At the break of Gawn

In: JvR Out: AJ Does McVee take Hill or Elliott?

Was thinking the very same thing this evening. The Suns streak since 2015 being broken was also a real shame.

Interesting you say that because the last two times we've played there we've let the opposition have 140+marks and 100 more disposals. Ross must have just watched last year's tape because it's pretty obvious we just don't know how to defend that ground or the players just curl their toes up every time they go to Alice.

Yeah I agree their intensity was way off. But surely to allow an opposition 140 marks comes down to coaching too? Surely it's just not a matter of asking the players to close down space but not being able to. Clearances were relatively equal and contested possessions were too.

Pressure ratings can sometimes be misleading in high possession games. The saints had 100 more disposals than us and a 140 marks which is just ridiculous. They made the ground wide and played keepings off the whole game. Unfortunately when you play a zone defence, you just open up pockets of space.

Excluding the round 24 game last year where we basically played our Casey side, our last 3 games against the Pies we are: 6.15 to 14.5 7.11 to 9.6 8.18 to 9.8 I can absolutely see a score line like the above happening again. The Pies always force us wide and out pressure us. It will happen again. We flipped the script against Freo in round 6. Surely we've learnt from previous encounters and try and do whatever we can to get some corridor shots on goal?

We just don't have enough wriggle room after the 0-5 start. We're now up to 7 losses and basically need to go 8-3 in our last 11. Need to go 3-1 over the next 4 weeks to realistically have a shot. That means beat Port and then only drop 1 of GC away, Adelaide away and Pies.

I watched Lyon's presser and he mentioned the local school football team wears the Saints colours which may have been why.

For those just blindly blaming our inaccurate kicking need to have a look at the shot map in wheelo's stat files. We barely get any opportunities straight in front. For all the strides we've made over the last 6 weeks, our forwards continue lead into the pocket leading to difficult shots on goal. The Saints used the corridor much much better for better quality entries. They kicked 7 goals basically dead in front within 30m. Our entries still aren't good enough, and if you go back and watch the QF against the fifth in '23 you'll see the same thing. If you pressure the opposition and force them wide, guess what? They have difficulty converting. Given how close the competition is, I think we need 14 wins to definitely make it. That means we basically can only afford 2 maybe 3 more losses for the year but still have Collingwood twice, Gold Coast in GC and Adelaide away.

Absolutely [censored] me that Petty and AJ give away some of the most unnecessary free kicks. Unless AJ has a remarkable last 3qtrs, then there's surely no way he plays next week. JvR actually worried Moore a bit last year so I'd definitely bring him in.

I think if we get off to a good start and the Saints players start to doubt whatever strategy Ross has cooked up, we could turn this into a big win. Dees by 57pts.

Really need to win tomorrow to stay amongst the pack. If we lose, we're then 2 games outside the 8 and then a red hot Pies, Port away and GC away.

Giants and Freo winning makes tomorrow really important for us to stay in touch. A win and we're still only one game outside the 8. A loss and we're 2 games out and face s red hot Collingwood.

We're going to challenge the Pies far more than the Hawks are. You need an A grade midfield and a dominant ruck to challenge Collingwood. The Hawks have neither. It's a pity our kicking was so bad against the Hawks a few weeks ago, we really should have won that.

I agree that does make sense, but I also get the sense there was some attitude shifts from round 6 onwards. Pressure and the manic tackling inside 50s are all effort based. As Goodwin talked about, there seemed to have been a lack of focus on the things we value defensively. That was switched back on from round 6 which has complemented other parts of our game. It would have been nice for that shift to have happened earlier because being 0-5 gives us so little room to make a really good run for finals.