Best: Moloney, Holland, McDonald, Neitz, Robertson, Ward

Nathan Jones - started well and did some nice things, before being consumed in the horrors of the middle two stanzas - 4.5

Ben Holland - the medium of some unfair criticism after the game on this board, I thought Holland was very serviceable. Had a good duel with a very talented player in Koschitzke and tried very hard. Yes, he made some mistakes, but one of few who played to expectation - 6

Brock McLean - did some outstanding things and some uncharacteristically ordinary things before leaving the field with an injured ankle - 4

Matthew Bate - Hard to assess. Got a bit of the ball, presumably in the labyrinthine handball exhanges of the 2nd and 3rd quarters, because he really had no influence. Is a player who doesn't seem to bring his size to the contest, plays as if he is 180cm, not 190cm - 3.5

Brad Miller - Certainly tried hard, but he is - and there is no doubt about this - a limited footballer. St Kilda had a player in front of him for much of the day, meaning he often had to beat two opponents, when one quick close checking foe will usually stifle him. He doesn't deserve the fierce criticism he receives because he is a worker, but while is expected to be the team's fulcrum at CHf he is going to receive it - had no impact and made under 15s mistakes - 2.5

David Neitz - the captain, starved by his team-mates' thirst for indirect handball, was still an effective contributor with three goals...get to him quicker boys!!! - 5.5

Daniel Ward - the one player suited by the handball overuse was Wardy who did try to provide run and did try to use his legs to propel the ball forward. Unfortunately the hallmarks of his routine - the too high kick, the too long kick, the grubber kick and the wobbling kick - all made appearances and thus contrived to reduce what should have been a good game into a mediocre game - 5

Adem Yze - the guillotines are out on 'Ooze' but in reality he was far from our worst player. Yes, he argued too much with the umpire at one stage and may have cost a 50m penalty, and yes he dropped a mongrel kick inside 50, costing us a goal, and yes he overran the ball in the last quarter - a positive error in my opinion, because he was trying to the right thing - but on at least three or four occasions his skill level got the team out of trouble and he used the ball well overall. A mediocre game, but not anywhere near our worst player - 4

Travis Johnstone - Johnstone's game was the souffle that didn't rise on Friday, something about it was nice but really i'd rather it be returned to the kitchen, never to be seen again - 4

Chris Johnson - Of Johnson's first half, the less said the better - it was one of the most dire displays of football invisibility I have seen. He got nowhere near the football and looked very substandard. His second half was much better, he tried to run, create and, better, kick!!! Unfortunately, he was overzealous at times and made some bad mistakes. Has got obvious talent so more exposure at the highest level will help - 3.5

Brad Green - Greeny played a dull game, got a bit of the ball, but had little influence - spent some time in shutdown mode quite effectively, though - 4.5

Clint Bartram - thrown onto Milne after Whelan self-destructed and was run ragged by the Saints crumber. Bartram chased hard and Milne didn’t really hurt us, but Clint had no offensive impact whatsoever - 2.5

Daniel Bell - outclassed by Goddard early and then seemed to retreat into his shell and into pure defensive mode. Was OK in that capacity, but with Wheatley and Bizzell belting the door down for a spot in the side, he needs to do more. Some shambolic kicking also spewed from his instep - 3

Brent Moloney - started extraordinarily well but couldn’t sustain that level of play for long. Still, our best running player - make that, best player. Well-groomed, he sported an extremely efficient mullet - 6.5

James McDonald - prototypical McDonald scrapping, working, harrassing game. Cant fault his game, but you don't admire his play nearly as much when the glitz players don't turn up - 6

Russell Robertson - his mercurial goals kept us in the game and presumably gave his team-mates the hope needed to not completely capitulate. Annoying that he seems to grab a body part after each contest though, but he was one of our best - 5.5

Cameron Bruce - one of the worst games he's played in a long time and he was moronically used, spending vast periods inexplicably minding the anti-dangerous Blake at CHB. Needs to lift several cogs, if the team is to - 3.5

Jeff White - tried very hard and made a goal or two for the team with his endeavor alone, but was bested by his opponent - 5

Aaron Davey - chased hard but his class at ground level was absent and he had no impact offensively. On the back of poor preseason performances, won't be long before the knives our out if displays like this are consistently served up - 3

Mark Jamar - did nothing wrong, but had no influence on the contest - 3

Nathan Carroll - if you are going to present yourself at a game of football looking like that, then by golly you had better perform. Carroll was destroyed by Gehrig and is an embarrassment to the football club in his current disguise. That bouffant may help him at Revolver, a reported haunt, but he will disappear into the obscurity of a footballing joke if his play continues to be as bad as his hair - 2.5

Matthew Whelan - started well, but left the field after Ball headbutted his shoulder, a costly waste - 3

I like these, and I did one privately and for the most part we agreed. But I thought with the exception of one player you were very kind to your demons...

The only 6 I could find out of all of it was Beamer. Everyone else scored lower.

You were harsh on Bell who I thought tried pretty hard and deserved maybe one notch higher. He can't help it if Goddard is much taller than him. And he found himself playing on Kosi at one stage. Surely it was never going to be his day.

I thought Carroll had a horror match but could/should have had double the amount of goals kicked on him considering the lack of help from fellow KP defenders and small defenders, and the fact that he had 20 more inside fifties than they had to repel. Fair enough to give him a low score, but I couldn't bring myself to. It wasn't all his fault.

You can't give wrecker a 3. A shameless 1, or 0.5 is all you get when you take no part in the game, surely.

You were kind to Jamar.

Davey was just about WOG. I gave him 1, and I don't think I ever have given a 1 to a guy who's played a whole game.

You were kind to Brock too. He had only a handful of effective touches to half time, then was forced to pack it in. Again, not his fault, but he really was a nothing factor except for a couple of clearances. Poor bloke.

You make several valid points...unfortunately a horrendous display form Nicholson in the ruck a few years ago against the Dogs mean i am reluctant to go too low. Davey laid 5 tackles so he wasnt to bad - 1 in attacking sense but i raise because of his chasing. Im a bit rusty with the ratings, im back after a year out with an ACL so they will be improve as the year goes on.

You'll be given a couple of weeks to get some match fitness, but I'll be watching. At the moment I'm in the VFL and I'm knocking on the door. This ratings thread is a hard team to break into...

very harsh on carroll i thought.... he was left one out on so many occassions and yet at the other end, we would have died for a one on one opportunity with neita!!

he also got nabbed by the umpires for........