Perspective please

[Teflon]

Im excited to win - always am but lets face some facts. We beat a side missing their best plasyer this year (Mcveigh) and their most potent fwd Lucas while their FF did stuff all. A side who Im tipping wont make the 8 and are playing for the future.


On the positives:
Armo looked good
Fwd pressure was up
Hayes/Harvey are gods
Milne actually managed to get in the game
Dal Santo performed
Max/Goddard great games

The negatives:

We led by 40 odd points again only to then allow this side to kick 5 straight and get within 20 pts. We again did not play 4 qtrs...why?

We kicked 18.15.......and once again allowed valuable % to walk away not to mention failing to actually apply some scoreboard pressure...

In the third we constantly turned the ball over, missed targets and got smashed on the rebound

Milnes 3rd qtr....what in gods name was going on?

We still IMO didnt function cohesively up fwd - it was better - but you still get the feeling that guys like Gram bringing it in are still bombing way to much and that we still dont have a structure that allows a goal kicking HFF option to be brought in (aka Chapman type..)


Im tired of getting hysterical cause we beat sides we should beat. I expect to beat Essendon. I want to be a genuine threat come finals tim - NOT make up numbers and to do that you need to compare every performance with the best - not the Essendons of the world.
We have some way to go for mine.

I expect to be attacked, called un Australian blah blah....just dont call me shirley but Im not waiting 100 years for the another flag while Cam Looney is made to look a supersta. We have to IMPROVE now and that means raising the bar and expectations.

[mad saint guy]

Agree with that. A good win, but we were up against a bottom 8 side missing it's best 2 players. Would like to see us play that way against Geelong/Hawthorn/Collingwood before deciding we're back in town.

[The_Dud]

although we again missed very getable goals, i don't think 18.15 is too bad a score, it just looks bad against Essendons freakish scoreline

[plugger66]

I do agree but what was good tonight is that we didnt flood nearly as much and put a lot more pressure on their backman which resulted in turnovers. Have to keep playing like that and continue to improve.

[Teflon]

although we again missed very getable goals, i don't think 18.15 is too bad a score, it just looks bad against Essendons freakish scoreline

Again though Im not interested in competing against Essendon - I worry what having double the scoring shots against a Geelong but still alowing them to get within 20 points means in a final?

Last week we kicked 4.7 - we monstered the best side in qtr 1 killed them in take aways and mamanged to keep them within a goal cause they kicked 4.0. How would Geelong responded if we kicked 9.2 ....would that have given Scarlett the confidence to roam up and down the ground knowing his team was under real scoreboard pressure??

Its a cliche but bad kicking is bad footy

[Teflon]

I do agree but what was good tonight is that we didnt flood nearly as much and put a lot more pressure on their backman which resulted in turnovers. Have to keep playing like that and continue to improve.

good point and yep the fwd pressure was deifnately an improvement - I did like the way we stopped Essendons run with our pressure (we werent rewarded for some great tackling by the way)

As an aside I thought the umpiring for both teams was deplorable and really they could not stay out of the action which to me is a disaster for the game and genuine contested footy.

[nicko016]

There were quite a few postives tonight including:
- a 3/4 effort is much better than a 1/4 or 2/4 effort
- Armo played a great game
- Forward defensive pressure was up
- Forward line worked relatively well

But there were negatives also but things that cna be worked on:
- still put in one bad quarter or bad 15 minutes stopped us from putting them to the sword
- inaccuracy cost us, not quite as bad as last week but still not where we need it to be
- some poor decision making go into the forward line and with the ball inside 50, namely Milne or Riewodlt uncertain when to have a shot and when to pass

But overall, a win is a win, and there were plenty of good things to come out of it but we've still got a way to go and a number of things to work on.

[Enrico_Misso]

We had a one quarter effort against the Dogs
We had a two quarter effort against Geelong.
We had a three quarter effort tonight.

The trend is good.
Will need a four quarter effort to beat Port over there.

[Teflon]

We had a one quarter effort against the Dogs
We had a two quarter effort against Geelong.
We had a three quarter effort tonight.

The trend is good.
Will need a four quarter effort to beat Port over there.

we'll need 5 qtrs to beat Port overe there...

[midas_touch]

Was a decent win, however it wasn't the most convincing performance. Our forward line seemed to function better, and our forward pressure did improve. However, we should never have taken our foot off the accelerator in the third term, and regardless of that, we should have won by 50+ points given the amount of easy shots we missed. We need to learn how to thrash ordinary teams, as Essendon were tonight if we are to be taken seriously. In fact, we haven't beaten a team by 10 goals since 2006.

[joffaboy]

Was a decent win, however it wasn't the most convincing performance. Our forward line seemed to function better, and our forward pressure did improve. However, we should never have taken our foot off the accelerator in the third term, and regardless of that, we should have won by 50+ points given the amount of easy shots we missed. We need to learn how to thrash ordinary teams, as Essendon were tonight if we are to be taken seriously. In fact, we haven't beaten a team by 10 goals since 2006.

I'll take a 6 goal win every day of the week.

[Enrico_Misso]

If we had taken our chances we would have had them put away by half time.
Instead, the game was still loable 20 minutes into the last despite having twice as many scoring shots.

We have to learn to put inferior sides away.
It was a perfect chance to have a run away 10 goal plus percentage booster.
Instead we muffed it, and ground out a solid win.

[Richter]

I'd agree that we lost our way in the 3rd quarter. However, we had lost King, and Dal spent a lot of time on the pine with a shoulder/collarbone knock - not surprising then that we started losing clearances. That said we need to find a way to stem the damage when we are not on top.

For the third week in a row teams have got a run on against us.

All in all though many more positives than negatives, not the least of which, another game into Goose and BJ. BJ in particular in the first half had some wonderful passes.

[Cirra]

The negatives:

Milnes 3rd qtr....what in gods name was going on?

I didn't mind most of you post but I just wanted to support Milne here.

Were you at the game or wathcing on TV?

Sure, he cost us 2 goals in the third term with 1 poor decision and 1 poor disposal, however, he was the only, and I mean the only player moving up the ground to create an opportunity.

He had no support and no-one forward of him leading to create a target for him.

He made some mistake, but he was awesome tonight.


Lastly...I'm with joffaboy.

Give me a 6 goal win. I don't need to win by 60 points and I don't care when the last time was that we did it.

[mbogo]

Agreed Joffa - especially against the Essendung scum!

[saint64]

As an aside I thought the umpiring for both teams was deplorable and really they could not stay out of the action which to me is a disaster for the game and genuine contested footy.

I agree. I thought at times it was quite bewildering.

[Richter]

To me they are always poor, but tonight I felt was one of their less poor nights!!

[BakesFan]

Okay, it was hardly a 'clinical' display of footy skills. In fact there were times I thought I was watching an Under 11's or Rugby game (a huge pack of players following the ball up and down the paddock).

However, I think the positives far outweighed the negatives. Those positives being:

1: We won

2: Our attack on the footy, and more importantly, PROTECTING the ball carrier were vastly improved. There was some great shepherding.

3: Max Hudghton is an AA quality fullback.

4: Milney seems to be getting better with age. How many 'goal assists' did he have?

5: Robert Harvey can hit anyone running on the tit from -30m. How many pinpoint passes did he get away?

6: Luke Ball looked fantastic in the packs. The man is a terrier and it was great seeming him push forward. His crumbing goal was a highlight.

7: Armo is doing himself proud! His development/improvement is amazing. I'll expect a full page article about him in Monday's edition of Mackay's, The Daily Mercury.

8: Lenny Hayes IS a superstar.

9: A much better TEAM performance.

10: Lots of room for improvement... We'll only get better and hopefully be hitting our straps right around finals time.

Go SAINTERS!!!!!!!

[cwrcyn]

WE simply don't nail teams when we are dominating.

We should have kicked 25.8 instead of 18.15.

Just so many simple goals missed, and its happening every week. We're putting on scorbaord pressure. The problem is that it's on ourselves instead of the opposition. Can't threaten the premiership with this level of accuracy in front of goal.

It makes my blood boil when we waste perfect opportunities. And look at our opposition these past two weeks. Essendon barely missed a shot, and Geelong kicked all the ones that really counted.

It makes a hell of a difference.

[Behind Play]

What a great team effort, I haven't seen the boys play for each other like that for a long time.
Well done Roo for flying the flag when the skirmish started.

[Life Long Saint]

The negatives:

Milnes 3rd qtr....what in gods name was going on?

I didn't mind most of you post but I just wanted to support Milne here.

Were you at the game or wathcing on TV?

Sure, he cost us 2 goals in the third term with 1 poor decision and 1 poor disposal, however, he was the only, and I mean the only player moving up the ground to create an opportunity.

He had no support and no-one forward of him leading to create a target for him.

He made some mistake, but he was awesome tonight.


Lastly...I'm with joffaboy.

Give me a 6 goal win. I don't need to win by 60 points and I don't care when the last time was that we did it.

Agree with all that about Milne.

I'd rather see terrific endeavour and risk taking with one or two errors than holding the ball up allowing defenders to flood back.
He has proven enough over the journey to suggest that his disposal into the forward 50 is pretty good. I think Ross Lyon handled it well. Get Milne off for a little chat (or rest), tell him to keep backing himself and the result was two goals in the last quarter.

Did anyone notice the risk taking by all players last night? Most players always took the first option to ensure the ball moved quickly. That's the sort of footy that I want to see. The only thing poor spot was the six unanswered goals in the third quarter. We needed to stem the flow by slowing the play down for a little while. It took us a little longer to do that (plus the Bombers didn't miss).

[rodgerfox]

I actually thought it was very good, and for the first time in a long time - the signs were very good.

We played 3 very good quarters, and in the one quarter where we were average they only had one more shot at goal than us.

We were hard at it, and beat a side easily that has 'leg speed' to burn.

Goose has another game under his belt, Armitage is exactly what we need and Roo kicked a 'captain's goal'.

I was very pleased.


The soft tissue injuries are the concern.

[JeffDunne]

I was pleased with the effort but can't say I was thrilled with our decision making, skills or confidence.

We still conceeded goals with players running away from the ball carrier.

Can't say I saw anything to suggest we are anywhere near where we should be.

[starsign]

The broader picture over the past 3 games confirms to me that
we are definitely a work in progress and the possatives you all have outined, apart from greatly outnumbering the obvious negatives, are far more telling in their significance

The accuracy for one will come with confidence emminating from these posatives we are seeing....it always does


How many times have you seen teams with it all-altogether even regugularly kicking them out of their fundamentil oriffaces?

Keep the faith.... we're coming!

[meher baba]

A win is always a win (except at Aurora Stadium in 2006) and so we should all be happy.

However, the second half was a bit of a worry for me: once again, the Rossbot was seriously outcoached on match day. He just doesn't seem to be quick at reading what the opposition are doing and responding accordingly.

Fair enough that he doesn't want to be fiddling around constantly with the basic game plan to the point that the players become confused. But surely the role of a coach on match day is to be always on the lookout to counteract the moves of the opposing coach. Does Lyon even try to do this? I'm not sure.

If the Bombers hadn't run out of steam, they might well have run over the top of us in the final quarter: as it was, some of our senior players had to dig deep to secure the win. Given the dominance we had in many parts of the field, this was a poor conclusion to the match.

That said, how many times are we going to come up against a team that just didn't seem to be able to miss the big sticks from whatever angle. Full credit to them for that!!