Expected score tonight was 

Stk 69

Melb 60

Happy to win but tells a bit of a tale 

Went to the game tonight, I actually don’t mind Marvel like everyone else seems to. It’s definitely not as good as the G but it’s always pretty easy to get to on the train and a solid spot to watch a game of footy. 30k was a pretty good turn out, even if we were outnumbered.

Was just a “so-so” win at best, but also no worse than our win over them in 2021. And the 4 points were as crucial as they’ll be all season. Puts us in a very good position now. 

May was masterful, it looked like maybe age was finally catching up to him, but now… perhaps not? We will be in every game of footy as long as May is fit and in form. Beast.

Goody will probably be pleased with how the midget forward line worked in tandem. I thought Melksham was very good, Trac was clinical and BB tried hard and did enough. I still feel like we were lacking one tall player down there. Forget Grundy playing forward, he has his strengths but marking and forward craft aren’t it. Gawn too. On that note…

I think Gawndy is actually going the way a lot of us  predicted it would last October. Just doesn’t seem to work and it’s made Gawn a shell of the player he once was. It’s not really Grundy’s fault either but surely Goody gives thought to replacing him with JVR (or Schache) just to see how it looks. 

 

Holy [censored], the amount of sooks after a win. What the actual [censored] is wrong with some of you? 

Well I had an extra reason to celebrate tonight… Reece Conca said I can have his job!

🥳😝🙃😁

 

2 minutes ago, The heart beats true said:

Worlds longest sentence. 

Wow that's an an amazing answer, guess you agree with me then good another convert.

Great to see Jordon have a good run at it in his natural position as an onballer. Ball use was great. Hope we have faith in him until Clarry returns

So honestly what do we do about Max. He is a shadow of his former self. I know each week he cops treatment from the opposition but he doesn't look like our captain, he isn't marking like he used to and his kicking is off. 

I love Maxy but gee he needs to lead this team properly 

2 minutes ago, demon3165 said:

Wow that's an an amazing answer, guess you agree with me then good another convert.

Ok, I’ll help…

’Wow (comma) that’s an amazing answer (full stop). (Capital G to announce a new sentence) Guess you agree with me then (full stop). (Capital G again for another new sentence) Good another convert (full stop - you got this one right, good job!).

Hope that helps. Let me know if you need a hand.

8 minutes ago, Bang Bang Bang said:

Went to the game tonight, I actually don’t mind Marvel like everyone else seems to. It’s definitely not as good as the G but it’s always pretty easy to get to on the train and a solid spot to watch a game of footy. 30k was a pretty good turn out, even if we were outnumbered.

Was just a “so-so” win at best, but also no worse than our win over them in 2021. And the 4 points were as crucial as they’ll be all season. Puts us in a very good position now. 

May was masterful, it looked like maybe age was finally catching up to him, but now… perhaps not? We will be in every game of footy as long as May is fit and in form. Beast.

Goody will probably be pleased with how the midget forward line worked in tandem. I thought Melksham was very good, Trac was clinical and BB tried hard and did enough. I still feel like we were lacking one tall player down there. Forget Grundy playing forward, he has his strengths but marking and forward craft aren’t it. Gawn too. On that note…

I think Gawndy is actually going the way a lot of us  predicted it would last October. Just doesn’t seem to work and it’s made Gawn a shell of the player he once was. It’s not really Grundy’s fault either but surely Goody gives thought to replacing him with JVR (or Schache) just to see how it looks. 

 

Agreed. We play marvel well and wouldn't mind going to 3-4 there a year.

5 minutes ago, dees189227 said:

So honestly what do we do about Max. He is a shadow of his former self. I know each week he cops treatment from the opposition but he doesn't look like our captain, he isn't marking like he used to and his kicking is off. 

I love Maxy but gee he needs to lead this team properly 

Change plans and make him the main ruckman, with plenty of game time and Grundy coming off the bench..

A good victory against a team who are incredibly difficult to play against most weeks.  Think what you like about Ross Lyon, but he is an outstanding coach and his teams are very difficult to beat.  St Kilda did a lot right tonight but so did we.  It was a game between 4th and 5th and that's what it looked like to me.  That quarter and half in the 2021 GF that everyone seems to judge our performances by is an unfair benchmark.  Reality is imperfect games like tonight.  Arm wrestles that if you do enough right at the right times sees you take a hard fought victory.  That's footy.

And the criticism of Gawn and Grundy is out of line, Marshall played a wonderful game - he is an excellent player.  Gawn and Grundy both played important roles tonight.  Grundy won a lot of clearance and Gawn took 6  marks including three contested and together they matched Marshall's disposal numbers and beat him in hitouts.  Gawn won't be the player he was because the team doesn't require that now according to the coach.  He believes our best chance of winning a flag is two dominant rucks and I think if we are to go deep into September they will prove our biggest point of difference.

1 hour ago, Bitter but optimistic said:

Couldn't understand the negativity on the Game Day thread - it was a high pressure game.

The Aints were fighting us for a top four spot and the came hard at us. We absorbed it and kicked a winning score against a good defensive side.

We did enough and ... FFS .... took the 4 points.

And ....

Woey - a very promising debut.

BBB - good signs and added a positive factor to our forward line.

S. May - You will not see a better defender's game. BOG !!!

Spot on. Was there live and it was a terrific performance. Ross Lyon is an astute coach and tried a few things and we countered every shot they fired. We controlled general play for the majority of the game. 
 

The negative for me was the form of Grundy and Kozzy. Grundy can’t hold a mark, makes poor decisions and taps not to advantage. Kozzy is a complete waste of time at present. There is no fire in his belly. He doesn’t chase hard. He doesn’t get to the drop of the ball. He flies for ridiculous marks. He is worth trading while value is high. Another year like this year and he will be worth a 2nd round pick

14 minutes ago, BrisbaneDemon said:

I have a question for someone a whole lot smarter then me:

1) why do we always do these two things kicking out, we either bomb to max to the left of the field straight away, or kick it 90 degrees left to the boundary, then bomb it to max?  It infuriates me that we don’t have a plan be here…. Especially with Max so badly out of form at the moment.

 

Apparently they've worked out kicking to Gawn, the ball is statistically less likely to be rebounded back into their forward 50 than any other kick out.
Well that's what I heard .... Somewhere.
And it wouldn't surprise me.
I'd say statistics is why they continually bombed into the left forward pocket as well.
Goodwins a robot. 

 

5 minutes ago, The heart beats true said:

Ok, I’ll help…

’Wow (comma) that’s an amazing answer (full stop). (Capital G to announce a new sentence) Guess you agree with me then (full stop). (Capital G again for another new sentence) Good another convert (full stop - you got this one right, good job!).

Hope that helps. Let me know if you need a hand.

lmfao you know your grammar, but nothing about football so guess we are even.

By the way, fantastic turn out from Dees fans tonight: it felt like 50/50 on Tier 3 and the trains home. Also, well done to the Demon Army, who kept the noise going all game.

We'd forgotten how to win, so very glad to get over the line.

The biggest area of our game to improve is ground ball. We were smashed in that area. I'm sure @WheeloRatings will give us those numbers in the stats thread 🙏.

St Kilda's run for pretty much the entire game was incredible given they were down to one on the bench by the end.

Some of the commentary on the Facebook pages are deadset ridiculous. 

People constantly going Kozzy, when he's played another 87% TOG game (6th most for us) and had the third most pressure acts on the ground with 26, behind Gus on 27 and Steele with 30. 

Some nuffy called up 3AW and whinged about him as well. Tony Shaw stuck up for Kozzy. When Tony Shaw is speaking more sense than you, you know you're in trouble.

Meanwhile, people having a go at Grundy, who was probably one of our better players, and certainly not a long way behind May and Trac. 

FWIW, Grundy had the most clearances for us with 7, 4 tackles and 5 score involvements. 

Too many people have absolutely no idea about the modern game. I heard people still screaming out 'man up' like it was 1996.

We got the win, move on to Brisbane.

If the saints didn't have just 2 players on the bench not sure we win that

Gawn and Grundy were beaten tonight. Neither added anything forward. Time to play one ruck. 

You were right @binman, Smithy had the sub position. Could have been a better tactical sub than Harmes. Able to do many jobs. Thought he may not have come on, then Pet's cops the high hit and on he came. Didn't do much but was able to fill a pivotal spot.

The game, sling off our backline, and playing stoppages there is not great. Would like us to be holding it in our 50 more, instead. A few fast ball movements were brilliant, occasionally there were no players to kick it to, and that style puts more work on the backs. 

Loved our backline, especially the zone work, the switching and moving the ball round as they looked for a corridor. Saints often had nowhere to go, May intercepting and Lever organising. 

Kicked straight and led all night.

Tackling was good, repeated efforts and gut running, gave them hardly any space, forced dump kicks.

There coaching was good, attempting to match up our damaging players.

Thought Sparrow's game was good, as was JJ's. Melky did plenty of smart work and good forward craft.

What's happened to Kossie, needs to get the ball and hit the goals.

A good win, but we have lots to work on. Not letting the ball out the back at scrummages and in a marking pack. Also need players front and centre, where are our crumbers? Got to be better at marking.

Woey almost got his frost goal.

 

Edited July 8, 20231 yr by kev martin

1 hour ago, The heart beats true said:

I have a question…

How many of you criticising that game went to the ground?

Obviously  Melbourne players would never bother reading this ' know all' garbage on DL. 

Go dees great defence  ,kick straight Fwd players !!!  You win. Forget the the BBQ lads.

1 hour ago, leave it to deever said:

Take a bow Trac..

Great kicking effort and turnaround.

Helps when you play mostly forward.

If Sparrow and JJ can stand up again the next two weeks, we can afford to play Tracfprward for longer and he becomes a dangerous proposition.

1 minute ago, WalkingCivilWar said:

Riiiggggggghhhhhhhhhhtttttttt?

Theres a lot of ‘from my couch the players look lazy’ going on.

4 minutes ago, kev martin said:

You were right @binman, Smithy had the sub position. Could have been a better tactical sub than Harmes. Able to do many jobs. Thought he may not have come on, then Pet's cops the high hit and on he came. Didn't do much but was able to fill a pivotal spot.

The game, sling off our backline, and playing stoppages there is not great. Would like us to be holding it in our 50 more, instead. A few fast ball movements were brilliant, occasionally there were no players to kick it to, and that style puts more work on the backs. 

Loved our backline, especially the zone work, the switching and moving the ball round as they looked for a corridor. Saints often had nowhere to go, May intercepting and Lever organising. 

Kicked straight and led all night.

Tackling was good, repeated efforts and gut running, gave them hardly any space, forced dump kicks.

There coaching was good, attempting to match up our damaging players.

Thought Sparrow's game was good, as was JJ's. Melky did plenty of smart work and good forward craft.

What's happened to Kossie, needs to get the ball and hit the goals.

A good win, but we have lots to work on. Not letting the ball out the back at scrummages and in a marking pack. Also need players front and centre, where are our crumbers? Got to be better at marking.

Woey almost got his frost goal.

 

Sorry Kev, I missed this at the ground? Petty was subbed out with concussion protocols? 

57 minutes ago, beelzebub said:

We won

There is nothing more to add..

Plenty to subtract...... but we won.

Funny thing is....im not sure how.

Well, we played well enough to win and I felt we held them at bay and were always going to win

But was it an impressive performance?  At times we looked terrific but we didn't play like a team on it's way to another premiership

And that's our new standard.  Par excellence, not ok or reasonable.  To win the flag we need to be great

After the Collingwood game, we haven't seen great.  We've seen average, poor kicking at goal and a decent win tonight.  But great? 

Not sold on the make-up of the forward line, for instance.  Our 3 smalls had 1 scoring shot between them.  Brown was ok but JVR needs to join him up forward.  Melksham was ok but is he the long term answer this season?  I'd rather van Rooyen

Petracca forward was innovative and not within time.  Something needed to be tried

But we'll need Petracca in the midfield against the best teams (unless they leave Gus in for the stoppages - was good tonight)

Premiership teams are more often than not outstanding for a decent amount of games in the season-proper.  Often for a large majority of their matches

Some of us are looking for that sort of football, not just above average or quite good

Happy to win of course as a loss would have been disastrous