Game Day Qualifying Final, St Kilda vs Geelong - 2010

[number35]

I've had this feeling for a long time, despite our results, that we would get a win here in the first week. optimistic? biased? probably. but ive had this gut feeling when we knocked off brisbane back yesteryear, when port adelaide knocked us off in 04, and now.

jump on me guys. felt it nice and early....


jesus what a game.


the disappointing thing is that it will all be remembered for that 'controversial' free kick. not the fact that saints squandered early opportunities. not because geelong kicked 1.7 in the last quarter. but for that one free kick.

saints deserved the win, fair and square. once again, we beat geelong for 3 quarters. the problem was, unless u put a class team like geelong away early when u have those chances, u just know they're going to kick it up a gear and come back. and sure they did. but credit where credit is due, and thats to our boys for holding on.

as for that free kick, i will say this. i play football (amo's), i watch football every week. that free kick shits me up the wall. the fact that a the tackling player simply holds the tackle when another player is diving forward, it really shouldnt be paid. HOWEVER, the umpires have been paying that all year. was it questionable? yes. was it there? arguable. should it have been paid? in the context of the season, yes.

having said that, the number of times i saw cats players drop their knees and pull out a high tackle, jesus. saints players would tackle legitimately, then the standing cat would buckle at the knees, slip down, and earn a high tackle when naturally the tackle slips high. all night it happened.

regardless, we win. prelim for us, hard route home for the cats. at the end of the day, it was the umpire's decision. its a shame that a hard fought win will be tarnished by a free that was paramount to the final result, but i dont think that the win was any less deserved. we did it for 3 quarters, the cats 1.

oddly enough, the votes on the herald sun website were that it was there. i must say i was surprised!

GO YOU MIGHTY SAINTS!!! cloud nine is now departing, taking all passengers for the next 2 weeks...

 

[karmafree]

Had an English friend watch the game with me last night. He was raving about the world cup before the game. I said its a game for pussies wait until you see whats coming up.

To cut the story short. I was in fine form, nearly breaking the TV, driving "The Handicapper" out of the room. Leaving my English friend stunned. When the game was over, I calmly resumed my spot on the couch and merely noted to him. "Now that's football". He couldn't reply. I don't know if he is leaving for a hotel this morning, but am I a happy little camper OR WHAT! Go Sainters!

 

[Reardo]

Congratulations Saints, well deserved. My ten year old son is an extremely passionate Saints supporter and to see his face after the siren last night was priceless, he had tears in his eyes and was speechless, he had heaps to say but didn't know where to start. That's what footy is all about. Good luck for the rest of the finals, I hope you finish the job this year.

 

[Axcellence]

Excellent game... I would have been even more happier had they gone and smashed Cats with a bigger margin - but I'll take a win any day.

Great games from every1 I think. Loved Lenny, Roo, Milne, Goddard, Dal Santo, McEvoy, Gardiner, Peake and Montagna 's work.

 

[TheStinger]

Dempster smashed Johnson.

Absolutely, where was Stevie J all night? That's Dempster's good work for ya.

 

[Sir Robert]

Yeah I rated Dempsters game.

Also thought McQalters pressure and running into spaces was awesome.

Peake's sneakiness!

Schneiders clutch goal.

Lenny's hardness.

BJ's precision.

Riewoldt's absolute smashing of Harry Taylor - cop that!

This is the thread I had us at $3.50 (bookies eventually agreed) and though we were no hope. Thanks for setting me straight bothers - turned my confidence around and last night the boys delivered

Lets prepare for a prelim

 

[ace_man]

Yeah I rated Dempsters game.

Also thought McQalters pressure and running into spaces was awesome.

Peake's sneakiness!

Schneiders clutch goal.

Lenny's hardness.

BJ's precision.

Riewoldt's absolute smashing of Harry Taylor - cop that!

This is the thread I had us at $3.50 (bookies eventually agreed) and though we were no hope. Thanks for setting me straight bothers - turned my confidence around and last night the boys delivered

Lets prepare for a prelim

i bet a few bookies are worried about that 500k bet now

 

[Zagg]

i bet a few bookies are worried about that 500k bet now

Only 1 bookie would be. I think the Saints would be a much better result for the bookies than the Pies or Cats.

 

[Special88]

Did anyone else find it ridiculous we were at $3.20 in the odds? Yer so what we lost to Adelaide last week... I thought those odds were outrageous, got on that straight away.

I have been saying all year, even when we played terribly, there is absolutely no reason why we wont be as good come finals time this year as we were last year... They have a good mentality this group and you can tell its etched in there brain that this is the month that counts.

 

[HoldenMCaulfield]

Had an English friend watch the game with me last night. He was raving about the world cup before the game.

I doubt that...

 

[HoldenMCaulfield]

The St Kilda we saw late in the first and throughout the second quarter was the St Kilda of 2009. I always had the hope throughout the season that we had another gear - and boy, we did.

Dempster essentially held Johnson as well as Baker would have - without the extra attention and free kicks Johnson staged for and probably would have got against Baker. Our defenders risked their bodies and gave every last effort time and time again and held back the Geelong avalanche in the last quarter.

Koschitzke had a great first quarter. He may not have had a touch thereafter, but his performance in the first kept Scarlett back. I'm sure they saw this match up as an opportunity - it backfired just as the silly perception that Taylor alone can beat Riewoldt (how did he go without two or three teammates holding Riewoldt while Taylor punches the ball away ?).

Milne played well up the ground and kicked three (though he should have iced the game when we were 33 up and took a selfish shot twice when others were in a better position), Schneider beat his demons with his goal in the last quarter and Riewoldt is just amazing (had 5 hitouts, too). McQualter showed why he is so important (it was his tackle that set up the winning Schneider goal).

Our midfield held up well against one the best midfields in the history of the game. Hayes is a superstar, Dal Santo enjoyed the space when Ling moved to Goddard after his fantastic first half, Montagna and Ray moved the ball and Peake - how can anyone say that he should not be in our best 22. He was brilliant.

Geelong will be tired next week. Both teams fought it out to the end today not thinking about next week and boy, am I glad we don't have to play Hawthorn in just one week (should they win against Freo).

 

[Bourky23]

Happy supporter is happy!

Seriously I reckon I went through every emotion possible in the last 5 minutes of the game...

 

[samwise]

I reckon that's now the best win I've ever been to. When Ling kicked that goal oh my fu*king God not a-fu*kin-gain every fu*kin time and then...some wonderful moment of pure divine intervention changed everything. What a change of emotion.
We are going to give it one hell of a crack yet again.

That first half from Kosi and Milney was just unbelievable. Peake the other extraordnary perfomance.

From our view, although it really doesnt even come close to capturing it:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SFQL0xu5jDg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HPb0Ibo5yMY

I think the fans need the break as much as the players after that.

 

[Dr Awkward]

Only one I can think of is Dempster.

Awesome win by the way

Actually I take this back didn't realise he was playing on SJ for the whole night...

Probably didn't have any passengers, Eddy will probs go out for Baker, can't think of any other changes...

 

[TassieSaint]

Great win. Very glad I decided to go to the game, although I've got to admit the entire last quarter I had a very unpleasant sinking feeling right up until the siren, when I and every saints fan in the vicinity went absolutely nuts. After seeing Geelong fans do the same a minute prior it was a surreal but awesome feeling.

A bit unfair though when so much fuss is made of the last decision, when there were plenty of prior decisions that went the other way that cost us goals directly. But I guess that's to be expected when umpires cost a team the winning goal.

Could say good things for most of the team, but special mentions to Lenny and Fish who now have to be considered two of the leagues best finals players. And also to Milney who FINALLY stood up when it counted. I must admit I didn't think he had it in him to turn a game our way in finals but he did it and proved most of the footy public wrong!

 

[Pumbi]

Just listening to the 'highlights' of the commentrary on ABC Radio, geez it gets the heart racing. What a game. Kudos to Matt White and Gerard Whateley.

 

[SettledownBarry]

well done sainters. i was there last night and loved it. brilliant football.

When we take care of the filth tonight we will be a step closer to the dream grand final we should have got in 97.

 

[weagles_fan]

well done sainters. i was there last night and loved it. brilliant football.

When we take care of the filth tonight we will be a step closer to the dream grand final we should have got in 97.

 

[sainter]

Supporting this footy club takes you to some very deep and dark places.

When Ling kicked that goal it's about as low as you can get. I'm glad it only last a few seconds.

Just incredibile.

I think in here we were all smart enough to not read too much into the last 4-6 weeks because it was very obvious Ross was setting the players for the finals but beating Geelong with so much on the line was always going to be a massive ask.

Full credit to every player that took to the field last night for such a gutsy performance.

BTW, how can anybody label Dempster a passenger after his game on Johnson? When our preliminary final team is named in two weeks, you can bank on #24 being on the teamsheet.

 

[StFly]

Reading the Hun and the subsequent amount of "MOONEY DECISION COST GAME! ZOMGWTFBBQ!" going on somethign stuck out like dogs balls to me on the very same page.

Stats section;
STK Frees in the F50: 1
GEE frees in the F50: 4

STK Goals from Frees: 1
GEE goals from Frees: 2

STK goals from marks: 7
GEE goals from marks: 3

A team had 4x as many frees in a direct scoring position as their opposition, kicked an extra goal from a free and yet the majority of the paper was delegated to "the goal should have stood Mooney was stiffed, Saints got lucky with a BS decision!"

The media are damned tools I swear...

 

[SaintsSeptember]

I thought McQualter had some pretty ordinary disposal at times. Don't know if he had the jitters or what but he was scared to hold the ball, and passed it to the first player he saw, even though they were under a heap of pressure.

 

[Squizz]

Some "other" fans have found a short clip of Friday night they are seemingly obsessed with, but I've got a different one:

http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=10150263547540506

 

[Special88]

Some "other" fans have found a short clip of Friday night they are seemingly obsessed with, but I've got a different one:

http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=10150263547540506

Haha shit I love Milney! No one will ever be as good at screaming that song as he does.

 

[Half Back Pocket]

Haha shit I love Milney! No one will ever be as good at screaming that song as he does.

Just watched a replay of the first half again....virtually every goal we get came from Milney in some capacity. He continually broke the lines with his play-on, run and carry and pin-point delivery in the first 45 minutes. Then, the purple patch towards the end of the 2nd was unbelievable.

Milney is elite!

 

[Look2Me4Guidance]

Some "other" fans have found a short clip of Friday night they are seemingly obsessed with, but I've got a different one:

http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=10150263547540506

Awwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww yeaaaaaaahhhhhh. Leeeerooooooyyyyyy.