The pack splitters.

[Axl the great]

With much discussion about our defence and holding Reiwoldt as the key to winning i beleive that the other end of the ground is where it could be run and won.
St Kilda will flood, no surprise and nothing new, if allowed to control the incoming ball and run it out un-opposed then we are in for a bad day i feel, it doesnt allow time to set up the structures that cause a turnover from that opposition kick out of the 50 or to stop the run out of the 50.

This is where Dawes, Cloke and Leroy come into it, they MUST be prepared to split the packs and make every high ball a contest and allow the ground level players to either fight for possesion or tie the ball up so that we can cause stoppages and set up again.

Yes we do this anyway against most sides and its a part of our normal game plan but i feel this is the most important part of what we need to do this Saturday to win.

An easy rebound makes our forward press inefective and the Saints are the masters of the easy rebound so it is absolutley vital that every forward 50 entry is either a win for us or a contest, this is where the game will be won even if Reiwoldt has a day out.

 

[Football God]

Also,

When the balls in our F50 and they have all but 4 players in there we are going to set up a zone outside so the only way they are going to get it out of there is to run it out.

This is where our forward pressure comes in and they'll just hack it out of there straight into our zone, that bit is a win for us big time.

And you always know our boys will put their bodies on the line.

 

[Zahki]

They don't have an answer for Cloke, none of their defenders can beat him 1 on 1. Get it in quick to him and watch him make mincemeat out of whoever has the misfortune to get him.

 

[Visions]

They don't have an answer for Cloke, none of their defenders can beat him 1 on 1. Get it in quick to him and watch him make mincemeat out of whoever has the misfortune to get him.

Please let it be Dawson, oh please.....

 

[Axl the great]

They don't have an answer for Cloke, none of their defenders can beat him 1 on 1. Get it in quick to him and watch him make mincemeat out of whoever has the misfortune to get him.

Agreed, so Cloke must get on his bike big time, him and the other forwards need to be energetic moving targets not stay at home targets, this plays into the Saints hands, St Kildas gamestyle hates forwards moving and covering ground outside the 50, they basically concede and stay deep.

Hard to score against this esp in a GF so im expecting a tight game.

 

[mattys123]

The one thing I will guarantee, is that we won't be able to just "bomb" the ball in like we did early (in fact most of the game) against Geelong.

StKilda will leave numbers inside our forward 50, it is simply what they do, leaving the likes of Fisher, Gilbert and Blake by themselves, even if the opposition forwards push up the ground.

Thus winning the ball in contests up the ground will be just as vital as how the forward react once the ball is inside 50.

If we can "virtually" break even in the clearances and contested possessions, we will win this game, because we will move the ball better out of the StKilda forward line then they will out of ours.

Yes, once the ball is inside 50, we will need our "bigs" to get near the drop of the ball, forcing a contest, but we will also have to ensure our delivery is a little cleaner and accurate then it was against Geelong, and that we can at least break even in the contested stoppages.

I'll back our defense, especially with Presti back, to do a good enough of job of restricting the Saints forwards, but I believe this game will be won and lost in the clearances and contested situations.

Simply though, we need as many of our 22 to "give something", or as the great John Kennedy said "Do something", because I just can't see Stkilda having 22 contributors on the day.

My thoughts, make of them what you will, good thread though Axl, I'd prefer to start talking about the actual game now.

 

[kevind]

The key to beating a flood is to take the ball quickly into the forward 50, not chip it around waiting for an easy target that probably won't eventuate. Or if it does eventuate, it will be on the boundary line.

If we take the ball quickly into forward 50 with long deep kicks and set up our forward press quickly, St Kilda will have to take the gamble on bringing the ball out with lots of handpasses or panic kicks.

We have 4 potential tall targets for the long ball, Cloke, Dawes, Brown and Jolly and the Saints don't really have great tall defenders.

 

[Old Spice]

How much time Leroy will spend forward is unclear without Goldsack. I think we will have a bunch of midfielders running forward into space, with pace, to mark and kick at the big sticks.

But I tend to agree that St Kilda don't have any genuine tall defenders. If we can beat those defenders aerially, then it's a laugh. Otherwise we have forward pressing opportunists to kick for goal.

What we do have is two forward structure options. My feeling is that our midfield is too deep to cope with for St Kilda. They won't dominate there for any length of time.

They also won't cope with our press on their defense. Their only real weapons are forward, but that is really just Riewoldt, Schneider and Milne.

I'm not an overweening optimist usually, but I think we've got them if the structure is kept in good stead.