22 hours ago, spirit of norm smith said:

AFL WEBSITE - 

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

“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.”

Wow. We know we’re a top team when we beat up the opposition by 6 goals and they get all the praise. 

Interesting take from the AFL website, winning a second half by two goals is hardly convincing. Particularly as it was mainly done in the 3rd quarter and really at no stage were they truly in with a sniff. 

Seems like they’re trying to find a positive out of a loss that shows they are still fairly off the pace. 

Jones hit Oliver high. Regardless of how hard he hit him, Clarry made sure we got a 50m and that is a professional thing to do.

He didn't duck, he didn't drop his knees, he took a hit and the only [censored] in this scenario is Jones.

16 minutes ago, Jaded No More said:

Jones hit Oliver high. Regardless of how hard he hit him, Clarry made sure we got a 50m and that is a professional thing to do.

He didn't duck, he didn't drop his knees, he took a hit and the only [censored] in this scenario is Jones.

I don't know how viewers can be so sure that someone has taken a dive unless there is a clear delay in responding.  And I don't see why a player is expected to resist a blow outside of play which in play, they have to try to resist. 

36 minutes ago, Pates said:

Interesting take from the AFL website, winning a second half by two goals is hardly convincing. Particularly as it was mainly done in the 3rd quarter and really at no stage were they truly in with a sniff. 

Seems like they’re trying to find a positive out of a loss that shows they are still fairly off the pace. 

but they didn't win the 2nd half, we did. check the scores

7 minutes ago, daisycutter said:

but they didn't win the 2nd half, we did. check the scores

Apparently losing to Melbourne is a win now. 

15 minutes ago, daisycutter said:

but they didn't win the 2nd half, we did. check the scores

Exactly. We kicked 5.6, they kicked 5.3.

2 hours ago, Pates said:

Interesting take from the AFL website, winning a second half by two goals is hardly convincing. Particularly as it was mainly done in the 3rd quarter and really at no stage were they truly in with a sniff. 

Seems like they’re trying to find a positive out of a loss that shows they are still fairly off the pace. 

3rd qtr they only scored 2 goals to our 1. They did have a lot of the play though

56 minutes ago, jnrmac said:

3rd qtr they only scored 2 goals to our 1. They did have a lot of the play though

It’s funny my memory had them put on three for the third quarter, but yeah I’m not sure what point the AFL website are trying to make. We lost one quarter to them, the third, by one goal. If that’s a win for the saints then good luck to them. 

What with Mothers Day and other celebrations have just watched the replay :

Kozzie could have won the game in the first quarter

Ryder is a good match up for Gawn

TMc looked like a champion (which is a worry for ST Kilda)

Fritta had another lucklustre game

Jordon not noticed then everywhere

Jay and Zac don't like each other

Charlie Spargo

Backs played very high up the ground, hence goals to Rivers and Brayshaw

Commentators comdey hats were well and truly on by implying that the Saints losing by only 38 points was a win.  (Shades of NZ 'winning' the 2010 World Cup.)

This time we kicked the goals in junk time.

Just watched the replay.

Saints were good. Which makes this win really good.

They brought heat and we spent fair chunks of the game under pressure. To kick 9 of the first 10 goals against a side that isn't rolling over is no mean feat.

They got some momentum in the third but as is common with us these days, and other than the Dogs game in Round 1, we minimise the damage done from opposition momentum and then capitalise when they inevitably waver.

May is unbelievable but I was really impressed with Brayshaw's game. Blending defence with attack perfectly.

1 hour ago, Pates said:

It’s funny my memory had them put on three for the third quarter, but yeah I’m not sure what point the AFL website are trying to make. We lost one quarter to them, the third, by one goal. If that’s a win for the saints then good luck to them. 

And their full-time score was still less than our halftime score.

I am loving the way that we are controlling games this season and this latest game was a great example of that. The Saints were talked up as our first big challenge of the season as they were sitting in the top 4 and were the highest ranked team we had so far faced. 

Add to that the fact that we needed the win on Sunday to retain the No. ! position on the ladder a game clear of second and there was a bit of pressure.

No worries.

The team played the first half as good as you could wish. The defence stood tall once again with a lot of pressure all over the ground to ensure that the challenge did not gain any breathing space. Job done by half time and then the team went into cruise mode and carried the game to its conclusion with a few late goals to add a bit of cream.

A few observations:

The spirit and character of this team (including the whole of the list) is remarkable. There do not seem to be any egos straining at the leash. The players are playing unselfish, supportive footy but with a hard edge to the opposition. Credit to the coaches and support people for generating this environment.

Great game by Brayshaw. One of his best. He is making the defensive 50 very crowded for talent and it will be interesting to see what the situation is once Salem is back and in form.

Good response to last week's game by Langdon. I just shake my head at his endurance and his awareness of where to run to advantage. I am not sure that is something you can coach into someone but, if I was a young winger I would study his game closely and try to emulate it.

Oliver and Petracca double act was on song again during this game. A huge amount of disposals each for them and yet, IMO, they were outshone by the games of a winger and a HBF. 

Max was down with an injury during the game but still managed to be effective sitting forward.

The forward 50 team looked good to me. all worked hard, not just to kick a winning score but also to defend the 50m zone in attack and to do the defensive job further up the ground as required. Such a strength in the team structure.

Last week I observed that we looked to be crowding the contest too much and I took note of this element in the Saints game. we looked much more controlled in this area during this game. 1 or 2 at the contest as required with a couple more outside the contest looking to go if required. Very good.

This week the West Coast game. given the present situation, I believe this is a game we would win 19 times out of 20 so I am pretty confident. The main thing that gives me confidence is the club attitude that no matter what the situation is game to game, we will control the things we can control and accept the things that we cannot have any influence on.

Go Dees!