DAL

[derby Street]

Just wondering where are all the DAL knockers who ranted that he shouldn't be back in the team this week? Thankfully the majority on this site how more of an idea !

[Dal_Santos_Gal]

yeah you have just got to love the knockers on this forum.
Its like they enjoy knocking our players, no doubt the next average game Dal plays, they will start up on him again.

It was good to see him get back to some of what we know Dal is able to do

[Hard at it]

Lets not get too excited he was o.k, but by no means did he have a great game. Definitely not in our top 5-6 IMO

[saintsRrising]

Just wondering where are all the DAL knockers who ranted that he shouldn't be back in the team this week? Thankfully the majority on this site how more of an idea !

I think that you do not have much idea about ball use...Dal was not good tonight. Kicking to advantage was a concept that he was thoroughly unfamilar with.



Look beyond raw stats.

Ball was another that gained lots of ball...but was dreadful with it.

PS..though yes I do think he should have been back in the team this week.....but this week hewas a long long way off the game that an eleite players needs to delover.

[BigMart]

Should he have been in the team???....he lifted us in the last quarter.....

This is a guy who 'should' be BOG every game because he has talent....according to some

He should have the running power of Ben Cousins, the defensive side of B.Kirk, the skill of Simon Black, the vision of Gary Ablett and the strength of Luke Hodge.....hang on, that's Chris Judd....

[TimeToShineFellas]

Full credit to Ross Lyon and the selection committee for having the guts to send NDS and Milne the kick up the arse they rightly deserved by sending them back to the Scorps for at least a week...........

Or does this not get mentioned?

Dal Santo had a big last quarter for us and Milne, well I reckon that's about the best interstate game he's played in god-knows-how-long.

Nothing quite like getting into footballer's heads occasionally and rufling their very-well preened feathers.......

[battye]

Milne was better than Dal Santo tonight, but Dal Santo was serviceable.

[Hard at it]

Should he have been in the team???....he lifted us in the last quarter.....

This is a guy who 'should' be BOG every game because he has talent....according to some

He should have the running power of Ben Cousins, the defensive side of B.Kirk, the skill of Simon Black, the vision of Gary Ablett and the strength of Luke Hodge.....hang on, that's Chris Judd....

He is also a guy that gets endless amount of accolades from the masses on this site but is yet to finish top 3 in a B&F.
Every week if he has an above average game there seems to be a thread stating that whoever has been critical of his form so far this year needs to apoligise. What a load of shite.

[Zippy]

Full credit to Ross Lyon and the selection committee for having the guts to send NDS and Milne the kick up the arse they rightly deserved by sending them back to the Scorps for at least a week...........

Or does this not get mentioned?

Dal Santo had a big last quarter for us and Milne, well I reckon that's about the best interstate game he's played in god-knows-how-long.

Nothing quite like getting into footballer's heads occasionally and rufling their very-well preened feathers.......

They certainly played well. I still have a hard time seeing how they deserved to be dropped. though. I think it might have been a message to the team, rather than to the individuals.

[bergsone]

Seemed to me that early he was more concerned about doing the correct thing and not stuffing up,when he played on instinct he started to will himself to get to contests,and improved as the game went on,upside to me is that he CAN play better.

[robbo_25]

i thought he played a good game

[saintsRrising]

Milne was better than Dal Santo tonight, but Dal Santo was serviceable.

Indeed Dal played a serviceable game...

Not a great game...nor a good game....not a bad game..

Just a serviceable game.

C Jones was for example a better player than Dal over the WHOLE game.

Roo starred...... Dal was seviceable. King was of greater value than Dal.....

Did dal "win us the game"... No..not unless you also want to say that CJ etc "won us the game".

[redwhite&blackblood]

His game was serviceable at best.

Yet again we saw glimpses of what can actually do. He laid 4 tackles ( career hi? ), and i think i saw him chase some one a couple of times. Had 15 uncontested possessions but he is a outside player but didn't give us a single 1%er. He was not in our best players despite what the CH10 commentators would have you believe does Quarterbrain and Tim Blame have a clue? Will give Dal Credit for a good last quarter but that only makes me ask the question where was that effort in the 1st 3 quarters?

He needs to do more for longer and more consistently with the god given talent he has.

[tezza1]

A very ordinary first 3 quarters with a serviceable last quarter but once again very few contested possessions.

Dal wants to take possession of the ball AND avoid the collision.

Just worry about winning the ball. Forget about the bloody collision!!!

[Washedup]

His game was serviceable at best.

Yet again we saw glimpses of what can actually do. He laid 4 tackles ( career hi? ), and i think i saw him chase some one a couple of times. Had 15 uncontested possessions but he is a outside player but didn't give us a single 1%er. He was not in our best players despite what the CH10 commentators would have you believe does Quarterbrain and Tim Blame have a clue? Will give Dal Credit for a good last quarter but that only makes me ask the question where was that effort in the 1st 3 quarters?

He needs to do more for longer and more consistently with the god given talent he has.

Pretty much sums his game up for mine. Not sure why anyone would be starting up a thread asking where all the Dal knockers are on the back of his performance last night. I would have found it hard to put him in our top 8-10 last night. The game is played over 4 qtrs not 1

[vacuous space]

...once again very few contested possessions.

The only Saints with more CPs were Ball, Roo and Kosi. He also had 4 clearances, behind only Ball.

And for those wondering, his career high for tackles in a game is 10.

[Washedup]

...once again very few contested possessions.

The only Saints with more CPs were Ball, Roo and Kosi. He also had 4 clearances, behind only Ball.

And for those wondering, his career high for tackles in a game is 10.

He also had 3 free kicks which are included in the CP tally

[saintbob]

Really only came good in the last quarter looked confused as to what his role was early, then again so did 21 others.

[Eastern]

Did anyone else notice the strapping on Dal's knee? !!

[rexy]

Thought he worked a lot harder without the ball than he has in the past, and didnt let his tagger run off him when they had the ball.

[Otiman]

Dal Santo played a good TEAM game this week, in addition to a reasonably good personal performance.

In matches like these where you are slugging it out, you need players like Dal Santo, Riewoldt and Koschitzke in the side who can show some flair and break the game open a bit.

[bigcarl]

i thought he was good but not as good as riewoldt, milne and kosi.

i'd still like to see dal played closer to goals more often where his use of the ball, creativity and ability to make something out of nothing can come into play.

i don't buy the comments about him being soft at the contest. i think there are some who equate being highly skilled with being soft and that is simply not the case with dal.

one thing is for sure. the opposition rate him and fear him getting too much of it.

[sunsaint]

Milne responded to the kick in the backside.
I dont think NDS changed his game to any great repect.
On the night against the Roos he was OK. But in the gap left by Hayes, you couldnt say he stepped up. I would love to know how much time he spent in the middle, it is a gut feeling, but I would say CJ was in there an equal amount.
My biggest memory of his game on the night was a comment by Voss proclaiming how NDS was back by chasing and tackling Pratt in the first quarter, and then backhanding the Saints by not congratulating him en masse. The fact is, this should be expected of every player, fact is NDS was only shadowing Pratt, and didnt close on him until Pratt fumbled bouncing the ball. It smacked of the "ex champions" club pumping up "current champions".

I am at loss with NDS. He is a very good player, but he might never climb to the expectations required of current elite on-ballers.
Perhaps his best position will be on the opposite pocket to Milne.

[Dan Warna]

between 95 and 04 when harvey was at his peak, there were some games where he had less that 15 possessions.

chris Judd, has had many games where he polled NO brownlow votes.

these are probably two of the biggest guns in recent years for consistent form.

for consistency Dal Santo delivers about 7 hard ball gets, 22 effective possessions and 3 tackles.

that compares well with the top 10% of midfielders in the competition.

he's gonna have good games and he's gonna have bad games.