Autopsy Round 12, 2024: West Coast v St.Kilda - Optus Stadium - Saturday 1st June, 4.35pm AEST

[gringo2011]

No Lyon would have hated him. Would have only played at Sandy.

The two actions are totally seperate - getting Pick 32 for someone who turned out to be a fringe player was a good outcome.

Or if we’d developed him better he might not have been fringe

 

[moirae42]

I've noticed Dow is very good at winning first possession and then dishing it out to a player who will actually have the time and space required to get a clean kick forward, rather than our usual hot potato method of handballing to a stationary player who is about to be tackled. A breath of fresh air in the midfield

Puts his head over it too.

 

[Baldur]

Masons game gave me a woody.

 

[MrFoster]

I've noticed Dow is very good at winning first possession and then dishing it out to a player who will actually have the time and space required to get a clean kick forward, rather than our usual hot potato method of handballing to a stationary player who is about to be tackled. A breath of fresh air in the midfield

Dow is a genuine mid, and a accumulator of the ball, I would go as far to say him and Crouch are our real genuine natural mids.. they just know how to get the ball and get it to a team mate without panicking. Steele to me is like a defensive mid, good at tackling not so much at winning the ball first..

 

[pebblesofsand]

How do you know he would have hated him? He's getting a game for GC who are a better team than us.

Just the same way Gringo knows Lyon would have worked well with Long. We don't.

Long kicked 4 on the weekend so everyone gets excited but then again Spencer White kicked 3 on his debut and was never seen again.

We used the Long pick on Angus Hastie - looks a good trade to me.

 

[Hubnester]

Finally watched the 2nd half again. After the game a mate messaged me and said 'you looked better without King' and I sort of agreed, but watching back I realise that was a really lazy assessment. Our midfield was switched on from the start of the 3rd and maintained a dominance until the end, that was the true shift. That took the pressure of our defenders which made their lives a hell of a lot easier, and all of a sudden we were generating realistic opportunities up forward.

Some of the rebounds and link up plays look exactly how we want to play, but aren't often able to 'figure out'. It just looked like a lot of this clicked for us - though I know it's "only west coast" we've seen they're no slouches over there, it just looked like we collectively knew what we were doing and how to do it. If we can pull that off more consistently against more highly rated opposition, we'll start looking at closer to where we should be.

 

[gubby88]

Does anyone have Foxtel Go? mine doesnt seem to have the replay on it. has every other game though

 

[seasonedsainter]

It was great to be these pr1cks at home to be honest. I never take winning over there in front of 50k Weaglet supporters who don't know how good they've got it for granted. Especially with their new pony strutting about like god's gift. Brought them back to earth a bit uh! Well done Saints

 

[Remboy]

I've noticed Dow is very good at winning first possession and then dishing it out to a player who will actually have the time and space required to get a clean kick forward, rather than our usual hot potato method of handballing to a stationary player who is about to be tackled. A breath of fresh air in the midfield

He’s also good at breaking away from stoppages which is super important as it means he can look before he kicks rather than just throwing it onto his boot and hacking it forward. We need a few more like him.

 

[The Punter]

It was great to be these pr1cks at home to be honest. I never take winning over there in front of 50k Weaglet supporters who don't know how good they've got it for granted. Especially with their new pony strutting about like god's gift. Brought them back to earth a bit uh! Well done Saints

St Kilda have now won their last four games at Optus Stadium. I think it's our second longest winning streak at an interstate venue (we won 7 in a row at the SCG in the 1990s).

 

[Joffaboy]

Just the same way Gringo knows Lyon would have worked well with Long. We don't.

Long kicked 4 on the weekend so everyone gets excited but then again Spencer White kicked 3 on his debut and was never seen again.

We used the Long pick on Angus Hastie - looks a good trade to me.

We used the pick on Ollie Hotton the draft previous to the Hastie draft

 

[Joffaboy]

Finally watched the 2nd half again. After the game a mate messaged me and said 'you looked better without King' and I sort of agreed, but watching back I realise that was a really lazy assessment. Our midfield was switched on from the start of the 3rd and maintained a dominance until the end, that was the true shift. That took the pressure of our defenders which made their lives a hell of a lot easier, and all of a sudden we were generating realistic opportunities up forward.

Some of the rebounds and link up plays look exactly how we want to play, but aren't often able to 'figure out'. It just looked like a lot of this clicked for us - though I know it's "only west coast" we've seen they're no slouches over there, it just looked like we collectively knew what we were doing and how to do it. If we can pull that off more consistently against more highly rated opposition, we'll start looking at closer to where we should be.

Not being a smartarse here, but it shows that winning in the midfield is everything in football. It all starts there.
Prior to the start of Qtr3 the Eagles had won the last 10 clearances in a row, Reid with 7 for the half.

He is clamped down on the Eagles clearances dry up, Dow, Steele and Clark get to work and we look like a football team again.
Windy as a tagger got 6 clearances for the half to Reids zero, basically A 13 clearance turnaround from the firsts half.
Personally thought it was the best game for King for some time, he kicked two, was involved in two more, was marking contested marks up the ground and even with his injury had separation from his opponent but the kick from Bonner just missed the target.
Yes I have confirmation bias, but I think the consensus is that our mids are ordinary and have been for a decade.
We scream for mids every draft, finally the message has been received.

 

[beside the seaside]

We used the pick on Ollie Hotton the draft previous to the Hastie draft

It goes to show how crucial drafting well is. I mean we looked at that Long trade and it was a very nice return, but whether it's due to bad luck or bad drafting or both we are behind at this stage. Fingers crossed Hotton can get a good run at it and turn the tables.

Same with the Gresh move, we essentially got Collard for him and there's still plenty to go under the bridge but right now we're behind.

Dalrymple is absolutely crucial going forward as it's all well and good to get good picks but if you don't nail them then it's all for nothing.

 

[Brian Oblivion]

This is a good article on the WCE game. I like this writer.

‘Neutered dog’ Ross Lyon teaches Harley Reid old tricks to win battle for St Kilda | Jonathan Horn

West Coast young gun started the AFL clash full of confidence and cheek until brought down a peg or two by the Saints and their coach

www.theguardian.com

 

[The Punter]

This is a good article on the WCE game. I like this writer.

‘Neutered dog’ Ross Lyon teaches Harley Reid old tricks to win battle for St Kilda | Jonathan Horn

West Coast young gun started the AFL clash full of confidence and cheek until brought down a peg or two by the Saints and their coach

www.theguardian.com

All I read is the only month that matters any more in football is October. The rest is happened.

 

[Brian Oblivion]

All I read is the only month that matters any more in football is October. The rest is happened.

What are you on about TP ?

 

[The Punter]

What are you on about TP ?

The thesis of the Horn piece is more and more, coaching doesn't matter. Just play AFL football manager and get the best talent and the premiership is decided.

No wonder we cannot win a premiership - we can't (and are not allowed) to win trade week.

 

[Diehard Saint]

Does anyone have Foxtel Go? mine doesnt seem to have the replay on it. has every other game though

Mine didn’t either.
Go to the AFL website, at the bottom of our game it says Watch Replay.
Thats how I watched it.

 

[Joffaboy]

This is a good article on the WCE game. I like this writer.

‘Neutered dog’ Ross Lyon teaches Harley Reid old tricks to win battle for St Kilda | Jonathan Horn

West Coast young gun started the AFL clash full of confidence and cheek until brought down a peg or two by the Saints and their coach

www.theguardian.com

Still think it glosses over the amazing job Windhager did. Not only did he restrict Reid to 3 possessions in the second half and zero clearance he got 12 possessions himself and got 6 clearances himself.

That is easily as good as any other player after half-time.
It's a pity the AFL client media are too lazy to analyse the Windhager performance and just say 'Reid was tagged out of the game'.

Would not expect any more from the lazy AFL media though.

On SM-S908E using BigFooty.com mobile app

 

[Hubnester]

Not being a smartarse here, but it shows that winning in the midfield is everything in football. It all starts there.
Prior to the start of Qtr3 the Eagles had won the last 10 clearances in a row, Reid with 7 for the half.

He is clamped down on the Eagles clearances dry up, Dow, Steele and Clark get to work and we look like a football team again.
Windy as a tagger got 6 clearances for the half to Reids zero, basically A 13 clearance turnaround from the firsts half.
Personally thought it was the best game for King for some time, he kicked two, was involved in two more, was marking contested marks up the ground and even with his injury had separation from his opponent but the kick from Bonner just missed the target.
Yes I have confirmation bias, but I think the consensus is that our mids are ordinary and have been for a decade.
We scream for mids every draft, finally the message has been received.

Not sure how that's being a smartarse but yes, I think the game was a tale of two halves and a perfect example of how important a competitive midfield is, and how that reflects on the forwardline and the backline. I actually really liked our midfield mix this game as well, having Dow and Clark in there is a real point of difference and something we've been missing. Get the midfield right and suddenly everything else doesn't look quite so hard. That's why I think most of the criticism directed at King has been unfair - people are expecting him to turn shit into gold, but as talented as he is, he's still only working with what he's been given.

 

[Diehard Saint]

Still think it glosses over the amazing job Windhager did. Not only did he restrict Reid to 3 possessions in the second half and zero clearance he got 12 possessions himself and got 6 clearances himself.

That is easily as good as any other player after half-time.
It's a pity the AFL client media are too lazy to analyse the Windhager performance and just say 'Reid was tagged out of the game'.

Would not expect any more from the lazy AFL media though.

On SM-S908E using BigFooty.com mobile app

I agree.
They all talk about this 19 year old superstar, but don’t think I’ve once heard 20 year old Windy mentioned by name - not only stopping Reid, but getting his own clearances too. Invaluable learning for him as well.
Unfortunately “tagged” has a dirty connotation to it for some reason.

 

[SG34]

St Kilda have now won their last four games at Optus Stadium. I think it's our second longest winning streak at an interstate venue (we won 7 in a row at the SCG in the 1990s).

Sydney were in dire straights then. Five seasons from '90 - '94, won 26 games in total!
But we will take it anyway.
Saints! Kings of the West! Viking destroyers!

 

[moirae42]

Just watching the second half..

Windhager was ****ing perfect. Astoundingly good. His attack on the footy was tip freaking top.

 

[The Punter]

Perhaps Windy is a better offensive midfielder when given a tagging role. He needs the structure of a set role.

 

[SG34]

Just curious.
So what was Windy doing in the first half?
And how much was this role missed in the second?