How did we look as a collective .

[Rubyjo]

Fair bit of structure and game plan starting show ..good defensive effort.

[Vortex]

Fair bit of structure and game plan starting show ..good defensive effort.

better but still a mountain of work to do, skills, skills, skills, still sloppy.

It seemed like there was a little more fluidity in ball movement from last week, could start to see some as-semblance of moving the ball quicker, but forward entries still look rank.

[Impatient Sainter]

Agree re the skills still needing to improve. It was windy but we simply need to eliminate the turn overs and start hitting targets. I recall one chain of 5 short cut out handballs and not 1 hit their target well, then eventually coughed it up.

The other thing that annoyed me was seeing Essendon players read the flight of the ball much quicker than us.

I watched the Sydney vs Carlton game after where it was raining and Sydneys skills were still first class. We simply have to get better.

[meher baba]

I thought the midfield and defence looked well-organised, although Howard was certainly a bit rusty, and gifted them a couple of goals.

I’m not sure that enough time had passed for the new coaching setup to have influenced things all that much yet. But no doubt the team is looking more confident (after completely losing their confidence in the second half of last year) and the young players are chirpy.

We’ve still got a long way to go, and injuries are certainly a problem, but I suspect some of the commentators might have underestimated us a bit.

Buckley was ridiculous last night. “They won 11 last year but have had a big turnover since then. Ryder retired and they have also lost…er…er…Geary .”

[SaintWiki]

I thought the midfield and defence looked well-organised, although Howard was certainly a bit rusty, and gifted them a couple of goals.

I’m not sure that enough time had passed for the new coaching setup to have influenced things all that much yet. But no doubt the team is looking more confident (after completely losing their confidence in the second half of last year) and the young players are chirpy.

We’ve still got a long way to go, and injuries are certainly a problem, but I suspect some of the commentators might have underestimated us a bit.

Buckley was ridiculous last night. “They won 11 last year but have had a big turnover since then. Ryder retired and they have also lost…er…er…Geary .”

I agree with your summation generally and nearly fell off my chair when Buckley said that

[wally]

I live in Brisy and went to Lions-Geelong game Thursday night as it was not far from home.Both sides were pretty scrappy a lot of missed passes lions were 5.9 at one stage a fair few out on fulls both sides, no real wind. Both these would be expected to finish top 4 .

[spert]

Good to win, but I still see the midfield as a bit iffy, and need more from the crumbers in the forward half, come the real games.

[Vortex]

Good to win, but I still see the midfield as a bit iffy, and need more from the crumbers in the forward half, come the real games.

It's still hard to tell if the rushed kick into F50 is skill era or an attempt to dispose of the ball under 3 seconds or both, either way it still looks clunky and the part of the ground with the most work to do.

[saynta]

I thought the midfield and defence looked well-organised, although Howard was certainly a bit rusty, and gifted them a couple of goals.

I’m not sure that enough time had passed for the new coaching setup to have influenced things all that much yet. But no doubt the team is looking more confident (after completely losing their confidence in the second half of last year) and the young players are chirpy.

We’ve still got a long way to go, and injuries are certainly a problem, but I suspect some of the commentators might have underestimated us a bit.

Buckley was ridiculous last night. “They won 11 last year but have had a big turnover since then. Ryder retired and they have also lost…er…er…Geary .”

[samuraisaint]

I liked the way we were able to lock the ball down in defence and I think it is the worst I have ever seen 2 metre Peter go against us. Sure, he missed a couple he might kick on the MCG or at Docklands but still he was defended against as well as I have seen from the Saints.
I thought we controlled the tempo of the match for three quarters so that was nice.

When RL left us after finals in 2011 I looked forward to seeing how we would go under a new coach and a new system, and apart from one outlier in 2020, we have only enjoyed 2 winning seasons since then - that is three times in ten seasons that we have won more games than we have lost, with two more that we won 50% of our games.

The reality is that I took a lot of the success under RL for granted, and I saw last night just how disciplined we were compared to much of the past 11 seasons. We still look unskilled at times, but we were pretty skinny out there compared to them.

[Sanctorum]

My take on yesterday's game is that Essendon were clearly a lot taller at both ends of the ground and the final score difference was misleading as both teams had the same number of shots on goal. I thought Essendon were far more skilful and appeared to be better at creating the loose man which made their path from defence to attack much cleaner and efficient.

I remember Ross Lyon saying that there would be greater emphasis by the players to handball, and it was good to see that St Kilda did far few fewer 'bomb and pray' entries into the forward 50 than previously.

Mason Wood was outstanding all over the ground, as was Marshall, and both were the Saints best big men.

The one player that was most disappointing was Jade Gresham who had little or no impact on the game. Maybe we need to cut him some slack and acknowledge that he may still not have fully recovered from his achilles injury.

On current form I would not select Gresh for round 1 and instead send him back to Sandringham to work on his game.

Of the 2Bs I thought Byrnes for all his pace around the contests let himself down with poor disposal; Bytel on the other hand did alright, a year older (23) than Ronnie but he's really strong-bodied and could well have earned himself a spot as an inside-mid against Freo.

Of the newcomers, Stocker, Cordy and Phillipou did enough to confirm their places round one.

The FF spot is still up for grabs, was surprised that Sharman didn't get a run but maybe they have decided he's in and decided not to risk him. If Membrey plays, only one of Sharman and Caminiti is likely to make the cut...

[Vortex]

was surprised that Sharman didn't get a run but maybe they have decided he's in and decided not to risk him.

Pretty certain that's not the reason

[Scollop]

Mason Wood was outstanding all over the ground, as was Marshall, and both were the Saints best big men.

The one player that was most disappointing was Jade Gresham who had little or no impact on the game. Maybe we need to cut him some slack and acknowledge that he may still not have fully recovered from his achilles injury.

On current form I would not select Gresh for round 1 and instead send him back to Sandringham to work on his game.

Of the 2Bs I thought Byrnes for all his pace around the contests let himself down with poor disposal; Bytel on the other hand did alright, a year older (23) than Ronnie but he's really strong-bodied and could well have earned himself a spot as an inside-mid against Freo.

Don't think the coach will leave Gresh out of the team but good post...I would also leave Gresh out based on his bad habits

I agree with all the above