Wreck it Ralph and 18 signs Druggies and Saints are on the right track.
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saynta
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Re: Wreck it Ralph and 18 signs Druggies and Saints are on the right track.
Translation: both teams are 2-0. Here’s some platitudes and meaningless stats to stroke your ego.
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Re: Wreck it Ralph and 18 signs Druggies and Saints are on the right track.
Saints have beaten two finalists from last season.
Who have the drug cheats beaten again?
Who have the drug cheats beaten again?
Holder of unacceptable views and other thought crimes.
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Re: Wreck it Ralph and 18 signs Druggies and Saints are on the right track.
Following is the article for those who don't subscribe, it is well worth reading:
Jon Ralph writes about St Kilda and Essendon after round 2 in today’s Herald-Sun
(Comments about Essendon edited out)
ST KILDA has provided brief sugar hits since the unrequited premiership campaigns of 2008-10 but they have been a flaky football club for many years.
Essendon has just been downright ordinary. An AFL embarrassment as it shuffled through coaches and administrators while climbing out of the dark pit caused by the drug catastrophe.
On Saturday night St Kilda and Essendon will meet as unbeaten teams who have
dramatically overachieved in the first fortnight.
If you want a comparison of their significant growth in that time use the plight of the Western Bulldogs as a measuring stick.
Luke Beveridge’s savage indictment on his entire club came midway through a press conference in which the Bulldogs coach looked shell-shocked and without answers.
“At the moment we are down on growth, and unexpectedly, and that’s for everyone,” said Beveridge.
Brutal translation?
The Western Bulldogs aren’t being coached well, haven’t shown any on-field signs of players development, can’t extract improvement from individuals, are generally stinking it up.
St Kilda and Essendon’s growth is off the charts in all those areas.
Crystal ball the season and both teams probably finish mid-table at best if you were forced into a long-range prediction.
But here are the signs of sustainability for St Kilda and Essendon, tangible signs that both clubs are trying to build foundations from a bedrock of strength.
Nothing smacked at St Kilda’s selfishness more than Jack Higgins burning teammates last year to hit the scoreboard at any cost.
As Ross Lyon remarked on Sunday, now Higgins, Jade Gresham and Dan Butler are being lauded for their selfless team roles.
As Leigh Montagna showed on Fox Footy’s First Crack, the Saints are pushing those half-forwards up the ground to clog up the mid zone in case of a turnover.
It is helping congest the ground as a defensive mechanism but also allows Mitch Owens, Zaine Cordy and Anthony Caminiti room to move as forwards. Higgins feasted on quick turnovers for Joe The Goose goals at times last year.
As Lyon said, that trio are “sacrificing” their games for the team.
St Kilda is having a crack.
It is the hallmark of Ross Lyon-coached teams and there is no reason a high-pressure game style can’t be sustainable.
Richmond did it over four years and three premierships because it is infectious and the rewards are so obvious.
This week the Saints were the No.1 pressure side of the round and Brad Crouch, Jack Steele and Seb Ross led the way. But Bradley Hill was ranked fourth for the team and Jack Higgins was fifth. Everyone is buying in.
St Kilda is still playing fairly safe football at times with a front-half game that is just reasonable.
It is 13th for points scored, 16th for scores per entry (without Max King or Tim Membrey) and 11th for front-half intercepts.
But there are no surprises the Saints are the No.1 team for points conceded, No.1 for conceding scores from entries and No.1 for points conceded for turnover.
Ross Lyon has delegated many aspects of his game plan to his assistants and in Corey Enright, Robert Harvey and Lenny Hayes he has lieutenants who have coached in high-octane offences like Geelong, Collingwood and GWS.
The Saints are starting with defence and now the question is how many layers they can add to the game plan.
St Kilda’s No.10 pick Mattaes Phillipou looks a natural footballer.
So far he’s shown he isn’t a one-trick pony.
Playing 95 per cent forward on the weekend he touched the ball seven times, had five score involvements and kicked three goals.
In round 1 he won it 16 times and was perfect by foot.
Four goals in two weeks is some kind of start to an AFL career.
Second-year hybrid tall Mitch Owens is not far behind.
At just 191cm he has kicked five goals in two games on quality players.
In round 1 it was against Luke Ryan and Brennan Cox and last week it was on Josh Bruce and Alex Keath.
Liam Stocker just wasn’t rated by Carlton.
They believed he couldn’t run well enough to play midfield and wasn’t agile enough to play on the small forwards.
St Kilda’s defensive system has helped him but as a small defender he kept Liam Henry and Michael Frederick goalless in round 1. He backed up by keeping Rhylee West and Toby McLean goalless.
He isn’t an intercept player, just does his job and at only 23 the hope is he is on an upward graph of improvement.
Clubs need to maximise their top-end talents.
Hunter Clark was nearly traded to North Melbourne for a bag of Twisties but that deal was aborted and now the No.7 pick is easing into the season.
After going at just 17 per cent by foot in an 18-possession round 1 he was much more damaging with 26 disposals going at 79 per cent by foot.
Brad Hill is on his game too, looking engaged playing high half-forward.
He is averaging over 20 disposals and over 300m gained, a great stat given he isn’t getting easy kicks at half-back.
Jon Ralph writes about St Kilda and Essendon after round 2 in today’s Herald-Sun
(Comments about Essendon edited out)
ST KILDA has provided brief sugar hits since the unrequited premiership campaigns of 2008-10 but they have been a flaky football club for many years.
Essendon has just been downright ordinary. An AFL embarrassment as it shuffled through coaches and administrators while climbing out of the dark pit caused by the drug catastrophe.
On Saturday night St Kilda and Essendon will meet as unbeaten teams who have
dramatically overachieved in the first fortnight.
If you want a comparison of their significant growth in that time use the plight of the Western Bulldogs as a measuring stick.
Luke Beveridge’s savage indictment on his entire club came midway through a press conference in which the Bulldogs coach looked shell-shocked and without answers.
“At the moment we are down on growth, and unexpectedly, and that’s for everyone,” said Beveridge.
Brutal translation?
The Western Bulldogs aren’t being coached well, haven’t shown any on-field signs of players development, can’t extract improvement from individuals, are generally stinking it up.
St Kilda and Essendon’s growth is off the charts in all those areas.
Crystal ball the season and both teams probably finish mid-table at best if you were forced into a long-range prediction.
But here are the signs of sustainability for St Kilda and Essendon, tangible signs that both clubs are trying to build foundations from a bedrock of strength.
Nothing smacked at St Kilda’s selfishness more than Jack Higgins burning teammates last year to hit the scoreboard at any cost.
As Ross Lyon remarked on Sunday, now Higgins, Jade Gresham and Dan Butler are being lauded for their selfless team roles.
As Leigh Montagna showed on Fox Footy’s First Crack, the Saints are pushing those half-forwards up the ground to clog up the mid zone in case of a turnover.
It is helping congest the ground as a defensive mechanism but also allows Mitch Owens, Zaine Cordy and Anthony Caminiti room to move as forwards. Higgins feasted on quick turnovers for Joe The Goose goals at times last year.
As Lyon said, that trio are “sacrificing” their games for the team.
St Kilda is having a crack.
It is the hallmark of Ross Lyon-coached teams and there is no reason a high-pressure game style can’t be sustainable.
Richmond did it over four years and three premierships because it is infectious and the rewards are so obvious.
This week the Saints were the No.1 pressure side of the round and Brad Crouch, Jack Steele and Seb Ross led the way. But Bradley Hill was ranked fourth for the team and Jack Higgins was fifth. Everyone is buying in.
St Kilda is still playing fairly safe football at times with a front-half game that is just reasonable.
It is 13th for points scored, 16th for scores per entry (without Max King or Tim Membrey) and 11th for front-half intercepts.
But there are no surprises the Saints are the No.1 team for points conceded, No.1 for conceding scores from entries and No.1 for points conceded for turnover.
Ross Lyon has delegated many aspects of his game plan to his assistants and in Corey Enright, Robert Harvey and Lenny Hayes he has lieutenants who have coached in high-octane offences like Geelong, Collingwood and GWS.
The Saints are starting with defence and now the question is how many layers they can add to the game plan.
St Kilda’s No.10 pick Mattaes Phillipou looks a natural footballer.
So far he’s shown he isn’t a one-trick pony.
Playing 95 per cent forward on the weekend he touched the ball seven times, had five score involvements and kicked three goals.
In round 1 he won it 16 times and was perfect by foot.
Four goals in two weeks is some kind of start to an AFL career.
Second-year hybrid tall Mitch Owens is not far behind.
At just 191cm he has kicked five goals in two games on quality players.
In round 1 it was against Luke Ryan and Brennan Cox and last week it was on Josh Bruce and Alex Keath.
Liam Stocker just wasn’t rated by Carlton.
They believed he couldn’t run well enough to play midfield and wasn’t agile enough to play on the small forwards.
St Kilda’s defensive system has helped him but as a small defender he kept Liam Henry and Michael Frederick goalless in round 1. He backed up by keeping Rhylee West and Toby McLean goalless.
He isn’t an intercept player, just does his job and at only 23 the hope is he is on an upward graph of improvement.
Clubs need to maximise their top-end talents.
Hunter Clark was nearly traded to North Melbourne for a bag of Twisties but that deal was aborted and now the No.7 pick is easing into the season.
After going at just 17 per cent by foot in an 18-possession round 1 he was much more damaging with 26 disposals going at 79 per cent by foot.
Brad Hill is on his game too, looking engaged playing high half-forward.
He is averaging over 20 disposals and over 300m gained, a great stat given he isn’t getting easy kicks at half-back.
"Any candidate for political office, once chosen for leadership, must have the will to take the wheel of a very powerful car, tasked from time to time to make a fast journey down a narrow, precipitous mountain road – and be highly skilled at driving. Otherwise, he is disqualified from the company of competent leaders."
John Carroll, Professor Emeritus of Sociology at La Trobe University.
John Carroll, Professor Emeritus of Sociology at La Trobe University.