Raph & Dal

[The_Dud]

watch the replay, see how many times Dal was the last to get up from the bottom of the pack

its hard to get free when you're being constantly grabbed and tackled before you've even taken possession of the ball

[borderbarry]

Raph had a fair game today, not his best by along shot, but there were 7 or 8 players who did worse, yet no mention of them. Bakes had a poor game for one, and Raph clearly had more impact on the game than Gwilt for another.

[skeptic]

It boggles my mind how forumites can watch a player for so long and not pick up basic things about them.

Predictable.
Raph was always going to make at least 1 major blunder today. He has ALWAYS found the increased tempo of AFL difficult to adjust too. Given good fitness and a bit of game time last year, he got the hang of it ok and started playing good footy.
First game back, he did alright but made one standoutish blunder.

FWIW I thought he pressured the opposition well, was clean with his hands but under pressure, he made a few bad decisions.

It's the same story with him, every time. He'll adjust and he'll be better for the hit out.

At least his "shockers" aren't what they used to be

[mightysainters]

Nothing new with Raph,apart from the end of last year this is his normal game..ordinary.

We miss Gram badly

ditto

Agreed...

[Dis Believer]

Raph looked rusty, nothing more. I thought the Brions had studied us pretty hard and set up accordingly - they were working in packs, predominantly on their offensive side of the play, and they were fanatical in their efforts to close down our space. They were also bombing long at every opportunity to their forward line to try and overcome our structures. We had a few that were down today and looked frankly a bit weary to me. I thought most of what I saw that I didn't like from our boys reeked of arrogance and short-cutting.

For those that apparently didn't notice, the Brions put their hard tag efforts into Dal, and Bally had his best game for some weeks. Everyone has been holding their handles on here over how great our midfield depth is startintg to look again, saying "they can't shut 'em all down", yet get bent out of shape when ONE of ours is shut down. Unreal.

[Bono]

Maybe #1 should pull his head in during the week and after hours. Interesting to see that he kicked a goal for Sandy today.

[jonesy]

Maybe #1 should pull his head in during the week and after hours. Interesting to see that he kicked a goal for Sandy today.

Thanks for the heads up....new there must of been something in it.
It's been a critisism of him the whole way through and that's from the playing group

[nicko016]

Raph was ok. Not our worst but made a few blunders. I thought against Sydney he was very good until injured but today he looked very much like someone working his way back. However, Gram must be a in this week and Raph is the one who has to make way, despite the fact that he probably hasn't done anything to be dropped. Just comes down to the fact that he is the one squeezed out.

With regards to Dal, any criticism of him is pretty harsh. Copped a heavy tag and was well beaten in the first three quarters yet to me he still appeared to be working quite hard. Plus, the way he lifted in the last quarter was very important in our turnaround. It seems some people are are just waiting for him to drop back down to his level from early last year.

[saintly_safes]

Not a huge Raph fan but thought he was ok today.Dal was quiet by his standards but did some really telling things to get us back in the game in the last quarter. All in all a really good team effort imo

[BAM! (shhhh)]

One turn-over aside I thought Raf was clean with his hands and solid with his decisions.....good game

You didn't see his kick out from full back did you? Slow at making decisions... Did get better as the game went on

Saw that play and just knew that people would make out that it summed up his game.

It was a shocker. However, other than that kick and possibly one other kick where he kicked to clear and it was marked by a Lion, that was all he did wrong.

He balanced the above with a couple of assists, and otherwise efficiently used the ball - which not too many Saints could say today.

First game back, he gets a pass. No more no less.

As for Dal, he was held out in the 3rd quarter to the tune of 2 touches, and didn't use the ball with his usual efficiency. Otherwise he was fine. If we want to find scapegoats, better looking at the long list of Saints who took good opportunities and turned them into returns of 0.1 for the day.

[bigcarl]

thought raph was good apart from that one obvious blunder. he is a starting 18 player (as is gram) i think and will build on the nice touches he had today.

dal was quiet, but stood up when it counted in the last quarter ... as did raph.