Have to say I'm pretty happy

[skeptic]

Let me preface this by saying that the lid firmly remains on…
3 less than goal margins and to be honest, if we’d played Essendon yesterday as opposed to when we did, I don’t know that we would of one. We could easily be 4-0, 3-1 or worse… my point is that the results don’t matter as much.

What I’ve been super impressed with is both our endeavour and our ability to get the job done. Two of my biggest frustrations over the last 18 months was how weak we psychologically appeared at times and our lack of endeavour later in the season. We frequently had patches/lapses in games that led us into holes we couldn’t climb out of and we had quite a few games where we simply didn’t turn up.
So far this season, we have well and truly turned up and stuck tough out for wins. That takes character and is especially impressive considering our injuries. For the first time this year, I feel that we’re improving but have more importantly stopped he freefall.

In addition to this, there have been some real pleasant pop ups on the list. Billings and Gresh up a level, Wilkie is shaping up to be find of the year, Savage is showing some much needed consistency and looks about to explode… Marshall is a player
Lonie, Newnes, Ross, Steele all backing up… and tonight Acres hit back

Credit where credit is due to the coaches… yes Richo for hitting back.

On the flipside… we still need a better structure. IMO we’re still a tall forward down with Marshall needing help and we’re doing Acres no favours playing him the way we are. Bring Longer in, have Marshall start forward – fixes both of these problems…
And we still need more classy, pacy ball use. Can’t do anything about that now but once and for all lets settle this in the off-season and recruit someone.

[stkfc1]

Agree. Adding Steven into the mix will help our mids again Billings has arrived. Lonie is keeping the momentum going from the end of last year. Wilkie...wow!!
Newnes back to his old self. Lots to like but lots to work on. Improvement is all we asked and so far, so good.

[bigred]

Desperately missing Stuv.

Very happy with Marshall and Wilkie in particular.

Billings is finally giving us some consistency and looks great.

Fwd entries are still terrible at times though.

Other than that, I am stoked to find ourselves 3-1. Could be much, much worse.

Must beat Melbourne this week.

Must.

[Bernard Shakey]

You obviously didn’t see Billy in the curtain raiser!

[The Fireman]

why should we care how you feel ?
so happy you are happy...................?????????

[ace]

You obviously didn’t see Billy in the curtain raiser!

But, but, but, I have been reading on Saintsational how Longer is the greatest ruckman ever to play AFL and Hickey was useless.

[skeptic]

You obviously didn’t see Billy in the curtain raiser!

I reckon someone needs to play ruck in addition to Marshall...
Our brilliant list management hasn’t exactly left us spoilt for choice

[Kilda]

It’s been an extraordinary performance to Rd 4 and beyond most expectations.

I thought Hawthorn looked a class above the Saints from the outset with better control and use of the footy. Yet there’s a desperation about the Saints that is infectious. To be honest, we probably lack a true A grader (Carlisle excepted) & yet the team’s resilience and persistence has so far been impressive.

The backline’s performance against rated forward lines like Essendon and Hawthorn has been admirable. Giving away height and experience each and every week, their efforts need to be recognised. Callum in particular has hardly put a foot wrong.

The ruck division continues to be a work in progress. Despite usually conceding the hits outs, the midfielders are picking up the slack. Marshall is a gem in the making but I think he needs to be more often used down forward like in today’s last quarter. Acres and Bruce sharing the ruck duties is far from ideal so hopefully Longer can find form and fitness soon.

Hope Parker’s ankle is not too serious as he is a livewire who can turn a game. He has company in that regard with Ben Long. Hope these two can establish themselves up forward as they bring forward pressure, pace and some real X factor flair.

[WellardSaint]

I noticed one difference between this year so far, and most games last year and 2017.
The games we won last year, like the GC close one, when the oppo had the momentum,
our guys appeared to be hungry and desperate, being confident and really driving to be better.

But in the games we lost, each time we conceded a goal, it was like "we've run our backsides off, what more can we do?"
and it was almost "stick a fork in me, I'm done" and drop the head.

So far, we've had the belief, the desire, the passion, the faith in team-mates.

We lost in Perth, but even when the Shockers kept running rings around us, the lads had the attitude of
"not on my watch"
and "no, I will not concede" and if we'd been more accurate, we'd have won.
I sensed it from the Dockers fans, they were scared shirtless that we'd win, and afterwards, a lot of them said to me
they were relieved they'd dodged a bullet, we were so ferocious.

Kept the pressure on, kept believing, kept fighting until the final bell.
Never give in, never surrender, as they said in that movie.


Is this evident in the way Marshall missed that goal, and next shot, he thought "I know what I did wrong before"
and then got it right.
Lonie missed so many, but when it mattered, he just did what had to be done.
"Guys, I got this..."

Skunk has been very underdone, but he still had about 10 pressure acts, as many as Wilkie maybe.
Bruce had his moments against the Injectors, he's shown some signs...

Give these 2 some decent delivery, and wait till they find a rich vein of form, and we will shake some very big trees this year.

[saintspremiers]

Enjoy it whilst it lasts.

Surely we can’t play out 22 rounds with this level of intensity and pressure?

That’s where our lack of silk will show.

That’s why we will need Hannebery and Stuv firing from round 15 onwards.

[twirlyhair]

You obviously didn’t see Billy in the curtain raiser!

But, but, but, I have been reading on Saintsational how Longer is the greatest ruckman ever to play AFL and Hickey was useless.

And I'm still praying that Tommy Walsh comes into the side soon. He's gunna be brilliant!

[freely]

I keep forgetting we've got Bytel to come in too.

I realise the wheels can fall off pretty quickly - but I'm happy too to sit up here on the bandwagon for as long as it manages to keep rolling along!