Improvement and drop off this season so far

[plugger66]

I think our midfield is fractionally stronger than last year with Ben coming on more, Lenny, Joey and Dal similar and BJ moving more into the midfield and CJ getting more of the ball and being offensive as well as defensive.

Our backline is similar or if anything just slightly weaker. Zac no where near last seasons form. Gilbert is better even with a couple of quiet weeks and Chips slight lower. Blake similar reliable self and Geary when played better. Bakes was the same as last year but have missed him the last 7 weeks. Also the loss of Clarke hasnt helped. The big plus on the backline has been Jimmy. Taken his game to a constantly good player level.

Now the forward line and where IMO the big drop off has occurred, some due to things out of our control. Kosi has been very average at best and only getting a game because of the structure he provides. Mini, even though stats dont show it is down for sure. Rooy when plying has been as good as last year but has missed plenty of games. Schneider has been a real positive and Milney is certainly as good as last year. Steven when played has given us something and Stanley has shown a bit.

So from this and for us to win the friggin thing and that should what everyone on here should consider a pass mark this year it seems our biggest improvement needs to come from the forwards. Kosi apparently showed signs last week even though I didnt see it. Rooy was clearly back to his best. Mini still needs to lift with Jack hot on his heals and we need the same output out of Milney and Schneids in the finals. If that happens and the mids continue their good form with a little lift from Joey and Dal then we can finally win the GF and we can all get pissed.

[Waltzing St Kilda]

A good summary.

INDISPUTABLY BETTER:
Gwilt
McEvoy
Peake (coz we didn't have him).
Stanley (coz he wasn't playing).

ARGUABLY BETTER:
Gilbert
Schneider

INDISPUTABLY WORSE:
Kosi
McQualter
King (not playing)

[saint66au]

Yep hard to argue with any of that..

Id add though that Schneider's form when taking a turn in the midfield (which he didnt to IIRC in 2009) has also been excellent

Just on the forward line. I think we need to choose a long ball into the corridor / hot spot a bit more, and honour Milneys leads to the boundary a bit less. To me a ball in dispute 25m out from goal directly in front is a better % than a set shot 45-50m out hard on the boundary line

[jonesy]

Not in entire agreeance.
I reckon our midfield is slightly down on last year.
Rucks are about the same,but getting better over the past few weeks with the emergance of Ben
Lenny has been as good as ever if not better.
Joey,whilst good,probably a fraction down on last year.
Dal- Down on last year slightly also,looks to be carrying something the past 4-6 weeks.
Jones has been up and down

Backline
BJ-If you call him a back,is better,could also throw him into the mid category
Fisher-been up and down
Gilbert- As above. He was outstanding early,but i think he's dropped away a bit the second half
Zac-Terrible year. Not sure why they are bringing him back,I don't see a spot for him
Gwilt has improved
Gram-Has missed half of the season,but hopefully running into red hot form in the next fortnight. We are very hard to contain when he is breaking the lines

Fwds
Schneider and Milne are having PB's.
Missed Roo for half of it obviously,but looks to be back
Kosi has been giving about 35% compared to last year

I think we are slightly down across the board. We just need 15-20% increases from a few players to hit optimum form and we are right back in the race.
Players that can get slightly better are -Joey,Dal,Gilbert
Players that need to get a lot better-Kosi,McQualter,Zac.
And we need one of the fringes to stand up in finals,if not both. Need a Geary,Eddy or Steven to have a break out streak. Eddy's form has been encouraging the past fortnight

[Superboot]

Drop off at the centre bounces. Some games this year when we virtually never win the ball in the middle. Can't remember that happening last year.

Agree on the defence, but I think we are missing Raph and Bakes.

Forward pressure has dropped a notch. Combined with lack of run in the mid-field, defence has been under more pressure and have conceded some really soft goals (think Essendon, twice)

Overall we are half a mark out of 10 down on last year, but I've got a feeling we are about to surge.

[saintspremiers]

Yep hard to argue with any of that..

Id add though that Schneider's form when taking a turn in the midfield (which he didnt to IIRC in 2009) has also been excellent

Just on the forward line. I think we need to choose a long ball into the corridor / hot spot a bit more, and honour Milneys leads to the boundary a bit less. To me a ball in dispute 25m out from goal directly in front is a better % than a set shot 45-50m out hard on the boundary line

Agree with Schneider - he has finally lifted to another level, and is going ahead of Milney.

As for middling the ball up forward - dunno if that's the answer, as our forward pressure on the ground up there is not the best, and the opposition tend to run it out of our forward line too easily. At least if the ball is sometimes sent to the flank/fwd pockets, we can, if necessary, force a throw in and use some ruck skill to score.

Also, by mixing it up and sending our F50 entries sometimes wide, it creates a more open forward line and more space for Rooey and Kosi.

[SainterK]

We are tackling less, a lot less....especially inside our forward 50. Pretty much every players tackle count is down this year, and well down.

The forward line is actually looking like clicking to me, Roo and Kosi have been leading and presenting well. They can only control how they set up, block and lead, not how and who the ball is delivered to.

Let's be honest, soon Roo will command extra attention as he returns to his best. For mine, hopefully the improvement will come when the boys realise they have the ability to contribute to the scoreboard with our without Roo.

Clearances have been down in recent weeks, but if our tackling pressure can lift, the boys can score heavily on turnovers anyway.

[IluvHarvey]

A good summary.

INDISPUTABLY BETTER:
Gwilt
McEvoy
Peake (coz we didn't have him).
Stanley (coz he wasn't playing).

ARGUABLY BETTER:
Gilbert
Schneider

INDISPUTABLY WORSE:
Kosi
McQualter
King (not playing)

I would put Schneider in the "indisputably better" section.

[ChicagoSaint]

mids rotate forward and forwards rotate back. it's a catch 22.

our team is fitter.

we lost an inside tryer with poor disposal and no run and have gained an honest outsider who can play forward and back.

[InkerSaint]

Just to fly the flag for Milne.

Arguably he hasn't been better or worse. He has already surpassed his disposals and goal tally for last year but his tackle count is down from 65 to 37 which is about his career average. But most importantly he has been a vital goal scorer for us this year and only needs 4 more to make it his third best season count.

[SainterK]

Just to fly the flag for Milne.

Arguably he hasn't been better or worse. He has already surpassed his disposals and goal tally for last year but his tackle count is down from 65 to 37 which is about his career average. But most importantly he has been a vital goal scorer for us this year and only needs 4 more to make it his third best season count.

I'm with you, we certainly can't point the finger soley at Milne there InkerSaint, everyone is tackling less, most guys are well down on 2009.

It remains to be seen if this taxing style of play ramps up in the coming weeks, I know Ross recently mentioned something about inside 50 tackles being up in a recent interview (can't remember which one) and he seemed pleased.

[Devilhead]

his tackle count is down from 65 to 37 which is

His tackle average is down - the stats 65 - 37 aren't a true indication as he has played 3 less games than last year

The way I see it is that our forward line tackle count is down because Roo has been out - when Roo is playing he becomes a marking focal point which allows our smaller forwards to gather round him when a marking pack forms and lay tackles when the ball hits the ground - when Roo was out players like Milne became marking focal points in the forward line having to worry about leading and dragging in marks rather than concentrating on applying huge pressure around the pack

Watch our forward pressure game continue to improve in the coming weeks now that the Roo is back fit and firing

[PJ]

ARGUABLY BETTER:
Gilbert
Schneider

If you are talking over the whole year then possibly but I'd have to say at present these 2 are in cracking form and beyond arguably better.

Just on the forward line I think Eddy can give us something come finals time and perhaps is something other teams are not overly conscious of yet.

[saintly]

however, the issue may well be that that the saints may have improved slightly but what about the other teams?

collingwood has improved alot. Better ruck betterbackmen and better midfield.

geelong? probably only improved slightly maybe with better forward line.

bulldogs. not sure. better forward line, maybe?

ig the saints have only improved marginally how big an improvement have the teams gained?