Autopsy The good, the bad and the oh dear v St Kilda

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I'm not sure if pink is the answer but we looked better with a 2nd key tall.

McDonald wasn't great but was okay. I've hated him all year so feel like I should be fair.

What a game by Wardlaw.

LDU continues to disappoint based on the eye test, relative to my expectations from him.
 

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I irrationally ******* hate it. Just wait to the end of the game campaigners. If you want to vent during the game, do it in the game day thread.
Most of the posts in the early threads are just stuff that belong in the Gameday thread anyway, such as stats to 1/4 time which are irrelevant 20mins later.

Anyway, actually our best game for the year... sadly.
Loved the kids.
"Older" players let us down constantly again.
Actually liked Pink up the ground, offers something.
Archer cares.
Wardlaw is a bull, must keep him for his entire career. He's the heir apparent to the Cunner's Crown.

Stand rule needs reviewing and it needs to happen immediately, it has single handedly reduced the enjoyment of the sport for most fans. Bard can GAGF.

Laughing with oppo players after the game again. Great look.
 
When people try to spin our all-too-common hopelessly uncompetitive games as just what happens in a rebuild, I think this is the sort of game they're actually thinking of - still barely in it once they got scoreboard separation early in the second quarter, still letting the opposition transition the ball through the midfield far too easily on occasion, still stuffing up the skill execution side of things too often... but, crucially, with some actual investment shown and actual glimpses of sustained competitiveness. That shouldn't feel like a positive (a loss like this is not a 'good loss' or 'moral victory' or whatever, merely the kind of mundane defeat you'd normally be disappointed by but accept will happen when young and rebuilding), but given the depths we've plumbed over the last few years, I'll take it.

Wardlaw has obviously shown signs of what we can produce already, but he found more ways today to use his manic intensity to create, and really I think what lift we had largely stemmed from him - outstanding game today. Not sure if it was just a consequence of the Saints' dour style of play, or maybe the complete inability of the umpires to remember that holding the ball is a rule in this sport, but one thing I've been heavily critical of this year is how readily we give up easy possession from stoppages - there's basically no null option, either we win it or lose it and if it's the latter we're defenceless - and today we seemed much better at neutralising the contest, which if we can carry that forward should help stem the rough patches plenty.

Backline looked to benefit from having Archer down there, worth persisting with. As is, bizarrely, Pink as a forward - presented well, perfect hit-up kick to Larkey from the HFF (dropped...), competes, and the structure almost immediately seemed to work smoother with him there. +1 for selecting players who err on the side of overzealousness over guys who show up only to collect their paycheque - the balance is still awry there (a few decisions made today by players who seemed to care more about padding their portfolio than the team option...), but it's a step in the right direction.

Really important now that this becomes the minimum standard. Mistakes will happen, energy levels will flag occasionally, everybody understands that for a team in our predicament - but the kind of effort and interest shown today needs to be non-negotiable.
 
If I see more games played like we did in the last quarter, I will be a lot happier. I really liked what Archer brought. He should play next week unless injury keeps him out. Lazzaro had 11 possessions and 1 goal last week. Stephenson did nothing until the third qtr. Loved Colby's game. We have some ripper kids that make me keep watching each week.
 

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Much happier after that. We’ve got some ripper players and the pressure in parts finally stepped up to a more acceptable level.

Stevo was not good. Liked Archer a lot.

Saints fans who booed Jy can get in the bin. Graceless.
 
If thats all Slevo has to offer then shuffle things around and give the likes of Sellers or Maley some (more) time or bring Ford back in.
Is there anything to gain from playing Stephenson atm?

Go back and light up the twos with a string of FU games and we'll see if there is still room for you.
 
I come in peace, just wanted to say how good Xerri was for your lot. Absolute beast in the contest. I can see why you asked for a decent pick when we went for him two years ago.

Wardlaw was also great, love how he plays his footy. No fuss, gets his hands dirty. Nothing to answer for on his contact with Darcy.

Good luck for the rest of the season.


Sent from my iPhone using BigFooty.com
 
If I see more games played like we did in the last quarter, I will be a lot happier. I really liked what Archer brought. He should play next week unless injury keeps him out. Lazzaro had 11 possessions and 1 goal last week. Stephenson did nothing until the third qtr. Loved Colby's game. We have some ripper kids that make me keep watching each week.
He was calling Membrey a weak campaigner too.. I ******* love it
 
This site is going down the dunny Chief

The over the top Ads are killing us, every page has to be a new full ad?

You don’t want people here at all?

And we have no Half Forward Line
 
I come in peace, just wanted to say how good Xerri was for your lot. Absolute beast in the contest. I can see why you asked for a decent pick when we went for him two years ago.

Wardlaw was also great, love how he plays his footy. No fuss, gets his hands dirty. Nothing to answer for on his contact with Darcy.

Good luck for the rest of the season.


Sent from my iPhone using BigFooty.com
Yeh, you campaigners aren’t going anywhere. Mid table rubbish.
 
Some positives:
  • Phenomenal game from Wardlaw
  • Best game from defenders as a group despite the flood of i50s and free St Kilda ball movement (Corr, McDonald, Archer and Comben all strong in one on ones)
  • McKercher continuing to build beautifully but would love him to play full time wing
  • Simpkin seemed to turn the corner a bit in the 4th quarter
  • Pink showed promise as a forward to support Larkey

Great that we gave Sheezel the opportunity of a whole game of midfield but think we are better served him staying in his traditional role with pinch hits up the ground. If we replaced fishers role with Sheezel today it could have made a pretty significant difference. Where that leaves Fisher I don’t know - but his turnovers killed us today.
 
Some positives:
  • Phenomenal game from Wardlaw
  • Best game from defenders as a group despite the flood of i50s and free St Kilda ball movement (Corr, McDonald, Archer and Comben all strong in one on ones)
  • McKercher continuing to build beautifully but would love him to play full time wing
  • Simpkin seemed to turn the corner a bit in the 4th quarter
  • Pink showed promise as a forward to support Larkey

Great that we gave Sheezel the opportunity of a whole game of midfield but think we are better served him staying in his traditional role with pinch hits up the ground. If we replaced fishers role with Sheezel today it could have made a pretty significant difference. Where that leaves Fisher I don’t know - but his turnovers killed us today.
What if we played sheez on the fwd flank instead of sleevo??
 
- LDU needs to lift. For the jewel in the crown of our midfield, he’s been absent too often this year. Carrying something from preseason? Weighed down by the losses?

- We need to keep Zurhaar if his contract offer is worth anything less than Band 1 (which is just about certain). If he goes, our forward line becomes even more dysfunctional and we lose one of the only genuine goal threats in the side, plus a valuable mature, big body. We can’t let all our middle-agers leave.

- Archer should play every game if not hurt. He bleeds blue and white and has a genuine crack all day.

- Thrilled with Chom in defence. Could be argued that if Logue wasn’t hurt we wouldn’t have seen Comben down back, so a bit of a blessing in disguise. Hopefully he can string a few healthy seasons together.

- The backline in general was much better today. Despite being peppered with I50s they did a better job of contesting overall. Small steps.

- The offshoot of that is that the rest of the side were really poor at stopping STK from getting forward. A lot has been made of the team defence already and clearly the boys are still learning, but bloody hell. Were not making it easy for LMac and the other whipping boys back there (LMac, who by the way was far from our worst tonight).

- Might be time for a spell in the twos for Duursma? He’ll get there and hopefully be a gun, but we can play Ford in a similar role as a more mature body while he kicks a few bags in the VFL.
 
What if we played sheez on the fwd flank instead of sleevo??
Yeah maybe an option too. But the problem is we just don’t get enough i50s so my preference is still for him to play primarily in defence to set the play up.
 

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