Autopsy Round 1, 2024: Geelong v St.Kilda *COLLARD, WILSON DEBUT*

[ScrappyDo]

First round...playing on a weird ground full of hostiles, with the usual umpiring s*it show. There was a bit to like...and we did well to punch on after being 4 goals down.
I think we'll be in most games. We need to tweak the centre; and the forward line needs better cohesion, I'm hoping that part at least comes together as the season progresses.

Having recruited and trained for outside run then have to play on a skinny congested ground against an intercepting machine deigned for it was always a hard ask. I do reckon we played into their hands which our coaches should have accounted for.

 

[tomjoad]

I don't share the optimism, you can play well and lose. But we played poorly against a team who also played poorly.

It's only the first round. It has to be the ugliest round for skills competition wide. I think it's too early to judge. Believe me, my pessimism will be ramped up to 11 if we're still playing that way by round 5.

 

[_Maximus_12]

Need to keep Windy in the midfield. His repeat efforts are terrific and he’ll only get cleaner through exposure and experience

 

[jwikked]

Yeah, if they're going to throw him into the backline then obviously they don't see value in him playing forward, so may as well drop him imo.

He's worked so well there in the preseason. I find it hard to believe the coaches can't see that, but you're probably right. It just doesn't make sense to me.

he can take a mark, he can kick straight. He's got a good footy mind. When he's played in the forward line, he's almost our most dangerous forward

 

[Diehard Saint]

This will be unpopular, but we missed Doogs.
Cordy very meh for me.

Inside 50 kicks have improved, but those kicks out of our defensive 50, awful.

And on a positive note, really good game by Timmy. Happy he’s back.

 

[OxSaint]

A bit to like but a bit to be worried about.

I felt we could have had a few too many outside players for that ground. And to many plodders on the inside. The Pou/steele/Ross mix isn’t good enough.

Thought the move off Sharman back, and Henry and windy put us in a winning position. May have left Sharman back a little too long an his panic cost us.

Max a bit selfish late.

Owens needs to remember he isn’t the key forward anymore. Really needs to work on his foot skills to play as a hybrid forward.

Higgins may not be best 22 in a month.

Liked what I saw from Byrnes and Henry. Steele looks in good shape.

Small defenders are a concern, especially with stocker sore and a 5 day turn around. NAS defended terribly today. I think Jones and sincs balance our contested ball game without impacting outside speed/run. Darcy, Wood, Bonner, NAS and Hill were too many pure outside types tonight and let us down in some key contests.

 

[hangdog]

Geelong's kicking at goal was abysmal. We were very lucky

Ummm, see our conversion rate?

 

[ScrappyDo]

Need to keep Windy in the midfield. His repeat efforts are terrific and he’ll only get cleaner through exposure and experience

Junkyard dog. Absolutely love him.

 

[tomjoad]

He's worked so well there in the preseason. I find it hard to believe the coaches can't see that, but you're probably right. It just doesn't make sense to me.

he can take a mark, he can kick straight. He's got a good footy mind. When he's played in the forward line, he's almost our most dangerous forward

Move King to CHF, and keep Membrey and Sharman closer to goal.
I personally couldn't give a s*hit about King winning the Coleman, I want to win games...and win games by kicking accurately. King would still be good for 40+ and would easily be an AA CHF, playing further up.

 

[ScrappyDo]

This will be unpopular, but we missed Doogs.

Yep. Very unpopular

 

[tomjoad]

Ummm, see our conversation rate?

I rate our conversations.
Our conversion though...yeah, needs work.

 

[SaintSteele9]

Eh, doesn’t feel like a real melt-worthy one tonight. It’s a genuine home ground advantage and despite all the concerns that others have pointed out already, we could well have won that. I feared much worse when the lead blew out a bit in the second quarter.

Five day break doesn’t feel great already but I’m keen to take a massive swing at the premiers on Thursday.

 

[saintbill]

A bit to like but a bit to be worried about.

I felt we could have had a few too many outside players for that ground. And to many plodders on the inside. The Pou/steele/Ross mix isn’t good enough.

Thought the move off Sharman back, and Henry and windy put us in a winning position. May have left Sharman back a little too long an his panic cost us.

Max a bit selfish late.

Owens needs to remember he isn’t the key forward anymore. Really needs to work on his foot skills to play as a hybrid forward.

Higgins may not be best 22 in a month.

Liked what I saw from Byrnes and Henry. Steele looks in good shape.

Small defenders are a concern, especially with stocker sore and a 5 day turn around. NAS defended terribly today. I think Jones and sincs balance our contested ball game without impacting outside speed/run. Darcy, Wood, Bonner, NAS and Hill were too many pure outside types tonight and let us down in some key contests.

Great summary. Nowhere near physical enough around the ball. Hill and Wood were terrible.

 

[Saintos The ITK]

Sebby won’t be here playing next week.
His
Days of automatic selection are gone.

 

[Plugger35]

I like to blame umpiring as much as the next Saints supporter but good teams don't blame umpiring, they just get good enough to beat it.

We aren't good enough yet.

We're moving in the right direction though.

NWM looks like a star, Wilson looks the goods too and Owens, Windhager, Phillipou and Sharman are tracking nicely, a lot to look forward to.

 

[Yabadoo22]

Rowan Single handily kept us in this game. He is by far our best player.
I thought Henry was really good, just needs to tidy up his disposal a touch.
Bonner handy, definitely lacks defensively though.
Even though he was wayward at goal, I thought it was one of kings better games without hitting the scoreboard, he pressured well and created a target up the field.
Loved seeing skunk back.
Steele battled hard, but with crouch on one leg, and Phillipou no where near ready in the middle, we lack badly in there.
Owens needs to be around the ball more, windy tried hard and NAS was his usual self.

 

[SteeleSaints]

Given the inside 50 disparity we were lucky to get as close as we did. It felt like we were never seriously in the game and we would have pinched it if we had won.

• I agree with others suggesting it was a poor coaching effort by our blokes.
• Our midfield set up was putrid for 3/4.
• Windhager should have been sent to tag their most dangerous mid for the entire game.
• Crouch shouldn't have been selected, he was obviously hobbling on his strapped knee.
• Phillipou is not ready for the midfield.
• Why dont we play Owens as an inside mid?
• Mason Wood seems to be struggling with the pace of the games?

Plus we looked really nervous and fumbly for the first half.

• I did like the move of using King higher up the ground, but we need more marking power forward for that to work constantly.
• Henry, Byrnes, Steele, Marshall King and Bonner our best.

Be nice to have a full first 23 list to chose from in the near future.

 

[hangdog]

I rate our conversations.
Our conversion though...yeah, needs work.

Good pick up!

 

[bergholt]

Sebby won’t be here playing next week.
His
Days of automatic selection are gone.

I reckon he might not get picked much at all in the future tbh. If he gets subbed off and replaced with a zero game small forward, in a game where we're already getting beaten in the midfield, then it looks like the coach has very minimal faith in him.

 

[Sarcoidevo]

As has been pointed out our midfield is a huge issue .... maybe having Dow in there would have given us the inside burst which we lacked.

Don't think we ran the ball by hand as much as we could have ..... its the exact thing Geelong struggle with

In the end its a loss ..... a very disappointing loss as we had many chances to take the lead

Still pissed about that Dangerfield free .... just a flipping rort

 

[Diehard Saint]

Even though he was wayward at goal, I thought it was one of kings better games without hitting the scoreboard, he pressured well and created a target up the field.
Loved seeing skunk back.
Steele battled hard, but with crouch on one leg, and Phillipou no where near ready in the middle, we lack badly in there.
Owens needs to be around the ball more, windy tried hard and NAS was his usual self.

2.4
And a couple of goal assists.

 

[Pakenhamsaint]

I like to blame umpiring as much as the next Saints supporter but good teams don't blame umpiring, they just get good enough to beat it.

The umpiring over the round has been generally terrible.

 

[Chuckie357]

Standard poor decision making and misses in front of goal cost us.

The worst decision is keeping Higgins in the team, no good, has to go. How many other afl level footballers can’t make the distance from snapping around the corner 30m out straight in front?

 

[Diehard Saint]

I did like the move of using King higher up the ground, but we need more marking power forward for that to work constantly.

• Henry, Byrnes, Steele, Marshall King and Bonner our best.

Be nice to have a full first 23 list to chose from in the near future.

Sharman.
Needs to be down there, esp if King and Membrey are up the wing a bit.

 

[luca77]

I've felt a lot worse than this after losses.

Yeah, the skills were shoddy, and there was a lack of composure at times - but I thought it was a pretty good contest.
It would be a struggle to find players who'd say that had a good game, but we hung in there and gave it a real crack to draw almost level.

I'm no cat fan, but they seemed to hold us up really well, forcing a lot of hack kicks forward and they were in the much better position when we did that. Well coached and played to them if that was the plan.

Heaps of blunders, but I thought we mostly kept our head up and players who'd stuffed up had some decent moments afterwards.

I used to remember thinking under our previous two coaches "I just want to be in the f'ing game for once". We kept ourselves in the game, and that will give us plenty of chances this year.

Will be interesting to see how much patience the coach has with Higgins and his crabby kicks, and to see what happens with Seb after being subbed instead of even an underprepared Crouch tonight.

Collard needs a brighter bleach in his hair. Was well and truly shafted a couple of times tonight. Was a good chance not just for an early kick, but an early goal. A shame we couldn't keep the ball in our forward line long enough for him to run down a couple of players near the end.

I can't quite understand how Owens can be so gifted, but have such an ugly, ineffective set shot kick. Moves like a lion, kicks like a donkey.