Aftermatch thread

[meher baba]

I accept that watching it on telly I was at a disadvantage, but geez we were lucky to scrape home.

I'm still not convinced that Lyon has the on-field structure right. Dal seemed to play most of the game down back, and Joey spent a lot of time down there as well. Gilbert and Gram didn't figure enough in the game: this was either because they didn't play well, or because of poor positioning by Lyon.

It was also clear that we missed Fraser a great deal, and that Kosi looks like a fantastic forward up to the point where he has to kick for goal. I still reckon he's a great ruckman, but am unconvinced about him as a forward.

Riewoldt was great as always. Lenny was a little disappointing. Jones impressed me: he's undoubtedly improving, as is Raph. (I'm sure that Raph will get the usual sort of knocking on this forum for being run down, but that is surely something to pin on his team mates for not calling out to him.) Geary had a pretty impressive debut.

M Gardiner was much better than I expected: including in general play. King looked fabulous as he has done since arriving at the Saints.

Schneider had a poor game, but still looked like a classy player. C Gardiner looked like Geelong made a good decision.

If Harves keeps playing like he did tonight, we will start to fear that he played a season too long. Perhaps Maxie too.

But we still won thank goodness. And no doubt we'll beat the Blues next week too. But, the way we played tonight, we would have been murdered by Geelong!! The Swans don't look like a finals team to me, even though Kennelly, Jack and (surprisingly) Mattner and Moore (is that his name) impressed me.

[kalsaint]

I listened to the call via 3AW / MMM at AFL.com therefore I didnt see the game.

What I have heard from the call was little change to our stylefrom last year when faced with defensive tactics. We still seem to turn over the ball so much at Half forward. This lets Sydney into the game easily. Neil Daniher just said a similar thing on 3AW.

At one stage the caller said "Sydney wants the Saints to go long to make the game into 1 on 1 contests". Surely this would be good for the game spectacle and would allow forwards to to perform. I disagree with Nick that they are concerned with Sydney's forwards. I rate ours better as long as th mid field dont allow the easy flood.

If we continue to react to defense tactics like Sydney's in the way done today, dont expect a top 4 spot this year. Its too taxing for the team and they will get ranover later in the season again against quality teams (just like last year).

I would like to see this change. Take a risk Ross, we still dont have the midfield legs to play this style all year. We need to score goals to keep up the team motivation and enthusiam on the ground in tough ones and crowd attendance.

[ausfatcat]

As far as gram goes I think he was being tagged.

The real downturn for the saints tonight I think is the lack of communication on the field.

Plus HUDGTON a week is a long time in footy isn't it? People were saying he was gone and not worthy of a spot in the 22. He was bloody brilliant tonight. Raph (apart from on brain faze) was great too tonight and was a victim of no talking along with Schneider.


Overall both teams were very rusty with lots of silly mistakes after half time. As well as both teams both having chances to seal the game in the last 10 mins and both failing.

C.Gardiner not so good.

[matrix]

i thought max played great! how much damaged did barry hall do?
absolutely f*** all....max got the footy a few times as a losse man from running off him as well after a spoil..he did his job as a defender and did it well.
i agree we missed fraiser. having the big train up there just makes us look
dominating with kozi and roo as well, throw in schneids and milne. awesome.
thought X played well.

few stats:
roo 19 disposals 11 marks with 7 contested possessions
hayes with 17 disposals 2 marks 8 contested possessions and 5 hardball gets
dal santo with 19 disposals and 5 marks
sam fisher with 24 disposals and 9 marks

first quarter inside 50 @ 19 times for 3 goals
fraiser will deff play next week...apparently.

with regards to gilbs and grammy...in all due respect their opponents did absolutely bugger all, but true...i missed gram running towards the 50 having 4 bounces and gilbs didnt seem to get much run from the back either.
raph still worries me, but actually looks good when he does get to run lines and receive handballs.
bally was quiet, still cant kick the distance i dont reckon...did some great chasing and tackles tho, id like to know his tackle count

[ausfatcat]

Ball didn't even try to kick tonight.

[matrix]

its sad huh.
i mean..how longs it been

[Saintschampions08]

Raph. (I'm sure that Raph will get the usual sort of knocking on this forum for being run down, but that is surely something to pin on his team mates for not calling out to him.)

Problem is, Him and his brother are generally the ones that get caught the most, rarely do i see Gram, or Dal, or Hayes getting caught.

No doubt, Geelong would have killed us by 10 goals, you won't win enough games scoring 50 odd points.

Another major problem we had, which is a massive problem we had last year, is our inability to seal a game or dominate when we have the chance. We dominated the first quarter, yet only lead by 20 points (could have and should have been much much more).
Or in the last quarter, we had 3 or 4 clear cut, easy chances to seal the game (Schneider, Fiora & Milne's chances spring to mind) yet we scored all points. Had we iced one, it would have been a lot easier.

I think our entire team played a lot of the game down back, and yeh, both Gram and Gilbert were very disappointing.

Towards the end of the game, i think our entry to the forward line was very predictable, but Rooey kept producing.

I think your being very tough on Harvey and Max. I thought max did a very good job on Hall, and Harves was our 3rd top possession getter. Geary did a very good job, but overall i think a few defining factors (such as the mistakes from clarke, fiora & L.Fisher) are still occuring too often.

Also, on Milne, only kicked 1 goal 3 tonight. Disappointing.

[Huzzad]

I accept that watching it on telly I was at a disadvantage, but geez we were lucky to scrape home.

I watched it on telly too, but must have been watching a different one to you on some counts.

I'm still not convinced that Lyon has the on-field structure right. Dal seemed to play most of the game down back, and Joey spent a lot of time down there as well. Gilbert and Gram didn't figure enough in the game: this was either because they didn't play well, or because of poor positioning by Lyon.

Do agree here. Roos trumped Lyon in 3 of the 4 quaters. Didn't see enough of our stars.

It was also clear that we missed Fraser a great deal, and that Kosi looks like a fantastic forward up to the point where he has to kick for goal. I still reckon he's a great ruckman, but am unconvinced about him as a forward.

Good call. Kosi was bad in front of goal. Was not good enough from straight forward set shots. Saying that, there wasn't anyone else good either.

Jones impressed me: he's undoubtedly improving, as is Raph. (I'm sure that Raph will get the usual sort of knocking on this forum for being run down, but that is surely something to pin on his team mates for not calling out to him.)

Are you insane? He was hesitant everytime he got the ball. Took a good mark, but was incredibly slow. Still unconvinced. Should be dropped. James Gwilt would play a better game. As soon as Maguire is back, this guy should get the boot. I have no idea why Lyon keeps putting him on the field. He is too big a liability. Injury has nothing to do with it, he has no footy smarts.

Geary had a pretty impressive debut.

Disagree. 21 disposales, all but 1 uncontested and was very hesitant. None of the confidence we saw in the nab cup.

M Gardiner was much better than I expected: including in general play. King looked fabulous as he has done since arriving at the Saints.

These two were great around the ground, missed two simple shots (but who didnt?)

Schneider had a poor game, but still looked like a classy player. C Gardiner looked like Geelong made a good decision.

Schneider didn't have a great game but was not poor. Kicked the game winning goal late in the third thanks to that amazing mark by Jones. Could have been a little better yes, but was accurate and hungry for the ball. Charlie did well pretty well, wasn't the game he had against richmond, but deserved a spot in our 22.

Perhaps Maxie too.

Again, what game were you watching? Kept Hall to one goal and spoiled everything in the air. Hall didn't have a good game, but he must have spoiled certain marks 4 or 5 times.

But we still won thank goodness. And no doubt we'll beat the Blues next week too. But, the way we played tonight, we would have been murdered by Geelong!! The Swans don't look like a finals team to me, even though Kennelly, Jack and (surprisingly) Mattner and Moore (is that his name) impressed me.

Definatly. We deserved to lose (even if it was the Swans). Need a MASSIVE lift. Hopefully many lessons learnt tonight.

[meher baba]

For those who don't agree with me about Maxie having a poor game, please noote that Hall was pretty woeful tonight: he just doesn't seem to be the player he was a few years ago. And yet, Maxie was struggling on him.

Maxie also played on Grundy a fair bit, and didn't handle him too well either.

All that said, Maxie looked to be far from 100% tonight, and will undoubtedly be a much better player when fully fit.

[cowboy18]

Just relief. No real satisfaction - I've only seen a bit of the game so far and will watch the rest through rose coloured glasses.

Max looked a little underdone against someone he has had the wood on in previous years. Felt we were outcoached and played to the swans strengths.

Still. 4 points against a team we regularly struggle with.

Can make up for it next week...

[Huzzad]

For those who don't agree with me about Maxie having a poor game, please noote that Hall was pretty woeful tonight: he just doesn't seem to be the player he was a few years ago. And yet, Maxie was struggling on him.

Maxie also played on Grundy a fair bit, and didn't handle him too well either.

All that said, Maxie looked to be far from 100% tonight, and will undoubtedly be a much better player when fully fit.

Was flat footed at times but think you are being way too harsh. Had Hall marked all the ones Maxy spoiled, he could have kicked 5 or 6 goals. Maxy gave him the aweful game. He looked very dangerous most of the night, was frustrated and as we know, doesn't perform when frustrated. Ask yourself why he was frustrated and your answer should be Max Hudghton.

[bob__71]

My god you whinging pack of whingers...low scoring but good game i reckon...i think geelong would have not found much space against the saints tonight i say bring em on

[matrix]

gee thanks...i havent whinged once.

[Huzzad]

My god you whinging pack of whingers...low scoring but good game i reckon...i think geelong would have not found much space against the saints tonight i say bring em on

We did do well to stop them scoring, but the Swans do not have great scoring options. I think it showed character for us to win when we should have lost, but really I was so dissapointed. Traveling around 65% tonight I think. The fact that we can beat the swans playing so woefully says something about the swans. I just do not think we would beat Geelong on 65%. But we can beat them, and we will. Just not with a similar effort.

[Sam23]

I was at the game and just to rap it up


Points

St Kilda 4
Sydney 0

[matrix]

exactly...its round one

[jonesy]

My god you whinging pack of whingers...low scoring but good game i reckon...i think geelong would have not found much space against the saints tonight i say bring em on

Geelong by 60+ tonight!!

If you think we will match Geelong with tonights effort then Geelong must play there NAB cup side .


Tonight just screamed 07 all over again to me. Lacked any run with authority,our disposal was second rate. Our kicking for goal is a disgrace,nearly cost us the game again. Not too many players in that side you'd want kicking for your life.

It's only Round 1 so you could give them the benifit of the doubt. However it wasn't what I wanted to see. Plenty of time to improve,and a win's a win,see how we go against that rabble Carlton next week that will be breathing fire after giving it up friday night.

Still can't pencil in any wins for the saints I'm afraid.

Want too see a lot more than that until I think we're a contender...

[B W and R all over]

Happy to win it...ugly game...Roo was good but went missing at stages...Geary did well for his first game...Kosi is still getting used to being the main target on the goal line...the Clarke brothers get a lot of it but aren't damaging with their disposal, Raph I suppose is damaging but to his own side...Bally, I hardly saw you.

That is all from me for now. See you later kids.

[Sam23]

Get f***ed 'jonesy'

We won.

A s*** match, but hey.

Saints 4
Sydney 0


there the types of games you have to win.

[matrix]

Get f***ed 'jonesy'

We won.

[maverick]

I accept that watching it on telly I was at a disadvantage, but geez we were lucky to scrape home.

I'm still not convinced that Lyon has the on-field structure right. Dal seemed to play most of the game down back, and Joey spent a lot of time down there as well. Gilbert and Gram didn't figure enough in the game: this was either because they didn't play well, or because of poor positioning by Lyon.

It was also clear that we missed Fraser a great deal, and that Kosi looks like a fantastic forward up to the point where he has to kick for goal. I still reckon he's a great ruckman, but am unconvinced about him as a forward.

Riewoldt was great as always. Lenny was a little disappointing. Jones impressed me: he's undoubtedly improving, as is Raph. (I'm sure that Raph will get the usual sort of knocking on this forum for being run down, but that is surely something to pin on his team mates for not calling out to him.) Geary had a pretty impressive debut.

M Gardiner was much better than I expected: including in general play. King looked fabulous as he has done since arriving at the Saints.

Schneider had a poor game, but still looked like a classy player. C Gardiner looked like Geelong made a good decision.

If Harves keeps playing like he did tonight, we will start to fear that he played a season too long. Perhaps Maxie too.

But we still won thank goodness. And no doubt we'll beat the Blues next week too. But, the way we played tonight, we would have been murdered by Geelong!! The Swans don't look like a finals team to me, even though Kennelly, Jack and (surprisingly) Mattner and Moore (is that his name) impressed me.

Don't be sucked in too much from the telly.
Max had a very good one tonight, and Harvs had a couple of ordinary moments but ran hard and was a good player especially in the 2nd half. You really do see how good Harvs is in person, his run to create options is as good as ever.
Agree Schneider struggled as did C Gardiner, although his last qtr was better.
Thought Fiora was quite good and Raph's work down back was excellent, if only he had urgency with the ball he would have been in our top 6 on the night.
Both rucks went OK, reckon Gardiner has more upside and might be no.1 by year end if fitness allows.

Kicking for goal = terrible, Kosi missed 2-3, as did Gardiner, Joey, Milne, Schneider and one or two others.

[jonesy]

Get f***ed 'jonesy'

We won.

A s*** match, but hey.

Saints 4
Sydney 0


there the types of games you have to win.

Pull your head in

[Saintschampions08]

I think in general the difference between losing to sydney tonight, beating sydney by a few points, and beating sydney comfortably (by 5+ goals) is all up about 5% in our disposal.

Had we taken a few more opportunities, Been a bit more accurate, and used the ball slightly better, the scoreline would have been closer to 85 - 49.

The goal kicking itself (6-15), could have easily been 10-11 (71), and a bit better usage of the ball would have seen us comfortably beat sydney.

I don't think it's too much to stress over...at the moment.

[Sam23]

Get f***ed 'jonesy'

We won.

A s*** match, but hey.

Saints 4
Sydney 0


there the types of games you have to win.

Pull your head in

Saints

1 win
0 losses

[ThomasR]

Just got home.. a few things

Great start. Won the pill out of the middle, on Roo's tit, goal, soon after, straight to Kosi, miss.

And then it happened. Sydney went forward and.. we had all 18 well behind the centre line. Grr.

Was very disappointed with how we played. Four points is a relief but we won't come within a whimper of Geelong with that effort. The skills were very ordinary.

Individuals.. Fiora improved as it went on, Raph was by far our worst, L Fisher did a good job on Goodes, King & Gardy both had nice touches are were very good in the 3rd, CJ's mark was the highlight of the night, Kosi was well and truly spent early in the 4th - worried about his fitness, Roo did well, Max was stung a couple of times by Hall, Gram was average - especially when he just let a player run off him to get the ball 25m out, Schneider lacked in polish, Milne was good, Sam Fisher better, Lenny Dal Bally all serviceable without being outstanding. Joey seemed to smother just about everything.

That's all for now.