Baffling selections/tactics - to me anyway.

[Moods]

Why on earth can't Siposs get a game? I'm sorry, but he would have been a far better option than Cripps in th fwd line tonight. Cripps still has NIL composure with the ball. At the moment his skills are as bad as anyone in the team and is a liability when he gets it.

Why wasn't Schneider played from the start? He had an immediate impact the moment he came on. He is a class player. If he wasn't fit, don't pick him.

Why was Gilbert rucking when we had two established ruckmen? (plus Kossi) If Stanley was fit, he should have taken his turn in there.

Why wasn't there a spare player back on Hawkins in the first half once it became apparent that he was monstering Gwilt. At one point I looked down the ground and the cats fwds had cleared out, leaving Gwilt one out with him. There wasn't a saints player in cooee to come and assist. Once big Ben started dropping back, we got back into the game. Surely it's as simple as a coaches msg through a runner rather than wait till half time to address.

To be down by over 5 goals at half time was completely unacceptable. Poor workrate by our mids to get back and help, poor effort by our fwds allowing the ball out of their zone ridiculously easy - poor coaching by Watters to let the game get away from us and not address things earlier. The honeymoon is over for Watters as far as I'm concerned. These pathetic fade outs in the last quarter are rubbish. Swans, West Coast, Hawks, Richmond, Has happened way too often. It's either because the players aren't switched on from the start and are letting the game get away from them, or they don't have the skills instilled into them as to what to do when a team gets a run on. To be honest, they appear to have forgotton how to win a tough tight game of footy. This used to be our specialty under Lyon. Tonight was gut wrenching. To get with a point 10 minutes into the last and lose by 7 goals is CRAP!

Roo has had a far better year than last and appears over the worst of the knee problems, Lenny has come back the player he left us as - and we've gone backwards! It's so easy to blame everything on Lyon, and I know most will. I like Watters and I've always believed that the change was for the betterment of everyone, including Lyon. I can see lots of positives from the year, but the scoreboard doesn't lie - and neither does the ladder. We can't beat the good sides and we lost games to middle ranked teams, games we should never have dropped and wouldn't have dropped under Lyon..

Just completely pissed off!

[SainterK]

What worries me is that players decide when they are emotionally out.

Against Melbourne it was when they thought they'd done enough, against Geelong it's when they thought they couldn't do enough.

Sorry, but you don't get to decide.

You have to keep plugging away, that is what Watters has to work on with this group.

New catchcry should be 'until the last minute' which is something that BJ/Dempster/Geary could teach them all

[dcstkfc]

Those are two very sound posts.

[St Lenny]

I cant understand why CJ and Farren get dropped? I cant understand why we thought Wilkes is better than Sippos. And I dont understand what has happened to Kozzie. But most of all, I dont understand why we have such rotten luck.

[Buckets]

In the end Gilbert had to ruck to give Ben a bit of a breather, kosi had been subbed off - which was for the best and Stanley was off with half the third to go with a suspected collapsed lung!

[Enrico_Misso]

Totally agree on Sipposs.
He has been playing well for Sandy and is our future.

Rhys was too great a risk.
He needed a couple of games at Sandy to get form and fitness.

I think Watters rolled the dice tonight and too a risk that the extra height and unpredictability of Stanley might win us the game.

[Scollop]

First year coach, tweeking the GP, dealing with players in twilights of their careers, trying to get games into a bunch of kids that have played single figures, and dealing with a second bunch working towards 50 games in the big league.

We won 12 games in home and away last year and Leigh Matthews reckons if we win 12 this year we've had a similar sort of year. Can't argue with that!!

Lethal made a booboo tonight when he called the wrong player late in the last quarter and said that Geary's kick was a shocker. It was Chips who kicked it to the opposition and they got their 5th or 6th in a row.

[whiskers3614]

Jury's out on Watters
Verdict will be delivered by end of 2015.

[TJMcCarthy]

Bloody oath, i'm baffled too mate. Some excellent posts in this thread. The blow torch on Watters is justified. He holds the liability.

We looked a bit small and light in size next to the cats tonight.

I agree- Sipposs instead of Cripps.

Gee i would have loved a match fit Jason Blake on T Hawkins tonight.

What's happened to the fierce tackling and forward press? Scott?. And a few cat's goals came from our basic lack of manning up! Scotty?

I noticed the Saint's get ahead of themselves a few times in the middle trying to make the break away with only semi possession of the ball (not in the clear). Then when it didn't quite come off we were suddenly out positioned and badly caught out by the cats going the other way. Not sure how to fix this but it cost us heavily on the score board. They need to look at it.

And our lucks gotta turn, surely!! So many random bad bounces going against us again tonight. Well i guess that can't be helped. And the umpiring sheeesh!- sure left a lot to be desired. Those soft 50's giving the cats a free shot at goal. That's downright painful.

OP is right- Roo has had a better year than last, and Lenny has come back really strong - but we've gone backwards. Well, not quite backwards (predicting another 12 win season this year) but i'm another one who expected us to be further ahead at this point.