Intra-Club Match Reports

[plugger66]

My observation was that it was the best intra-club game I've seen for a few years. The skills were actually quite good - but it was the pace of the game that was impressive. They seemed to move the ball very quickly up and down the ground. Stand-outs were Geary - who is a ball magnet and quick, Raph was very steady down back, Armitage was good, Joey excellent, Kosi just looked in awesome shape and looms as a real power forward for us in 08'. Both Gardi and King in the ruck has given us some structure at last to build an attacking game plan around. They looked both big and talented. All in all - we are seeing a fit, strong and keen squad ready to deliver on many years of promise.

i agree that this match was the best intra club match i've seen in a couple of years. skills much better, even in the swirling wind

It may have been the best in a couple of years but they have never had the sides that unbalanced with one side basically all scorps and rookies and the other all saints. That makes for less pressure and thus easier to show more skill.

[Solar]

it's intresting on raph, personally I think he is the type that thinks too much about his play, tries to be too cute and when this comes off it looks great but when it doesn't everyone jumps up and down. Needs to get it on quicker which will mean his natural football instincts click in. Will be a beauty when he has a month or two of football in a row.

how good was number 46 for the blacks! thought it was khan and thought we had found our new full back. wall was totally outclassed which shows why he will be a great VFL FB for the scorps but never was going to make it at the top level. Kosi took him to the cleaners but he wasn't helped by the speed of the ball coming in and kosi's hands.

Was watching the game near the goals at either end and I must say that chips leadership is awesome. Always directs the others in defence to pick up players or move into space. Raph was also very good at that, but strangely he was instructing the HFF he was playing on where to go.

great night and was really exciting. The speed is what impressed me. The looked at least a month ahead of last season

[yipper]

great night and was really exciting. The speed is what impressed me. The looked at least a month ahead of last season

That's what I was getting at - it was the major difference from previous years. The played a fast, attacking game and were direct with a powerhouse focal point. They certainly look far more advanced in body size, structure and run than in previous years. Kosi looks huge - and so fit. Young Geary and Armitage have pace which will improve our mid-field enormously with them being part of the rotations. Montagna looks a class act these days - he is ready to become star.

[adobe]

it's intresting on raph, personally I think he is the type that thinks too much about his play, tries to be too cute and when this comes off it looks great but when it doesn't everyone jumps up and down. Needs to get it on quicker which will mean his natural football instincts click in. Will be a beauty when he has a month or two of football in a row.

how good was number 46 for the blacks! thought it was khan and thought we had found our new full back. wall was totally outclassed which shows why he will be a great VFL FB for the scorps but never was going to make it at the top level. Kosi took him to the cleaners but he wasn't helped by the speed of the ball coming in and kosi's hands.

Was watching the game near the goals at either end and I must say that chips leadership is awesome. Always directs the others in defence to pick up players or move into space. Raph was also very good at that, but strangely he was instructing the HFF he was playing on where to go.

great night and was really exciting. The speed is what impressed me. The looked at least a month ahead of last season

[plugger66]

it's intresting on raph, personally I think he is the type that thinks too much about his play, tries to be too cute and when this comes off it looks great but when it doesn't everyone jumps up and down. Needs to get it on quicker which will mean his natural football instincts click in. Will be a beauty when he has a month or two of football in a row.

how good was number 46 for the blacks! thought it was khan and thought we had found our new full back. wall was totally outclassed which shows why he will be a great VFL FB for the scorps but never was going to make it at the top level. Kosi took him to the cleaners but he wasn't helped by the speed of the ball coming in and kosi's hands.

Was watching the game near the goals at either end and I must say that chips leadership is awesome. Always directs the others in defence to pick up players or move into space. Raph was also very good at that, but strangely he was instructing the HFF he was playing on where to go.

great night and was really exciting. The speed is what impressed me. The looked at least a month ahead of last season

46 was Silvagni.

[Jimmy1972]

Hi Fellow Sainters,

I thought that I should actually post something on this but it is backing up a lot that has already been said. My impression was that Ross had instructed them to move the ball fast, so in the packs where there was contested possession they would try to draw players into the contest while players peeled off and then back themselves to clear it supported by either running players either left or right or if not it was either tapped back to gain possession to deliver to these players running forward and that have created space and continue the run of play and if this wasn't going to occur lock it down. The whole game was the mids and the ruck, the flanks were leading to support a possession from the run of play which reminds me of how Geelong played last year. With Kosi up front he showed what formidable forward he will be. The Gehrig and Kosi interchange showed the difference between both where Kosi played as true FF, Gehrig tried to find space and was alot of the time running too wide and just not offering a focal point for the mids, where Kosi stood his ground and marked well. But in saying that he might have been told to do that as that will be his role this year by dragging a defender or two but without the support of Roo or Kosi he left the forward line wide open for rebounds. My highlight was Clinton Jones who seems to have learnt how to read the play better and position himself to be able to explode and run forward and collect a possession and be effective although there were a couple of times where he doubted himself and stuffed it up. But so did Clarke where there were options up forward but panicked and kicked inside putting way too much pressure on the other players that were forced to handball in traffic. Nevertheless at times he was good on the rebound but still seemed to lack confidence and be able too look forward and read the play. Montagna was one of the players that seems to have his role down pat and was making good position as well as receiving the ball at speed and delivering forward.
He will defiantly take pressure of Dal and when Goddard is back and fit look out. And here come Geary and Van Reehan what depth we have finally Still not sold on Armo hope he proves me wrong. But the best thing for me was driving up to Moorabbin and seeing all the Saint supporters converging to the ground, much to the horror of the Kingston rate payers power walking and thinking that this was done and dusted, not yet people there's some unfinished business to be done. The pictures of the crowd fills my heart with pride GO SAINTS!!!!!

[Solar]

it's intresting on raph, personally I think he is the type that thinks too much about his play, tries to be too cute and when this comes off it looks great but when it doesn't everyone jumps up and down. Needs to get it on quicker which will mean his natural football instincts click in. Will be a beauty when he has a month or two of football in a row.

how good was number 46 for the blacks! thought it was khan and thought we had found our new full back. wall was totally outclassed which shows why he will be a great VFL FB for the scorps but never was going to make it at the top level. Kosi took him to the cleaners but he wasn't helped by the speed of the ball coming in and kosi's hands.

Was watching the game near the goals at either end and I must say that chips leadership is awesome. Always directs the others in defence to pick up players or move into space. Raph was also very good at that, but strangely he was instructing the HFF he was playing on where to go.

great night and was really exciting. The speed is what impressed me. The looked at least a month ahead of last season

46 was Silvagni.

thanks, really impressed

[saintbrat]

Hi Fellow Sainters,

>>>>>>>>>>.
But the best thing for me was driving up to Moorabbin and seeing all the Saint supporters converging to the ground, much to the horror of the Kingston rate payers power walking and thinking that this was done and dusted, not yet people there's some unfinished business to be done. The pictures of the crowd fills my heart with pride GO SAINTS!!!!!

good work Jimmy1972
just try and put a few more breaks in - us with poor eye sight struggle with paragraphless works.

I too love a saints crowd.

[saintsRrising]

how good was number 46 for the blacks!

46 was Silvagni.

Thanks..I wondered who he was....and from the Casey Website that is him alright.

[esaint66]

how good was number 46 for the blacks!

46 was Silvagni.

Thanks..I wondered who he was....and from the Casey Website that is him alright.

yeh saw him play in the casey reserves aginst the sandy reserves and he was winning alot of ball and disposing of it well.

[Oh When the Saints]

Thanks for the reports everyone ...

Impression I am getting is that M Gardiner was pretty rusty but moved freely out on the ground and it sounds very much like a classic case of needing some match practice ...

Nice to see him, King, Rix and VanR contributing ... we certainly have a big and strong ruck division. No-one there who would be intimidated for size.


Sounds like our running brigade were also pretty switched on, and I like the way RL is using Gehrig and Kosi up forward. Hopefully we see this during the season.


Fantastic to hear that there was a crowd of 3000+ at the game. Shows that there is a lot of positive sentiment out there about the Saints and that the fans are still on board.

It may have been the best in a couple of years but they have never had the sides that unbalanced with one side basically all scorps and rookies and the other all saints. That makes for less pressure and thus easier to show more skill.

A good way of giving a few players some confidence, especially if they haven't played for a while (eg MG), and a good way of setting a challenge to a few of the young kids (eg Armitage).

[Jimmy1972]

On

to

it

Saintbrat

[saintbrat]

good stuff Jimmy- much easier to read early in the morning,

[stinger]

great post jimmy 72.........

[saintsRrising]

So from the Intra Club game...who was the player that surprised you the most???

For me it was Clinton Jones who used the ball on the whole very well...and looked more polished than he did last year.


In 2007 he was terrier like..and he retained this...but in this game he looked a lot more accomplished and used the ball to his teams advantage.

[saintbrat]

found more photos for those of us unable to go
gettyimages.com and search- st kilda- scroll down past the fesitval and there are quite a few inlcuding the players not playing.

newsphoto.com.au and search- st kilda


fairfaxphotos.com/consumer/ and again search st kilda

[Otiman]

So from the Intra Club game...who was the player that surprised you the most???

Of the players I have not seen before, Glenn Chivers (#41) impressed me, as did Luke Miles (#45) despite getting beaten by Koschitzke at FF (but nowhere near the level of towelling that Gehrig gave Gwilt in last years intra-club). Both have extremely good leaps on them and seemed to read the play quite well.

Geary indeed looks the goods and was a class above Armitage, although being on the red team might have made him look better.

[saintspremiers]

Gehrig's tan was the thing that surprised me most.

I reckon he could easily make a land grab at the moment!

[casey scorp]

Report on the Scorpions website on the intraclub match:

12 Scorps Eat Into Saints Game
http://www.scorpions.com.au/news/latest ... game..html

It's a good read.

[iceman]

Report on the Scorpions website on the intraclub match:

12 Scorps Eat Into Saints Game
http://www.scorpions.com.au/news/latest ... game..html

It's a good read.

Not a bad read at all.

On aother note, how did Clinton Jones go? and I wouldn't mind unbiased opinions, I still believe he can become that missing dash on the wing that we've lacked since Heath Black, what was his disposal like?

[Otiman]

Jones kicked 2 goals on a windy day, one from ~40 out, and disposal was okay in the field of play too, okay but not fantastic, servicable perhaps.