Lets focus on the positive

[half_back_flank]

Steele Sidebottom

Found the ball 22 possessions in a flogging, made a few mistakes but was overall very good. Still needs to add some bulk, however all in all was a very good debut. Looks to be a player for the future.

 

[Al Scorcho]

also only lost the inside fifties by 1, clearances by 1...basically had nothing in the forward line...kept going in, marks were spilled and the saint defense ran it out

 

[stanley86]

and alright the scoreboard was horrible, but a couple of blokes kept trying
wellingham was good in the 3rd, dale thomas ran hard all night and put his head down when he needed to, rocca showed a bit in the 3rd which was good and of course sidebottom showed a bit

 

[Al Scorcho]

add to that, barham had 15 disposals, only two of which were kicks, resulting in only one clanger...so either he's been told to run and handball or he's lost all confidence in his kick...either way it's probably a good thing

 

[bothfeetshanker]

I didn't have to watch the crap that my Mrs normally watches on a Monday night. Although maybe I should have tonight .

Effort was certainly there from a lot of the players, but the skills and harder bodies of the saints certainly showed where we need to get to.

While "Side Steelbottom" made a couple of errors and seemed to take a while to pick up the pace of the game I certainly think we have a keeper there, not quite straight to the pool room but he is on the way.

I would love to bottle Barhams desire and effort and make every player in the side have a big swig before each game. If everyone had a crack like he did we would be a lot closer to playing like we did in 2007. I also thought his decision making (read handball at every opportunity ) was great tonight, shows he is learning what he can and can't do at this stage and is applying that.

 

[stanley86]

my apologies to jaxson also tried really hard, and i agree, the effort was there, but did anyone notice how many times st kilda got their hands free in a tackle and got the ball out?

 

[Teh_Nub]

I think the forward line let us down but thats understandable when rocca is just coming back, and medhurst, davis, didak and jack are out.

We atleast got more goals then Freo

 

[GoalSneak07]

First team to enter the 50 more than 40 times against the Saints this year in a game.

Maxwell - Best game for a long time.
Barham - His tackling was terrific.
Rocca - Found some of the footy, can only help.
Steele - Looked at home and found the footy.

 

[magpies42]

i thought corrie was exceptional given the circumstances

 

[Bloben]

Let's face it... with the late outs, we were up against it from the word go. I can't really say that I expected what happened next however.

We did ok in clearances and inside 50s however we still got demolished for two major reasons.

1 - Our forward line was severely undermanned. Rocca was ok but not match fit. He offered a contest and did some nice things however couldn't be the main central forward he used to be. Cloke tried however is terribly out of form. His timing is way out, his leads are going at the wrong time and the wrong direction. We also didn't have the quality smalls we are used to.

2 - We are not used to having that level of pressure on us. St Kilda tackle very well and apply constant pressure - the type we are used to dishing out. We got the ball into our 50 often however mostly they were quick long kicks without the poise to actually kick to our advantage as often as we should have.


The main real positive for me was this smashing was in a game we were not expected to win. We can try and regroup and beat Carlton.

The pressure is on because if we drop a game next week we will be facing a mutiny

 

[hellfire]

Sidebottom... he and Beams will be our stars of the future.

Pendlebury... even when he has a bad game he's good.

Wellingham... not bad mate.

Maxwell... led by example, shame very few followed.

Leigh Brown... surely dropped?

 

[DoubleO7]

Steel Sidebottom and Scott Pendlebury both won 5 clearances each. That is more than the entire St Kilda team (individual players) could muster in 4 quarters of football.

 

[Heater39]

Really liked Wellingham's game tonight. It was games like these last year that he may have gone missing but tonight he gave 100%, top effort.

Pretty good debut by Steele given the circumstances.

Maxy... he played like a captain tonight, was our only on-field leader. I'm starting to warm to him as captain.

I thought Toovey was ok too.

We lacked class tonight but on the plus side next week we should get back Davis, Didak, Medhurst and Anthony an PLEASE bring Wood in for Leigh ****ing Brown. HUGE difference in the class stakes.

 

[Invigoration]

Sidebottom and Wellingham were encouraging. Wellingham ran really hard, was good to see.

I thought Corrie was decent as well, makes some silly mistakes, but there is a bit there to work with.
Barham was terrific, bloke throws himself everywhere, always hungry.
Thomas works hard, but he wastes so much energy running around without direction, it is the reason he doesn't spend more time in the midfield. Still hard to say it is a bad thing that he is trying to hard

I personally reckon Stanley had some really nice deft touches in close in the 2nd half. He was scratchy early and probably didn't do his confidence any good early with a few FA's, but he is a good stoppage player and I reckon there is something there to work with. I wouldn't be surprised to see him play again next week.

 

[mdc]

I honestly don't see how anyone can praise Sidebottom after that performance. Maybe it looks good on the stat sheet, idk, haven't looked.

But as much as I want him to succeed long term, I though he was woeful, and should be first out next week. Well, second out after Leigh Brown.

edit: On second though, third out after L.Brown and Corrie.

 

[Invigoration]

Oh yeah, Toovey wasn't great early... I thought he was in for a long night, but he got better as the game went on. Had a decent night.

 

[Axl the great]

Special menton to Barham, His defensive pressure was fantastic tonight, never gave up and disposal was better than previous weeks, great tackler and tried to create run when the chips are down its the ones who put in for 4 quarters and give everything are the ones that show what real character is about.

 

[magpiewarrior]

Maybe MM is tanking to give Lord Nathan a high draft pick. Why else would he persevere with Liegh Brown when we desperately need to develop Ben Reid or a real potential ruckman. Leigh Brown has shown us time and time again that his football future is extremely limited whereas Reid could have a real long term future of real value. Surely the perfectionist Lord Nathan would not accept so many unaddressed weaknesses in our players and our gameplan. I don't for a second doubt the endeavour of our players (even Leigh Brown) but the way that they are trying to play and the skills that they are displaying negate these endeavours totally. I have been a supporter of MM but its' getting harder to maintain.

 

[hellfire]

I honestly don't see how anyone can praise Sidebottom after that performance. Maybe it looks good on the stat sheet, idk, haven't looked.

But as much as I want him to succeed long term, I though he was woeful, and should be first out next week. Well, second out after Leigh Brown.

edit: On second though, third out after L.Brown and Corrie.

I often agree with you...

But you watched a totally different game if you believe that.

How can you say he was worse than guys like Macaffer, Stanley, Toovey, Cloke etc.

I also thought he was better than guys like Barham, O'Brien, N.Brown and maybe a couple more.

 

[Pie 4 Life]

So with Davis, Didak, Medhurst and Anthony out, who the hell played in the forward line? Rocca, Cloke and???

EDIT NOTE: I didn't watch the game, was at work, so yeah...

 

[Optimax]

So with Davis, Didak, Medhurst and Anthony out, who the hell played in the forward line? Rocca, Cloke and???

EDIT NOTE: I didn't watch the game, was at work, so yeah...

and any and all of
fraser
leigh brown
nate brown
wellingham
lockyer
toovey
obree
sidebottom
heath shaw
pendlebury
thomas
barham
maxwell

well actually sort of everyone bar presti got a run up there

 

[hellfire]

So with Davis, Didak, Medhurst and Anthony out, who the hell played in the forward line? Rocca, Cloke and???

EDIT NOTE: I didn't watch the game, was at work, so yeah...

Our forward line was:

Rocca, Cloke, Macaffer, Thomas, Pendlebury/Swan/Lockyer, Wellingham/Corrie + 18 St.Kilda players at all times.

 

[GodsOwn]

I honestly don't see how anyone can praise Sidebottom after that performance. Maybe it looks good on the stat sheet, idk, haven't looked.

But as much as I want him to succeed long term, I though he was woeful, and should be first out next week. Well, second out after Leigh Brown.

edit: On second though, third out after L.Brown and Corrie.

Lay off the crack pipe.

I am tipping you were at home watching the Bob Trimbole special if you thought Sidey was "woeful".

By no means was he outstanding but I thought the boy showed confidence and composure beyond his years.

He will be a 200 game player and will retain his spot this week, Urgently needs to add 10kg+ muscle asap though....

 

[Pies_10]

Is it me or do all our youngsters have pathetic disposal skills. Except Pendlebury.

 

[lethalburns]

There is not much positive. Season is over.

The injuries we sustained tonight are season defining. If Josh has done his PCL Mick should do the right thing by the club and start working out the weeds before he departs.