Now caught up...some thoughts on our first 2 Games

[saintsRrising]

Well I was away and missed the first two weeks...but have now managed to watch both games via bigpond.

Some observations

Skill level has been down. However in the Swans game there was huge pressure applied by both sides..and while those at the game were not happy it looked quite finals like to me in terms of pressure.

The Blues game did not have this excuse though. However you kept geting the feeling that the Saints were almost clicking and when they do......watch out. However such skill errors would be punished by the Cats and most likely the Dogs. The Saints must lift in this regard. Good teams in the AFL simply use the ball well and gifting the ball regularly to the oppostion with poor kicks and hanballs will not see us able to finish as a top 4 team.The silky kicking skills of BJ will be warmly welcomed back.

X- In the two weeks I have seen the X man that I have been hoping would emerge for a while. In the two games he demonstrated that he can play as that running midfielder that we need.....and kicked a few golas to boot!!

Fiora - bagged by many...but having watched both games closely due tho this I cannot understand why. While not gathering huge possession tallies by and large in played well in bursts with Ross rotating him though the midfield and forward line. Main flaw still is that he should be nailing a goal or more a game as he always manages to get loose fora mark not far from goal. He is playing both outside, but also inside and one observation would be that when winning the ball inside that he has just about the quickest hands at the club in dishing it off.

Blake - like last year is much more comfortable playing the roles now given him. His error rate is way down. Has improved in my view.

Geary - for one with so few games under his belt he is playing very very well. Providesa lot of run and dsah and intercepts well. Hasa huge work rate and just needs to learn to use the ball better (which is hardly surprising for someone with only 2 games). bakes may squeeze him out this season but Geary has stamped himself asa long term Saints player already.

KING GEE Our new ruck duo of King Gee (King and Gardiner) is looking very very good. Gardiner seems to be improving every game and is showing signs that he will be No 1 and King No 2...which is superb news as King is playing well enough to be No 1 at most clubs!!!!

It is not just the that King Gee are good in the ruck either...it is also that they know where and when to run and are creating great support around the ground. Kings two goals against the Blues helped to assert the saints when Roo and Kosi were struggling.

KOSI & 3 Tall forwards

Well at present Kosi and this structure is not working as well as it needs too. Kosi in particular is struggling with playing asa key forward and is often giving away unecessary frees.

Wayward ball delivery is certaianly not helping...and so hopefully BJ will assist in this by his return.

Kosi too is "learning" to play as a key forward...and at present just does not seem to know when or where to run.

My observaton about Kosi is that he needs to move more. Kosi is at his best at marking on the move, pack marking or coming over the top.

One on one he struggles and in particular if he has to hold his ground where a good full back can nudge him off the ball or get in front of him to often win an easy free kick froma frustrated or sloppy Kosi.

Kosi to me would seem to be the marking option the Saints should ho to when others such as Roo and G are well covered...but they must kick it to his advantage and not s he has to hold hs ground.

Raph as others have posted...is just playing too sloppy at times. takes some great saving marks, but then at times does two handed punches when he should be marking. His disposal by foot and hand in terms of delivering the ball to a team mate so that they remain in motion (ie to prevent intercepts or tacking) needs to improve. He needs to leran to dispose of the ball to where players need to be, be rather than where they are.

Lenny I think the Rolls Royce is back and will start dominating games. He is going to love playing with King Gee.

Dal Just looked a class above most. He just always seems to have extra time. The Matrix. His use of the ball is very good now...and just seems able to do some freakish things whether t is bobbing up for a mark to intercept or to dodge and weave with a quick handball to ateam mate in space.

Ball still not what he was, but is way above what he was in 2007. Tackling superb and will no doubt just concentrate on beinga grunt inside mid grinding opostion down. Lets hope that like they are saying with Judd that his movement, speed and kicking will improve steadily. If so we are in for a treat.

Schneiderman Is doing exactly what he was recruited for and his arrival has breathed new life in Milne as well. I think that many were way to harsh in recent years on Milne as with him being our ONLY small forward oposition coaches could concentrate on locking him out of the game. With Schneider, X and Milne now all looking dangerous opposition coaches now have a harder task with match ups and tactics. I expect Milney to continue to have a damaging year.

Gilbert while not as daging as he was last year I don't think he is as bad as many have painted him. His role this year would also seem to bea more neagting one.

Max Lets desperately hope that Max does not get injured again. He is our only true tall stopper in the backline and with him firing as he has in the first two games our backline looks rock solid....with good attacking flair.

Sam Fisher is fantastic too, but in a much different way. Without Max though our backline would be a lot more vunerable.


Game plan

The team have our defensive game plan when the oppostion have the ball down pat......and are really squeezing opponents.


When we have the ball we are now more direct with more direct run throug the middle. X is working well in this reagrd. However poor disposal is often bringing the team and players undone. aslo the 3 tall structue is not yet working well with Kosi and Roo often being too close...with one big disadvantage of this being that it also means that their defenders are there too.

In both matches better disposal would have seen both opponents blown away. The Swans should have been buried in the first quarter but weren't.


Lets hope that tonight againts the Dogs that the saints can lift their skill level.

[Sam23]

Agree with all except Koschitzke.

No doubt he can hold his own in one on ones, simply at the moment, he is unfit, seems to be almost a bit weak and sluggish in the way he's moving.

[S.A Saint]

welcome back saintsRrising, you are pretty much spot on with your post. With Ralphy i have also noticed that when he is running out of defence at times he is not confident on hitting a target and just turns around waiting for a team mate to run past so he can dish it off. This really frustrates me as he seems to get the ball, sprint out of 50 then stop and look around.

[St DAC]

Why on earth would Kosi be unfit? He had a pretty good pre-season, only a couple of weeks out from the Geelong game, and has played the first 2 in the season proper as well. If he's not "fit" now when would he be?

[spert]

Good analysis.. though a lot will depend on our midfield hitting the deck running from bounce number one..still a bit sluggish early. NDS needs to work a bit harder very early in the game, rather than waiting for the game to come to him. Kosi is just not playing with intensity at the moment and I would swing him down the back line. If we blanket Brad J., the Dogs will struggle to kick double figures.

[saintsRrising]

Agree with all except Koschitzke.

No doubt he can hold his own in one on ones, simply at the moment, he is unfit, seems to be almost a bit weak and sluggish in the way he's moving.

1/ From what I have seen Kosi is fitter than he has been for some time

2/In one of ones... I disagaree.

Sure in the NAB against fringe players he looked ok in one on ones...but I have noticed throughout his carreer that against a competent opponent and sometime even smaller ones that unless on the move that Kosi is very vunerable.

Opponents easily gain front position....and when in front Kosi is often frustrated and gives a easy free kick away.

A "nudge" in the side often unsettles him. Sure this often works against many players..but Kois seems more proan. Good players in this regard learn to nudge back at the right time. But Kosi often is not doing this and so is nudged out just enough not to mark.


However by contrast when on the fly he is by contrast just about the best pack mark in the competition.

Kosi is a natural pack mark....but playing the role asa leading key forward is not natural to him.




Personally I would play him further out from FF in space and have him running towards goal with team mates instructed to kick it for him to run high at (unless of course he is in the clear). Or to kick it high over an opponent for Kosi to leap over.

But don't kick it toa one on one where Kosi has to trya and hold position.

Roo by contrast you will know will be on the burst...so you kick it to his lead, or wait for him to double back and lead again.

[saintsRrising]

Good analysis.. though a lot will depend on our midfield hitting the deck running from bounce number one..still a bit sluggish early. NDS needs to work a bit harder very early in the game, rather than waiting for the game to come to him. Kosi is just not playing with intensity at the moment and I would swing him down the back line. If we blanket Brad J., the Dogs will struggle to kick double figures.

Agree..our mids need to start out of the blocks.

With NDS...BJ's return should free NDS from playing as a backfielder with BJ taking that role...so that NDS can play more times as a true midfielder.

BJ can instead be the one to set up our play.

I also expect to see BJ assume alot of the kick ins that NDS has been doing.

Max to shut down...or at least limit the Brad.

Kosi down the Dogs forward line with all that pace and run could be playing into the Doggies hands.


Our backline and defensive play has been very good this year and I want to see ruthless tackling to unsettle the Dogs.

This Dogs team is however a biger and stronger unit than the Saints are used to playing in recent years.

[Armoooo]

sRr that is a great point on BJ freeing up Dal, I would like him to play a similar position but on the attacking side of the square this time when he gets the ball he will be in scoring distance or atleast be able to hit one of our forwards on the chest... I can guarantee you if he played this position constantly he would kick a goal a game, set up 2 or 3 more, get 20 touches and take the best tagger week in, week out, it is the position he was made for

[saintsRrising]

I think Kosi would appreciate NDS playing further up the ground too.

Kosi could benefit doubly from BJ's return.

One from BJ's more accurate and smart long kicking from defence....and then secondly from NDS being in the mid to hf area.

NDS is now a much better and more damaging user of the ball.

[saintsRrising]

PS on Kosi Not that he is aloan ranger here but Kosi kicking at goal has been quite dismal. His whole approach at kicking at goal just looks way too casual and you can often see before he has kicked, that the ball is going to be shanked.

Lack of confidence??? Lack of form?

One game the big fella is going to just click....and then away he will go..more marks and kicks...but at present he is just looking a bit out of sorts.

Once he get more comfortable and practiced at the role I am sure he will improve.

[Beekay]

It's some of the very basics he doesn't do in which are mind blowing for an AFL player to continue executing.

I've seen him take set shots with his body not lined up with the goals. The ball goes exactly where he is facing. Wouldn't something click here? haha

As we all know, he has a lot worse problems in front of goal as well.

[Solar]

on kosi's kicking, I think it's just confidence. Used to be a lovely kick but currently he drops it to fair in front and the contact is all over the place. He and ball just need to learn to back their skills again.

Can't wait to see BJ back tonight, with the full midfield in it is harder to shut him down.

[markinUSA]

I don't have any idea about what it is - but Ross did say during last week's post-match press conference that Kosi was contributing to the forward line, even if he was not scoring goals himself.... but then he said something about 'he's coming back from injury', or something like that. No one mentioned that in the discussions of Kosi, so I thought I might have mis-heard it. It happened around the 5th minute of the press conference. If it is true that he has been recoving from something - not something that has been widely discussed in the press - then maye it's too early to accurately assess the tall forward line.

Right now, I'm downloading the press conference video... it is taking forever, but when I hear it again, I will pay particular attention to what he said about Kosi and I will post it here.

Edit: having listened to the press conference again, he didn't say anything about Kosi having an injury. My mistake. He said that Kosi contributed, that being an effective forward was not just kicking goals yourself, but also helping others to kick goals.

[saintsRrising]

PS L Fisher I missed him in the OP. But Leigh has stepped up a little this year with some excellent football. While he has been a regular 22 player fora while the extra depoth now at the club was putting his position in jeopardy.

He would know that for example that Baker and Dempster would both be pushing for his spot in the 22.

He like others on the fringe needed to improve and so far he has with two excellent games.

[Russman]

With Ralphy i have also noticed that when he is running out of defence at times he is not confident on hitting a target and just turns around waiting for a team mate to run past so he can dish it off. This really frustrates me as he seems to get the ball, sprint out of 50 then stop and look around.

I also think Raph lacks awareness. Last week against Carlton , we were running it out of defence. Raph was running forward, received a handpass , and instead of running forward into a space towards the centre , he just stopped and handballed to someone diagonally behind him. Consequently we lost our run , players and were suddenly out of position. Rap seems to do this a fair bit and I think this is what makes him appear slow.
I like Raph and I am not sure whether this is something that can be learnt or corrected , or just needs extra game time, but it seems to be holding him back. If he got around this , I think he would be a great defender.

[nicko016]

Top post. Agree with pretty much everything. Totally agree with Kosi. He needs to have a good run at the ball and not get involved in a grapple. He's inexperienced as a FF and therefore does not yet now how to use his body the way Gehrig does. Is much better running at the ball and crashing into the pack becuase he has strong hands and can tehn just concentrate at running at the ball. Consequently, the delivery to him is quite important and so far into hasn't been helping him out.

On his fitness, I don't think he's unfit, its just moreso that he is nearly as big as ruckmen and therefore isn't the slickest of movers and never has been. He's only an inc or two smaller than Gardiner and King and moves a hell of a lot better than them. However, I'm expecting him to have a much bigger night where he will probably be matched up against Cam Wight.

[saintsRrising]

Oh dear...well update after 3 games!!!!!

Skill level remained woeful after a promisng 3 quarters.

The 3 tall structure remains a concern.

One has to go I think. Kosi or GTrain. One problem with 3 talls is that it robs you of an extra player to support the midfield. Kosi and GTrain do not support the midfield once the ball rebounds. If you don't mark it...it can hurt!!!

Kosi and Roo were too often looking for the same hole.

In the NAB the set up with the more mobile C Gardiner worked better.


Kosi is a bit of a quandary.....if a ruckman did not have to ruck he would be perfect.

As a permanent key forward he is a bit too cumbersome.

One of GTrain or Kosi would seem to have to go.

In the ruck M Gardiner is abetter option than Kosi.

X..where did you go???? What happened to your dash and run?


Our mids......totally got pumped after quarter time.

We pressured the Dogs in the first quarter....and gave them little room.

But our work rate was abysmal after quarter time.....allowing the Dogs space whereupon their better footskills and pace started to cut us up.

Our backline was generally good though...however raph was poor and geary made some bad errors (which one would expect froma two gamer).



Work rate....or lack of 4 quarter efforts was a propblem last year and reamins a problem this year.