James, as the Black Knight said: its only a flesh wound. Oh if only we (the 22 on the park) had the same determination. I'll be there in the trench Saturday if level 2 has a trench and go over the top - in the bar. I don't expect to go home with the Saints 2 for 3 and but fervently hope to have my e...

In the absence of anything reassuring from the club I resorted to reading D. Bartlett's latest article and the Captain's comment that there needs to be consistent Saints footy played by the team. But are we not consistent: according to DB Saints lost last 5 of 7 in 2017, all JTL don't-matter matches...

Did an anger management exercise, pick a fantasy team to play the one that ran out Friday - suspending belief that a player can't be n 2 places at once - which one wins*. I found the absurdity more therapeutic than listening to AR ask himself rhetorical questions Hamlet would have been proud of: T2 ...

Perhaps it is the huge disappointment of realising there is no plan and currently no hope of being part of a journey, even if it means pain for a while, that hurts so much. Richo has been personally successful in getting a senior coach job and securing it for multiple years, but that agenda has not ...

Really, if AR cares about the club he should be "considering his position". He has failed to get the team up, as others above point out, in the last few really crunch games. He either has no idea why Friday's performance was so bad or disrespects supporters and the footy public by not givi...

Round 22 2017, three games (and a break) before Friday's debacle Saints beat North by 49 points. In the Saints winning team were Dunstan, Reiwoldt (last home game), Weller and Gilbert. Replacements Friday were Armo, McCartin, Long and Hyphen Clark. After round 22 North's coach observed ""T...

Say rule of thumb is 4 changes are all a team can manage, and assuming the Club never budgeted to beat a grand finalist this season not much to lose by making four unforced changes and at least giving the fans the novelty of seeing how some different players go - there may be revelations! Forced Cha...

Behold the Suns with a good coach. It is reported Alan said on radio that the match up with 6 goal Brown wasn't good - D'oh, day late and several thousand dollars short. Same old rote coaching is not cutting it; what the heck was that yesterday, does he think we can't handle the truth. Whatever is b...

current Saints seem to fold spectacularly when there is a (admittedly rare) big occasion e.g. against Melb. last year when there was a chance to play finals, against Sydney after murphygate, against Port after clawing back they just handing over the game. No strong team spirit, no leaders being groo...

1,1,4,0 the quarter by quarter goals. Also signifies 20 minutes to midnight for team and coach. Next two games will move the doomsday clock the remaining minutes to midnight. Zero goals in a quarter when the game was there to be fought for. Conditions seemed fine, North just tried, Saints inept. The...

Colour blind, dyslectic, something in the kool aid, wrath of some deity for playing on good Friday? What the heck is going on..

Keystone cops do footy! Have to laugh or would do a Steve Smith.

Did you Drakeusaurus H. not see how high Billy gets and how his field marking has improved. Marshall is wonderful but Billy is damned impressive and deserves respect. We have two very gifted athletes but Billy has a much better resume at the moment. 2018 will be his breakout year, injury permitting,...

We are improving because Weller, Long, McKenzie, White, Lonie, Gilbert and Hickey are now fringe players. Most sensible sensationalist fantasy teams for round one exclude those chaps. That is a positive. We need a good back up tall defender and I think we recruited for that. However Webster need to ...

Contracted until 2019 and clearly one of their stars. This is all silly, a prank, yes? Nonsense needs to be moderated as much as conflicting passion on this forum, agree? Feeding on our insecurities is hardly clever.

A reasonable performance in a side beaten by 11 goals. Crows didn't consider him worth much defensive effort. Whoever noted that Geelong know him and want to sell him noted well. Athletic but plenty are. Steven is not worth bothering about given we already have better - running sideways/across the f...

No good reason but Mrs M. Murphy and a notorious issue a few years ago come to mind as possibilities.

I don't think Jack W even likes playing footy much. Read his captain bagged him for his efforts/preparation. That's not our culture - we do try hard just a bit sloppy. Pick 8 for Stringer is way over the odds: He averaged 1.5 goals a game this year - Joss B averaged 1.8 and he kicks like a whirling ...

The question how long is a piece of Stringer implies indeterminate quality and is difficult to answer given info available. One of the spots we need to fill is the HFF opposite Billings and next to Paddy. An in form Jake Stringer could be just the right length but may lack the defensive binding qual...

Some of us have been critical of Alan for being too passive on game day. Last night was not a red letter event for J. Longmire which leads me to pose the open question what would you my, forumistas, have done: for me, once it was clear Dangerfield was hot (say two goals and several frees) I'd have p...

As Moose and Squirrel observed: all big fish were caviar first. Have faith Boris, dollink. Pass on the sardines. Fully baited lines 7 & 8 will turn out great.

- It looks like even great sides have off games (we had three particularly ill timed ones this year). - Possible tactic with Dangerfield and Selwood: don't tackle, just watch them throw themselves forwards and sideways, sometimes clutching the scone al la Marcel Marceau. - If Port / WC umps were con...

How much force does it take to kick a football 50 metres and pass the goals about 2 metres high with a 6.4 metre width to pass through. And what margin of error is there using an egg shaped ball? Not so easy I'd think. Jason Day could probably do it though, if he wasn't a league player.

Managers rule OK, Josh! But draft picks don't have managers, yet. And Saints have plenty to play with now.

This time last year "On the Couch" was asking each weekly guest to nominate whether to build a club around Jake Stringer or Melbourne's Hogan. A year on both have had very unfortunate seasons for circumstances you would not wish on anyone, and that question isn't so much hanging as resolve...