The Ultimate Test!!!

[didaka]

We were also hurt on the inside when we last faced the saints with Pendlebury's day finished in the first quarter basically.

We'll have a lot more strength around the footy this time with Pendlebury, Ball and hopefully O'Bree around the contest.

Luke Ball also adds a lot of pressure and really makes you earn the footy in tight.

For all the criticism he copped after Saturday, every time he stuck a tackle, it was still ferocious.

Also Gardiner is on his second game back from injury which is usually the hardest. Hopefully Jolly can really get himself up and towel up the big fella.

 

[StillWaiting5689]

If we come out and beat St.Kilda, even with St.Kilda playing decent football, then you could argue maybe we're on our way to being a great sde, and maybe Melbourne WAS just a very ugly blip on the radar, but really, losing to St.Kilda and Hawthorn would just mean NOTHING has changed, and we haven't progressed at all.

I don't think it is so much the win, which would be great, but more it being late in the game with a chance to win, we need to stick with them and show that we can win and match it with the competitions better sides. If we get blown out of the water the next two weeks then it would be more worrying signs than if we lose a couple of close ones. We need to realise we are going to lose games this year to good sides and probably average sides but I don't think this means we haven't progressed - it comes down to the manner in which we lose and the manner in which the team responds to a loss or an average performance.

 

[NOCHANCE]

Sorry, we will not be at full strength.

Goldsack, Johnson, Presti (50/50), Dick and Wood are all injured/not ready and likely to be in our best 22 when fit and ready.

But yes, I agree slightly with you, we should at least push the Saints this week, there are no excuses, both sides will be only missing a few players.

If we don't at least "push" StKilda this week, then we would want to be a better side at the MCG, because that is all that will be left as an excuse if we lose badly this week.

How many players do you field each week 30? You can argue that the Saints have Fisher Kosi Clarke Dempster King Eddy and J Smith out if you want. The fact is on Sat other than Presti you were fully prepared and full strength. St Kilda have Fisher and Kosi out that are key players.

 

[didaka]

How many players do you field each week 30? You can argue that the Saints have Fisher Kosi Clarke Dempster King Eddy and J Smith out if you want. The fact is on Sat other than Presti you were fully prepared and full strength. St Kilda have Fisher and Kosi out that are key players.

It's not as clear cut as that mate.

Being full strength doesn't make up for bad attitude and an inability to work hard.

 

[AsianWithAFro]

I think Pies can get up here. We seem to relish as the underdog. I can only see the Melbourne game as a good kick up the arse heading into this one

 

[bradrowe#32]

I think we'll give a very good account of ourselves on Friday night and go close to winning.

 

[dswan]

5 goal loss. There ball movement is fluid ours is stop start. Just can't win that way.

 

[mattys123]

5 goal loss. There ball movement is fluid ours is stop start. Just can't win that way.

This is the secret to beating Stkilda, ball movement.

It simply put, has to be quick.

If you stop, switch sides, go backwards, they will eat you up all night.

Look at the way Essendon beat them last year, they took them on and tried to run the lines, and eventually it worked, in fact it worked straight away, with the Bombers building a big lead.

If we are to win this week, we need to play like we did against the Dogs, fast ball movement, more direct, take some risks, because the old chipping around the boundary will play straight into their hands.

I will know 10 minutes into the game on Friday night if we have a chance of winning, simply based on how and where we are moving the ball.

 

[spartan-magpie]

5 goal loss. There ball movement is fluid ours is stop start. Just can't win that way.

we beat melbourne playing that way... and we will beat st.kilda.. what will you whine about then?

 

[captain peanut]

have confidence people. we will beat st kilda. most of our players have had a week off mentally after the massive build up and effort v the bulldogs (notable exceptions being beams pendles sidebottom thomas who hauled us over the line on sat). we will be up for another massive challenge this fri night and this has 'famous victory' written all over it

some notable differences to our recent meetings with the saints:

1. we have jolly to combat their crash and bash rucks. admittedly jolly has started slowly but he is a class act and will rise to the challenge
2. luke ball is on our side not theirs
3. perhaps the biggest factor is the absence of sam fisher. he has cut us to shreds in recent meetings with his run out of defensive 50. he is a massive loss for the saints
4. the saints are coming off a training drill whereas the pies are coming off a game that turned into a battle to the death, the perfect preparation for an encounter like this fri night

 

[pauly_moss]

Think that this will be an extremly tough game and very physical it will be very finals like footy, looking forward to it win lose or draw but I believe we can do it and prove to the rest of the there is a reason the players are excited about 2010 down at Collingwood

O'Brien to Reidwoldt too he is the perfect match up and is the Key to victory stop him and stop the Saints.

 

[daics cousin]

I have to say after watching this weeks game I have serious doubts. If they play like they did against the bullies then sure, yeah we're in with a chance, if they play like they did against Melbourne we are going to get smashed. I'm predicting a loss myself, St Kilda look just way too good at the moment and we still have serious problems that need to be fixed *cough kpf cough*

I agree to an extent Zahki,however only 2 rounds in we had a big first round,and spanked the bullies.
If upsets are to happen they always happen at the start of the season.
The lower sides are up and have nothing to lose going hell for leather against the top sides,once the season wares in you'll find the top sides start to shift into gear and things tend to stabalize.
We will beat stkilda on friday,if we can cover reiwoldt.Either obrien or reid to run with him.

Remember that Cloke is not a bash and crash CHF.He likes to run all day and provide the link outside fifty,that's how he plays his best footy.

We do have a bash and crash young player waiting to be given his chance,Chris Dawes i believe he can provide that if he was played consistantly in the seniors.He only lacks confidence because he has been left to rot in the reserves for a few years now.Time to see what he is made of,but he must be given a fair go in the seniors,at CHF.Persevere with the kid till his confidence grows and i believe we will see a very good player emerge.He is exacetly what we need up forward.Tall,strong,and he can crash packs plus he is young and quick.

Plus the few times Dawes has played in the seniors he has taken the pressure off cloke,just like rocca did.Although he did not star he did the one percenters,that were required.

Jack Anthony although a good player is behind in his preseason,he needs a spell becuase he is a liabilty at the moment.Bring in the RUS
Cloke, Dawes,and Rusling as a three pronged tall forward structure with Medhurst.davis and Didak sweeping through that forward line would be hard to stop.

 

[Zahki]

I wouldn't mind seeing Dawes given a run, could work out well, giving a fringe player an opportunity to get a spot in the seniors makes them play well, see Beams against Melbourne as an example. He'd only need to get a handful of touches and 2 goals to be better than Anthony has been so far too.

I'm not getting my hopes up for anything yet, I still think St Kilda is the better team, but if we win this it would set up the season nicely. Considering we play the Bulldogs and Saints twice this year getting a win on both of them out of the way early would take a lot of the pressure off for the rest of the season.

 

[The Royal Sampler]

Well if you dont think you can beat them without there best defender and Kosi not playing and you at full strength when do you think you will beat them.

Not this shit again. Just because no-one rates our players, doesn't mean we're full strength no matter what lineup takes the field. Presti is more important to us than Kosi is to St. Kilda.

All St.Kilda has to really do is watch the Melbourne game and see that isolating our defenders into one on one situations is quite a chink in the 'armour' that they are equipped to expose FAR better than Melbourne already did.

This much I agree with to an extent. If Harry O'Brien is right, and there was no complacency in the ranks, then we have to worry that Melbourne have just handed 14 better teams a blueprint on how to destroy us. Luckily, as much as I love Harry, I don't always believe him.

 

[The Magnificent Seven]

Luckily, as much as I love Harry, I don't always believe him.

He may not have been complacent in his own eyes, but the actions of his teammates bore no evidence to his testimony.

I see the whole team's performance a little like an underdone backman. Once they're caught behind their opponent, they'll be chasing tail all day and working twice as hard. Play in front, dammit!

 

[Michael_knoth]

I have complete faith in our backline. Tomorrow
night it's the forward line that will have to be switched on. Were a much better side with
cloke playing well and if dids neon and meddy can get into it like they did against the doggies we will win the game I'm sure. Roo is gonna kick his 4-5. But I don't doubt our backline and midfield can match it with there's. All comes down to our forwards

 

[Gambit78]

The Saints scored 15.6 against the Swans in round 1. They kicked 23.5 against the Kangaroos in round 2. And if my memory serves me correctly, they were incredibly accurate against us in the NAB Cup. To score with such accuracy suggests a few things about their game plan. They play through the middle as much as possible, particularly forward of the centre. Against the Kangaroos they were particularly dangerous on the counter, much like the Western Bulldogs, and the Saints are very, very good at creating space behind them for their teammates. One thing I noticed too, is that players upfield often are kicking to space BEFORE a forward has started their lead into it. And you know if that is happening, there is no where near enough pressure being applied on the midfield.

The Bulldogs are good at the counter-attack and we managed to nullify them in round 1. The Saints, with their exceptional zone pressure, create a lot of turnovers for their counter-attacks, and in my opinion, if we are to beat them, that is where we need to be right on top of our game. Our skills have to be top notch (just like they were in round 1) and against the Saints, we cannot afford a quarter where we score 2.7, like we did in the 2nd quarter against the Bulldogs.

 

[Zahki]

It's pretty obvious the Saints identified poor accuracy had cost them and did some work to fix that up. I think a few other clubs could learn from their example, ahem.

 

[Quicky]

The Saints scored 15.6 against the Swans in round 1. They kicked 23.5 against the Kangaroos in round 2. And if my memory serves me correctly, they were incredibly accurate against us in the NAB Cup. To score with such accuracy suggests a few things about their game plan. They play through the middle as much as possible, particularly forward of the centre. Against the Kangaroos they were particularly dangerous on the counter, much like the Western Bulldogs, and the Saints are very, very good at creating space behind them for their teammates. One thing I noticed too, is that players upfield often are kicking to space BEFORE a forward has started their lead into it. And you know if that is happening, there is no where near enough pressure being applied on the midfield.

The Bulldogs are good at the counter-attack and we managed to nullify them in round 1. The Saints, with their exceptional zone pressure, create a lot of turnovers for their counter-attacks, and in my opinion, if we are to beat them, that is where we need to be right on top of our game. Our skills have to be top notch (just like they were in round 1) and against the Saints, we cannot afford a quarter where we score 2.7, like we did in the 2nd quarter against the Bulldogs.

Great post

It's interesting looking at our inclusions that in McCarthy and Macaffer we have brought in two players who are clean disposers of the ball > Presti for Roo > and O'Bree for the clearances.

I think if we are to win not only does our disposal efficiency need to be spot on but so does our pressure and our work at the clearances.