Awesome first half burst. Won on the inside and the outside. At times the kicking was amazing.

The good: May, what can you say. Best player on the league at the moment.

Brown. Such a handful for opposition. Always brings ball to ground. 

The bad: Our rucks. Max seemed to get injured in the second quarter. Jacko was beaten by two good rucks.

The ugly. WTF was Zac Jones trying to prove ironing out Angdon and elbowing Clarry. Ridiculous 

Kind of crazy to watch First Crack and look at Kingy's "Top 5". Four of the top five players in the league at the moment according to him play for us: Trac, Clarry, Gawn and May. Cripps is deservedly  at 1. 

Before you say "It's just Kingy!"- Ross Lyon rattled off the exact same names in the exact same discussion last Sunday on Triple M.

Unprecedented times we are living in. Make the most of them. 

Edited May 8, 20222 yr by Bang Bang Bang

Thought it was a brilliant move to play Gus on Hill. Gus ran around by himself for almost 4 quarters, exploited Hill's unaccountability. I think Gus at half back is working so well it may change the way Salem plays when he comes back. Or Hunt goes out and we lose a bit of pace back there.

Our mob completely outclassed Ratten and co in the coaches box though. Some really bizarre coaching from St Kilda. Sure, they only brought a quarter and a half of pressure, but Hill at half back, no real moves with King to play him up the ground or into the ruck to get him involved. We didn't allow him to jump, but surely the coaching instruction needed to be don't grapple with May. Lead up to CHF.

I went with a St Kilda mate who was pulling his hair out at the coaching and the St Kilda play in general. It was interesting to hear someone be so critical of their team as I am watching us live. But he was right. They were dreadful in the first half. It really was training drill type stuff for us. The lack of accountability, intensity and intent was marked.

I actually thought St Kilda's first half was as bad as we were in the Neeld years. Truly insipid. Guys not chasing, us easily breaking tackles, no blocks being put on, rushed disposal under little pressure etc. Then you could see their energy in the third quarter. We were fumbly all day, but we fumbled more when their pressure came across our half back line in that third. Fortunately, they missed some very gettable shots.

I suspect our set up behind the ball simply spooked St Kilda who repeatedly slammed it on the boot from the contest and the slingshot situation, to our set up behind the ball in the first half. Gresham was a major culprit. Given this it was weird to note late in the last, they'd had more intercept possessions than us.

It's great leaving a game and going 'we can play so much better but we just beat someone who was in the top 4 at the start of the round by 6+ goals, and we're on top'. Incredible time to be alive.

Edited May 8, 20222 yr by A F

One of the “symptoms” of how we’re travelling is that we have the best full back in the league and we’re barely talking about it. I’d say Steven May is in even better form than last year. He’s just an absolute monster. Obviously he’s fast, strong and tough, but he’s also smart and skilled. For the number of contests he gets in, he hardly ever gives away a free kick. 

I’m seriously in awe.

1 hour ago, The heart beats true said:

I just watched the replay and aside from the fact we are a very good side I love seeing Jack Viney play footy these days. He’s very comfortable with his role, and he seems genuinely happy and relaxed on field. It’s so great to see after what he’s been through. 

Great observation! I think his greatest issue of the past was trying to do much, but that’s Jack. Champion player. 
 

His playing within his means and does more with less. 

3 hours ago, Engorged Onion said:

I've got the latent Herpes inside me   (see previous posts to make sense).... but in today's match I seriously felt - as per all the others this season- we seriously toy, if not, put the cue in the rack, against teams in the latter half of the match,

 

9. St Kilda's second half against Melbourne was the real deal

Despite losing by 38 points, the Saints should be heartened by their effort against the reigning premiers. After trailing by nine goals to one, the Saints restricted the Dees to just five more goals for the game, while adding seven of their own. Against Melbourne’s much-vaunted midfield, St Kilda had more hitouts (31-25), clearances (30-29) and stoppage clearances (19-14). Melbourne was able to kick eight goals from stoppage, whereas St Kilda managed just two. And, the Saints will rue their efficiency inside 50, which was 36.4 percent, down on their season average of 50.7.

 

This is from the AFL website...I had a big big chuckle.... Now I am not up in arms about how they choose to massage narratives for a larger agenda, but jeez, we're [censored] toying with teams.

Personally I think it's to do with management of load, even within matches, rather than us not putting the foot on the throat, or not being ruthless...or whatever superficial cliche you can throw at us , when we want our team to overtly dominate our direct competitors in the top 4/8

I reckon there has to be something in our approach to our loads and how we play in the H and A. It seems  we have no interest in burying teams because it’s not worth the potential injury / exhaustion for a couple of %. If we get the Ws with 4-6 goal margins the overall % takes care of itself. 

It allows us to switch on the nitrous oxide in the finals without cracking the head gasket. 

 

41 minutes ago, A F said:

Thought it was a brilliant move to play Gus on Hill. Gus ran around by himself for almost 4 quarters, exploited Hill's unaccountability. I think Gus at half back is working so well it may change the way Salem plays when he comes back. Or Hunt goes out and we lose a bit of pace back there.

 

 

45 minutes ago, A F said:

Thought it was a brilliant move to play Gus on Hill. Gus ran around by himself for almost 4 quarters, exploited Hill's unaccountability. I think Gus at half back is working so well it may change the way Salem plays when he comes back. Or Hunt goes out and we lose a bit of pace back there.

Our mob completely outclassed Ratten and co in the coaches box though. Some really bizarre coaching from St Kilda. Sure, they only brought a quarter and a half of pressure, but Hill at half back, no real moves with King to play him up the ground or into the ruck to get him involved. We didn't allow him to jump, but surely the coaching instruction needed to be don't grapple with May. Lead up to CHF.

I went with a St Kilda mate who was pulling his hair out at the coaching and the St Kilda play in general. It was interesting to hear someone be so critical of their team as I am watching us live. But he was right. They were dreadful in the first half. It really was training drill type stuff for us. The lack of accountability, intensity and intent was marked.

I actually thought St Kilda's first half was as bad as we were in the Neeld years. Truly insipid. Guys not chasing, us easily breaking tackles, no blocks being put on, rushed disposal under little pressure etc. Then you could see their energy in the third quarter. We were fumbly all day, but we fumbled more when their pressure came across our half back line in that third. Fortunately, they missed some very gettable shots.

Looked like a lot of Bowey on Hill early to me, but they certainly mixed and matched. Without any drive from half back and with no space to work with across half forward Hill was never going to find the space he needs. I thought the Saints did a good job sending a half forward high in the second half, combining with Hill's run from behind and caught Brayshaw in no mans land. Even overlapped Langdon as well with precise kicking too. 

I'm not sure King getting up outside 50 really is the answer. He isn't great on the lead and that relies on space to lead in to anyway. With no bounce from half back there's nothing to lead in to. He came up the ground only to face more defenders and/or pressure on the Saints creating awful kicks that May read earlier and marked. King is a great high mark and otherwise an ordinary forward. He still plays like the kid in juniors who was a foot taller than everyone. I'm not sure a coach is going to fix that through role. He needs strength in the gym, hours of body work and then to watch a lot of CHF film to work on leading patterns. They aren't risking him in the ruck either.

The Saints weren't great in the first half but it wasn't anything close to Neeld like. The first quarter we ground out 4 goals that we worked pretty hard for with broken pieces of play. Meanwhile they butchered their few chances. We certainly didn't have a lot of flow and it could've been a 3 goals to 2 kind of quarter. Kossie took 2 of his chances, Membrey kicked in to the man on the mark. 

Second quarter we had that patch where everything clicked. They'd be pretty annoyed about the big guys snapping goals but every side has a patch in a game where things go for or against. They rallied late in the second. 

I thought their adjustments after half time were excellent. Hill went back. Half forwards pressed super high and they ran the ball and used it short, took what they could get and they created chances. Teams are going to flood the midfield, run off Lever and Brayshaw, stretch us with width and it's certainly the best plan. Maybe they could've done it more earlier but it's hard to engineer extra numbers in the middle of the ground and use the ball well when the game is hot early.

They got the game on their terms for most of the second half. It's just the terms were they were going to switch it, share it around a lot and rely on either precision kicks or little dumps going to 40 out to get scoring chances. And it wasn't going to be direct or fast. But they still did what they had to do to at least get back in it. We did what we had to do to keep our margin which was to retain possession and not be worried about their numbers switching and flooding around the middle and do what we needed to do to stop them getting out the back or up the middle.

 

2 hours ago, dazzledavey36 said:

........

Hunt: Time to start recognising this bloke on what a wonderful negating player he is. Completely shut down Shai Bolton few weeks back and then destroyed Jack Higgins today who's been in rare form. Important cog to our backline........

Good point Dazzle. Great to see his role being recognised for what it is - defence first, not the run & carry of his early years.

In Goodwin's post-match presser he confirmed that Hunt had been trained for the small forward defence. I'd never have thought he'd be a likely candidate but he's taken on Nev's old job & he's making a fine fist of it to date.

14 hours ago, dees189227 said:

Can I say I don't mind the 1:10 game. You leave in the day and I got home at 4:30. I like it. 

There were plenty of saints fans in the MCC today. They were ok, but when the saints got a little bit of a roll on they certainly became louder. 

 most gave Oliver BOG today but I thought Angus and Ed were much more influential. Brayshaw was brilliant. 

Harmes in my view in the top 3 never stopped running never stopped tackling and presenting 

Best game i have seen from  him this year

Seriously underrated

9 hours ago, Nasher said:

One of the “symptoms” of how we’re travelling is that we have the best full back in the league and we’re barely talking about it. I’d say Steven May is in even better form than last year. He’s just an absolute monster. Obviously he’s fast, strong and tough, but he’s also smart and skilled. For the number of contests he gets in, he hardly ever gives away a free kick. 

I’m seriously in awe.

He is that far ahead of all other defenders this year it’s a joke he isn’t being spoken about more. 
It is truly a pleasure to watch this man play live.

My favourite thing about watching him live is his leadership. He often calls the backs together for a chat after we concede a goal and calmly (well not really, it is May after all) talks them through positioning. 
Has held up the backline superbly with the continuous disruptions down there due to injuries and Covid. Just a gun. 
 

Second best thing about yesterday, win aside, was Trac coming to the bench in the second quarter, massive smile on his face, woo-hooing. It’s so nice to see how happy our team is. They worked so hard to be in a position to enjoy their footy and it’s only making them better. 

The Saints were not that bad in the first half - their pressure was up, they were trying to move the footy through the corridor - we were so up and about with our own pressure and execution both on turnover and in the middle meant strangulation and then evisceration. 

It’s a deadly mix and that is the first evidence this year that we have one hand on the cup. Won’t know about the second until later in the year against Brisbane but our best makes very good teams look mediocre.

2 minutes ago, rpfc said:

The Saints were not that bad in the first half - their pressure was up, they were trying to move the footy through the corridor - we were so up and about with our own pressure and execution both on turnover and in the middle meant strangulation and then evisceration. 

It’s a deadly mix and that is the first evidence this year that we have one hand on the cup. Won’t know about the second until later in the year against Brisbane but our best makes very good teams look mediocre.

Freo game will tell us more than the Brisbane game IMO as Freo play a very similar game style to us. 
Brisbane is a totally different team although a much more talented one than Freo on paper. 

10 hours ago, Bang Bang Bang said:

Kind of crazy to watch First Crack and look at Kingy's "Top 5". Four of the top five players in the league at the moment according to him play for us: Trac, Clarry, Gawn and May. Cripps is deservedly  at 1. 

Before you say "It's just Kingy!"- Ross Lyon rattled off the exact same names in the exact same discussion last Sunday on Triple M.

Unprecedented times we are living in. Make the most of them. 

Whenever ive seen Ross Lyon do a matchup analysis of our games on Footy Classified, in all of last years finals and this week v stkilda  , he's always tipped our opponents and said: "I think they can get it done" 

Edited May 8, 20222 yr by John Demonic

4 minutes ago, rpfc said:

The Saints were not that bad in the first half - their pressure was up, they were trying to move the footy through the corridor - we were so up and about with our own pressure and execution both on turnover and in the middle meant strangulation and then evisceration. 

It’s a deadly mix and that is the first evidence this year that we have one hand on the cup. Won’t know about the second until later in the year against Brisbane but our best makes very good teams look mediocre.

Going on Goody's presser, your eye test got a big tick of approval.

Goody made a point of noting our forward pressure was better, implying it wasn't where it needed to be.

On a related note, I am loving Goody's post match pressers this season

He is really honest, happy to be himself and often gives real insight into tactical and other related elements of our game.

And can someone please get Clarry a shirt.

25 minutes ago, Jaded No More said:

Freo game will tell us more than the Brisbane game IMO as Freo play a very similar game style to us. 
Brisbane is a totally different team although a much more talented one than Freo on paper. 

he's as relevant as Mick Malthouse and Kevin Sheedy. Not worth watching.

Max playing sore,wonder if they will rest him this week and perhaps the week after as well

11 hours ago, dee-tox said:

Awesome first half burst. Won on the inside and the outside. At times the kicking was amazing.

The good: May, what can you say. Best player on the league at the moment.

Brown. Such a handful for opposition. Always brings ball to ground. 

The bad: Our rucks. Max seemed to get injured in the second quarter. Jacko was beaten by two good rucks.

The ugly. WTF was Zac Jones trying to prove ironing out Angdon and elbowing Clarry. Ridiculous 

Reports ??

9 hours ago, Go the Biff said:

Good point Dazzle. Great to see his role being recognised for what it is - defence first, not the run & carry of his early years.

In Goodwin's post-match presser he confirmed that Hunt had been trained for the small forward defence. I'd never have thought he'd be a likely candidate but he's taken on Nev's old job & he's making a fine fist of it to date.

So where does Salem fit into the mould.

Just my 2c on the whole Zac Jones/Langdon/Clarry incident. Firstly Jones should be reported for tunnelling, it’s an incredibly dangerous action as the victim has no control over himself so he could’ve landed on his neck/shoulder/or anything and done real damaged. The umpire should have got in straight away and awarded 50 as well. 

The Clarry side of things, I love the bloke and I’ve defended him in the past for “flopping” but it’s becoming way to ingrained in the way he plays. Jones got him below the neck, stay up and fly the flag, don’t go down. 

As for Jones, as I said he should be suspended for his tunnelling. Dangerous and stupid. 

54 minutes ago, Jaded No More said:

Freo game will tell us more than the Brisbane game IMO as Freo play a very similar game style to us. 
Brisbane is a totally different team although a much more talented one than Freo on paper. 

I could be wrong and I have been in the past - but in my experience when the apprentice come up against the master they will take some time to overcome because the master has seen more tactical shifts to overcome their own system and can employ them easily against the apprentice. Also Freos midfield is nowhere near Brisbanes and ours. Apologies to Brayshaw.

I see Brisbane as the biggest challenger.

51 minutes ago, binman said:

Going on Goody's presser, your eye test got a big tick of approval.

Goody made a point of noting our forward pressure was better, implying it wasn't where it needed to be.

On a related note, I am loving Goody's post match pressers this season

He is really honest, happy to be himself and often gives real insight into tactical and other related elements of our game.

Once you get past the monotone there is something of substance in what he repeats.

12 hours ago, The heart beats true said:

I just watched the replay and aside from the fact we are a very good side I love seeing Jack Viney play footy these days. He’s very comfortable with his role, and he seems genuinely happy and relaxed on field. It’s so great to see after what he’s been through. 

Agreed.

And he's regularly getting amoung the goals too.

Hearing Max and Goody talk post premership, it's pretty clear that the regards with which Jack was held within the team differed substantially from those of us supporters on the outer and that his personal leadership and relentless drive for competitiveness and setting high standards was super important to our sucess.  Now that has been widely  acknowledged and with the proof in the pudding of the premership, he can just go about being himself and not be criticized externally for it.

4 minutes ago, rpfc said:

Once you get past the monotone there is something of substance in what he repeats.

...and repeats and repeats and repeats.

It took me a little to warm to Goody's pressers, but he still won me over fairly early.

You can see why the players love him and respond to him.

So much consistency and simplicity in his messages.

aints came at us, trying multiple different 'styles' of footy to find a way to beat us

all failed

i love how organised we are

the aints tried to go head 2 head against our midfield and were shown to be short of the required application and skill

i see them as a bit like us in 2017, albeit quite a bit older and experienced - they should make finals in 2022 but their skills and consistency of defensive application let them down