Essendon v St.Kilda - Marvel Stadium, Saturday 5th March, 7:10PM AEDT

[Wayne42]

Wood again, his 2nd goal

[Devilhead]

Nice rove and another sweet snap by Wood ..... 3 goals up

[Devilhead]

Crouch from outside 50 bounces it through .....4 goals up ..... strong end to the quarter

[Devilhead]

12 disposals for Crouch

[Devilhead]

Clark getting in amongst it

[Devilhead]

16pts up at HT

[DJ Higgins]

At game. I still have an issue with our game plan. I don’t really know what it is. We are leading imo because bombers have dropped some absolute sitters with in our fifty or theirs. There are some good aspects about tonight eg patron and Gresham haven’t Llosa a lot from a year off and king looks good if he can get the ball.

Negatives are Ross and what is rattan doing with Hayes? He seems to be rucking then forward then midfield. Give him a chance to settle . Interesting to see who gets rested in second half and who play

[Wayne42]

Billings has a hamstring injury according to Foxtel.

[Devilhead]

Finally King gets a free after being held all night

11pt win without Ryder Jones and playing new recruits in the 2nd half

Injuries to Billings and Clark .... both unlikely to be available for 1st round

[Devilhead]

Won contested possessions but beaten in most other areas .... yet we won ..... solid hit out and should be better for the run

[bigcarl]

Finally King gets a free after being held all night

11pt win without Ryder Jones and playing new recruits in the 2nd half

Injuries to Billings and Clark .... both unlikely to be available for 1st round

Bummer about the injuries. Both important players and add Coffield to that. Will open up a few spots by the looks of it and hopefully someone will step up

[Impatient Sainter]

Injuries???

Clarks innocuous shoulder hit, but looked like a dislocated shoulder FFS.

[samuraisaint]

Any win against Essendon is a good win.
Gee, number 7 is a ball magnet isn't he?
Nice to see the real Samurai Saint get a goal assist at the end too.

[samuraisaint]

At game. I still have an issue with our game plan. I don’t really know what it is. We are leading imo because bombers have dropped some absolute sitters with in our fifty or theirs. There are some good aspects about tonight eg patron and Gresham haven’t Llosa a lot from a year off and king looks good if he can get the ball.

Negatives are Ross and what is rattan doing with Hayes? He seems to be rucking then forward then midfield. Give him a chance to settle . Interesting to see who gets rested in second half and who play

Got to play Sharman all game mate.

[saintbob]

At game. I still have an issue with our game plan. I don’t really know what it is. We are leading imo because bombers have dropped some absolute sitters with in our fifty or theirs. There are some good aspects about tonight eg patron and Gresham haven’t Llosa a lot from a year off and king looks good if he can get the ball.

Negatives are Ross and what is rattan doing with Hayes? He seems to be rucking then forward then midfield. Give him a chance to settle . Interesting to see who gets rested in second half and who play

Agree about the game plan, we’re still just bombing it to the top of the goal square and just hoping we can score.

We need to be hitting King, Membrey and Marshall up on leads, not just sitting it on their heads.

[saynta]

At game. I still have an issue with our game plan. I don’t really know what it is. We are leading imo because bombers have dropped some absolute sitters with in our fifty or theirs. There are some good aspects about tonight eg patron and Gresham haven’t Llosa a lot from a year off and king looks good if he can get the ball.

Negatives are Ross and what is rattan doing with Hayes? He seems to be rucking then forward then midfield. Give him a chance to settle . Interesting to see who gets rested in second half and who play

https://www.heraldsun.com.au/sport/afl/ ... 62ec9950a6



'Essendon and St Kilda played out a fierce contest at Marvel Stadium, with the Saints prevailing by 10 points.

St Kilda’s ball movement was impressive all night, with a desire to use the overlap runner and move the ball quickly a real focus for Brett Ratten’s men.'

[CQ SAINT]

At game. I still have an issue with our game plan. I don’t really know what it is. We are leading imo because bombers have dropped some absolute sitters with in our fifty or theirs. There are some good aspects about tonight eg patron and Gresham haven’t Llosa a lot from a year off and king looks good if he can get the ball.

Negatives are Ross and what is rattan doing with Hayes? He seems to be rucking then forward then midfield. Give him a chance to settle . Interesting to see who gets rested in second half and who play

https://www.heraldsun.com.au/sport/afl/ ... 62ec9950a6



'Essendon and St Kilda played out a fierce contest at Marvel Stadium, with the Saints prevailing by 10 points.

St Kilda’s ball movement was impressive all night, with a desire to use the overlap runner and move the ball quickly a real focus for Brett Ratten’s men.'

Interesting, I'm not a fan of Ross but I did notice a number of times when he actually looked before banging the ball on his foot and we ran the ball away. I thought he was actually a lot smarter last night.
And I guess its no secret Hayes was selected to play Forward/Ruck a role he has been playing for years. When the 2m Peter's of the league start bringing down screamers, Marshall is going to have to drop back and Hayes will have to ruck. Practice matches are the place to try this. Personally, I'd play Hayes, King, Membrey, Marshall and Ryder all at once with one of them on the bench at all times. Hayes may just be that lead up.tall we need. He certainly has a good crack and didn't for a minute look out of place.

[Lennylegs]

Really sucks for Hunter Clark. Loved seeing him get more midfield time. If we're going to really challenge the top sides, we need someone composed and clean like him creating opportunities for our runners and forwards. Hopefully he's back before too long.

Also wanted to see more of Sharman but I guess Hayes had to get more game time if Ryder is gonna be a no show for Rd 1.

[saynta]

At game. I still have an issue with our game plan. I don’t really know what it is. We are leading imo because bombers have dropped some absolute sitters with in our fifty or theirs. There are some good aspects about tonight eg patron and Gresham haven’t Llosa a lot from a year off and king looks good if he can get the ball.

Negatives are Ross and what is rattan doing with Hayes? He seems to be rucking then forward then midfield. Give him a chance to settle . Interesting to see who gets rested in second half and who play

https://www.heraldsun.com.au/sport/afl/ ... 62ec9950a6



'Essendon and St Kilda played out a fierce contest at Marvel Stadium, with the Saints prevailing by 10 points.

St Kilda’s ball movement was impressive all night, with a desire to use the overlap runner and move the ball quickly a real focus for Brett Ratten’s men.'

Interesting, I'm not a fan of Ross but I did notice a number of times when he actually looked before banging the ball on his foot and we ran the ball away. I thought he was actually a lot smarter last night.
And I guess its no secret Hayes was selected to play Forward/Ruck a role he has been playing for years. When the 2m Peter's of the league start bringing down screamers, Marshall is going to have to drop back and Hayes will have to ruck. Practice matches are the place to try this. Personally, I'd play Hayes, King, Membrey, Marshall and Ryder all at once with one of them on the bench at all times. Hayes may just be that lead up.tall we need. He certainly has a good crack and didn't for a minute look out of place.

Wasn't a bad game from Seb. 23 possessions being 12 kicks 11 handballs . plus 4 marks and three tackles.

[saynta]

Really sucks for Hunter Clark. Loved seeing him get more midfield time. If we're going to really challenge the top sides, we need someone composed and clean like him creating opportunities for our runners and forwards. Hopefully he's back before too long.

Also wanted to see more of Sharman but I guess Hayes had to get more game time if Ryder is gonna be a no show for Rd 1.

maybe 50/50

See ratts press conference.

[samuraisaint]

Will take the win. Always nice to beat Essendon, even in mock warfare.
Regarding the injuries; my take:

Hunter's 4-6 weeks becomes 4 matches at most.
JB's 4 weeks becomes 2 matches at most.
Zac may only miss 1 game, who knows?
Same with Paddy and Hannebery really; they might have to play a match or two at Sandringham for match conditioning.

Having five players out (six with Nick Coffield) does give new young players a chance to debut for the club in the first few rounds. And these guys will be desperate to take their opportunities when they get them.

Essendon would be worried about losing last night.

Special shout out to Mason Wood. This guy has X Factor in spades when he plays.
Five tackles to the #7 in his first senior hit out is a promising sign.

[bigcarl]

Anyone seen an update on Clark/Billings? I’m guessing it will be scans today. Let’s hope we can get them and Zak Jones back while the season is still relatively young.

Couple of observations on last night.

Hayes is impressive. Mature-bodied and minded and a good size on him. Looks a versatile type and as someone else pointed out, somewhat reminiscent of Jason Blake. Perfect ruck pinch-hitter and can probably hold down a key forward or key defensive position structurally.

Wanganeen-Milera. Skinny kid, but looks a natural football with good skills. Exciting prospect.

Thought we looked a bit light on for height and were beaten aerially.

[BigDazzaB]

Anyone seen an update on Clark/Billings? I’m guessing it will be scans today. Let’s hope we can get them and Zak Jones back while the season is still relatively young.

Couple of observations on last night.

Hayes is impressive. Mature-bodied and minded and a good size on him. Looks a versatile type and as someone else pointed out, somewhat reminiscent of Jason Blake. Perfect ruck pinch-hitter and can probably hold down a key forward or key defensive position structurally.

Wanganeen-Milera. Skinny kid, but looks a natural football with good skills. Exciting prospect.

Thought we looked a bit light on for height and were beaten aerially.

Clark six weeks according to Rats

Sent from my SM-G973F using Tapatalk

[DJ Higgins]

At game. I still have an issue with our game plan. I don’t really know what it is. We are leading imo because bombers have dropped some absolute sitters with in our fifty or theirs. There are some good aspects about tonight eg patron and Gresham haven’t Llosa a lot from a year off and king looks good if he can get the ball.

Negatives are Ross and what is rattan doing with Hayes? He seems to be rucking then forward then midfield. Give him a chance to settle . Interesting to see who gets rested in second half and who play

https://www.heraldsun.com.au/sport/afl/ ... 62ec9950a6



'Essendon and St Kilda played out a fierce contest at Marvel Stadium, with the Saints prevailing by 10 points.

St Kilda’s ball movement was impressive all night, with a desire to use the overlap runner and move the ball quickly a real focus for Brett Ratten’s men.'

Interesting, I'm not a fan of Ross but I did notice a number of times when he actually looked before banging the ball on his foot and we ran the ball away. I thought he was actually a lot smarter last night.
And I guess its no secret Hayes was selected to play Forward/Ruck a role he has been playing for years. When the 2m Peter's of the league start bringing down screamers, Marshall is going to have to drop back and Hayes will have to ruck. Practice matches are the place to try this. Personally, I'd play Hayes, King, Membrey, Marshall and Ryder all at once with one of them on the bench at all times. Hayes may just be that lead up.tall we need. He certainly has a good crack and didn't for a minute look out of place.

Firstly can I say it was great to see live footy again. That also meant I had a few drinks that hit a lot harder than usual mainly due to lack of “match fitness” so my comments were referring to the first half as Things get a touch hazy after that
I am not a stat man ie don’t care what numbers after a game, next time Ross plays pay attention to what impact his kicks hacks or handballs have. Ie getting the ball and kicking it to someone in no bette position or that stops the ball movement flow is not particularly good regardless of increasing stats.
As for Hayes it seemed to me that everytime I saw him he was in a different position or doing a different role. I was thinking let the guy settle in a role but I get the point of trying him in different roles to see where he is best suited but give him a fair run at one position for a while then change.
Finally the ball movement out of defence was good but what is the game plan once we enter their half? Next game game count the short sharp passes into fifty or guys running it in compared to the long bombs or kicks to a pack.

Either way footy is back and I am happy