Most signs look great but

[Winmar7Fan]

I know “who cares we won that’s all that mattersâ€

[Teflon]

you are not giving credit to the opposition.

we dominated for 2/3sd of the match - in any game of footy sides will have their "turn" Geelongs a great side it was bound to be their turn at some point. In that moment you are restricted and cant simply dominate - they won the hard ball gets in the last and clearances....we were just hanging on. Once again our coach was absolutely bang on after the game when he said "we won the ball in close but Geelongs biggers bodies seemed to rip it off us at the contest" (its why hes so great Lyon - never resorts to "mental toughness" crap of the predecessor....he actually tells you where it was lost/won in SPECIFICS cause he understands the game intricately). I felt we were getting in low/hard in the last qtr.....only for time and again to see Geelong come up with it.

I also believe wet weather footy suits geelong - why? ....they love to keep the ball alive, flick it out and keep it moving fwd at all costs.......easier to do so with a wet fish ball and great wet weather in/unders like Bartel/Sellwood and some very good small/mid sized player like Chapman and co. Our tall forwards clearly outclass theirs in the dry.

What matters to me against Geelong is taking your chances. We still missed easy goals in the first....another 2 or 3 of those and you break their back. IMHO you want to be 40-45 up on Cats as 5 or 6 goals they can accumulate in quick time. We couldve have put them away by half way through the third when 33 pts up had we taken some of those chances.

Heard some interesting stats on the 09 GF today - we had 14 scores direct from Geelong turn overs in the granny.....and kicked 4.10.

Thats why we lost. We kick 10.4 and we win by 60pts.

Take your chances - its so even this year we will need to do so in the Prelim and GF IF we make it....or risk letting slip again.

[bozza1980]

Is your glass ever half full?

We played and beat an extremely good football side in a final.

Yes, there are things they need to work on, but that's the case every week.

Things are a lot better today than they were at 7.40 last night.

If not for some wasted chances in the 3rd qtr the last qtr would have been a victory lap, it wasn't and were strongly tested and held firm.

Bring on the prelim, 2 more wins and we will finally have possession of our 2nd cup, bring it on!!

[Teflon]

Is your glass ever half full?

We played and beat an extremely good football side in a final.

Yes, there are things they need to work on, but that's the case every week.

Things are a lot better today than they were at 7.40 last night.

If not for some wasted chances in the 3rd qtr the last qtr would have been a victory lap, it wasn't and were strongly tested and held firm.

Bring on the prelim, 2 more wins and we will finally have possession of our 2nd cup, bring it on!!

The OP raises a good discussion on footy for saints on a saints footy forum.

Its their opinion - are they allowed to have it? or does the world have to have your half glass FFS.

[Winmar7Fan]

Thanks Tef I've been on here long enough to be used to the small minded people.

All I guess I'm trying to say is even though the Dogs last night for example were struggling with fitness etc, still kept trying to move the ball on quickly and stuck to their game all the way.

We seem to have a fantastic formula and structure when using it then we just suddenly lose it and shut down and the opposition get a run on and we become nervous and our 5 goal lead is gone in no time and we've got to somehow find a way to hang on.

[bergholt]

We seem to have a fantastic formula and structure when using it then we just suddenly lose it and shut down and the opposition get a run on and we become nervous and our 5 goal lead is gone in no time and we've got to somehow find a way to hang on.

i don't think it's nerves - i read it as being fitness, pure and simple. don't underestimate how draining it is to work as hard as they did in the first half - seen best in the amazing zoning in the second quarter which caused hunt, milburn and ablett to turn it over from kick-outs.

i think the problem is just that we worked very hard to generate a lot of opportunities and then failed to make the most of them. we could have easily kicked 7.4 in the first rather than 4.7, and probably 5.1 in the third rather than 3.3 - not to mention a couple out on the full. if we'd been seven goals up at the final change, it wouldn't have mattered if geelong kicked 6.2 instead of 1.7, which they should probably have done.

the other issue which stands out is that we're probably short one real midfielder. hayes was still going hard in the last but that's because he's indefatigable. dal, joey and gram had slowed down big time. jones was still chasing ablett. no one else was really going through the middle. eddy would seem to be the obvious one to throw through there but that didn't happen, not sure why. if armo was in the side then you'd have a rock to put in there in the second half, and while he might not get as much of it as you'd like, at least you'd have a strong, tough body in the middle.

but all these things are fixable.

[bobmurray]

The last half fadeout must be a concern for Ross and the much vaunted Misson, especially the last quarter.

The amount of time the ball was in the Handbaggers forward 50 in the last quarter must also be a concern.

Lucky they kicked 1 goal 7 in the last....too bad we kicked 4 goals 7 in the first..

At the final siren ,the winner was.........StKilda.

Suck it up cats.....

[FQF]

If Goddard was still causing damage, if not for Ling, then I don't think we would have been one mid down.

Take into account that Schneider has a bit of a slow day, and usually he would give that extra option.

[bergholt]

If Goddard was still causing damage, if not for Ling, then I don't think we would have been one mid down.

Take into account that Schneider has a bit of a slow day, and usually he would give that extra option.

both fair points. i wondered if schneider was still a bit under-fit, given that we would usually see him in the midfield more. milney took up a bit of that slack though.

and goddard did get well beaten in the second half by ling, which i'd forgotten. maybe he was the man missing from the middle in the last quarter.

[Thinline]

The last half fadeout must be a concern for Ross and the much vaunted Misson, especially the last quarter.

The amount of time the ball was in the Handbaggers forward 50 in the last quarter must also be a concern.

Lucky they kicked 1 goal 7 in the last....too bad we kicked 4 goals 7 in the first..

At the final siren ,the winner was.........StKilda.

Suck it up cats.....

Just watched the second half for the third time. For passages in the last term, the Cats were first to the pill time and time again. We were clearly buggered. They had to act and did. And they are an incredible side who only a fool would write off.

I look at it this way: We earned ourselves considerably more chances at goal in gettable positions. We missed too many (Kosi, McEvoy, Milne, and our esteemed skipper were all guilty at various times). They, on the other hand, snaffled plenty of clutch goals most teams would have missed. Mooney from all but 60m, Chapman from acute angle at a vital moment, Varcoe's was all but impossible (as an aside I in fact wonder whether the fat part of the ball skimmed the goal post padding???).

At the end of all that, the better side for the majority of the game won.

We have beaten them 3 of the last 4 times. Should have been 4. Don't forget that.