Hardly a time to panic

[battye]

Very briefly:

- Bulldogs looked to be giving this game their all, whereas we looked to be going at it about 70%
- a lot of skill errors from our guys, come the first round when there is something to play for I'm sure we'll look better
- Dawson had a bad game, but he is a good player - I don't think last year was a fluke
- Most of our key players have looked good this pre-season, come round one when the best 22 are playing and not fringe players like Gaertner, Peake, etc I think we will see the style of footy we are used to from last year

I'm looking forward to round one, and while it would have been nice to win the NAB Cup it's certainly not the end of the world There's nothing I've seen that I don't think can be fixed by round one.

[snoopygirl]

Yep, I'm hoping that like last year in the practice matches we didn't give away all our trade secrets.

Some of the players who you would back any day of the week to hold a mark were very fumbly with the ball. Couldn't be that many having a shocker, surely?

Anyway, good on the Doggies, was really happy for them after the game. I looked around & saw pure joy on their faces, similar to ourselves in '96 & then they spoilt it all by booing Roo, when they've got that dirty dog Gia as their captain atm.

[Spinner]

Clearly we played to a plan like we have all preseason.

Minutes for the kids, set rotations, set positions....No matter what the score.

[SainterK]

Yep, good post

If I based my expecation for season 2009 on playing the Dogs at Visy in the NAB cup last year, well....

[mullet]

And Ross was just pumped all week at the prospect of winning a pre season GF......not

[kalsaint]

Very briefly:

- Bulldogs looked to be giving this game their all, whereas we looked to be going at it about 70%
- a lot of skill errors from our guys, come the first round when there is something to play for I'm sure we'll look better
- Dawson had a bad game, but he is a good player - I don't think last year was a fluke
- Most of our key players have looked good this pre-season, come round one when the best 22 are playing and not fringe players like Gaertner, Peake, etc I think we will see the style of footy we are used to from last year

I'm looking forward to round one, and while it would have been nice to win the NAB Cup it's certainly not the end of the world There's nothing I've seen that I don't think can be fixed by round one.

Generally true with the negatives easily being analysed and converted into positives. I am not sure about round 1 being the time fro reprievals as what I saw tonight needs more time than a couple of training sessions.

There needs a substantial lift in player protection when the Saints have the ball. The usual body contact to ensure effective clearances was missing a bit tonight.

[Milan Faletic]

Yer I get all that but it was still shite to sit there and watch Barry Hall whip the crowd in to a frenzy...practice match or not. 42,000 people there. It felt like there was something to play for. So for tonight, I will feel like crap but tomorrow is a new day....and so is Round 1.

[saintnick12]

Yer I get all that but it was still shite to sit there and watch Barry Hall whip the crowd in to a frenzy...practice match or not. 42,000 people there. It felt like there was something to play for. So for tonight, I will feel like crap but tomorrow is a new day....and so is Round 1.

My sentiments exactly. Its easy to say it didn't mean much and all that, and that we'll be right by round one, but agree it was very annoying being there as all that happened. We pulled the pin once the game was gone and brought off a lot of the better players so the 40pts margin flatters them. Could have won it had we not missed a few crucial goals later in the third (Roo I think missed one and Gram's 9ptr attempt hit the post). I felt like we could have run past them had we hit the front, but it wasn't to be.The "Hall Hysteria" was annoying too. Hope for their sake he doesn't go down injured or reported cos they really have made him the Messiah. Same supporters would have been booing him for years.

As we say, doesn't matter, always round one.

I'm going up for the game, so they better play better than they did tonight...

[SydneySainter]

Meh, all I was hoping for was a good contest and the final margin to be close. But, it turned into a thrashing and call me a sceptic, but I don't believe it's good preparation for Round 1, nor will it do the player's confidence any good.

[S.A Saint]

My thoughts on the game.....well not sure how to take it really...its only the pre season gf but there was 1 a couple of months ago and im hoping that the two wont have any affects on the guys mental state...

skills errors were just terrible...i cant remember them being that bad..simple passes seemed to be missed 70% of the time....still a few players im not sold on i.e peake.....kosi has had a nab cup to forget...dawson isnt 100% mentally or physically right imho.....king needs to be able to actually mark a ball in a contest since he is over 200 and built like a wall...montagna hasnt had the best month in terms of what we saw from him last season....gilbert is being forced onto his right foot more and more often...i think that we are building to hit peak form about the lst 3rd of the season as can be seem by a number of players being rusty with decisions and skills...

the positives for me is that gwilt should be in the 22...the part were he broke the lines in the second quarter i think shows what he is capable of given the chance..also rays ability to mark the ball overhead is second to none....grams looks as though he has picked up were he left of last season...jones will be a star by seasons end...

[saintspremiers]

Let Footscray win a meaningless "Grand Final" as long as they aren't there in September and Hall pisses off I'll be happy.

[emmdee]

well i hope we improve a lot by R1.....saw so many unforced errors/turnovers, was it the pressure (real or percieved) the doggies applied ....hmmmmm. Need to work on clearing the ball from our defensive 50 a lot better, the doggies seemed to do a "Saints job" on us in that area, forced us to kick along the flanks too much. No panic time yet, but look forward to 4 Qtrs of our trademark style come round 1. We know that 2 Qtrs of footy is no where near good enough...... Go Saints 2010