StK Vs BL behind the goals at the gabba perspective

[sunsaint]

firstly as bad as it looked on TV it was worse at the ground.
You could see things unfold with a sad inevitability that the Lions were going to thump us.
It started with Roos miss in the first 1/4 it was the easiest of kicks, and how he shanked it is beyond me. For a player of his calibre and pay cheque, it was unforgivable.
The rest of Roo's game fell to pieces(along with everyone else). Watching him made me feel that he played a decoy role for Kosi. His leads were to outrageously bad positions and mostly ignored by the midfield. Injured or not it was a poor game. His shoulders are shot: as soon as he raises his arms above a 90degree angle he loses all power in the grab, and I would say his rotator cups are pinching nerves, leaving him with dead arms. I am also wondering if this is the reason why a lot of kicks to him are "short" placed at his feet. He may need an op or intensive physio to correct this.
Our forwards did not work well on the day, Milne was left to do a lot of defensive work, Kosi looked good when he could "float" across a pack, but Merrit had his measure in contests. Schneider was useless.

Our backline. Bloody hell, if they spent half the time encouraging each other they might be a more coherent unit. I could not believe the number of sprays between each other. (read Max & goddard)
S Fisher had a shocker, he could not match the speed or strength of Brown, or the speed of Bradshaw. It was disappointing as we expect much more from him. Max was not much better, one marking contest with Brown was a disgrace I watched as the ball came down the outer wing Max & Brown started in the G square, Max deliberately took the boundary side of Brown as they started moving forward, and had no hope of cutting the ball off when the pass came. It was only one instance but it was indicative of his mind set all day. Blake was used as the backup and was moved on to both Brown and Bradshaw and generally did pretty well, but one of Bradshaw's goals was a disgrace. Left hand on Blakes shoulder, he juggled the ball falling backwards all while Goddard watched with this moronic expression an arms length away. He might have some good skills, but he has spent way too much time playing a loose man role, and has lost any sense of "one on one". I was surprised by his speed tho, it takes him about ten metres to get going but at full tilt he covers some ground fairly rapidly. Gram looked like he wanted to be anywhere else but the gabba.

Midfield: thank god for Harvey.
It is a disgrace that he has to carry this side. His personal pride must be so great to perform at the level he does. But you have to admire the strength of his character for not pulling the pin week after week when his team mates dont give a stuff. Lenny played his usual tough game and Ball tried, but their influence on the game was minimal, still without them the result would have been worse.
Montagna had no influence. Which brings me to Nick DalSanto.
I am going to cop flack for this, but: golly gee NDS looks good running round, getting loose balls, trotting along side an opponent with the ball, zoning off, not exerting pressure. He has a lovely day running round the paddock each week. But god help me if he ever has another shot on goal like he did in the second quarter, no pressure, ignore front of goals square passes, runs himself to the behind post and puts it OoF. It was one of the most selfish things I have ever seen on a footy field.
CJ will continue to get games, much to the disgust to a few here. His speed and endeavour is sadly lacking in the majority of the Saints. He is the only player on our list that will even attempt to run down a player 20 metres away. You can hate him all you like, but I can see why he gets chosen.
Fiora will not play again, a disappointing way to end a potentially great career. Armitage should have come in, especially as it would have been his first "QLD" game.
For all those that keep crying for new blood in the team, Geary had his chance and dropped the easiest of marks under no pressure. If it was Rix he would be lynched by regulars here.
M Gardiner is no way near the fitness level required of an AFL player. The guy can hardly trot. At this point in the season I cant see why he is not better than he is.

I think in the minds of a lot of players they have written off '08 already.
Hate to say it but I think there might be a few more thumpings before the season is out.
The worst impression I left the game with was how lumbering our players are. Oh and did I mention mentally soft?
Just my observations on the day...

[Teflon]

sunsaint I did not get to see the game but early on some say we were competing ? is that right? and if it is where INYO did it change? mids?

[hotdish]

sunsaint I did not get to see the game but early on some say we were competing ? is that right? and if it is where INYO did it change? mids?

Early on we were competitive: tackling with intensity, most in the team chasing and harassing ball carriers (even if it looked like they had no chance chasing them). But this fell away after 1/4 time. Whether this was due to fatigue or attitude, I don't know.

Re Dal Santo's shot on goal - was very selfish! Running on the left half forward flank, has several options to centre to but instead takes a left foot check-side kick, lands it out on the full - very demoralizing!!!

It seems that there is a lack of leadership, trust and belief on the field. No Hamill to pull blokes aside etc...

Our former 'kids' roo, kossi, goddard, monty, L ball, Gram may all be best mates off the field, but it seems there is a lack of trust on the field.

Re Jones - you are right. Watch the tape of the game in the first quarter - he was chasing every brisbane player with the ball, causing them to spray kicks, and was tackling well...should continue to get games purely on defensive pressure (and he has shown in the past he has balls)

[sunsaint]

In the first quarter we were competing well at ground level in the packs, yes they missed some shots (but that was the other end to me at the time) BUT the miss by Roo seemed to have an effect that swept the team.
The second quarter was completely different, we still won the ball in close, but as soon as the ball went wide their run was evident. Defensive rebound was a lay down misere for goal.

[Teflon]

Fwd pressure and lack of has killed us all year....sadly.

[JeffDunne]

If the Lions hadn't made so many skill errors early we wouldn't be talking about a competitive first quarter.

Sure we played better early but we never looked like being competitive.

[saintsRrising]

Thanks for the insights....as I only watched on TV.

What you saw and your conclusions are pretty similar to mine.




On CJ I too have been quite stunned by the flak some have thrown at him including by one vocal critic who also said that he did not even see the game!!! but baked him anyway.

Apart from the 4 tackles CJ landed...he was often cahsing Lions with the ball so that even though he did not catch them that they had to hurry their kicks and kick under pressure.

Compare that with Dal..who just trots after guys applying no pressure.

CJ will continue to get games, much to the disgust to a few here. His speed and endeavour is sadly lacking in the majority of the Saints. He is the only player on our list that will even attempt to run down a player 20 metres away. You can hate him all you like, but I can see why he gets chosen.
...

If there is one factor we lack at present...it is enough players having a red hot crack.

[Red]

I agree with most said here. I didn't expect Sam Fisher to compete with

Brown not what his game is. What was disappointing from mine was the lack

of help the others gave. It was like players were playing for their survival.

I saw nobody put their body into the space of the leading Brisbane forwards.

They were weak as pss.