Quality vs Quantity....

[saintsRrising]

Our quantity is ok......by our quality is way way of the pace I am afraid.

Since 2004 the Cat's have really refined their execution.

The Saints I am afraid are wasteful with our ball use. good teams make us pay deraly for our lapses.

We win enough ball, but fail to capitalize by using it well, and allow the opposition to punish us after we have had soft turnovers.



Consider this. The Cat's has 11 goal scorers...the Saints only 6. Many of our players seem to do anything possible to avoid having a shot at goal...and when they do...ughhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.

On the run most AFL teams have players that can slot goals...not the Saints. BJ and Dal led a collection of players today who had goals begging...but slotted points....or not even that.

Bally Ball Bally...what a sad situation it is to see the player that Ball has become. Still great endeavour, but I am afraid his kicking has no distance or power. Ball was in position to slot 3 or 4 goals...and could not even get a behind. Today he often does not try and score and just dishes it off. He can will ball yes...but hurt the oppositon I am afraid mot.

This is not a one off scenario...and with Schneider out our midfields ability to actually score a goal or two was even worse.


This is further compounded by our inability to regularly kick to advantage.

The Cat's in delivering the ball had forwards running full speed onto passes.

Saints players by and large kick so our forwards have to stop and prop.


This gets magnified around the ground.



Now today the play ebbed and flowed...the saints dominated the first quarter but scored 4.7.....rather than 7.4.

After quarter time the the number of times we made basic errors running through the midfield making unforced turnovers was astounding. Horrifying actually.


We had various passages of play that gabe us hope...but time and time again the saints poor footskills, or rabbit in the headlight midfield freezes brought us undone.

The cats gleefully seized upon our errors and many turnovers that should not have happened resulted in Geelong goals.

The Cat's players unlike the saints can kick goals on the run....and importantly ANY player who is up fora shot at goals takes it...and in the main scores.

Saints players by and larger refuse to have shots...and when they do they simply do not score the goals they should.

We must have had about 5 shots touched on the goal line today due to lack of penetration.


If you don't kick goals...you cannot really pressure your opposition.

If you don't kick goals you pressure your own team.


Clinton Jones came in today...and the worrying thing is that despite all the talk about his poor foot skills.....that he was a long away from being our worst in this regard today....which is quite damning about our players.

[saintsRrising]

I should add that one can have Quality and Quantity at the same time...in fact you need to.

[karnaby]

Our quantity is ok......by our quality is way way of the pace I am afraid.

Since 2004 the Cat's have really refined their execution.

The Saints I am afraid are wasteful with our ball use. good teams make us pay deraly for our lapses.

We win enough ball, but fail to capitalize by using it well, and allow the opposition to punish us after we have had soft turnovers.



Consider this. The Cat's has 11 goal scorers...the Saints only 6. Many of our players seem to do anything possible to avoid having a shot at goal...and when they do...ughhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.

On the run most AFL teams have players that can slot goals...not the Saints. BJ and Dal led a collection of players today who had goals begging...but slotted points....or not even that.

Bally Ball Bally...what a sad situation it is to see the player that Ball has become. Still great endeavour, but I am afraid his kicking has no distance or power. Ball was in position to slot 3 or 4 goals...and could not even get a behind. Today he often does not try and score and just dishes it off. He can will ball yes...but hurt the oppositon I am afraid mot.

This is not a one off scenario...and with Schneider out our midfields ability to actually score a goal or two was even worse.


This is further compounded by our inability to regularly kick to advantage.

The Cat's in delivering the ball had forwards running full speed onto passes.

Saints players by and large kick so our forwards have to stop and prop.


This gets magnified around the ground.



Now today the play ebbed and flowed...the saints dominated the first quarter but scored 4.7.....rather than 7.4.

After quarter time the the number of times we made basic errors running through the midfield making unforced turnovers was astounding. Horrifying actually.


We had various passages of play that gabe us hope...but time and time again the saints poor footskills, or rabbit in the headlight midfield freezes brought us undone.

The cats gleefully seized upon our errors and many turnovers that should not have happened resulted in Geelong goals.

The Cat's players unlike the saints can kick goals on the run....and importantly ANY player who is up fora shot at goals takes it...and in the main scores.

Saints players by and larger refuse to have shots...and when they do they simply do not score the goals they should.

We must have had about 5 shots touched on the goal line today due to lack of penetration.


If you don't kick goals...you cannot really pressure your opposition.

If you don't kick goals you pressure your own team.


Clinton Jones came in today...and the worrying thing is that despite all the talk about his poor foot skills.....that he was a long away from being our worst in this regard today....which is quite damning about our players.

Frankly the whole of that post needs quoting because I reckon that it is spot on

Our players are their own worst enemies with very poor delivery & decision making often putting team-mates under excess pressure or selling them into trouble. Also frequent failure to successfully convert relatively easy opportunities allows opponents to stay in the game when they should be buried & this happens on a week to week basis.

Most teams have to defend all of the area out to 55m from goal, our opponents only have to defend to 45m - which would be a sh1tload easier to do - because we have so few players who can actually kick a goal from beyond 47-48m. I believe that the length a player can kick should be something that can improve year on year (within reason), our players have not improved in this area for years & years and that is a long term coaching & developmental failure.

[n1ck]

It's all in their heads. They have no confidence to kick at goal, so before they do, they stop in their minds and look for another option. When no other option arises, they are not focusing on the goals and just blast away.

BJ, Dal, Fiora, Milne and Roo all missed VERY gettable shots at goal today.

[saintsRrising]

You add the "easy" goals we missed......to the goals the Cats "punished" us with with sloppy turnovers by us and you would geta much more competive match.

The goals is what we focus on....but the poor kicking echoes all around the ground.

[bozza1980]

You add the "easy" goals we missed......to the goals the Cats "punished" us with with sloppy turnovers by us and you would geta much more competive match.

The goals is what we focus on....but the poor kicking echoes all around the ground.

Spot on!!

In the first half when we were dominating the clearances, the only times the cats could get their hands on the ball was through our mistakes.

Boy did they punish our mistakes!!!

[saintsRrising]

In the first half when we were dominating the clearances, the only times the cats could get their hands on the ball was through our mistakes.

Boy did they punish our mistakes!!!

Indeed...I think someone wrote that we smashed the cats 14-2 in the clearances.


This should have resulted ina lot more scoreboard pressure.

Footty is agame of ebbs and flows...and when you are dominating it is vital that you score.


The previous week we saw the Dogs get on top in the midfield and to then translate the resualtant goal scoring opportunities into goal.

[saintsRrising]

What a gameplan needs to achieve is enough scoring opportunities for your team to be able to win the game of football by kicking enough goals.

Against the current benchmark team in the competition we achieved enough scoring opportunities, but failed to score enough "gettable" goals.


Our failure to convert also increased the number of scoring opportunities that the Cat's had.


Those against the game plan actually have their head in the sand about the delivered skill level of our players in the match.

Much as we might hate to admit it...the Cat's are a very good team at present.

To expect us to have defeated them on Saturday with the exhibited skill level is the stuff of fantasies.

[n1ck]

The worst thing St.kilda do is score a behind.

Not only do we waste a chance on goal, but we give the opposition possession of the pill and we have a history of having no idea what to do from then on.

Look at all the games this year (bar sydney) - Carlton, Dogs, and the Cats all towelled us up once they had possession at the kickout.

Somehow other teams seem to great at bringing the ball back into play - to their advantage, and we cant stop it. Add to this fact, the way we seem to take SOOOO long in choosing an option and bringing the ball back in. We really dont turn defense into attack very well from a behind.

[saintsRrising]

One of our kick ins when straight to M Blake

[Otiman]

The Cat's has 11 goal scorers...the Saints only 6.

If you include points scorers, as our accuracy was woeful, it becomes....


St. Kilda - 14
Geelong - 11

We have PLENTY of players in position to kick gettable goals, but only a handful seem to be able to slot it through the big sticks.

Add Ball's shot on goal in there and it's 15/22 players.

[saintsRrising]

The Cat's has 11 goal scorers...the Saints only 6.

If you include points scorers, as our accuracy was woeful, it becomes....


St. Kilda - 14
Geelong - 11

We have PLENTY of players in position to kick gettable goals, but only a handful seem to be able to slot it through the big sticks.

Add Ball's shot on goal in there and it's 15/22 players.

Yes I agree and I posted on this in detail here:

http://www.saintsational.com/forum/view ... hp?t=41689