Season Over

[Kildonan]

Sadly the loss to the WCE is our death knell.

Our season is over for 2007 and the reality is that we have gone backwards this season. Sure we will win next week and unless freakish things happen we'll finish Richmondth, just out of the eight.

We will undergo a personnel review and shed some players and seek others, and recruit some kids then we'll start the long haul of putting together a more refined playing squad tailored to Ross's personal ideals.

The squad will be tighter next year - and the players will have more emotional investment in Ross Lyon.

The players on the long term injury list will become available and there will be the promise of a much better season.

Sadly I can't get terribly enthused about it now though.

 

[__Ron_]

Already looked at the draw, we'll need to rely on the winner of the Bris V Adel game to lose the following week and we beat the tigers of course. In all likelyhood, we'll still make the 8.

 

[LiterallyNobody]

Another wasted season.... If we make the finals this year, is 2006 more disappointing or 2007.... personally I think 2006 was worse because we had so much expectation.... top four, top two and the like. this year, I was expecting us to finish around the middle of the ladder. Its always tough with a first year coach... Still, gutted about tonight but I'm also glaring at the Collingwood game in round 14.

 

[sainter]

Even having had 10 hours to digest the loss I'm still just as disappointed as I was when the siren sounded.

We played some magnificent footy in the first quarter. The tackling and pressure was first class but we didn't make the most of our dominance.

They're a good team and I think they'll pose a big threat to Geelong in the finals.

As for us, I wouldn't say it's season over. Assuming we beat Richmond we just have to hope that one of the Crows, Lions or Bombers drop at least 1 of their two remaining games. Considering the Crows and Lions play each other, the Lions have Geelong in the last game and the Bombers have West Coast at Subi I really think the Crows will win tonight and it will come down to them and the Pies at the Dome next Friday. A Pies win and we could still be there.

Whether we deserve to be there and are we just making up the numbers is probably up for debate. Personally I think we've had a difficult season and we could really take something out of the season if we can get there. And who knows, we could scrape in there and draw a Kangaroos, Hawthorn or Collingwood in the first round and anything could happen. Unfortunately that's a long way away at the moment.

 

[the_messiah]

Even having had 10 hours to digest the loss I'm still just as disappointed as I was when the siren sounded.

We played some magnificent footy in the first quarter. The tackling and pressure was first class but we didn't make the most of our dominance.

They're a good team and I think they'll pose a big threat to Geelong in the finals.

As for us, I wouldn't say it's season over. Assuming we beat Richmond we just have to hope that one of the Crows, Lions or Bombers drop at least 1 of their two remaining games. Considering the Crows and Lions play each other, the Lions have Geelong in the last game and the Bombers have West Coast at Subi I really think the Crows will win tonight and it will come down to them and the Pies at the Dome next Friday. A Pies win and we could still be there.

Whether we deserve to be there and are we just making up the numbers is probably up for debate. Personally I think we've had a difficult season and we could really take something out of the season if we can get there. And who knows, we could scrape in there and draw a Kangaroos, Hawthorn or Collingwood in the first round and anything could happen. Unfortunately that's a long way away at the moment.

We're just making up the numbers, and we don't deserve to be their.
In all honesty, we've had a pretty easy season.
We've played Carlton (15th), Richmond (16th), Fremantle (13th), Bulldogs (12th) twice. We played WCE (2nd), Sydney (7th) and Hawthorn (5th) twice.

My major disappointment of this year has not been our style of play, or heart that we've shown, but that in our wins, we haven't really been convincing and won by more than 5 or 6 goals. And this is something our percentage (96%) shows.

 

[sumavich]

Sadly for you dudes, and we don't get on well admittedly, but you Choked.
You had them on toast at half time, and wilted.
And what is with Fraser, plays a blinder vs Freo and then is unsighted.
Not good enough unfortunately.
See you next year for another interesting instalment St Kilda v. Freo.

 

[Liub]

Sadly for you dudes, and we don't get on well admittedly, but you Choked.
You had them on toast at half time, and wilted.
And what is with Fraser, plays a blinder vs Freo and then is unsighted.
Not good enough unfortunately.
See you next year for another interesting instalment St Kilda v. Freo.

Still disappointed with the loss last week.

What happened to Fraser? Darren Glass happened.

Good games Saints, you played your guts out but unfortunately for you it just wasn't hard enough. All the best for the rest of the season, I hope you make the top 8.

 

[the_messiah]

Still disappointed with the loss last week.

What happened to Fraser? Darren Glass happened.

Good games Saints, you played your guts out but unfortunately for you it just wasn't hard enough. All the best for the rest of the season, I hope you make the top 8.

Fraser's well past his best. He constantly struggles against good defenders, then plays well against questionable defenders. He kicked 2 goals last night, 1 which he sat at the back of the pack, after it landed in his arms he managed a goal. The 2nd, after the ball was cleared he basically stood their, someone (i think Hayes) turned the ball over, and kicked to Gehrig who goaled.
He didn't goal from getting a mark, and aside from a few games this year, he's been extraordinarily disappointing.

 

[Oh When the Saints]

With the Crows beating Brisbane, we now have to hope that Collingwood beat Adelaide next week if we are any chance ...

 

[johnnyhoward]

With a new coach, we were never going to be a genuine flag threat this year. And the way we choked last night after a great start was very poor - although we did show more fight in the last quarter than we usually do.

If we make the 8 we will make up the numbers, but don't give up on the season just yet. It's much better to get a game of finals experience into our players than finish 9th. I think we can still make the finals. Thank God that the Pies are back in form as of tonight, with an impressive win over the Swans. The Crows are terrible in Victoria, having lost to Essendon and us recently - I think Collingwood will be just fine next week and end the Cows' finals hopes.

GO THE PIES!

 

[Persevering Saint]

Look, maybe I'm crazy, but I was actually proud of the way we generally played the game. When we lost, I thought, okay, we lost. But we took it right up to one of the best teams in the competition, especially considering we lost Attard mid way through.

Yes there were errors - some really ugly ones, with Kosi and Raph dropping easy marks in the 50m, Fiora's bad kick, etc - but overall that was because of the intensity of the game. Both teams were flying pretty close to the sun for most of the game, pushing their skills to the limit, and occassionally that's going to cause mistakes. Take Fiora: yes, bad kick, but terrific crumbing goal, and some remarkable ball handling in a really tight centre clearance.

And anyway, we came within 2 points with 21 seconds to go, and if that last clearance had gone our way, we'd all be laughing now. And what about the last quarter?! FINALLY, we didn't buckle over... when WC were up at the 3rd, my wife and I just said, well, now let's see them stretch the lead out, while we wilt. But NO! We fought back hard, and kicked 4.5 to their 5.1, which means we almost won a last quarter, and the game, against an in-form team that was last year's premiers.

My basic point is this. Yes we lost, but we actually COULD have won. That means, when we probably get into the finals (the safest tipping would point to other results going our way), we CAN beat other teams, like Port, WC and even possibly Geelong. That's a helluva lot better than how I was feeling after we played the Doggies.

 

[the_messiah]

We COULD have beaten Collingwood. We COULD have beaten the bulldogs. We COULD have beaten Sydney. we COULD have beaten WC.
That's the difference between a team like West Coast, and us. we Could win, they DO win.

 

[HoldenMCaulfield]

Look, maybe I'm crazy, but I was actually proud of the way we generally played the game.

...

And anyway, we came within 2 points with 21 seconds to go, and if that last clearance had gone our way, we'd all be laughing now. And what about the last quarter?! FINALLY, we didn't buckle over...

...

My basic point is this. Yes we lost, but we actually COULD have won.

...

Very good post - I fully agree !

I also felt a lot better after this game (well, actually I felt awful as after every loss, but less awful than ususal, if that makes any sense) than after say the first Hawthorn / Kangaroos / Collingwood / second Bulldogs game.

Now let's cheer for the Pies (I certainly hope that Coolingwood will remember what sportsmanship is all about and will not rest most of their top players as announced by Malthouse today) and Eagles and beat the Tigers.

 

[Axcellence]

I don't see the pride in being 25 points over the other team and then letting them sneak in with a win....

And puhleese... not that crap again about last year premiers... gawd....

st kilda has been little more than a walking disaster this year...

- One month of loss
- Collingwood game
- Draw against Bulldogs
- Losing to WC at home (!) despite being 25 points up on them in the first quarter itself!!

If St Kilda makes the finals, it doesn't deserve any of it. Not proud... not anything else... just friggin gutted!!!!!

 

[DDTiger]

I hope collingwood win so we can personally close out your season next week.

 

[saintsownthedome]

I hope collingwood win so we can personally close out your season next week.

Yeah, because you've had such a great reord against the Saints in the last five years.

Jeez....getting within 5 goals of the Saints is classed as a win for the Tigers.

 

[astro_toby]

I hope collingwood win so we can personally close out your season next week.

haha

 

[Persevering Saint]

My point about the "Could" factor is that if we make the finals, we shouldn't write ourselves off for any game we play. We have an element of "on our day" at the moment. There are teams like, say, Carlton, that NEVER look like winning this season. When our team clicks, as it did against Freo, it is a juggernaut.

 

[Croat tiger]

Sadly the loss to the WCE is our death knell.

Our season is over for 2007 and the reality is that we have gone backwards this season. Sure we will win next week and unless freakish things happen we'll finish Richmondth, just out of the eight.

We will undergo a personnel review and shed some players and seek others, and recruit some kids then we'll start the long haul of putting together a more refined playing squad tailored to Ross's personal ideals.

The squad will be tighter next year - and the players will have more emotional investment in Ross Lyon.

The players on the long term injury list will become available and there will be the promise of a much better season.

Sadly I can't get terribly enthused about it now though.

I don't know why you got rid of thomas he's a much better coach by miles.

 

[The Punter]

A Thomas-coached St Kilda side never tackled like we have this year. While we may have scored more, the pressure we exerted was never that great.

And anyway, we kicked 14.14 on Friday night against one the more highly rated defences in the league, with our full-forward among our worst players.

The indications that Jamie Charman might be about to leave Brisbane make my ears prick up - we should make significant efforts to get him at the club, even if it means giving up David Armitage. Charman is 25 and could be our ruckman for 6-7 years.

Friday night was disappointing, and hopefully results will go our way and give us a final against Collingwood in week 1.

 

[the_messiah]

My point about the "Could" factor is that if we make the finals, we shouldn't write ourselves off for any game we play. We have an element of "on our day" at the moment. There are teams like, say, Carlton, that NEVER look like winning this season. When our team clicks, as it did against Freo, it is a juggernaut.

Because beating Freo by 5 goals is considered being a juggernaut right?
The fact that we havn't had a 10goal + victory this year is extremely dissapointing. Our Full Forward has only kicked 17 goals against teams in the top 8 this year, we're struggling terribly for a full back (Hudghton played 9 games this year, Maguire is struggling for form & Sam Fisher isn't an accountable full back). Our midfield is inconsistent (Ball has been battling injury for the past few years [averaging 19 disposals per game this year], Dal-Santo is only getting 21 per game, but has had a fairly disappointing season in contrast to what he had in 04/05.)

 

[Jesbo]

i like youStKildonan always pull out some encouraging positvies even from from 9th with one round to go and all hanging in the faith of collingwood... i hate collingwood so much and this week my hate could grow so much more!

 

[Persevering Saint]

Because beating Freo by 5 goals is considered being a juggernaut right?
The fact that we havn't had a 10goal + victory this year is extremely dissapointing. Our Full Forward has only kicked 17 goals against teams in the top 8 this year, we're struggling terribly for a full back (Hudghton played 9 games this year, Maguire is struggling for form & Sam Fisher isn't an accountable full back). Our midfield is inconsistent (Ball has been battling injury for the past few years [averaging 19 disposals per game this year], Dal-Santo is only getting 21 per game, but has had a fairly disappointing season in contrast to what he had in 04/05.)

Tell me you're not bagging Sam Fisher. Not accountable? Dude, he's won BOG at least three times this year?!??!?!?

What I meant by the jugg comment was that we just looked deadly. We can turn that on again. We did in the 3 out of 4 quarters on Friday night - it was really only that 3rd quarter that killed us. Two slightly straighter kicks in the last quarter on Friday night and we wouldn't even be having this conversation.

 

[Us3]

having been to a number of st.kilda games and watching all the remaining games with my St.kilda family, i hope you guys dont mind if i make some observations.

-your list has too many single position players. by this i mean guys who can play on a flank and are an in between size, but for various reasons aren't flexible enough to say, be thrown onto the ball or swapped to the other end of the ground. e.g. voss + gilbert even gram among others. goddard was changing to an onballer before the knee injury.

-heavy bodied midfielders, one or 2 more mids to take the clearance load off lenny. wce have kerr, cousins, priddis and stenglein. saints i see have lenny and luke ball on one leg.

-erratic form out of fraser. dont know what you can do about this. collingwood has the same problem with rocca. maybe put in a quick leader from a pocket like tim boyle/sean rusling to take the pressure off.

-midfield depth. this is probably exacerbated by the lack of flexibility but if you could throw gilbert in for 5 minutes a quarter or milney. i dont mean those guys specifically but the person who plays in that position. the fact that you cant means the guys who play in the guts get worn down by the end of a game and season.

this isnt meant to be inflamatory, i see a lot of positives in the saints and have had a soft spot for them driven into me.

 

[cgssinger90]

A Thomas-coached St Kilda side never tackled like we have this year. While we may have scored more, the pressure we exerted was never that great.

And anyway, we kicked 14.14 on Friday night against one the more highly rated defences in the league, with our full-forward among our worst players.

The indications that Jamie Charman might be about to leave Brisbane make my ears prick up - we should make significant efforts to get him at the club, even if it means giving up David Armitage. Charman is 25 and could be our ruckman for 6-7 years.

Friday night was disappointing, and hopefully results will go our way and give us a final against Collingwood in week 1.

I wonder about the logic of getting Charman. Is everyone forgetting about a former All-Australian by the name of Gardiner. I do see him as a future ruckman and swapping in a forward pocket with Kosi.

Rix is a trier and I really admire the way he willingly throws his weight around but ultimately just doesn't have the skills.

If Brooks stays on our list I will be very surprised.

While obtaining Charman would be great would that leave us a bit top heavy assuming Gardiner is in our best 22 which I think he is