Moving Forward

[damienc]

A lot members of this forum have some harsh things to say about the team and today's effort. Many of the criticisms are justified and insightful in that they have identified problems with the way the Saints have been playing their footy for at least the past 12 months or more.

But IMHO don't write St Kilda off after just one game. Sure we got smashed at the stoppages and contested footy but we still only lost by five points.

If you listen to the Watters post match presser he put his finger on the team's main weakness. An inability to win the contested ball compared to our opponents.

He pretty well said that he has no time for players who aren't prepared to do the hard yards in terms of winning the footy off the opposition.

That means a few blokes (everyone on this forum knows who they are) who were in the side for all of last year and didn't merit selection because they are not good enough to win contested ball are going to find themselves playing for Sandringham for most of the year.

That was Lyon's weakness in my view. He wasn't tough enough on the contested ball shirkers. Watters will be tough and ruthless. We might lose a few games in the process but we will end up with a much tougher and uncompromisng football team as a result.

I have no doubt Watters isn't afraid to give blokes, who don't put in, their marching orders while at the same time giving opportunities to players who are inexperienced but hungry for the Sherrin.

Let's not be too hasty in writing off the team, that deep down we all love, on the basis of a rusty first game of the season. If we are still having this conversation mid season then we do have something to worry about.

I've got a lot of faith in Watters and his coaching staff and their ability to get this footy team firing. So should you.

[saintkellerm]

You know it makes sense.

[bobmurray]

Right

[Old Mate]

There's a reason why our first pick in last years draft was an inside mid - to cover our obvious deficiency. We'll see young Seb sooner rather than later me thinks.

[Buckets]

+1

[stevie]

Looking to next week, here's my thoughts. I was at Metricon to see the Suns/Crows game. Admittedly I left at 3/4 time to beat the rush home but the game was over by then anyway.

The Suns were pretty average. Ok, i know the Crows have been in good form all pre-season, but the crowd were pretty disappointed by the effort. They missed Bock and Stanley immmensely. Cambo Brown played up forward and did ok - I kept thinking he would be moved back to defense but Bluey left him.

The Crows moved the ball well and looked good BUT... so they should've! Their main problem is still gonna be Tippett and Walker coping with the whole season and not always having a field day like they did on Saturday. These two are talented players but are typical front running whingers who go missing when it gets hot. The Crows mids did well. Everyone thouight Gazza played a blinder but I thought he was down a bit. Suns best, for me, was probably maybe swallow, I dunno. Sometimes its hard to pick players from the other end.

The umpiring was abysmal in this game. I doubt it was bad as what the Saints copped but the crowd was really pissed off. It didn't really impact the result but would've if it was closer. One incident was pathetic. Ablett was running into the 50, he was pushed iin the back as he kicked it. This is normally an auot free but the tools didn't pay it! Ablett went sprawling, the Crows cleared. Ablett gave the tools a real spray. I think it ended up a Crow goal.

Anyway, the Saints should be too strong for the Suns at Etihad, but will have to stay switched on

[gringo]

I have faith still, but want to see some confidence in their decisions. Mc Evoy kicking out from defence and not choosing open players because they were in the corridor was mind boggling. They either need to keep moving for the kicker or be adaptable. Hopefully the game plan will evolve a little more and play a more intuitive style. The power were more organised in their overlap and always seemed to have to linking gut runners together.

[Dave McNamara]

...But IMHO don't write St Kilda off after just one game. Sure we got smashed at the stoppages and contested footy but we still only lost by five points.
If you listen to the Watters post match presser he put his finger on the team's main weakness. An inability to win the contested ball compared to our opponents.
He pretty well said that he has no time for players who aren't prepared to do the hard yards in terms of winning the footy off the opposition...
...I have no doubt Watters isn't afraid to give blokes, who don't put in, their marching orders while at the same time giving opportunities to players who are inexperienced but hungry for the Sherrin.
Let's not be too hasty in writing off the team, that deep down we all love, on the basis of a rusty first game of the season. If we are still having this conversation mid season then we do have something to worry about.

I've got a lot of faith in Watters and his coaching staff and their ability to get this footy team firing. So should you.

Hi damienc, I reckon you should post more often.

[tweedaletomanning]

If we didn't just lose to last years wooden spooners, then i would agree.
But reality is if we are fair dinkum then we should be PUMMELING sides like port.

[Cairnsman]

The Suns can play some really good footy in patches but fade out quickly as you would expect form a young side. If they get a sniff then we will struggle.

[damienc]

If we didn't just lose to last years wooden spooners, then i would agree.
But reality is if we are fair dinkum then we should be PUMMELING sides like port.

You make a good point, However, the NAB cup form was a sign that Port are big improvers on last year's form. They were also good out of the blocks and quite frankly they caught us napping. Given all of that we were not bad in patches and pretty close to them at the end of the game which is remarkable given that they absolutely smashed us at the stoppages, contested ball and in the midfield.

I think we have a good coach who is smart enough to know what is wrong with the team and to rectify it. I also have no doubt he will do it with the ruthlessness that is needed. There are a few blokes who played on Sunday who are now going to struggle to get a game this year and that is exactly how it should be.

I see a lot of positives from our defeat. I also see a lot of positives in how the two's smashed Ballarat. There are a few blokes who put their hand up big time in that game which is very encouraging. The likes of Curren who got 31 possessions in the midfield, Dunnel and Archer. It was good to see Saad among the goal kickers as well. And Ledger's form in the NAB Cup was outstanding. He should get game time against the Suns.

These blokes quite frankly are our future. The are young relatively speaking. They're not afraid to go after the hard ball. And they are made of the right stuff ( I hope) for us to get a shot at that premiership we so richly deserve and have waited far too long to get.

This is game one of a long season. We will get better. Keep the faith.