Game vs Melbourne

[Saintmike65]

I won’t sugar coat this…we’ve got massive issues…we were completely thrashed and Melbourne barely got out of 3rd gear!
Our footskills are below AFL standard, broken tackles, an inability to get the ball out of our defensive 50 with purpose, pedestrian midfield, Oliver and Petracca did what they pleased.
Even on the rare occasions we looked competitive, Howard, Wood & Phillipou missed relatively easy shots.

[Vortex]

I won’t sugar coat this…we’ve got massive issues…we were completely thrashed and Melbourne barely got out of 3rd gear!
Our footskills are below AFL standard, broken tackles, an inability to get the ball out of our defensive 50 with purpose, pedestrian midfield, Oliver and Petracca did what they pleased.
Even on the rare occasions we looked competitive, Howard, Wood & Phillipou missed relatively easy shots.

As I've said from day one, and I won't be changing my POV until I see results, our football club can change coaches as much they like, the same fundamental problem will exist and that is you need skills on the list. All this talk about standards and systems being the key is fanciful, if that was the secret magic trick then bloody hell do you think 17 other clubs wouldn't have discovered it first. You still need the skills to execute, it ain't rocket surgery.

Now don't get bent out of shape about that Mike because I'm a massive Ross fan, but if he doesn't get the skills on the list it will be Freemantle all over again.

[The Fireman]

Oh dear

[bobmurray]

Best to be patient. We are only in the 57th year of our rebuild.

[Sebastian Tombs]

Where's the coverage gone??? Still had 50mins to go

[cwrcyn]

Yep. It was horrible. The inability for players to work into space to give an option has been a problem for a,while and today was another example.

Paton will never be a wingman. He simply doesn't have the game sense or the skills to pull it off. Hunter Clark was missing in action, too.

The midfield, as we know, is pedestrian, and nothing will change this year. Hopefully, Lenny Hayes can get them working better than they did today.

I know it was only a practice match, but based on what I saw there fundamental issues with our ability to link up and move the ball. Part of the problem is that our mids are slow, and we lack players with creative flair.

Allowing Melbourne to take mark after mark after mark showed a lack concentration and probably a huge problem with how we set up

[lloyd21]

I won’t sugar coat this…we’ve got massive issues…we were completely thrashed and Melbourne barely got out of 3rd gear!
Our footskills are below AFL standard, broken tackles, an inability to get the ball out of our defensive 50 with purpose, pedestrian midfield, Oliver and Petracca did what they pleased.
Even on the rare occasions we looked competitive, Howard, Wood & Phillipou missed relatively easy shots.

Glad didn’t go , amazing call to play Steele , Clark & Crouch as midfield group , would have thought being match
simulation was great opportunity to play Windhager , Bytel , Sinclair in to see how that looked , learning bugger all
playing the same guys in a match conditions..similarly intriguing playing Butler on May…love Ross the Boss but results
like today hurt memberships..the non selection of Sharman given his preseason beyond comprehension.

Just my opinion but they missed opportunities to try Howard in the ruck where he has played a lot , play Cordy back .
To slaughter a kid like Heath in early game again mysteriously undertaken , given he could have played later .
Clark for mine is half back / wing player ,who can go in middle late in games he’s too slow , when speed is in the game.

[Vortex]

Yep. It was horrible. The inability for players to work into space to give an option has been a problem for a,while and today was another example.

Paton will never be a wingman. He simply doesn't have the game sense or the skills to pull it off. Hunter Clark was missing in action, too.

The midfield, as we know, is pedestrian, and nothing will change this year. Hopefully, Lenny Hayes can get them working better than they did today.

I know it was only a practice match, but based on what I saw there fundamental issues with our ability to link up and move the ball. Part of the problem is that our mids are slow, and we lack players with creative flair.

Allowing Melbourne to take mark after mark after mark showed a lack concentration and probably a huge problem with how we set up

Couldn't win the ball and when we did we lacked the skills to execute.

It's what happens when the talent on your list drops off dramatically after about 8-12 on the list.

The positives were our forwards coach got a good look at how ugly it looks against a premiership defence,

I expect we will be better for the hitout and hopefully we will have a little bit more energy with ball movement in the next praccy because they were'nt able to execute anything near what they have trained.

[saynta]

I won’t sugar coat this…we’ve got massive issues…we were completely thrashed and Melbourne barely got out of 3rd gear!
Our footskills are below AFL standard, broken tackles, an inability to get the ball out of our defensive 50 with purpose, pedestrian midfield, Oliver and Petracca did what they pleased.
Even on the rare occasions we looked competitive, Howard, Wood & Phillipou missed relatively easy shots.

Glad didn’t go , amazing call to play Steele , Clark & Crouch as midfield group , would have thought being match
simulation was great opportunity to play Windhager , Bytel , Sinclair in to see how that looked , learning bugger all
playing the same guys in a match conditions..similarly intriguing playing Butler on May…love Ross the Boss but results
like today hurt memberships..the non selection of Sharman given his preseason beyond comprehension.

Just my opinion but they missed opportunities to try Howard in the ruck where he has played a lot , play Cordy back .
To slaughter a kid like Heath in early game again mysteriously undertaken , given he could have played later .
Clark for mine is half back / wing player ,who can go in middle late in games he’s too slow , when speed is in the game.

Agree with your comments.

Actually Heath played the whole game and got better the longer the game went. His game is more developed than I thought.

Not playing Bytel actually shocked me as I thought RTFB would be a fan.

[Vortex]

I won’t sugar coat this…we’ve got massive issues…we were completely thrashed and Melbourne barely got out of 3rd gear!
Our footskills are below AFL standard, broken tackles, an inability to get the ball out of our defensive 50 with purpose, pedestrian midfield, Oliver and Petracca did what they pleased.
Even on the rare occasions we looked competitive, Howard, Wood & Phillipou missed relatively easy shots.

Glad didn’t go , amazing call to play Steele , Clark & Crouch as midfield group , would have thought being match
simulation was great opportunity to play Windhager , Bytel , Sinclair in to see how that looked , learning bugger all
playing the same guys in a match conditions..similarly intriguing playing Butler on May…love Ross the Boss but results
like today hurt memberships..the non selection of Sharman given his preseason beyond comprehension.

Just my opinion but they missed opportunities to try Howard in the ruck where he has played a lot , play Cordy back .
To slaughter a kid like Heath in early game again mysteriously undertaken , given he could have played later .
Clark for mine is half back / wing player ,who can go in middle late in games he’s too slow , when speed is in the game.

I recon Heath will be better for that run, if there is one player they need to try and find some magic potion for it is Heath, it would be a massive boost for our midfield if he can come from nowhere but he's still got some work. Here's hoping he can find something.

[saynta]

Full time 136 to 107

[Beno88]

I thought we played well.

For 10 minutes in the 4th period.

[Vortex]

I thought we played well.

For 10 minutes in the 4th period.

Not good enough, Dees put the que in the rack,

[saynta]

I thought we played well.

For 10 minutes in the 4th period.

[bobmurray]

Full time 136 to 107

Thanks.

What's interesting is AFL.com.au has the scores as, St Kilda 6.10 (46) lost to Melbourne 16.9 (105) at RSEA Park.

https://www.afl.com.au/news/877145/domi ... s-with-two

[Ghost Like]

Cheers SM65, in the eras of drafts, where all the clubs choose from the same gene pool, do you have any idea why the skills of our players would be less than an opposition, chosen from the same gene pool?

I understand our history in missing a Petracca but it surely is about understanding coaching instructions, expectations, quality of team mates rather than actual foot / hand skills.

We have a year or two to understand the coach but we need players on our list to be in the Top 10% of AFL players, regardless of whether an average player can hit a target without pressure. Is that a fair complaint / wish for our list?

[Devilhead]

It's a freakin practice match - no injuries a big tick

Dees are a top 4 side and had about 2 regular 22 players missing we had more with a few playing in the 2nd match that should be playing in the 1st match ... Ross Billings Coffield

Phillipou did super well - Caminiti and Van Es looked good in the 2nd match

We had some solid periods of good pressure but couldn't get any scoreboard pressure on them due to substandard goal kicking

Need to stop with the Howard or Cordy up forward experiment - just play our best backline which I think you will see next week

Prefer to be playing Dees than Hawks in these pre season games

No 4 pts lost or won

[Zed]

Cheers SM65, in the eras of drafts, where all the clubs choose from the same gene pool, do you have any idea why the skills of our players would be less than an opposition, chosen from the same gene pool?

Because we had poor recruiting team for far too long - and the coach (Richo) prioritised effort over skills - which led to the recruiting staff doing the same and focusing on stats rather than effective disposals. In the Ratten era we sold all our early picks for ready made fixes , and Ratten did try and weed out the ball butchers (Dunstan) but the problems just ran too deep. No wonder he looked completely exasperated and defeated at the end.

I have no issue with the amount of effort the guys put in - in fact I would say from an effort perspective, we are probably top 8 - but we must be one of the least skilled teams in the comp. RTB has always carried a few less skilled players in his teams but he has always had a high % of skilled players to compensate. He doesn’t have that luxury here so will come to the realisation that no matter how good his systems might be , this list won’t be able to consistently execute on them.

[CURLY]

Practice match

The End

[cwrcyn]

The positives for me were in the last three periods when I got a look at Van Es, Adams, and Cominiti.

All have plenty to offer. Caminiti is a natural footballer. Van Es could be that second giant defender we're crying out for, and Adams looks like a real athlete who could be a fine defender. It's been decades since I've seen three 19 year old talls at our club at the same time with this kind of potential.

From the little I've seen, I will be bold and say that all three will play senior AFL football

[Banger9798]

Praccy game, and we had no forwards.

Really wouldn't get too concerned.

We are a better team than last year when we were 8-3

Injuries our main problem, Max at FF would be a totally different proposition up there.

Phillipou will be a gun. NWM looked good.

Lot of work to do, but we have plenty to work with.

[Waltzing St Kilda]

I thought we played well.

For 10 minutes in the 4th period.

Duping the opposition with listless play before a sudden ten-minute burst of brilliance was Ratts's gameplan in the first half of 2022

[Ghost Like]

If we park the...

[Otiman]

Keep in mind we didnt even play a proper intra club this year

[B.M]

Who were they playing against?