Autopsy Practice Match, 2023: St.Kilda v Essendon

[Cairnsman]

He was a role player in a star packed young side. Ross likes guys who can go and do their role without fuss so he might have a spot. Lyon might not get the best out of all players but he gets them to play to a minimum set of standards or move on. No reason why Cordy can't make a career out of that. The thing that will keep him out is better options in the same role.

Ross Lyon and Beverage are like polar opposites. Bevo is all about novelty, freedom of expression, less focus on fitness and structure and more on individual brilliance being allowed to show. Lyon is all about fitness, discipline and taking out the variables. It would be interesting to see what Cordy works best in being a less skilled and flamboyant type.

Well put Gringo

 

[Tommy Wigs]

Contested footy seems to be his strength though

Maybe not what you would call a beast as he isn't overly big, but the way he positions his body in tight and uses his clean hands he will always have high contested numbers if he gets given time in there.

15 CP's today, 14 ground balls

He was terrific. People have just got the s**** up with him now, so mark him very harshly.

 

[Tommy Wigs]

Dropped an absolute sitter

Just after cramping. Poor bugger was stuffed

 

[BucketsandBanger]

Some good signs. Saw real evidence of the game plan and structure being implemented over the summer.
Marshall seems primed for his best season ever, dominant, we are gonna need it as we have nothing behind him. If he gets a LTI we will be bottom four.
Owens showing real development, might be crazy but he reminds me of Hamill, undersized but a great mark, strong and competes for abolsutely everything. Has a real eye for goal. Gonna be a player.
Philipou is gonna have some very exciting moments this year.
Paton played the defensive midfield role ala McKenzie surprisingly well.
Crouch looks like he will have another solid year.
good to see Higgins kick some goals, need him early in the year.
He won’t be able to impact consistently this year but Caminiti has some very strong traits. Could be the King partner long term.
We are gonna struggle to score against Freo, very strong defensively, particularly key backs.
Clarke is the inside mid Dustin Fletcher

Dustin Fletcher

Age

49

Ht

198cm

Wt

92kg

Pos.

Def

Career

Season

Last 5

D

16.0

4star

K

12.3

5star

HB

3.7

3star

M

4.7

4star

T

1.2

3star

MG

301.6

4star

No current season stats available

D

14.2

4star

K

11.4

4star

HB

2.8

3star

M

4.8

5star

T

1.4

4star

, all limbs and weird angles but is so clever in getting the ball out of congestion. Was great to see him have an impact.
Finally stupid point, but how good is a real home advantage, how nice would it be to train on the ground you play on ala all interstate teams and Geelong.

 

[Tommy Wigs]

Owens is essentially two in one.

He’s a giant small forward. Super high pressure and quick. Seems like he can snag goals on the deck. But he’s often the first to bounce up to tackle or to rove the ball.

Marking target. Not great hands (perhaps because he’s still needing to wrestle so much in the lead up). But forces a contest at the very least.

(Oh and a mid too). Handy player.

 

[MightySaint]

I cannot wait for Mitch to start strutting around in the midfield. Gonna grab contested possessions for fun.

 

[sunny3193]

I haven't either. Looks terrible.

Spoiler Alert: The thing sinks.

I am reminded of the Siskel and Ebert review of the 2001 film: “Pearl Harbour”.

“On the 7th December 1941, the Imperial Japanese Air Force attacked an American love triangle.”

Titanic is of similar importance.

 

[gringo2011]

I reckon first choice wings are Wood and D-Mac, I think marking is important in that role and that's not Hilly's strength. Not sure what Hill's best role is these days.

High half forward may be.

 

[Joffaboy]

Quick look at the highlights.

Stop bagging Howard, FFS he is not Alex Rance

Alex Rance

Age

35

Ht

194cm

Wt

95kg

Pos.

Def

Career

Season

Last 5

D

16.6

4star

K

8.9

3star

HB

7.7

5star

M

5.7

5star

T

2.4

4star

MG

226.9

3star

No current season stats available

D

17.0

5star

K

5.8

3star

HB

11.2

5star

M

5.0

5star

T

3.6

5star

or SoS but he is ok, very mobile, tall and structures the backline. Everyone looking for every tiny mistake to bag him on gets tiresome.
Clark around the stoppages was so hard at it. Still a tad rusty with his one touch, just couldn't get the handle on the ball, a 1/4 second off, but when he is back in Nick, if he plays like that he will get Ross back onside. One thing Lyon loves is sustained effort and Clark was that all game.
Speaking of effort, the attack on the man with the ball was the first glimpse of a Lyon coached team, apart from the first 5 minutes, we strangled them and beat up their midfield manlets. Classic turnover and surge forward.
Didn't realise how much I missed the pleasure of seeing an opposition reduced to 3 goals in a game. 1 from a mistake in the first couple of seconds, and then only 2 from free kicks.


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[sunny3193]

He looks replaceable if he doesn't make a bit of a jump this season. If we grabbed McKay we'd have to reinvent him. He might hate it but he'd be an okay ruck/forward IMO. VanEs and Adams looked closer than I imagined last week too.

He’s playing a classical “structure “ role when he has the skills, and we have the need, for something better.

 

[moirae42]

Bring on more football at Moorabbin.

What a truly special place it is.

P.S Nice to see Higgins and Butler get amongst it.

Quite seriously, it is now the best facility in the comp.

If only we could play games for premiership points there. Gold coast, Freo maybe... Would require considerable further investment though.

In it's current state, we should not be playing any preseason game or practice match anywhere else in the country. Linton street is the absolute benchmark.

 

[Xxxx66]

Really starting to build a bit of a love affair with Maso.
Him and tbe Train running down the wings will tear sides apart.

Start of the year I thought dmac and wood were competing for the same spot on the wing with Hill likely to move to a wing. As a card carrying member of the dmac fan club, I had dmac ahead of Wood .
But masons preseason has been extraordinary.
Does Ross move Hill somewhere else. Will be interesting.

 

[mighty_sainters]

Allison going down could be a blessing, I really like the look of Caminiti. Lots to work on but you can see the sort of player he could become.

 

[Grav]

I cannot wait for Mitch to start strutting around in the midfield. Gonna grab contested possessions for fun.

You can picture it now, Mitch & Windy clearing the pill out of the centre resulting in a goal, then giving each other the old chest bump.

 

[Sarcoidevo]

We won so that's good I guess but .... I don't think we took one contested mark in the forward line or even one on the lead ..... that was disappointing ..... it was just bomb city

 

[Ads734]

Phillipou with 15 touches, 5 contested and a goal. Did not take a mark today, but as he gets fitter he will no doubt be a talent.

Love how high high and straight his arms when flies for a mark. He’s gonna get a heap of arm chops.

 

[Grav]

Start of the year I thought dmac and wood were competing for the same spot on the wing with Hill likely to move to a wing. As a card carrying member of the dmac fan club, I had dmac ahead of Wood .
But masons preseason has been extraordinary.
Does Ross move Hill somewhere else. Will be interesting.

Be interesting to see how Dmac comes back, has missed a bit of footy now.
Never having had a calf injury do they impact on your pace after recovery or does one come back just as strong?
If it is a recurring injury, you sadly may just have to join another fan club.

 

[Ads734]

So the nuffs who wrote off Hunter Clark

11

Hunter Clark

Age

25

Ht

186cm

Wt

83kg

Pos.

Mid

Career

Season

Last 5

D

17.5

4star

K

9.5

4star

HB

8.0

5star

M

3.6

4star

T

2.9

4star

CL

1.3

3star

D

16.0

4star

K

9.6

4star

HB

6.4

4star

M

3.1

3star

T

2.9

4star

CL

1.9

4star

D

13.2

4star

K

6.6

3star

HB

6.6

4star

M

2.2

3star

T

2.0

4star

CL

0.0

1star

last week. Laughable. … Gringo. His and Bytel’s hands were elite. Give him 5-10 games without a break and we’ll see his best.

 

[XhazzafootyX]

Love playing at rsea park. Such a good vibe. Would love to get a seconds team playing out of there. Or even a home and away game.

 

[Xxxx66]

Be interesting to see how Dmac comes back, has missed a bit of footy now.
Never having had a calf injury do they impact on your pace after recovery or does one come back just as strong?
If it is a recurring injury, you sadly may just have to join another fan club.

Reoccurring in older players for sure. Dmac's main weapon is hard running both ways and you need a good fitness base for that.

 

[Savage Kent]

Always good to smash the bombers, even if it's a praccy game.

Credit to Phillipou, Owens, Stocker, Butler and Clark for making time after the game to interact with the fans. Minor gripe but in previous years the playing group as a whole felt more accessible pre and post praccy games.

One of the things which alienated fans was how closed off saints were during the GF years. Hopefully it's not a directive from Ross and the coaching group.

 

[bergholt]

He was terrific. People have just got the s**** up with him now, so mark him very harshly.

He was good but until his biceps get bigger I don't like him even if he wins a Brownlow

 

[_Maximus_12]

Dougals issue always has been his decision making. When to punch, when to mark. When to kick the ball down the line, when to take on the man on the mark (never).
At this stage in his career you’d expect that this would no longer be there.

 

[Cairnsman]

So the nuffs who wrote off Hunter Clark last week. Laughable. … Gringo. His and Bytel’s hands were elite. Give him 5-10 games without a break and we’ll see his best.

I still think Bytel being the reserve for Windy yesterday means he's got to do even better than he did if he's going to push into the team on a permanent basis, in his 5th year now so time is running out. Needs a breakout game early in the season if he can and really put some pressure on our mainstays there.

 

[BigMonty]

I said Clark needs a game at Sandy to get his touch back....
WRONG WRONG WRONG.
He has this knack of hooking the ball with one hand and kicking in the one motion, or wriggling sideways into space for a hand ball or taking 2 steps and hit a target 30m away.
That is a POD in our mid field.

I have always believed Shiel to be so overated he is a GOF at best. Merrett scoots round back for easy kick and Parish did nothing of note.

Commentators saying Ess have better list and will finish higher than us have no idea.
Ess have no forward other than 2m Pete.

We finished just out of the eight last year
Last team to beat Premiers
Have a coach that is probably one of the best in the league.
Holds players accountable to a ridgid standard and has a game plan that holds up. What I saw yesterday. Saints
Always looking corridor.
Notice that when NAS kicks out 30m runs past for handball. ZONE BREAKER
Mark taken player waits for overlap player running past to be in front of man on mark before releasing handball. ZONE BREAKER.
Linking handball through centre. ZONE BREAKER
Everyone back into defence and then spread and go when we get the ball. Just like FREO.

Wind was a factor so was Ess poor goal kicking but the real stat was that we kicked 3 into the wind they did not. Higher work rate.

Bytel plays ahead of Byrnes
Clark stays in the guts
Caminti replaced by Membrey
Hill for Paton
Windhager back for wk 2
Stocker liked his game but no spots available Rnd 1.

What happened to Sharman?
How did Coff go at Sandy?


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