Do you think St.kilda are soft?

[ChrisFooty]

Outside their best 8-10 players. So this is not including Hayes, Ball, Roo and co.

Answer: Yes. No denying it. The second and third qrt today was very poor. Unfortunley, this has happened far too many times this season. It's not a thing that happens occassionly.

Is it mental? The coach? Too many players not up to AFL standard? Other?

 

[sauce_head]

Outside their best 8-10 players. So this is not including Hayes, Ball, Roo and co.

Answer: Yes. No denying it. The second and third qrt today was very poor. Unfortunley, this has happened far too many times this season. It's not a thing that happens occassionly.

Is it mental? The coach? Too many players not up to AFL standard? Other?

It is mental after our first loss to the dogs.

And we can not kick our way out of it because we are determined to grind out results like Sydney do. THe problem with that (besides paying to watch it) is that you need to have a great level of confidence and belief to do it. How can we get that back using this approach?

We can't. Or we need some very inspirational words for the coaching staff. I am just hearing blame at the moment.

 

[Chinners100]

Hey guys, sry to invade ur board but just wondering how schneider did v dogs? thnx

 

[mailman4]

Hey guys, sry to invade ur board but just wondering how schneider did v dogs? thnx

I thought he did alright but still doesn't have a big enough impact when we need him...noticed he played a bit in the midfield (or he just got dragged up there)...funny how u posted this question in the "soft" thread hahaha.

 

[Bring-Back-Powell]

Hey guys, sry to invade ur board but just wondering how schneider did v dogs? thnx

No good today unfortunetly.
Had a great game against Melbourne with 5 goals though.

 

[wellst]

butter melted is harder then the saints atm

 

[Dudley]

Very Very soft

 

[Squizz]

I don't think soft comes into it. I was looking for something on the tape and watched it in rewind. Very interesting, as the bluk of the game was played between the centre and our forward line. They key was that the Dogs cut us up for run (again), and our kicking was as lamentable as it was against Melbourne.

 

[Sir Robert]

I don't think soft comes into it. I was looking for something on the tape and watched it in rewind. Very interesting, as the bluk of the game was played between the centre and our forward line. They key was that the Dogs cut us up for run (again), and our kicking was as lamentable as it was against Melbourne.

The side is def mentally soft. No doubt about it. Watching Dal Santo jog after Gilbee I think it was and basically let him measure the kick to the 9th degree before hitting one of their forwards lace out was infuriating. Gram, Montagna and Dal Santo do this every week and it kills us. Their workrates are so low it isn't funny. I would be dropping Montagna for X Clarke when he is available. He is clearly not cutting it at the moment. Goddard on the ball when Gilbert is back has gotta be seriously considered as well. At least we know his delivery will be spot on and his passion doesn't waver.

 

[The Punter]

They're just disinterested. They play footy like they'd rather be doing something else.

 

[Squizz]

My biggest concern is the skills. The game is a lot easier to play when you hit your targets, and many teams are much quicker when they have it than when they don't. Monty is a passenger at times, but I'm amazed Dal & Gram have copped it for this game.

 

[SaintsSeptember]

It seemed to me that the Dogs were making plenty of mistakes but none of our players were capitalising on it. Marks were dropped but it didn't matter because no one tackled, they just picked them up and got going. It was almost as if, once they got possession, our guys assumed it would go to the backline and jogged down there without looking at the ball , it was the backman's job to stop it. Also there were too many tackles just after the mark or just after the disposal. when it had no impact at all- just to look good.

 

[Look2Me4Guidance]

No good today unfortunetly.
Had a great game against Melbourne with 5 goals though.

We're capable of answering questions on our own players thanks.

 

[Ice-Wolf]

Mentally soft, apart from Ball, Harvey, Hayes, Maxy, Goddard and the new guys, seems to me that most of our core (the ones who were the young guys under Thomas) are extremely soft. Get a shrink in there to sort them out.

 

[lindsay_bulldogs]

The Dogs had to many soft players last year so we traded them. Picked up some hard nuts in Welsh and Hudson. Did some weights for the skinny guys and now we are going Ok. Maybe you guys can trade for some hard nuts as well.

 

[sauce_head]

I don't think soft comes into it. I was looking for something on the tape and watched it in rewind.

Did it end in a draw?!

 

[Squizz]

Did it end in a draw?!

not bad

 

[dg102]

I too think that the players are mentally soft. This is shown in 2 ways.
1. when oppostition teams start kicking goals against us they ussually kick 4-5 quickly and;
2. Our inability to come back from behind and beat a team when that happens.
I cant remeber the last time stkilda came back from behind to beat anyone for a good win like Carlton and Sydney did on the weekend.
That just shows how mentally soft they are and its a reflection of the coach, who never seems to get angry, just like our old neautral coach 'thomo'. The coach doesnt get excited or worked up and the players dont either and this then trancends on the way the players play. You have a look at the best consistent teams in the past. They all have coaches that really give it to the players when they under perform like Mathews, Matlhouse, Laidly, and my favorite Neil Craig. None of these teams have outstanding lists but their teams always seem to do well. I wonder how far we would have gone if Niel Craig was our coach.

 

[dg102]

.... and just to add to my prev comment on why the players are soft.
It was a clear indication in the previous weeks when, the media put the pressure on Dal Santo saying that he's under perfoming. That week we saw Dal play way better, and the same thing happened with Gram a couple weeks ago. The media put the pressure on Gram and then all of a sudden he's running hard again.
COME ON WAKE UP ST KILDA, if it takes the media to get the guys to play as hard as they should, the coach clearly isnt getting the best out of the players. No dicipline!

 

[Bodicifer]

I don't think you guys are soft as far as contests are concerned (except for Fiona) but on the weekend I thought some of the Saints guys didn't gut run when they should have and perhaps dig a lilttle deeper when needed.

 

[panthers]

I don't think you guys are soft as far as contests are concerned (except for Fiona) but on the weekend I thought some of the Saints guys didn't gut run when they should have and perhaps dig a lilttle deeper when needed.

Have to agree with you there Bodicifer. We are so hot and cold. If the real saints turned up we would be a feared side but unfortunately they dont.

And to the WB guy who said Welsh is a hard nut....Is there another Welsh on the WB list because Scott Welsh is as soft as A Fiora at times. Only time he does anything remotely tough is when the club he is playing for ( WB is his 3rd) is on the crest of a winning game.. SOft as Butter

 

[Squizz]

And to the WB guy who said Welsh is a hard nut....Is there another Welsh on the WB list because Scott Welsh is as soft as A Fiora at times.

Did someone say that? Surely a joke.

Reasonable overhead and a good kick for goal, but the only way hard and Scott Welsh go together in the same sentence is "it's hard to see how Scott Welsh will get a game next week".

 

[sainter]

I laughed at the description of Welsh as a hard player as well but he's a forward who can kick for goal. Imagine having one of those?

 

[Look2Me4Guidance]

Well there's being mentally soft and physically soft. Sometimes the two go hand in hand. For mine we are the most physically soft side in the AFL at this point. The side lacks belief in every facet of it's game, from goalkicking to taking a risk by playing on. It's very sad to see. I'm sure you'd all agree that if the ball is going to be turned over, you'd rather it be by playing on instead of waiting, waiting, waiting and then kicking to a pack situation.

Unfortunately mentally soft is the hardest thing to fix in football as ultimately it's the troops on the field who are the only ones who can do anything about it. For our sake we need to hope they get it sorted out and quickly!

On a side note, this brings up my 2000th post on BigFooty. Couldn't think of a better board to make it on.

GO YOU MIGHTY SAINTERS!

 

[sainter]

Well there's being mentally soft and physically soft. Sometimes the two go hand in hand. For mine we are the most physically soft side in the AFL at this point. The side lacks belief in every facet of it's game, from goalkicking to taking a risk by playing on. It's very sad to see. I'm sure you'd all agree that if the ball is going to be turned over, you'd rather it be by playing on instead of waiting, waiting, waiting and then kicking to a pack situation.

Unfortunately mentally soft is the hardest thing to fix in football as ultimately it's the troops on the field who are the only ones who can do anything about it. For our sake we need to hope they get it sorted out and quickly!

On a side note, this brings up my 2000th post on BigFooty. Couldn't think of a better board to make it on.

GO YOU MIGHTY SAINTERS!

Haha, good stuff!

I don't know if being down in confidence is the same thing as being mentally soft or just a small part of it but the players are definitely pretty low at the moment despite what they might say in the media.

Did anybody notice in the last quarter when Milne gave off a handball to a player under pressure when he was 30 metres and in times gone by would have kicked that goal in his sleep?

It's just painful to watch.