QF1: St Kilda team v Geelong

[howlinwolf]

I wouldn't be surprised to see Hotdish's prediction of
X and Mcqualter in
Dempster and Eddy out

We need more taggers this week than any other and McQ could try and tag Ablett. He has done the tagging job well up until he got sick. We have done well against Geelong when Stevie Baker has kept him reasonably quiet. If Ablett has a day out we most certainly will lose.

Either this option or just X in for Dempster.
Ross is just trying his best to keep Geelong guessing naming that many ins.

[Solar]

intersting (ok they can come from outside the 25 but....) that the 4 on the extended bench are all mid fielders or small forwards. Thus kosi and king are going to be our two ruckman. blake will play back. Raph will play back also and his link spot will be given to his brother IMO

Congrats to jack for being named in a strong finals team.

Everton, raph blake and gwilt would all find spots in the bottom half of the eight teams and blake would play CHB for at least the dogs. I don't get how our depth is so crap but we are missing our first choice CHB, best back pocket, our best inside midfielder and best run with stopper. No wonder our depth is being tested.....

anyway this team is good enough to win on sunday and set up a prelim final in a fornights time...

[older saint]

Would think like many X for Demspter. May be tempted to go MQ for Eddy and another tagger off the bench v Eddy a link man and forward pressure player. Will be interesting though.

Fiora missed last week so needs a game , like x the week before .
Fisher a little slow against Geelong, may have com eino it v Adel or Syd

Good line up with Pressure.

Good to Steven's rewarded with an emergency

[Devilhead]

I hope not.

Eddy thoroughly deserves his spot, he has EARNT it, and we need only play one of Pircha and Mini.

Yep i agree - I don't know why some posters want to see Eddy dropped or why they think he would be dropped - I would be disappointed if this happens - in the last few weeks he has done extremely well and he adds a bit of toughness and x factor playing on the forward flank - we have been screaming out for someone to play that position since Hamill left - Eddy has an enormous massive tank which would give many back flankers nightmares and he doesn't mind throwing himself into a tackle - he has bobbed up with a goal or two and dropping would only setback his development - we also really don't have anyone to fill his position on the forward flank and for those that dont know he was actually picked in the U18 all Australian side so he can't be all that bad

We need to let him settle and playing finals will be a terrific experience for the young man - no doubt he will be elevated onto the main list next year for good and if he grows a touch more and fills out a bit coupled with a natural improvement in the his skills we could have seriously good player on our hands

[Solar]

I hope not.

Eddy thoroughly deserves his spot, he has EARNT it, and we need only play one of Pircha and Mini.

Yep i agree - I don't know why some posters want to see Eddy dropped or why they think he would be dropped - I would be disappointed if this happens - in the last few weeks he has done extremely well and he adds a bit of toughness and x factor playing on the forward flank - we have been screaming out for someone to play that position since Hamill left - Eddy has an enormous massive tank which would give many back flankers nightmares and he doesn't mind throwing himself into a tackle - he has bobbed up with a goal or two and dropping would only setback his development - we also really don't have anyone to fill his position on the forward flank and for those that dont know he was actually picked in the U18 all Australian side so he can't be all that bad

We need to let him settle and playing finals will be a terrific experience for the young man - no doubt he will be elevated onto the main list next year for good and if he grows a touch more and fills out a bit coupled with a natural improvement in the his skills we could have seriously good player on our hands

he has this ability to buzz around the forward line,putting pressure on the backs. needs to finish those shots at goal but he is not the only one who misses goals at present.

[To the top]

Nick, Raph Clarke also stood up in that 2005 final.

[Devilhead]

he has this ability to buzz around the forward line,putting pressure on the backs. needs to finish those shots at goal but he is not the only one who misses goals at present.

and this is what we need against Geelong - loads of forward pressure - pressure their backs into making mistakes and dont give them easy run out of the backline

Lots of posters are saying we need to tag this guy and that guy and this guy and that guy - next thing they will be wanting Roo to tag Taylor

We need to attack Geelong like Collingwood did - we need to go positive not negative - we need to show them that we aren't afraid to go head to head - whilst their midfield is great ours isn't that bad either - our fitness has improved 10 fold since we met them earlier in the year as well

If we use negative tatics against Geelong we will find out nothing but we take the initative and attack we might just find a few chinks in their armour which we can hopefully use to our advantage later in the finals series ......... hopefully!!!!!!

[howlinwolf]

It's not that I want Eddy to miss out but I just think the need to keep Ablett to an "average" game is essential.

Eddy has done some good work since he got his chance. Especially his tackling. If he can't blanket Ablett we need some one else to and that leaves us short elsewhere.

I don't think we can forget about tagging their midfield and just go for it because we will get done.
If we nullify their strength we throw them off their routine winning ways. Therefore imposing ours and putting them under pressure.
Collingwood rattled them big time earlier in the season by doing this.

They romp in games when there's no pressure. Port A will testify to that.

Basically we can't play to their formula and terms.
Just my .02 cents worth.

[Devilhead]

It's not that I want Eddy to miss out but I just think the need to keep Ablett to an "average" game is essential.

Eddy has done some good work since he got his chance. Especially his tackling. If he can't blanket Ablett we need some one else to and that leaves us short elsewhere.

I don't think we can forget about tagging their midfield and just go for it because we will get done.
If we nullify their strength we throw them off their routine winning ways. Therefore imposing ours and putting them under pressure.
Collingwood rattled them big time earlier in the season by doing this.

They romp in games when there's no pressure. Port A will testify to that.

Basically we can't play to their formula and terms.
Just my .02 cents worth.

Why would Eddy play on Ablett when he has being playing half forward?????

Collingwood according to the pundits that have seen the game went man on man all over the ground - no crappy zone defense, no specialist taggers, their mids went head to head with Geelong's mids - Collingwood also racked up 85 tackles or thereabouts which is what we need to do

If we put McQ on Ablett I can tell you who is going to win and Ablett won't have to worry about being accountable because McQ probably won't get a lot of it which means Ablett can just concentrate on attacking - whereas if Ablett goes head to head with Lenny all of a sudden Ablett may just have to start thinking about being a little accountable which may nullify his attacking game to a certain extent

Well that's my reckoning anyway - sure we need to put pressure on their mids but we also need to make them accountable as well

On the other hand if their is no accountability from either teams midfield then we got a shootout on our hands and I if you hadn't noticed our backline is pretty tough to break down at the moment

It will be a great game and hopefully just taste of things to come

[SAINT JUMP]

Good luck boys. who ever plays. You have all done a lot better than most of us.Maybe all of us

[Schillaci]

intersting (ok they can come from outside the 25 but....) that the 4 on the extended bench are all mid fielders or small forwards. Thus kosi and king are going to be our two ruckman. blake will play back.

And I hope Kingy has a blinder against his old team...match up with Ottens and Blake is going to be interesting to say the least.
Would also be good given Bummer's jibes about us using recycled players/ top ups.

[n1ck]

Why does everyone write off Eddy as a defensive midfield option?

Hes strong, decent size, quickish with decent skills.

Surely if given the task, he could run with a Corey or Bartel?

No need to drop him for Mini, IMO.

Id love to see Mini come in to be honest, but id rather keep the side as settled as possible, and to me that means just the one change... X for Dempster.

[saintspremiers]

Hopefully X will be back....be nice for his old man to see the two Clarke boys back in action together in a final!

[Devilhead]

Why does everyone write off Eddy as a defensive midfield option?

Hes strong, decent size, quickish with decent skills.

Surely if given the task, he could run with a Corey or Bartel?

No need to drop him for Mini, IMO.

Id love to see Mini come in to be honest, but id rather keep the side as settled as possible, and to me that means just the one change... X for Dempster.

no reason why he can't play mid-field - probably in time he could play a defensive mid field role - however at the moment in the current set up he is better used as a forward flanker

Agree that the side needs to settled and that the one change is preferable

[Saints Premiers 2008]

since when was eddy a tagger???

some people on this need to watch games a little closer

[saint vince]

From most peoples opinions on here we are going to have 7 taggers in the midfield. You can't win with pure taggers in the centre square.

You need to play one on one but you need people around the ball that actually get it.

I rate Eddy a better chance of being able to get the pill around stoppages than McQ.

If we get it first it doesn't matter who is playing on Ablett, Bartell or Johnson.



Go saints

[bigcarl]

i'd like to avoid the so called "inevitable" ling on dal santo match-up that is likely to end up heavily in the pink pig's favour.

it's a mismatch as ling is physically too strong and is able to just monster dal out of contests. that's no slight on dal santo. it's why they have weight divisions in boxing and wrestling.

how to avoid it?

i'd set dal a task. make him accountable for ablett, for example.

make him the hunter, rather than the hunted for once in his career.

would this be a waste of his offensive capabilities? i'd be surprised. it might just lift him to another level.

[WayneJudson42]

It's not that I want Eddy to miss out but I just think the need to keep Ablett to an "average" game is essential.

Eddy has done some good work since he got his chance. Especially his tackling. If he can't blanket Ablett we need some one else to and that leaves us short elsewhere.

I don't think we can forget about tagging their midfield and just go for it because we will get done.
If we nullify their strength we throw them off their routine winning ways. Therefore imposing ours and putting them under pressure.
Collingwood rattled them big time earlier in the season by doing this.

They romp in games when there's no pressure. Port A will testify to that.

Basically we can't play to their formula and terms.
Just my .02 cents worth.

Why would Eddy play on Ablett when he has being playing half forward?????

Collingwood according to the pundits that have seen the game went man on man all over the ground - no crappy zone defense, no specialist taggers, their mids went head to head with Geelong's mids - Collingwood also racked up 85 tackles or thereabouts which is what we need to do

If we put McQ on Ablett I can tell you who is going to win and Ablett won't have to worry about being accountable because McQ probably won't get a lot of it which means Ablett can just concentrate on attacking - whereas if Ablett goes head to head with Lenny all of a sudden Ablett may just have to start thinking about being a little accountable which may nullify his attacking game to a certain extent

Well that's my reckoning anyway - sure we need to put pressure on their mids but we also need to make them accountable as well

On the other hand if their is no accountability from either teams midfield then we got a shootout on our hands and I if you hadn't noticed our backline is pretty tough to break down at the moment

It will be a great game and hopefully just taste of things to come

DevHead talks sense

We tried this with Gram v Judd and it worked for 3 quaters. Ablett will rack them up regardless, so make him accountable.

1on1 is the way to go IMO.

[sunsaint]

Birss stays...was madness dropping him in the first place.
But thinking outside the box, and nothing against Eddy because he has been very serviceable the last few weeks. But I think X Clarke in for Eddy.
I stuck my ear up against Lyons' door during the week and this is what I heard...
X Clarke: Coach can I have a word?
RL: Yeah sure X
X Clarke: I really need to play this week.
RL: Why is that X?
X Clarke: Because coach, I dont know if you remember, but I have a big score to settle with those pussy bastards

[bigcarl]

i'd like to avoid the so called "inevitable" ling on dal santo match-up that is likely to end up heavily in the pink pig's favour.

it's a mismatch as ling is physically too strong and is able to just monster dal out of contests. that's no slight on dal santo. it's why they have weight divisions in boxing and wrestling.

how to avoid it?

i'd set dal a task. make him accountable for ablett, for example.

make him the hunter, rather than the hunted for once in his career.

would this be a waste of his offensive capabilities? i'd be surprised. it might just lift him to another level.

also, why should geelong decide the match-ups?

[plugger66]

i'd like to avoid the so called "inevitable" ling on dal santo match-up that is likely to end up heavily in the pink pig's favour.

it's a mismatch as ling is physically too strong and is able to just monster dal out of contests. that's no slight on dal santo. it's why they have weight divisions in boxing and wrestling.

how to avoid it?

i'd set dal a task. make him accountable for ablett, for example.

make him the hunter, rather than the hunted for once in his career.

would this be a waste of his offensive capabilities? i'd be surprised. it might just lift him to another level.

That is when Dal is no good. When he has to look after someone he fails. Let him run free and if Ling goes to him give him the confidence to see how he goes. If he is struggling then try something but dont give him a jiob. Not his go.

[bigcarl]

i'd like to avoid the so called "inevitable" ling on dal santo match-up that is likely to end up heavily in the pink pig's favour.

it's a mismatch as ling is physically too strong and is able to just monster dal out of contests. that's no slight on dal santo. it's why they have weight divisions in boxing and wrestling.

how to avoid it?

i'd set dal a task. make him accountable for ablett, for example.

make him the hunter, rather than the hunted for once in his career.

would this be a waste of his offensive capabilities? i'd be surprised. it might just lift him to another level.

That is when Dal is no good. When he has to look after someone he fails. Let him run free and if Ling goes to him give him the confidence to see how he goes. If he is struggling then try something but dont give him a jiob. Not his go.

so concede a "mismatch-up" even before the ball is bounced?

[kickittokosi!!!!]

[sunsaint said:]X Clarke: Because coach, I dont know if you remember, but I have a big score to settle with those pussy bastards[/quote]

That's right. I forgot about that.

Blake took X out about 15metres off the ball... X had pretty bad concussion if i remember correctly. Then Kingy got stuck into Blake.

Blake was reported but got off.

Hope you're right mate. X can run hard, tackle & has very clean disposal.

Hopefully he gets a run (& some payback).

Go Saints.

[Solar]

Birss stays...was madness dropping him in the first place.
But thinking outside the box, and nothing against Eddy because he has been very serviceable the last few weeks. But I think X Clarke in for Eddy.
I stuck my ear up against Lyons' door during the week and this is what I heard...
X Clarke: Coach can I have a word?
RL: Yeah sure X
X Clarke: I really need to play this week.
RL: Why is that X?
X Clarke: Because coach, I dont know if you remember, but I have a big score to settle with those pussy bastards

great call

I agree that the only change will be x in for dempster

[Otiman]

Eddy would be perfect to tag endurance based midfielders, like Harves of old.