What This Match Proved?

[Violent Stool]

All this game showed, is exactly what we all knew....

We rely on our superstars too much. Every single week, our best players are the usual suspects. Hayes, Dal, Joey, Roo.

If these guys don't dominate, we're an ordinary team. Ross Lyon I fear, is falling for the 2 card trick that our supporters are also falling for. If these guys get injured, or even one or two of them get injured - we're rooted. Our eggs in all in one basket.

I read about our brilliant structures, our great depth, our great teamwork blah blah blah. What nonsense. In patches during games, when these guys go quite, what happens? Every time, what happens?

The opposition outplay us.

Where are the structures when Lenny Hayes isn't winning every clearance? Where is the depth when Dal isn't getting clear possessions? Where is the great team play when Joey isn't getting 20 long kicks?

I can't believe I'm reading about Carlton being a real test! You've got to be kidding.


We were very good early in the year. Our pressure and intensity was awesome. But over the past month, as this has dropped slightly and our opponents have turned it up - we're back in the pack.

Our coaching panel need to find something quick. Something other than our stars blitzing the opposition. Something other than our KPIs of tackling and contested footy. Because if Lenny Hayes gets hurt (god forbid) we will suddenly look like an average footy side when we drop in these areas.

Thank god Judd broke his nose.

We have alot of things to address over the next fortnight.


Huge pressure on the coaches. Getting a club to 12-0 and missing the GF would be a massive, massive failure. They have some work to do to make sure we get there. Because currently, I'd back Geelong by 40+ and I'd also take the Bulldogs over us.

[markp]

Have you forgotten the password to log in as RF?

It was what many are calling the game of the year, we are 12-0 and in need of the break.... p1ss off.

[Violent Stool]

Have you forgotten the password to log in as RF?

It was what many are calling the game of the year, we are 12-0 and in need of the break.... p1ss off.

Do you think the AFL will give us a week off before the Finals start too?

We better hope so.

[yipper]

Oh dear - Rodger the "expert" is back on here telling us all that Buckley, Matthews, Pagan, Sheedy etc know nothing at all. But Rodg does!! Did you check the Stats again did you Rodg?? You really know absolutely nothing about footy at all do you. You just like stirring the pot don't you. That what gets you going - cos it sure isn't you're footy nous.

[Eastern]

Have you forgotten the password to log in as RF?

It was what many are calling the game of the year, we are 12-0 and in need of the break.... p1ss off.

Do you think the AFL will give us a week off before the Finals start too?

We better hope so.

NO, but we can EARN a week off in the 2nd week of the finals !!

[Violent Stool]

Oh dear - Rodger the "expert" is back on here telling us all that Buckley, Matthews, Pagan, Sheedy etc know nothing at all. But Rodg does!! Did you check the Stats again did you Rodg?? You really know absolutely nothing about footy at all do you. You just like stirring the pot don't you. That what gets you going - cos it sure isn't you're footy nous.

Rodger?

WTF are you talking about?

[markp]

Have you forgotten the password to log in as RF?

It was what many are calling the game of the year, we are 12-0 and in need of the break.... p1ss off.

Do you think the AFL will give us a week off before the Finals start too?

We better hope so.

Do you think our fitness staff have a calendar and a fixture?

Do you think they know how to do their job?

Do you think we may rest players against melbourne if we are games clear by round 22?

.... and yes, the AFL will hopefully give us the week off before the Prelim.

[BakesFan]

Do you think the AFL will give us a week off before the Finals start too?

We better hope so.

We'll get a weeks break after the 1st week of the Finals. That's close enough.

[markp]

Oh dear - Rodger the "expert" is back on here telling us all that Buckley, Matthews, Pagan, Sheedy etc know nothing at all. But Rodg does!! Did you check the Stats again did you Rodg?? You really know absolutely nothing about footy at all do you. You just like stirring the pot don't you. That what gets you going - cos it sure isn't you're footy nous.

Rodger?

WTF are you talking about?

You were outed by a mod as having the same IP address as Rodge... unless he's your boyfriend, the jigg is up champ.

[joffaboy]

But you guys RF is totally correct.

We rely on our superstars to win.

Carlton rely on Judd, Stevens, Fevola, Murphy to win

Geelong rely on Ablett, Bartel, Scarlett, and Ling to win

Hawthorn rely on Buddy, Roughhead, Hodge, and Cyril to win.

etc, etc blah blah blah.

Thats why these players are called MATCHWINNERS

Oh wasn't it nice to see the story of the year, Zac Dawson, under extreme finals like pressure, kick the sealer of us.

[Violent Stool]

Have you forgotten the password to log in as RF?

It was what many are calling the game of the year, we are 12-0 and in need of the break.... p1ss off.

Do you think the AFL will give us a week off before the Finals start too?

We better hope so.

Do you think our fitness staff have a calendar and a fixture?

Do you think they know how to do their job?

Do you think we may rest players against melbourne if we are games clear by round 22?

.... and yes, the AFL will hopefully give us the week off before the Prelim.

The fitness staff are freaks! I've never seen a stronger, fitter, more 'available' St.Kilda list.

What I think is crap is this copout that 'boo hoo we're tired. We need a week off. Boo hoo.'
Right now, we'd playBrisbane in the 1st Final. Given that it took some individual brilliance in a 5 minute patch (yep, you guessed it, from 3 of our superstars) to beat them I wouldn't be overly confident. Considering they'll have their only 2 defenders back by then.
If we were tired when we played them a fortnight ago, why won't we be tired in the fist week of the finals?

We're not tired. God help us if we're tired already.

We're relying on our guns and our pressure. It's not an even spread or a team effort. It's Hayes, Dal, Roo, Joey. If the opposition can keep these guys quiet, and/or match our presure we're vunerable against average sides.

[Legendary]

Does any side in the AFL win without their best players?

Look at Hawthorn. The Bulldogs early in the year.


Biggest load of tosh I've ever heard.



Your second point seems to be that the level of pressure and structure with the ball that we had in the first two months has dropped away.


Have you perhaps thought that no team in the history of this sport has ever been able to sustain that sort of footy for 25 weeks?

That the great sides have bad patches of form - but they are great sides because they keep winning?

We have kept winning. We have had every team throw everything at us, including the kitchen sink. And we have arguably been slightly down on form ourselves.

And we have kept winning.


Get some perspective FFS.

How many teams in AFL/VFL history have been 12-0? About 5.


You're picking flaws like we are sitting 16th with one win to our name.


Would you not rather the Saints to be hitting form 4 weeks out from the finals, and having their quiet patch now?

Do you seriously believe you can sustain and replicate the exact same level of pressure and intensity and performance every week?

And if you acknowledge that it's impossible, then do you not also acknowledge that the Saints have done remarkably well to be 12 and 0 with all the challenges thrown at us?

[markp]

Have you forgotten the password to log in as RF?

It was what many are calling the game of the year, we are 12-0 and in need of the break.... p1ss off.

Do you think the AFL will give us a week off before the Finals start too?

We better hope so.

Do you think our fitness staff have a calendar and a fixture?

Do you think they know how to do their job?

Do you think we may rest players against melbourne if we are games clear by round 22?

.... and yes, the AFL will hopefully give us the week off before the Prelim.

The fitness staff are freaks! I've never seen a stronger, fitter, more 'available' St.Kilda list.

What I think is crap is this copout that 'boo hoo we're tired. We need a week off. Boo hoo.'
Right now, we'd playBrisbane in the 1st Final. Given that it took some individual brilliance in a 5 minute patch (yep, you guessed it, from 3 of our superstars) to beat them I wouldn't be overly confident. Considering they'll have their only 2 defenders back by then.
If we were tired when we played them a fortnight ago, why won't we be tired in the fist week of the finals?

We're not tired. God help us if we're tired already.

We're relying on our guns and our pressure. It's not an even spread or a team effort. It's Hayes, Dal, Roo, Joey. If the opposition can keep these guys quiet, and/or match our presure we're vunerable against average sides.

Happy fishing VS....

[Violent Stool]

Oh dear - Rodger the "expert" is back on here telling us all that Buckley, Matthews, Pagan, Sheedy etc know nothing at all. But Rodg does!! Did you check the Stats again did you Rodg?? You really know absolutely nothing about footy at all do you. You just like stirring the pot don't you. That what gets you going - cos it sure isn't you're footy nous.

Rodger?

WTF are you talking about?

You were outed by a mod as having the same IP address as Rodge... unless he's your boyfriend, the jigg is up champ.

Spare me.

Mods may be good at moderating, but they aren't competent in IT.

Ask this mod how dynamic internet protocol addressing actually works.


Considering I aren't in Australia, login in an Internet Cafe when I can and VPN to through a firewall into a private network, I find it very difficult to believe the mods can tell you anything about my NIC.

And as anyone with a skerrick of IT understanding would know, your NIC is what gets assigned an IP address. It's not 'my IP. It's the address that the DHCP server this site uses has assigned to my NIC so it can transfer internet protocol data to it.

The problem is, as I explained above, it's not my NIC that the DHCP server sees. I'd assume that very, very few people actually log in directly from their own PC to the internet. Therefore, the MAC address the DHCP server sees isn't the NIC on their PC at all.

Therefore, having the same 'IP' as you put it, means absolutely nothing at all.

[yipper]

So rodg, we should heed you're warning and ignore the likes of Buckley, every opposition coach who has lost to us this year, Matthews, Sheedy, Hird, Pagan etc who all tell us that we are a very strong side with an even contribution across the field along with our top shelf players getting us that extra we were missing last year. Gee you write crap just to start something - and I should just ignore you. And yes we know who you are pal.

[Violent Stool]

Does any side in the AFL win without their best players?

Look at Hawthorn. The Bulldogs early in the year.


Biggest load of tosh I've ever heard.



Your second point seems to be that the level of pressure and structure with the ball that we had in the first two months has dropped away.


Have you perhaps thought that no team in the history of this sport has ever been able to sustain that sort of footy for 25 weeks?

That the great sides have bad patches of form - but they are great sides because they keep winning?

We have kept winning. We have had every team throw everything at us, including the kitchen sink. And we have arguably been slightly down on form ourselves.

And we have kept winning.


Get some perspective FFS.

How many teams in AFL/VFL history have been 12-0? About 5.


You're picking flaws like we are sitting 16th with one win to our name.


Would you not rather the Saints to be hitting form 4 weeks out from the finals, and having their quiet patch now?

Do you seriously believe you can sustain and replicate the exact same level of pressure and intensity and performance every week?

And if you acknowledge that it's impossible, then do you not also acknowledge that the Saints have done remarkably well to be 12 and 0 with all the challenges thrown at us?

I flew back to Oz earlier in the year and was taken to the Carlton- Hwaks game at the G.

Franklin had a shocker, Hodge even worse. They didn't have Croad in the team at all.

But they won.

[joffaboy]

It's Hayes, Dal, Roo, Joey. If the opposition can keep these guys quiet, and/or match our presure we're vunerable against average sides.

But which team has done that to those four for the whole game this season?

Dal was great in the first half while Lenny was quiet, They shut Dal down and Lenny dominates in qtr 3. All the while Joey is killing them. They shut Kosi down and Roo kicks five. Roo double teamed in qtr4 and Dal and Joey bob up for steadying goals

Forwards are being beaten in qtr4 and Zac bobs up and kicks the sealer.

Max flogs Fevola, O'Hailpin flukes a good game, and Carlton rely too much on Judd to get them over the line. the rest of the Saints hold their own.

really it is pretty sad a supposed Saints fan cant enjoy the fact that we are 12-0.

really sad.

Really your argument just doesn't stack up

[Thinline]

The best way to handle Rodger's ranting is to let it drift off into the ether untouched...

I don't know about anyone else, but I kind of picture RF/Violent Tool as a bloke whose personal claim to fame would be that he was kicked off an internet forum...a bit like a schoolkid gloating about how naughty they were when they got caught smoking... I can see him at his work - quite possibly stacking supermarket shelves or some such - going on and on ad finitum about how right he was about everything...

No offence RF/VT.

But if I'm sitting here reading your brain vomit, no reasonable reason why you shouldn't be privy to mine.

[joffaboy]

I flew back to Oz earlier in the year and was taken to the Carlton- Hwaks game at the G.

Franklin had a shocker, Hodge even worse. They didn't have Croad in the team at all.

But they won.

Well you should watch them all year. They are hopeless almost all of the time without Buddy or Roughhead or Cyril. Cyril was out and the forward line falls to bits.

They are 6-6 and are going backward and you use them as the yardstick??

[Legendary]

really it is pretty sad a supposed Saints fan cant enjoy the fact that we are 12-0.

really sad.

Really your argument just doesn't stack up

Spot on.

[Violent Stool]

I flew back to Oz earlier in the year and was taken to the Carlton- Hwaks game at the G.

Franklin had a shocker, Hodge even worse. They didn't have Croad in the team at all.

But they won.

Well you should watch them all year. They are hopeless almost all of the time without Buddy or Roughhead or Cyril. Cyril was out and the forward line falls to bits.

They are 6-6 and are going backward and you use them as the yardstick??

They aren't the yard stick at all.

But they won a flag last year with a quiet game from Franklin, and they lost their best defender during the game.

They had a legitimate team effort. We look hopeless when our guns aren't around.

Hell, O'Hailpin played well FFS!!

They didn't have Waite, and lost Thornton before the game!


We have some superstars, and if they all remain fully fit we are a big chance. But to rely on that, is incredibly dangerous.

[Violent Stool]

The best way to handle Rodger's ranting is to let it drift off into the ether untouched...

I don't know about anyone else, but I kind of picture RF/Violent Tool as a bloke whose personal claim to fame would be that he was kicked off an internet forum...a bit like a schoolkid gloating about how naughty they were when they got caught smoking... I can see him at his work - quite possibly stacking supermarket shelves or some such - going on and on ad finitum about how right he was about everything...

No offence RF/VT.

But if I'm sitting here reading your brain vomit, no reasonable reason why you shouldn't be privy to mine.

Excuse me, but that's just rude and completely unneccassry.

I've never been banned from any forum, ever. And why would I? I don't post here much over the years, and never abuse anyone or come close to breaking any forum rules.

If you don't agree with my thoughts, I don't mind. But can you please lave the nastiness out of it.

If you have a problem with this RF guy, that's between you two.

I'm not him. That's a fact.

[Legendary]

We have some superstars, and if they all remain fully fit we are a big chance. But to rely on that, is incredibly dangerous.

I'm quite happy if the requirement for us to win a flag is having our good players on the park and playing well.

I wouldn't have it any other way.

[markp]

Oh dear - Rodger the "expert" is back on here telling us all that Buckley, Matthews, Pagan, Sheedy etc know nothing at all. But Rodg does!! Did you check the Stats again did you Rodg?? You really know absolutely nothing about footy at all do you. You just like stirring the pot don't you. That what gets you going - cos it sure isn't you're footy nous.

Rodger?

WTF are you talking about?

You were outed by a mod as having the same IP address as Rodge... unless he's your boyfriend, the jigg is up champ.

Spare me.

Mods may be good at moderating, but they aren't competent in IT.

Ask this mod how dynamic internet protocol addressing actually works.


Considering I aren't in Australia, login in an Internet Cafe when I can and VPN to through a firewall into a private network, I find it very difficult to believe the mods can tell you anything about my NIC.

And as anyone with a skerrick of IT understanding would know, your NIC is what gets assigned an IP address. It's not 'my IP. It's the address that the DHCP server this site uses has assigned to my NIC so it can transfer internet protocol data to it.

The problem is, as I explained above, it's not my NIC that the DHCP server sees. I'd assume that very, very few people actually log in directly from their own PC to the internet. Therefore, the MAC address the DHCP server sees isn't the NIC on their PC at all.

Therefore, having the same 'IP' as you put it, means absolutely nothing at all.

That is the equivalent of some junky car thief suspect having perfect recollection of what he was doing on a particular night 3 months ago... ask stinger what that means about the likelihood of his guilt.

[OneEyedSainter77]

All this game showed, is exactly what we all knew (although some would never admit it)....

We rely on our superstars too much. Every single week, our best players are the usual suspects. Hayes, Dal, Joey, Roo.

If these guys don't dominate, we're an ordinary team. Ross Lyon I fear, is falling for the 2 card trick that our supporters are also falling for. If these guys get injured, or even one or two of them get injured - we're rooted. Our eggs in all in one basket.

I read about our brilliant structures, our great depth, our great teamwork blah blah blah. What nonsense. In patches during games, when these guys go quite, what happens? Every time, what happens?

The opposition outplay us.

Where are the structures when Lenny Hayes isn't winning every clearance? Where is the depth when Dal isn't getting clear possessions? Where is the great team play when Joey isn't getting 20 long kicks?

I can't believe I'm reading about Carlton being a real test! You've got to be kidding.


We were very good early in the year. Our pressure and intensity was awesome. But over the past month, as this has dropped slightly and our opponents have turned it up - we're back in the pack.

Our coaching panel need to find something quick. Something other than our stars blitzing the opposition. Something other than our KPIs of tackling and contested footy. Because if Lenny Hayes gets hurt (god forbid) we will suddenly look like an average footy side when we drop in these areas.

Thank god Judd broke his nose.

We have alot of things to address over the next fortnight.


Huge pressure on the coaches. Getting a club to 12-0 and missing the GF would be a massive, massive failure. They have some work to do to make sure we get there. Because currently, I'd back Geelong by 40+ and I'd also take the Bulldogs over us.

This is quite possibly the BIGGEST crock of s*** I've ever read on this site - even taking into account all the trolls and whinges we've had the last five years or so (That's how long I've been reading Saintsational)

In the final quarter of that match, my fifteen year old sister turned to me and said "I don't even care who wins this game - this is the best game I've EVER seen" and I agreed.

The only reason I wanted to be in front at the final siren was so that I could let out the jubilant cry of "Yes!" in the relaisation we had won twelve in a row.

Had we lost on Friday night, we would still be 3 games claer of third spot and we'd still have two weeks before we next played.

One thing that pisses me off about Friday night was hearing these sore loser Carlton fans saying things like "bulls*** they're the best f****** team in the league - they are s***."

Obviosuly people having a whinge about the so called terrible biased umpiring couldn't grasp the fact that maybe, just maybe their team played out of their skins and took it up to a team with a highly pressurised style of gameplay.

No, that couldn't be could it?

Furthermore, I'm tired of the following three statements:

One - Lucky Judd broke his nose, huh Sainters?
Two - Lucky the game only went three quarters, huh sainters?
Three: - Lucky Fev shanked those shots huh Sainters?

You know what my repsonse to that is?

Yep, things could've been MUCH different if Juddy didn't break his nose, if Fev didn't miss those shots and yer sure, if the game went another ten minutes, sure, we could've been in trouble... but guess what.

Juddy DID break his nose, Fev did MISS those shots and the siren sounded when we nine points in front.

We got the four points for twelfth time in a row this year and the tweltfh time in a row against the blues - we are now 12-0 with a very healthy percentage, we will be playing finals and Calrotn are pushed back to the rest of the pack.

WHy the HELL can't people see Friday night for what it was? A fantastic game of footy between a team which has taken all befor ethem this year and an up and coming team who really took it up to the former team and played one of the best games they psossibly could.

As someone stated here on Friday, Carlton can't play much better than they did on Friday, but we can play a LOT better.

you know what, it's the break now. We have a week to put our feet up, unwind and just prepare ourselves for the tough part of our fixture.

I realise I haven't really addressed the posts made by the Op so I will now.

We DO NOT rely on our stars heavily.

Where do you get that from? Look a the week before last where Gwilt had a purple patch of about five mintes at a CRUCIAL time in the match - is Gwilt a star?! Well, he isn't in this supposed star-studded line up ATM is he?

Look at little things Scheider, Blake and Zac have done this year.

Look at the way Clinton Jones has arrived this year, Sam Gilbert???

They are hnot what you would call stars - up and coming guns, yes, but not stars.

There have been several games this year where one or two of our "stars" have failed to fire and guess what? We won them all.

As for your comment about great teamwork being rubbish - were you even watching the game. how many times on Friday night did a Carlton error lead to St Kilda getting the ball and being able to get out of danger and how did they do that - TEAMWORK. Watch the final quarter carefully, coutless times when it looked like Carlton would threaten to score, our backs would raffle off a few handballs and kciks between them and get out of trouble.

Finally, the last comment about "IF geelong and us polayed next week, we'd lose by 40 points" is just irrelevant. For three reasons.

One - yes, we probably would, but not because we're playing crap or worse than we were before - but because geelong are a BLOODY good footy side.

two - We don't play geelong for three weeks. A LOT can Happen between now and then. North melbourne kciked five goals in the first quarter last week. In the next seven they kicked just another seven.

three - EVen if we do lose to geelong in Round 14 by 40 poiints, WHO REALLY GIVES A s***?

it's a meaningless home and away game which means four points and nothing else.

I would much rather beat them when it counts, such as in a Grand Final.

i will say I agree with you on one thing - to miss the GF from here would be INEXCUSABLE. It really is no point being this good this early only to not have a chance to compete for the premiership.
But I'm hoping the boys will have their heads screwed on and will learn from their mistakes of the last few years...