round one lineup is likely to be right now (Ray, Webster, Siposs, Markworth, Gilbert and Ross unavailable)

B: Dempster, Delaney, Wright
HB: Savage, Fisher, Roberton
C: Newnes, Armitage, Weller
HF: Montagna, Riewoldt, Billings
F: Saad, Bruce, Membrey

Foll: Hickey, Steven, Dunstan
Int: Acres, Templeton, Geary
Sub: Lonie

 

[Saintos The ITK]

One going a bit unnoticed in Minch. Did his round 1 chances no harm at all.

I thought Minchies delivery was pretty good compared to some of the others.
Lonie seems to be pretty slippery and have great spatial awareness.
Longers ground work has stepped up.
Lovebite't tapwork was good.
Acres looks like he's been playing for 150 games.