6 hours ago, Bitter but optimistic said:

I'm not confident but I'm with you skinny.

We haven't beaten this mob since I was free of tinea. If we are to demonstrate the improvement that has been touted so widely, then this is  one of the teams we must knock over.

I also imagine  a win in this one would blast the [censored] out of our membership numbers.

So go and get the Tinea back Man!  It's clearly the reason we've been losing! 

Just reduce the damn turnovers at half forward. If any side knows how to punish us going the other way, it's the Saints at Etihad. 

They're a good side but they're not the St Kilda Globetrotters that we always seem to make them look like.

We've started the last couple of games against them pretty well, but then had woeful 2nd quarters and allowed a rush of goals. After that we're chasing all game.

Something about the ground and the Saints seems to make our players drop their heads very quickly. Need to make it a tight tussle, stick with them to give us a chance to pinch it. Close the match down for a period if it looks like they are getting a run on.

 

But after so many miserable trips to Etihad I'm anything but confident...

5 hours ago, P-man said:

They're a good side but they're not the St Kilda Globetrotters that we always seem to make them look like.

Hear, hear. To read the comments here, you'd think they are an invincible machine who have won the last 8 flags.

Yes, our record against them is poor. But they lost 10 times last year including to Port & Suns, broke North's long losing streak and finished with percentage of 95.

8 hours ago, DemonAndrew said:

My biggest concern is turnovers and getting hit on the rebound.

Saints' skill looks good and I rate their mids highly.

We are a side who want to play contested football, and I worry about their speed of transition.

It's a massive game for both sides to kickstart the season. Could be a genuine classic '8-pointer'.

Saints turned the ball just as much as we did on the weekend 

16 hours ago, Robot Devil said:

Regardless of the criticism on here  of Oscar. He is generally a reliable kick.

Well s lot better then his brother anyway 

18 minutes ago, Unleash Hell said:

Regardless of the criticism on here  of Oscar. He is generally a reliable kick.

Well s lot better then his brother anyway 

A lot better than his brother makes him an average kick at best.

 

Nah jokes. They're both great. Love em.

When it comes down to it I rate St Kilda pretty much spot on level with us. Given we play them twice, to borrow the phrase from the basketball, I'd want at least to 'split the season series' against them. So that means as much as I want to win round 1,If we dont, we will still have another shot at them at the G. So much is being put in to this round 1 clash. As long as its close i dont think the result matters all that much to us. If we get blown out then it might be panic stations but as long as its pretty close win or loss we will still be set up well for the long year 

Lose round 2? then is time to panic. 

I just wish for one game, Tom and Oscar were made to play on one opponent for the entire night. 

 

 

Saint Kilda Shmaint Milda, enough talking them up already, we'll smash them.

Edited March 13, 20178 yr by Ethan Tremblay
And rub Reiwoldt's rude head into Etihad's turf.

45 minutes ago, stevethemanjordan said:

I just wish for one game, Tom and Oscar were made to play on one opponent for the entire night. 

 

 

How come?

48 minutes ago, Ethan Tremblay said:

Saint Kilda Shmaint Milda, enough talking them up already, we'll smash them.

seriously? I can't see it happening.. our backs are too slow and poor by foot. their pressure will kill us. Carlton & Essendon on the other hand..

The answer to the Weideman/Spencer debate is neither. Weideman will eventually be a very good player but isn't there yet. And we shouldn't every play two ruckmen given the influence Gawn has in the ruck. Either pick Pedersen or play small.

6 minutes ago, Nasher said:

How come?

Because I think they're better one-on-one players than zone defenders.

50 minutes ago, Ethan Tremblay said:

Saint Kilda Shmaint Milda, enough talking them up already, we'll smash them.

seriously? I can't see it happening.. our backs are too slow and poor by foot. their pressure will kill us. Carlton & Essendon on the other hand..

24 minutes ago, Fat Tony said:

The answer to the Weideman/Spencer debate is neither. Weideman will eventually be a very good player but isn't there yet. And we shouldn't every play two ruckmen given the influence Gawn has in the ruck. Either pick Pedersen or play small.

I agree. It worked somewhat in the JLT when players weren't running at 100% or tagging certain players. Playing Spencer in the proper season will kill us, we need the extra run.

I know it is a bit early in the season to say it is an 8pt game. 

If, as most people think, the saints are the team we are fighting with to get a finals spot (somewhere in the 8) then both our games vs StK are 8pt games. 

So for mine, this is a 'must win' game on our road to finals, this year. 

1 hour ago, stevethemanjordan said:

I just wish for one game, Tom and Oscar were made to play on one opponent for the entire night. 

 

 

This would please me no end given Reiwoldt always has a picnic when playing the Dees. If T Mac wears Reiwoldt then we are half way to winning game. If he plays that free wheeling rebound unaccountable garbage and Aints win out of the centre we are half way cactus!! IMV

19 minutes ago, Ethan Tremblay said:

I agree. It worked somewhat in the JLT when players weren't running at 100% or tagging certain players. Playing Spencer in the proper season will kill us, we need the extra run.

Especially at Docklands

17 minutes ago, Lucifer's Hero said:

I know it is a bit early in the season to say it is an 8pt game. 

If, as most people think, the saints are the team we are fighting with to get a finals spot (somewhere in the 8) then both our games vs StK are 8pt games. 

So for mine, this is a 'must win' game on our road to finals, this year. 

Of course it would be nice/ideal to get a win but it's not season over if we lose. 

Saints are ahead of us IMO and at Etihad where we play so poorly and they play so well this is one of the biggest challenges we could hope for short of facing the Dogs at this ground or Cats in Geelong. 

This may sound like a cop out but I know we have the team to do it, particularly if we get back Kent and/or Garlett, but there is definitely something about the saints that is just gnawing in the back of our minds. 

Bookies have us ahead, I have no idea why. But if we tidy up our stupid errors from Perth and make good use of our forward entries, it's there for us. I really hope the saints players come in with a smug "relax we've got this" mentality, I feel like it's that mentality that's cost us against them so many times. 

38 minutes ago, stevethemanjordan said:

Because I think they're better one-on-one players than zone defenders.

What comes first game plan or list?

I think you need to prepare for more disappointment.  Dunn is off the list because he couldn't play zone.

7 hours ago, RalphiusMaximus said:

So go and get the Tinea back Man!  It's clearly the reason we've been losing! 

Hey, Bitter, want some tinea? I got pleanty to spare...

19 hours ago, Deespicable said:

Finally the real stuff is almost with us and anyone who watched the Saints take on Sydney last night would know that our Rd 1 mission is going to be major.

You're a thoughtful poster and I rate your work.

I tend to agree with you - Spencer and Watts in and Weed out, but how we got to here has sparked a bit of concern - that's another story.

Where I disagree with you ...

Naming man-on-man match ups is at best pointless because we don't play that way.  

We have a new coach and a young team, therefore the pre-season is for playing and practicing the game plan.  We didn't try a structure with a hard tag and I don't think we'll tag Riewoldt or Steven.  We'll go head to head.  Bernie played in the back-line and it's not a stable line-up there anyway so he should play there.  Same for Melksham, you have him forward but he played back all JLT.

The JLT set-up is why I think Spencer will play and Weed probably has to give way for Watts to give us more forward defence, yes I acknowledge Watts is not the strongest in this area either and I think we'll need to play a defensive specialist forward - I note that for various reasons Jetta is out of fashion in the back-line, but with our small forward woes I think he could be considered a a defensive small forward, but we didn't try that in the JLT so it won't happen.

Put it this way - if we try something majorly different from the JLT I'll be alarmed.

Edited March 13, 20178 yr by Fifty-5

15 hours ago, RalphiusMaximus said:

I think we need to accept that we're going to lose this one. The Saints at Etihad is our worst possible opponent. There is no combination of opponent and venue we are as bad against, including Geelong in Geelong. I don't care what the bookies say, we're no chance.

I don't understand this. Why would you go to the footy if you accept that we are going to lose and we are no chance ? I would rather stay home and snore on the couch.

I acknowledge that this will be a hard game but I am delusional enough to believe that we can win every game we play as long as we play to the best of our ability. Basically, the games where we don't play to the best of our ability are the ones we lose.