Saints Vs West Coast @ T.Dome

[Cuzz09]

Just wanted to get in early and say "How good is this game Gonna be!"

Friday Night blockbuster!

channel 9 must be licking their chops over this after the Friday night cr*p they've been serving up.

I am only going on our previous performances against you guys in picking the Saints to win.

Not really confident we have anyone to stop Riewoldt without Hunter.

Should be a ripper - Go eagles!

 

[Bourky23]

agreed... should be a ripper however i'm confident we can win without too much fuss i can see us leading by 20-30 points at qtr time and just keeping that sort of lead all game with not to much pressure

 

[SpInNeR]

watch us destroy yous by over 80 points

 

[Kildonan]

    Date     Rd   Opponent            St Kilda                  West Coast                       Crowd
02-Jun-2002  R10 West Coast  8.0 15.3 20.5  20.7   127   3.2 5.5 7.8 11.11  77  W Docklands      18876  
03-Aug-2003  R18 West Coast  1.7  9.9 13.11 19.14  128   0.2 2.7 8.7  9.13  67  W Docklands      21531  
23-May-2004  R9  West Coast  6.4 13.7 19.9  26.13  169   3.3 6.8 9.10 9.14  68  W Docklands      30478

We do have a good record against them over here, but it probably wont pay to be too confident.
They appear to have their hunger back.

This will be a good test for us.

Whoever wins will gain a great deal of confidence going into the finals.

We need a good crowd. Have a look at the crowd figures in our last three meetings at the Dome. Not good enough (even though we won comfortably each time). If we can get 40,000 Sainters screaming at the umps for free kicks every time an Eagle thinks about going near the ball, we will go a long way towards getting the same home ground advantage that they have when we play at Subiaco.

 

[halfbackflanker]

Very difficult game to predict this one. I would of thought that missing a few of our key players (e.g Hunter, Cox, Embley, Nickoski etc.) would make it difficult for us, and Wirrapanda may be rested for this one as well. Those guys missing seem to be vital ommissions against the Saints - especially Hunter on Rewieldt. But then again I had similiar thoughts against the Crows last week, and they came out and completely annihilated them.

Why I'm really looking forward to this game is that both sides play hard in-and-under footy. There's not a lot of time devoted to flooding or chip kick mania from either team, and both teams rely on hardball gets, tackling and fast clearances to win games. IMO it's the best type of footy to watch, and why I'd love to see these two sides play off in a final.

The Saints will be relying on that awesome forward line set-up, and it'll be a great battle between them and the Eagles back six, who've actually been the one high-performing constant in our season. In times this season when our midfield has gone completely off the boil, and our forward system has looked crude, they've kept us in games, even when the other side has been dominating. They're committed and disciplined, but will be stretched in the air without Hunter.

What makes this game fascinating for us Eagles fans is the midfield battle between these sides. Our midfield has been in terrible form until, well, last week's remarkable resurrection. And the Saints earlier this year, from what I saw of them, looked a little sluggish in pace, even if they were still hard at the ball. Like the Eagles, they've managed to crawl over the line in a couple of games without being totally convincing, until last week's demolition job on the Tigers. So it looks like you've got two great midfields suddenly coming back into form against each other (unless of course, last week's pasting of the Crows was just a happy one-off).

At this stage I'm predicting a tight result for this game, and I'd be very suprised if's decided by any more than 3-4 goals difference. The dome isn't a good ground for us, and we were truly awful against the pies there the last time (though it had more to do with skill errors) while you guys seem to have had pretty good results there. It'll be a tough one, but I'm tipping the Eagles by 10points.

 

[Cuzz09]

    Date     Rd   Opponent            St Kilda                  West Coast                       Crowd
02-Jun-2002  R10 West Coast  8.0 15.3 20.5  20.7   127   3.2 5.5 7.8 11.11  77  W Docklands      18876  
03-Aug-2003  R18 West Coast  1.7  9.9 13.11 19.14  128   0.2 2.7 8.7  9.13  67  W Docklands      21531  
23-May-2004  R9  West Coast  6.4 13.7 19.9  26.13  169   3.3 6.8 9.10 9.14  68  W Docklands      30478

We do have a good record against them over here, but it probably wont pay to be too confident.
They appear to have their hunger back.

This will be a good test for us.

Whoever wins will gain a great deal of confidence going into the finals.

We need a good crowd. Have a look at the crowd figures in our last three meetings at the Dome. Not good enough (even though we won comfortably each time). If we can get 40,000 Sainters screaming at the umps for free kicks every time an Eagle thinks about going near the ball, we will go a long way towards getting the same home ground advantage that they have when we play at Subiaco.

To be hosest those 3 games were when we were sort of rebuilding. We havent played you at Telstra since early 2004 and thats when we were in a big slump. Different team now so hopefully different result

 

[Waite_30]

What are the chances of Rix playing?

 

[sainter]

What a massive game.

One of the teams is coming off a huge win over the ladder leaders, the other is on a 5 game winning streak and coming off a 100 point win. Hopefully we'll get over 40,000 to a game that's as close to a final as you'll get.

It really is a game we have to win. We've got a reasonably tough run home and we can't afford to drop a game at the ground that where we've built such a formidable record in recent seasons. There's no secret formula to the way we play. We win the ball out of the middle and get it long to the key forwards. When we get Kosi and Hamill back we'll be able to stretch opposition defences even more. However it's the defence that has been the cornerstone of our team this season and they've possibly got under the guard of the opposition who have focused more on the forward line and midfield.

A few clubs have approached their games against us at the Dome very negatively and flooded back in huge numbers but a team as good as the Eagles will rightfully back themselves to win and that should set up a free flowing and attacking game.

Baker is a big loss. I'm sure Judd will sleep a little easier tonight. Then again Powelly is probably a bigger pest than Bakes. Even without Cox and Gardiner we'll more than likely trail in the hitouts but would expect, and need to at least break even in the clearances to be competitive.

I don't think a loss would be a disaster for the Eagles. I can't say the same thing for us. I'm really looking forward to it.

 

[sainter]

What are the chances of Rix playing?

I don't think it's great. I don't necessarily agree but Thommo has Ackland and Blake ahead of him in the pecking order. Then again we might choose to bring him in to replace Baker. I wouldn't count on him playing unfortunately.

 

[heals]

What are the chances of Rix playing?

Can you please play Rix i need him for my dream team

 

[bluejay]

Can you please play Rix i need him for my dream team

Yes, asking for it nicely and please oh very pretty please will make the selectors play him. LOL.

 

[Kildonan]

    Date     Rd   Opponent            St Kilda                  West Coast                       Crowd
02-Jun-2002  R10 West Coast  8.0 15.3 20.5  20.7   127   3.2 5.5 7.8 11.11  77  W Docklands      18876  
03-Aug-2003  R18 West Coast  1.7  9.9 13.11 19.14  128   0.2 2.7 8.7  9.13  67  W Docklands      21531  
23-May-2004  R9  West Coast  6.4 13.7 19.9  26.13  169   3.3 6.8 9.10 9.14  68  W Docklands      30478

To be honest those 3 games were when we were sort of rebuilding. We havent played you at Telstra since early 2004 and thats when we were in a big slump. Different team now so hopefully different result

Saints finished second last in 2002, 11th in 2003 and 3rd in 2004.

I think that suggests we were rebuilding as well.

Oh and WCE played finals in each of those years !!

 

[bubblegoose]

Can you please play Rix i need him for my dream team

same.

 

[bubblegoose]

I got myself into the nasty position where I'm weighing up a happy family life against getting along to the Saints Eagles game .....



..... anyone know of a nice bridge to sleep under?

 

[nicko016]

As bigger loss as Bakes is, Hunter is a massive out for WC and they will miss him as much as we will miss Bakes. He would have been a good matchup for Nick and with him out hopefully Nick can run riot.

 

[m.diddy]

What I want to know is why the eagles havn't had to play us over here since 2004.

 

[Genesis67]

AFL makes more money from WC v Saints at Subi rather than Saints v WC at TD. At a guess.

This will be a cracker of a game.

Question for Saints fans tho....last couple of matches, I've seen Riewoldt dropping back into the defensive half late in a quarter. Is that new?

 

[ekzistenz]

What I want to know is why the eagles havn't had to play us over here since 2004.

Because there's only 22 rounds in a season, not 30.

 

[Jimbob]

What I want to know is why the eagles havn't had to play us over here since 2004.

It's only been 1 season since WCE haven't played St Kilda in Melb.

Occasionally we like to see you guys over here in Perth! Sorry the games aren't in Melbourne every year but it is a national competition!

You want games every year in Melb, start cutting some of those surburban sides......

 

[Vic Eagles Member]

What I want to know is why the eagles havn't had to play us over here since 2004.

Before Collingwood played us at Subiaco this season, their last match against us in Perth was in 2002, so it's not all that bad son.

 

[sainter]

Before Collingwood played us at Subiaco this season, their last match against us in Perth was in 2002, so it's not all that bad son.

Thanks son.

We are looking forward to your visit on friday night.

 

[Kaitsey]

i am quite confident we can get the 4 points this week, if we play anywhere near as good as we did last week, victory is assured.

judd to kick to have a blinder and glass to blanket gehrig.

 

[Vic Eagles Member]

Thanks son.

We are looking forward to your visit on friday night.

Ditto.

 

[Stenglein's a Champ!]

As bigger loss as Bakes is, Hunter is a massive out for WC and they will miss him as much as we will miss Bakes. He would have been a good matchup for Nick and with him out hopefully Nick can run riot.

And Baker would've been a good matchup for Judd so hopefully he along with the rest of our gold class midfield can run riot. If Cox plays thats adv West Coast midfield aswell.

 

[Joffaboy]

And Baker would've been a good matchup for Judd so hopefully he along with the rest of our gold class midfield can run riot. If Cox plays thats adv West Coast midfield aswell.

Baker will own Judd again if the appeal is successful and the AFl doesn't gift an interstate team another advantage.