Where can [i]more than 2010[/i] come from?

Austinnn · Post: # 1110886Post **Austinnn** » Mon 25 Jul 2011 8:27pm

A bit late, but we're coming.

I'm sure you've all seen this YouTube vid before from the 09 Finals, but it's always worth watching again, and now seems like an apt time. The moments at 5:42 and 6:20 in particular seem to encapsulate us right now, even though the big man has still to take the stage:

Yes, St Kilda is back. Like an oily old engine, we took forever to get started, but after a few splutters and misfires, now we're revving hard. Actually, perhaps a better analogy would be an experienced boxer, on the canvas, slowly picking himself up and boxing on. Just starting to flex our muscles now, get our appetite back.

How far can we go? I think the answer to that question is in another question:

"What positives has our team got that it didn't have last year?"

ie; if 2010 wasn't quite good enough, we need more to get further. So where can more come from? If you agree that "Even more finals experience" isn't a sufficient answer.

Perhaps Polo & Gamble will be more useful than Mini and Eddy. McEvoy is no longer an understudy, he's taken the responsibility. Armitage and Steven are valuable additions to the midfield but Lenny is a bigger loss. Plenty of our better players have taken a step back this year, they're just starting to get back to where they were, but I don't think we'll see them improve on their 2010 form, although perhaps Dal and Joey are even more well rounded now. Gwilt is out, that hurts us. There's no noticable improvement from 2010 output of Dawson or Gilbert. None of the kids barring Steven will be used in the finals barring injury by the looks of things, which is a shame but sensible policy.

The tactics don't seem to have changed that much. Are we any more attacking than in our more attacking games last year? What are we doing better than last year?

The caveat here is that we've kept our powder relatively dry in that we have been under the radar since rd 3, perhaps we have players who are finding their form later in the year which may serve us well in the finals. Perhaps the 2011 St Kilda has a few surprises that we haven't even seen yet.

Of course it goes without saying that the mere fact of getting the club back into contention from the disappointment of the wasted opportunities of the last 2 years GF, the disaster of the pre-season and the disarray of the first half of the season should be a huge motivational spur for the team and the coaches.

If we keep competing, who knows. But everyone knows you need to find something special in Finals, and I wonder if we have any aces left up our sleeves. Otherwise, we just have to try and repell the opposition for as long as possible.

For those about to argue that it's too early to talk about finals, let me stand up and say that with our run and current form and the run of teams which would take finals spots in our stead, I EXPECT ST KILDA TO PLAY FINALS THIS YEAR.

There is no game left that I think we don't have a chance in winning, including Collingwood, and as we all know here; where there is a chance, the Saints are tough, know their job, know how to turn a game to their advantage, know how to manufacture victory and can spook ANY opposition, and we can get the job done to win.

We may not have scared anyone a few rounds ago, but after dispatching other plucky pretenders in arm wrestles like North and Bulldogs, coming back and beating West Coast in two quarters and flexing against Adelaide, Suns Pies Swans North Blues will all be worried and no team will want to face us in finals. They may not trust us to score, but they all know we can destroy teams.

But I ask again: Where will the necessary improvement from last year (and indeed 2009) come from?

BigMart · Post: # 1110897Post **BigMart** » Mon 25 Jul 2011 8:37pm

We are not as good as those years....let alone better

bobmurray · Post: # 1110908Post **bobmurray** » Mon 25 Jul 2011 8:57pm

We are no shoo in to beat the Suns......especially if we are Rooless

We play ..
Suns..............away
Freo ..............home
Collingwood.....home
Sydney..........away
North.............home
Carlton...........away

I wouldn't call that an easy draw....i wouldn't be worrying about finals.......

yet

stevie · Post: # 1110940Post **stevie** » Mon 25 Jul 2011 9:20pm

Why can't we wear that jumper design again?

It's our proper colours. Not the white and black necked thing from now and last year

linz · Post: # 1110957Post **linz** » Mon 25 Jul 2011 9:34pm

We need Roo fit & firing
We need Kosi to keep improving & peak at finals time.
We need Gardiner back for one last hurrah
We need another emerging player to join Steven & make a statement.
WE NEED BUCKET LOADS OF LUCK WHICH WILL INCLUDE INJURIES TO OUR OPPOSITION.

That's not asking too much is it?

bobmurray · Post: # 1110970Post **bobmurray** » Mon 25 Jul 2011 9:44pm

linz wrote: We need another emerging player to join Steven & make a statement.

that might be Smith....

he's quick apparently........well he was in 2008

desertsaint · Mon 25 Jul 2011 9:45pm

bobmurray wrote:We are no shoo in to beat the Suns......especially if we are Rooless

We play ..
Suns..............away
Freo ..............home
Collingwood.....home
Sydney..........away
North.............home
Carlton...........away

I wouldn't call that an easy draw....i wouldn't be worrying about finals.......

Gold coast will get strangled - win
We match up very well on freo - win
Pies we'll keep a few tricks up our sleeve for later - lose
Sydney - normally close, normally win - win
Roos - beat them when off our current form - win
Carlton - be nearing our peak - will be close - 50/50

yet

bobmurray · Post: # 1110976Post **bobmurray** » Mon 25 Jul 2011 9:48pm

desertsaint wrote:
bobmurray wrote:We are no shoo in to beat the Suns......especially if we are Rooless

We play ..
Suns..............away
Freo ..............home
Collingwood.....home
Sydney..........away
North.............home
Carlton...........away

I wouldn't call that an easy draw....i wouldn't be worrying about finals.......

Gold coast will get strangled - win
We match up very well on freo - win
Pies we'll keep a few tricks up our sleeve for later - lose
Sydney - normally close, normally win - win
Roos - beat them when off our current form - win
Carlton - be nearing our peak - will be close - 50/50

yet

Hey....

didn't you see the last part of my post

you put your prediction above it.......

confident aren't we.....

SainterK · Post: # 1110989Post **SainterK** » Mon 25 Jul 2011 10:15pm

Reckon we're more 'even' than last year, not being left to a few.

Could build into something more dangerous if everyone is playing at their best.

desertsaint · Tue 26 Jul 2011 9:31am

bobmurray wrote:
desertsaint wrote:
bobmurray wrote:We are no shoo in to beat the Suns......especially if we are Rooless

We play ..
Suns..............away
Freo ..............home
Collingwood.....home
Sydney..........away
North.............home
Carlton...........away

I wouldn't call that an easy draw....i wouldn't be worrying about finals.......

Gold coast will get strangled - win
We match up very well on freo - win
Pies we'll keep a few tricks up our sleeve for later - lose
Sydney - normally close, normally win - win
Roos - beat them when off our current form - win
Carlton - be nearing our peak - will be close - 50/50

yet

Hey....

didn't you see the last part of my post

you put your prediction above it.......

confident aren't we.....

sorry - you whispered - i didn't hear it

Thinline · Post: # 1111130Post **Thinline** » Tue 26 Jul 2011 9:49am

Back to the video at the start...

Eight minutes exactly.

Blakey too exhausted to raise his arms properly, even to celebrate success.

That's what it takes.

InkerSaint · Tue 26 Jul 2011 11:36am

Five factors:

Commitment to game plan
Fitness base
Team stability
Talent
Experience

Can't do much about the second once the season's in swing... the third depends on performance and injury... the fourth you only get to top up at the end of the year... the fifth comes gradually...

It's got to be the first.