Saints v Blues

[sunsaint]

Highmore got 9 possessions in a half in his first AFL hit out.

Just a small sample i agree and against Carlton
But liked what i saw
He looked composed was clean with disposal and will improve with more games

[bigcarl]

Zac Williams enjoy a nice 3-4 week holiday you dog

You can't call him that.
He is part indigenous, a Wiradjuri man.
Careful what you call him or you will have Scollop & Co barking at you.

Perhaps “sniper” is a better description

[saynta]

Zac Williams enjoy a nice 3-4 week holiday you dog

You can't call him that.
He is part indigenous, a Wiradjuri man.
Careful what you call him or you will have Scollop & Co barking at you.

Perhaps “sniper” is a better description

Well. It was a low act.

[asiu]

a dog is a dog

hey Ace

[SAINT-LEE]

Defence was terrible. Just loose and completely sloppy.

I cant sit through a whole year of that.

Offence... Ball movement... Was fcuking awesome in that first half.

My main concern is that better teams will tear us a new one if we are that horrible on a turnover.

Carlton scored I reckon 8 goals from stoppages (ball ins and throw ups). Definitely need to tighten up.

At least we walk away with the 4 points!

Did anyone see what happened to Butler as he limped off with about 10 minutes to go in the last qtr?

we got 4 points ?

Cramps for Butler, he was on the electrolytes all night after the game

[Moods]

Some vastly different views of the game on here. Some seriously harsh given it's a practice match.

Sinclair, Hill, Lonie, Ross, Steele, Membrey all excellent. All look in fantastic shape. Looks as though we've learnt how to use Hill effectively.

Clark, Long and Gresham were all good, but seemed to tire after halftime, as many did.

Higgins the best of the new recruits. Crouch a little off. Highmore will debut this year, maybe even round one.

There must be concerns if Ryder goes down while Marshall is out. McKernan and Hunter, while they weren't disgraced last night, will be monstered by the comp's better ruckmen.

Wilkie was strong, but we looked very vulnerable in defence. Leaked goals way too easily, especially from stoppages.

Would've liked to have seen Bytel & Wood get more time. Both were effective in the final quarter. McKenzie was ok too.

Offensively we were excellent in the first half, ball movement was fluent, direct and we consistently locked the ball inside 50 until we scored. They obviously changed tact in the second half, but the go slow didn't work. We either had too many players running forward of the ball or we lacked the skill to hold on to the footy. One of our downfalls in 2020 was not running as hard back as we do forward, this was still evident last night. That said, I liked the way we responded when challenged in the final term. When Carlton got within a kick, we flicked the switch again and outscored them 21 to 1.

Positive overall, disappointed for Frawley, but I doubt many of us had him in our Round 1 side.

I agree with much of this. What was the go with our defensive stoppages? Terrible. The good news is that surely that can be fixed easily you would think. My opinion was that the blues scored some flukey snap goals out of packs whilst our goals were more structured.

I also thought that it looked like we were trualing a different game plan in the 2nd half. Worrying it appears we only have one pace. Like last year when we try to slow it down and play possession football we look clueless and allowed Carlton back into the game. When we play helter skelter we look dangerous. The problem with that is that the games will go for a lot longer this year, and I fear that we will burn ourselves out. We need to learn to slow the ball down like the Cats do and WC do. I guess to be very effective at that method you need some very dangerous big men all over the ground. Carlisle has a great pair of hands but I'm not sure he will cope with our sprinting style of play. Howard is very athletic. McKernan appears to have a great pair of hands and could be dangerous. Just feel that we are a key big man short down back and forward. Marshall injury hurts. Carlisle was supposed to play that role but appears out of favour.

[Life Long Saint]

Zac Williams enjoy a nice 3-4 week holiday you dog

You can't call him that.
He is part indigenous, a Wiradjuri man.
Careful what you call him or you will have Scollop & Co barking at you.

Perhaps “sniper” is a better description

Well. It was a low act.

Completely unnecessaary considering it was a practice match.
The Blues made three late hits on the night all resulting in downfield frees.
It's not tough. Just dumb footy before the season has even started.

[samuraisaint]

Some vastly different views of the game on here. Some seriously harsh given it's a practice match.

Sinclair, Hill, Lonie, Ross, Steele, Membrey all excellent. All look in fantastic shape. Looks as though we've learnt how to use Hill effectively.

Clark, Long and Gresham were all good, but seemed to tire after halftime, as many did.

Higgins the best of the new recruits. Crouch a little off. Highmore will debut this year, maybe even round one.

There must be concerns if Ryder goes down while Marshall is out. McKernan and Hunter, while they weren't disgraced last night, will be monstered by the comp's better ruckmen.

Wilkie was strong, but we looked very vulnerable in defence. Leaked goals way too easily, especially from stoppages.

Would've liked to have seen Bytel & Wood get more time. Both were effective in the final quarter. McKenzie was ok too.

Offensively we were excellent in the first half, ball movement was fluent, direct and we consistently locked the ball inside 50 until we scored. They obviously changed tact in the second half, but the go slow didn't work. We either had too many players running forward of the ball or we lacked the skill to hold on to the footy. One of our downfalls in 2020 was not running as hard back as we do forward, this was still evident last night. That said, I liked the way we responded when challenged in the final term. When Carlton got within a kick, we flicked the switch again and outscored them 21 to 1.

Positive overall, disappointed for Frawley, but I doubt many of us had him in our Round 1 side.

I agree with much of this. What was the go with our defensive stoppages? Terrible. The good news is that surely that can be fixed easily you would think. My opinion was that the blues scored some flukey snap goals out of packs whilst our goals were more structured.

I also thought that it looked like we were trualing a different game plan in the 2nd half. Worrying it appears we only have one pace. Like last year when we try to slow it down and play possession football we look clueless and allowed Carlton back into the game. When we play helter skelter we look dangerous. The problem with that is that the games will go for a lot longer this year, and I fear that we will burn ourselves out. We need to learn to slow the ball down like the Cats do and WC do. I guess to be very effective at that method you need some very dangerous big men all over the ground. Carlisle has a great pair of hands but I'm not sure he will cope with our sprinting style of play. Howard is very athletic. McKernan appears to have a great pair of hands and could be dangerous. Just feel that we are a key big man short down back and forward. Marshall injury hurts. Carlisle was supposed to play that role but appears out of favour.

Agree, except about Carlisle coping with our sprinting style of play. He's our CHB. And we are better with him in the side. Like Longy he succumbs to rash decisions sometimes in the heat of the moment, although this manifests itself in different ways with Carlisle, but there's no doubt we are better with him there. Put him in against the Eagles in our penultimate H&A match last season and we win. A lot of sides get cheap goals quickly against us without him there.

[saintsRrising]

My opinion was that the blues scored some flukey snap goals out of packs whilst our goals were more structured.

Well not so much all flukey as often the Blues ruckmen and team mates knew how to position themselves for the forward ball ups and Hunter did not and our backs were not well postioned. But yes Ryder and Marshall would do much better at this.

Our rucks and backs need to set up better for these plays. So yes I agree we should be capable of doing better at this.

[Sainter_Dad]

My opinion was that the blues scored some flukey snap goals out of packs whilst our goals were more structured.

Well not so much all flukey as often the Blues ruckmen and team mates knew how to position themselves for the forward ball ups and Hunter did not and our backs were not well postioned. But yes Ryder and Marshall would do much better at this.

Our rucks and backs need to set up better for these plays. So yes I agree we should be capable of doing better at this.

Pitonet was roughing Hunter up and physically man handling him out of the around the ground ruck contests - Hunter held his own in the centre bounces but Carlton had the better of the around the ground ruck contests.

[bigcarl]

Zac Williams cops ban

https://www.foxsports.com.au/afl/afl-ne ... 071fe8653e

Richly deserved

[saynta]

Zac Williams enjoy a nice 3-4 week holiday you dog

You can't call him that.
He is part indigenous, a Wiradjuri man.
Careful what you call him or you will have Scollop & Co barking at you.

Perhaps “sniper” is a better description

The brown bagging lowlifes are appealing the low life sniper's one month suspension.

[Yorkeys]

Late addendum: I can report Carlton supporters at Lockett end, L2 were ungracious and seemed to dislike the umpiring; found it hard to acknowledge a) individuals skills of the Saints and b) that we were playing them on a brake. The Saints people singing coming out was pretty uplifting and some of the lines most amusing. I sense an enjoyable season, footy gods willing.

[saynta]

Good. The sniper lost his appeal. Will be missing round 1