What we can take from this game

[mad saint guy]

Kosi - Absolute gun, and if he ever plays a full game he could kick 8 goals.
Geary - Best 22
Armitage - Capable of playing senior footy in '08, but needs to show form
Howard, van Rheenen - A long way off
C.Gardiner - Possible best 22
Eddy, Steven, Allen - Very close, but not quite there yet
Misson - Not a miracle worker

[plugger66]

Kosi - Absolute gun, and if he ever plays a full game he could kick 8 goals.
Geary - Best 22
Armitage - Capable of playing senior footy in '08, but needs to show form
Howard, van Rheenen - A long way off
C.Gardiner - Possible best 22
Eddy, Steven, Allen - Very close, but not quite there yet
Misson - Not a miracle worker

Please explain Armo. I dont understand your comment.

[saintbrat]

what did we gain- confidence and experience
several young guys playing their first year against the reigning premiers and they win-

it was close and they had to fight adrenalin

[mad saint guy]

Please explain Armo. I dont understand your comment.

It looks like his best is good enough for AFL level, but he needs to be fit and in form to be effective. No senior footy for Armo if he is out of form.

[Sainterman]

I thought Armo was great today, he put his body on the line, kicked that nice 9 pointer, and was instrumental in the second qtr where we set the win up.

[plugger66]

Please explain Armo. I dont understand your comment.

It looks like his best is good enough for AFL level, but he needs to be fit and in form to be effective. No senior footy for Armo if he is out of form.

Every player is like that. What about his form for 2 weeks this season though. Pretty good I would say.

[joffaboy]

what did we gain- confidence and experience
several young guys playing their first year against the reigning premiers and they win-

yup - to win when we had lost Kosi, Gehrig, and Max, playing in the heat, with fatigue, to lose the lead and come back and win lead by Dal an Milne and finished off by young Steven was terrific.

Intensity at the ball after qtr time was terrific and didn't allow the Cats to run the ball.

Grea for the youngsters to be involved in that type of win.

Still dont get me wrong, it is only a preseason match, but at least we ran the game out, unlike last season where we would have dropped that type of game.

[mad saint guy]

Every player is like that. What about his form for 2 weeks this season though. Pretty good I would say.

This was the first time I think his performance was up to AFL standard. He wasn't too bad last week, but wouldn't have been hard to drop either. I'm just saying that he needs to be playing at 100% to hold a spot.

[St DAC]

Doesn't every player?

[barks4eva]

Armitage - Capable of playing senior footy in '08, but needs to show form

Excuse me, but isn't that what he just did.

Armitage was excellent, great tackler also

Misson - Not a miracle worker

whatever

[saintsRrising]

Armo played his best game for the saints today. Was good and showed that he will be a player. More NAB form like that will have him squeeze into the round 1 team

Geary...two classy games in a row now. If he keeps up with this form he will play round 1.

C Gardiner....his 2 NAB games have been a surprise....I had him pegged originally as a free pick up as part of the deal to get King that would play for Casey. But his two games have been good and he has form asa type of player we were short of. Tandem teamed with Roo.....as free running marking targets will give us another avenue forward as he roams from HF to HB.

Eddy...looks good but does not have the polish of Geary. So shows promise but not ready for AFL yet.


Allen...again showed promise and is a likely lad...but needs to do more. a lot to get excited about.

Jones. Another useful game. not quite as good as his last game but stood up quite well under the greater pressure from the Cats.

[mad saint guy]

Doesn't every player?

Most of our top 22 players are kept in the team if they have a little form slump or have a niggling injury and can't go at 100%. Armo is not in that category.

[barks4eva]

Doesn't every player?

Most of our top 22 players are kept in the team if they have a little form slump or have a niggling injury and can't go at 100%. Armo is not in that category.

Oh really, yeah righto

[Otiman]

One of the better things to come out of todays match was Armitage showing that he has stepped up and is now ready to play AFL football. 2 goals, lots of tackles, and some fantastic work in close.

Had a quiet second half, but I don't think he would have played many minutes in the second half.

Geary ahead of Gram at the moment, perhaps Gram needs to get some peroxide back into that black head of his. I thought he was quite rusty. Geary is extremely gutsy, and went head to head with Rooke on more than a few occasions.

Blake, whilst he should have kicked that goal did some great things defensively and played well under pressure, was the 3rd man up in quite a lot of contests and generally did the role that Sam Fisher was prevented from doing by Geelong.

Van Rheenen is a long way off, and Rix is still an ordinary backup ruckman at best.

Eddy didn't back up his form from last week, but was still quite solid, I think he was tagging Ling for most of the game.

Allen's second efforts are fantastic, and is good at ground level, but just needs to take a few more grabs to be considered for a permanent spot up forward.

Eljay still looks promising, although he didn't get much of it, and Howard battled and looks more of a footballer than he did last year, but still not quite there.

[barks4eva]

One of the better things to come out of todays match was Armitage showing that he has stepped up and is now ready to play AFL football. 2 goals, lots of tackles, and some fantastic work in close.

Armitage was super impressive imho

[saintsRrising]

Gram, Gilbert and Baker all did well for first games back.

With bakes being suspended Geary looks cpable of playing in Bakes spot down back for Round 1.

L Fisher also did ok in his first run....but the form of Geary may have him in front.

Still early days and players well get better with match time.

[plugger66]

One of the better things to come out of todays match was Armitage showing that he has stepped up and is now ready to play AFL football. 2 goals, lots of tackles, and some fantastic work in close.

Had a quiet second half, but I don't think he would have played many minutes in the second half.

Geary ahead of Gram at the moment, perhaps Gram needs to get some peroxide back into that black head of his. I thought he was quite rusty. Geary is extremely gutsy, and went head to head with Rooke on more than a few occasions.

Blake, whilst he should have kicked that goal did some great things defensively and played well under pressure, was the 3rd man up in quite a lot of contests and generally did the role that Sam Fisher was prevented from doing by Geelong.

Surely you have credits in the bag. Gram is way ahead of Geary on that score. Geary may play round one but Gram will play, baring injury round one.

[Otiman]

Surely you have credits in the bag. Gram is way ahead of Geary on that score. Geary may play round one but Gram will play, baring injury round one.

Gram coming back from injury and Geary having played last week and the intra club might have something to do with it. He will be happy just to have had the run.

[gO.SainTs]

Good game, but noticed they were hand-balling a little too much. Good goals at the end from Dal and Jack Steven

[markinUSA]

I thought Gram was rusty at the beginning of the game.
But by the end of the game, his kicking was back to its tremendous best.
I remember one time, very close to the end, and he gave the ball a tremendous roost - and I thought that no one else could have given it such a thump... wow.

That is a real asset!

[St Fidelius]

Gram, Gilbert and Baker all did well for first games back.

With bakes being suspended Geary looks cpable of playing in Bakes spot down back for Round 1.

L Fisher also did ok in his first run....but the form of Geary may have him in front.

Still early days and players well get better with match time.

Yep, you are a great fan of L Fisher aren't you???


IMO L Fisher was shocking and his disposals continue to have a negative impact on his game..

[sasaint]

Howard, van Rheenen - A long way off

Van Rheenan was way out of his depth and looked lost. Then again Rix had a shocker too. Howard however looked like he has potential and may crack it. Looked at lot better then last year, so there is some hope.

[Pwoit]

It’s harder to make assumptions about players looking at a screen focused only on the ball carrier.
When you are at the game you see the "bigger picture" and notice more of the 1% things that players have been instructed to do.

IMO Armo and Geary were great last week as I was there but I cant comment on their games today as I didn’t seem them around the ground. But what I did see was good and can only get better.

Long way to go for us. Still need our 1st 22 to gel together and see how it unfolds.

_______________________________

Side note for all the worry warts - read my signature.

[saintsRrising]

Gram, Gilbert and Baker all did well for first games back.

With bakes being suspended Geary looks capable of playing in Bakes spot down back for Round 1.

L Fisher also did ok in his first run....but the form of Geary may have him in front.

Still early days and players well get better with match time.

Yep, you are a great fan of L Fisher aren't you???


IMO L Fisher was shocking and his disposals continue to have a negative impact on his game..

St Fid.....I find your post puzzling.

I said that L Fisher did ok in his first game back.

Geary I have been glowing about.


If you only looked at that ONE game Geary would be way in front.

However round 1 is still a way away...and L fisher has a good record of a few years on the Board.

At this stage if I was picking a best 22 Geary would be in it and L Fisher not....so I do not know what your crack was about?????????/

[plugger66]

its harder to make assumptions about players looking at a screen focussed only on the ball carrier.
When you are at the game you see the "bigger picture" and notice more of the 1% things that players have been instructed to do.

IMO Armo and geary were great last week as I was there but I cant comment on their games today as i didnt seem them around the ground. But what I did see was good and can only get better.

Long way to go for us - still need our 1st 22 to gell together and see how it unfolds.

_______________________________

Side note for all the worry warts - read my signature.

That is the bvest comment written today.