1st quarter was sensational by Pies

[plugger66]

every one said we were thrashed by the pies but look again.

we played badly, and had I think few less shots at goal than them.

also they had their most accurate game of the season that day.

15.10 to 6.16...


we are a lot tighter than then, and they are still at the same level as then.

I say we can take a lot of that game.

Also watching the cats, they were arrogant in the first quarter/half. They just expected the pies to roll over and they didn't.

We wont (I hope) make the same mistake.

ANd we are the fittest side in the competition, Geelong were running harder in the 3rd and 4 th quarters.

We can hold the pies and counter strike.

Our biggest weakness, is similar to the pies, we don't shoot as accurately as we could.

I dont know why people bother about a game 9 weeks ago. The pies are by far and away the form side now but we can beat them if we meet them but there is nothing wrong in a Saints supporter acknowledging that if the pies are allowed to play at their best they beat us. We need to play a slow possession game and we can stop them playing at their best. The GF isnt over but even if we win comfortably tonight the pies are rightly GF favourites. However no fat lady has sung yet.

[gringo]

The cats looked tired but I am a lot more nervous than at 5 o'clock yesterday.

[St. Luke]

I think we can all afford to feel nervous. A big game presents itself tonight and the winner of that will be taking on a quality outfit. Luckily that team sitting in the GF atm will have its work cut out to win it! I wonder if the Pies actually realize they have to play another game!

[SaintWal]

I will rehash two of my past posts. We can definitely win.

The pies are good, no doubt, but Geelong are a shadow of where they were.

Where we are different. We are totally accountable. geelong were not. We play for each other. Geelong were, they were not last night. Easy to pick now but Ablett gave a handball and ran off to space in the first quarter leaving the ball receiver open to gettackled. Lenny or our on ballers would have given the handball and then tried to protect our ball carrier.

Make no mistake. Geelong lost this game in their minds. We won't.

How to Win

The very first Geelong kick in dictated last nights game. Geelong were jittery kicking in. I said to my wife, "you watch they will bomb it to the boundary and the Pies will do everthing they can to get it over the boundary so they can set up". They did and they won the clearance and scored.

The pies, and I don't have stats to support, love to force a ball in on their 50, they then trust their ability to win the ball in or ball up and get the next score. The result for them is that they cannot go back into the middle and hence their kicking efficiency is shocking however pure amount of turnovers does succeed in general. They set up with two lines about ten metres either side of the centre square and others are wider. From what I see there are only two left to guard the middle. One at traditional CHF and the other, generally Maxwell in the centre. The key IMO is to drag them wider than just the flanks but actually come down the guts at all opportunities. This will only work for a short time but it should also put strategy one of the Pies into disarray. The keys will be the kicking out, definitely BJ, and the guys to get the kickout from BJ, Roo would have to act as a decoy as he will take most of the attention so Kosi and big MC/ Gardi would have to be the work horses.

[InkerSaint]

Forgotten who invented 'forward pressure' footy? Remember where we finished on the ladder last year? We broke nearly every record in the book for a H&A season...Pies may have replicated our best for a quarter, what does that prove? Not sure I get the point.

Anyone who suggests otherwise should be cast into oblivion!

I quote one Mr. Neil Craig, whose team we coralled inside their back 50 for an entire quarter last year.

"We had to get our hands on the footy, just to find out if it was a Sherrin or a Faulkner"

Ross has the game plan, the weapons, and the buy-in. Did last year - still does this year. He's a smart coach, and I back him to have a plan for every contingency.

[SainterK]

Anyone else surprised with how much ease the Pies applied scoreboard pressure in the first, not so much the opportunities, but the accuracy they suddenly had.

I mean, look at how Leigh Browns ball bounced through

[chook23]

Anyone else surprised with how much ease the Pies applied scoreboard pressure in the first, not so much the opportunities, but the accuracy they suddenly had.

I mean, look at how Leigh Browns ball bounced through

maybe this explains that ease

Afterwards Mark Thompson conceded his side must now find a new way forward after confronting a formidable side playing a brand of football previously unseen.

''Collingwood is a new super team,'' Thompson said. ''It's a brand of footy that has come from nowhere.''

Cats fullback Matthew Scarlett could only agree, admitting he had never witnessed such pressure: ''I have never seen a side swarm you like that. I have never seen anything like it.''

[SainterK]

Anyone else surprised with how much ease the Pies applied scoreboard pressure in the first, not so much the opportunities, but the accuracy they suddenly had.

I mean, look at how Leigh Browns ball bounced through

maybe this explains that ease

Afterwards Mark Thompson conceded his side must now find a new way forward after confronting a formidable side playing a brand of football previously unseen.

''Collingwood is a new super team,'' Thompson said. ''It's a brand of footy that has come from nowhere.''

Cats fullback Matthew Scarlett could only agree, admitting he had never witnessed such pressure: ''I have never seen a side swarm you like that. I have never seen anything like it.''

I get all that chook23, they just kicked SO accurately in the first, quite unsual even for them.

[saintly]

Hate to say it but the 1st quarter was super team footy......

played like starving animals feeding on helpless prey....

Taken our foward press to another level....

hope we can get to that level against doogies and again next week

must admit a bit flat after watching that awesome display.........

asM.Thompson just said where did that super style of football come from!!
the next phase of footy.

yeah feel the same!. if we wn tonight, am not looking forward to playing collingwood, especially since we lost last time by a big margin!

[spert]

The Pies played with loads of enthusiasm against a team who have had self-doubts since we beat them, plus the spectre of Ablett leaving the club..they are a shadow of the Cats from last year

[Thinline]

The Pies played with loads of enthusiasm against a team who have had self-doubts since we beat them, plus the spectre of Ablett leaving the club..they are a shadow of the Cats from last year

It's a fair point.

I was just amazed at some really paltry efforts at the hard ball by the Cats.

There was definitely an air of expectation about the way they played. Ie 'we expect that things will just happen'.