Live broadcast

[SainterK]

Gears!!! Goal! 4pts

Great to have him back

[saintbrat]

On screen scoreboard gave point wrong way,
McCartin has his first bandage

[jonesy]

What I've seen the last 7 days confirms our midfield could be the worst of the modern era. Certainly the slowest, and probably the worst skills.

Early call...

Hayes a dominant figure, will take a bit to work out life after him

To be fair I overlooked melbourne of the last 5 years. Otherwise we're next.

[saintbrat]

They have taken the point off Lions but not given to Saints

[SemperFidelis]

Super effort by Bruce on the tackle

[saintbrat]

On screen score finally correct , final score 55 / 58

[Pwoit]

Not a bad effort in second half. Playing up there in humid conditions.

[SainterK]

Not a bad effort in second half. Playing up there in humid conditions.

Agree, not too bad.

[Munga]

Good effort. But probably the last 10 forward entries were the worst I've ever seen. If it were season proper I would say we were coached to lose. Who the hell teaches them that kicking to the pocket wins games? Every f!@#ing time.

[Johnny Member]

Awful.

Only a praccy though of course, but not much upside I wouldn't have thought.

[samuraisaint]

That was okay. Good effort. 3 point loss up there. I'll take that.

[3rd generation saint]

Pity, played well in the last quarter. A little smarter use of the ball we may have won.
Should have put it to the top of the square instead of into the pocket.
But it's February 28 and a meaningless game.

[Pwoit]

They can at least review the game a see what things they can improve on. Hence its Practice.

[SainterK]

Awful.

Only a praccy though of course, but not much upside I wouldn't have thought.

Not sure any of the challenge games thus far have produced better than awful...

Heaps of highlights though

[3rd generation saint]

Pity, played well in the last quarter. A little smarter use of the ball we may have won.
Should have put it to the top of the square instead of into the pocket.
But it's February 28 and a meaningless game.

[3rd generation saint]

After I made my comment we seemed to improve a lot and got into the game better.
Lee still worries me, hope to see better from him. Overall the last 5 minutes wss good.

[Bluthy]

Savage is having a shocker fumbling and stumbling

Nice goal by Geary how we are 4 points down is amazing.

And a couple of times when he's had gimme marks he's heard footsteps and bungled it. He won't be in the team unless he can get over that.

[magnifisaint]

Plenty of positives. Got better as game went on. Nothing to worry about just yet

[plugger66]

Awful.

Only a praccy though of course, but not much upside I wouldn't have thought.

Agreed. It would be better if we lost by 10 goals.

[magnifisaint]

Awful.

Only a praccy though of course, but not much upside I wouldn't have thought.

Agreed. It would be better if we lost by 10 goals.

I think it would be better to win by 10 goals

[plugger66]

Awful.

Only a praccy though of course, but not much upside I wouldn't have thought.

Agreed. It would be better if we lost by 10 goals.

I think it would be better to win by 10 goals

Of course it would. It was a sarcastic comment. Awful he called it when we played in their heat and a side that won double our games last year. Its actually a sad comment.

[Johnny Member]

The scoreboard is surely irrelevant in February isn't it.

[plugger66]

The scoreboard is surely irrelevant in February isn't it.

It certainly is. So is calling a side arful in the first pre season game.

[Bluthy]

I thought that was a pretty good game for our first hit outs. Plenty of positives and excitement to come out of it:

POSITIVES

McCartin - just...looked...good. Leading hard, hitting packs, pushing up to the centre and half back to open up space. He looks the real deal and a real competitor. On the scoreboard already
Lonie [/b - ]shows real skills and creativity. A really nice crumbing goals and combines well with other forwards who will love having him out there
Acres - showed he knows how to read the game but was a bit slow with it. I'm not panicking because when he catches up to the speed of AFL I think he'll rip it up with his vision
Ross - could be the new diesel William with his handballing.
Newnes - his fitness is letting to get around the ground in a lot in damaging positions
Bruce - was a great target forward and a physical presence so the defenders don't get cocky
Backline - Dempster, Fisher, Geary, Delaney, Shenton worked really well together. Even though they are not the future they should keep us competitive this year
Membrey- two goals I think which is a damn solid start. He doesn't seem tall enough for a leading forward but seems to find space.

NEGATIVES

Savage lacked poise and good decision making. In a couple of marking situations he saw shadows coming and took his eye off it which is a real worry.
Lee - just not sure where he fits in - doesn't really seem a leading forward but doesn't pull in contested pack marks. Worked hard but not real impact
Billings - injury a worry
Newnes and Ross' kicking - both their kicking is not at the level needed to be really damaging mids. No point winning it if you give it away. Need to work really hard on it.
Clearances - our lack of ability to get first hands on it is a real worry. It worries me we rely too much on Armo who gets guys hanging off him. Although with Dunny back, Steven a full game and Billings maybe coming back might tilt it a bit.

Anyway very early doors yet but that's filled me with some real hope and excitement. Well done lads.

[Johnny Member]

Although I didn't actually say the side is awful (I was referring to the performance), we clearly are an awful side.

If we win more than 3 games this year, I'll be legitimately shocked.