Autopsy Round 19, 2023: St.Kilda v North Melbourne

[70s sainter]

I don't think I've seen an afl player play a game so below the required afl level that hunter clarke did today. He has got to be the slowest midfielder in the competition. He was literally labouring to every contest and got absolutely smoked on the spread by NM mids who have literally been eaten alive by every other team this year. The term 'running in mud' was used on multiple occasions to describe him. His tackling was an absolute disgrace and was picked up in commentary multiple times where his efforts were incredibly feeble.. (again, norf players are hardly big bodied giants besides LDU).

RTB obviously had enough with him and pretty much benched him the entire last qtr (he played only 70 min of game time). Sure everyone will jump on and say that he's had injuries ra ra ra but at the end of the day if you're playing you have to be at a basic standard.. 9 kicks with 5 turnovers (he is an incredibly sloppy kick) and zero defensive presence against a borderline vft. Unless he goes to half back I cannot see how he is part of our plans going fwd, he is literally below average in every single statistic according to champion data for a midfielder and he's 24.

I dont get it . What happened to his matrix skills from a few years ago or did i just imagine that he was becoming a gun

 

[Premium]

Neale?

Same bloke who was interviewed on Friday night footy the other month singing RTBs praises?

what else would he say - lets be real , only have to listen to the Fremantle talk when he left the club

 

[AirWinmar]

Players who got more of the ball than either Gresham or Clark.

Wood, Wilkie, Marshal, Webster, Owens, Jones , Battle, Phillipou.
Players who got more of the ball than Gresham.
Sharman, Caminiti, Higgins , Bytel, Billings.

Byrnes in before Gresham, Gresham has Zero impact. He had less impact than Peris against GC. What the hell is wrong with him?

Yeah don't know what is going on with Gresh. On top of not producing much he's an absolute liability defensively. Cost us a goal while napping letting North get an inboard chip pass i50. Sincs looked like he went ballistic at him

 

[Premium]

Billings annoys you most because you watch Bont week in week out be the best player in the comp.

Poor bloke has paid for the clubs mistake.

His been well paid for it too.

 

[Nutsngum]

To me it looks like Ross is trying to get us playing a mode of fast handballs through the corridor, but we just can't pull it off. Hopefully we just need to get used to it and will look good in time. Tonight it looked awful, but we have to learn how to play a brand of footy that stacks up and it will also highlight those that are not up to it.

Ah no, we are actually pulling that off pretty well. The issues we are having are losing centre square clearances which puts pressure on our defensive half, below average connection with our forwards which is exasperated by having very little experience in the forward line at the moment.

We kicked 15 behinds tonight and another out on the full to 9 goals, of which many of them were gettable set shots. Reverse that to a reasonable 15.9 and its an easy 30+ point win and thats with only fixing one aspect of the game.

 

[Enclosed_Animal]

He's mentally out the door mate.

Like when you've handed in your two weeks and it just drags on and everyone's sitting there wondering what the bloody point is.

He knows he's leaving.

We know he's leaving.

If the AFL had some balls they'd let Gresh sign the contract now and he could go jog laps at Linton St for the last 6 weeks of the season.

Well he should do what every self-respecting person does in this situation.

Hand in your notice, clear out the desk and call in sick to work 10 times

 

[Enclosed_Animal]

Geez that was painful.

Been saying it for about 2 months, but we are rolling out each week with about 15 contributors. Effectively played that game with 16 men

Butler - 6 kicks, 2 tackles and no score
Gresham - 2 kicks and no score
Bytel - 12 touches (3 contested), 0 tackles and 160m gained
Sharman - Huge goal and SFA else
Clark - 15 touches (at 57%) and only more TOG than Hill
Billings - 7 kicks and 3 turnovers

And 5 players out there (NAS, Pou, Owens, Windy & Hammer) are all younger and less experienced than ANY of those named. Would love to see a statement or 2 at selection next week

 

[Saint Kidding]

An umpire ripped the game out of North's forward movement and probably stopped a score opportunity
The umpire did it with an obscene AFL petty split second free kick no would have deserved but these prancing over killers adjudicating games are screwing it into the ground the sport unfair brought the ball back gave it to Saints and turned the chances for North on their head.
What a terrible disappointment and that free is the type of rubbish umpires give out but have no idea nor do the fools that make these piddly rules up, it is just ruining the game it's basketball rules this is not basketball, to get a free kick against youbecause of momentum from bodily speed is a ******g joke.
I'm sorry I follow the Hawks but who ever won that game today changes nothing that blasted free was uncalled for it was barely warranted but some over the top Prancer killed a chance
Is that what Aussie rules has come to
And the TV sycophants say stuff all!

What an absolute Tosser!

 

[pebblesofsand]

I know I probably sound like Dougals mum but what is the problem with him today?

He's played on one of the best forwards in the game today. Note, he's been given the best forward again, like every week.

Here's the run down of Larkeys goals:
1. Dougal slips
2. Battle turns it over in the centre
3. Wilkie high tackle free kick.

Larkey doesn't touch in the second half does he?

Most club supporters would praise a full back that has todays outcome, wouldn't they?

This post needs a few more of these

 

[phantom13]

This post needs a few more of these

To be fair most of the criticism of Dougal generally comes because we know he’s capable of being very good if not great if he just shelved the idiotic mistakes and pirouettes and honestly the take away from an 8 point win against a team second bottom on the ladder and off a 15 game losing streak (who would be firmly bottom of the ladder in just about any other season) isn’t likely to include much praise for anyone.

 

[SaintsSeptember]

Ah no, we are actually pulling that off pretty well. The issues we are having are losing centre square clearances which puts pressure on our defensive half, below average connection with our forwards which is exasperated by having very little experience in the forward line at the moment.

We kicked 15 behinds tonight and another out on the full to 9 goals, of which many of them were gettable set shots. Reverse that to a reasonable 15.9 and its an easy 30+ point win and thats with only fixing one aspect of the game.

We won 5 and lost 10. I refuse to believe that the five whole center clearances was what caused all the problems.

 

[gringo2011]

I know I probably sound like Dougals mum but what is the problem with him today?

He's played on one of the best forwards in the game today. Note, he's been given the best forward again, like every week.

Here's the run down of Larkeys goals:
1. Dougal slips
2. Battle turns it over in the centre
3. Wilkie high tackle free kick.

Larkey doesn't touch in the second half does he?

Most club supporters would praise a full back that has todays outcome, wouldn't they?

Larkey played out the game injured so not sure it was our defence

 

[PoppedCorn]

Did anyone else think that as soon as hill got hit he was done for the day, without even actually seeing if the hit was serious or not

 

[Klaatu]

Geez that was painful.

Been saying it for about 2 months, but we are rolling out each week with about 15 contributors. Effectively played that game with 16 men

Butler - 6 kicks, 2 tackles and no score
Gresham - 2 kicks and no score
Bytel - 12 touches (3 contested), 0 tackles and 160m gained
Sharman - Huge goal and SFA else
Clark - 15 touches (at 57%) and only more TOG than Hill
Billings - 7 kicks and 3 turnovers

And 5 players out there (NAS, Pou, Owens, Windy & Hammer) are all younger and less experienced than ANY of those named. Would love to see a statement or 2 at selection next week

Fair point, now give us the replacements of equal quality & same positions.

 

[BrutThough]

All the same, not sure why he kept playing Sharman on the wing for large parts of the game when we were getting belted in our forward line.

Young guys looking very exciting, good to see Steele back in form and probably Mases best game in awhile too

That was so frustrating. For two quarters Sharman was standing around lost, looking completely hopeless because he wasn't sure if he should guard space or guard an opponent so was just there not impacting anything while we were running an undersized forward line and kicking it in as if we had someone who could mark it. At least we finally changed it in the last quarter, but why did it take so long?

Why didn't we initially just put JB there once he was subbed on given played wing for years? Or any of Jones, Clark, Nas (then move Clark to half back)who have experience in that position. It shouldn't have taken so long for us to make the obvious potential change and get Sharman out of a place he was lost to somewhere he could contribute.

 

[AirWinmar]

Ah no, we are actually pulling that off pretty well. The issues we are having are losing centre square clearances which puts pressure on our defensive half, below average connection with our forwards which is exasperated by having very little experience in the forward line at the moment.

We kicked 15 behinds tonight and another out on the full to 9 goals, of which many of them were gettable set shots. Reverse that to a reasonable 15.9 and its an easy 30+ point win and thats with only fixing one aspect of the game.

Agree to disagree on our handball through the corridor mode, im happy for them to do it but we screw it up most of the time.

Obviously we are having issues at centre clearance. Midfield mix looked a lot better in the last quarter tho.

 

[bird_man]

Yeah, Sharman on the wing was bizarre

 

[BrutThough]

Our 2021 draft class is pretty special. They are already impacting games regularly and stepping up in the big moments as 2nd year player.

If we ever achieve something, it will be because of that trio.

 

[AirWinmar]

It's amazing how many players we have that don't demand the ball.

 

[Ricmel]

To me it looks like Ross is trying to get us playing a mode of fast handballs through the corridor, but we just can't pull it off. Hopefully we just need to get used to it and will look good in time. Tonight it looked awful, but we have to learn how to play a brand of footy that stacks up and it will also highlight those that are not up to it.

I think you are right. That is how the top 3 or 4 teams are playing and it is winning games of footy. We don't have the skill and talent of those teams but at the same time we can't afford not to play a modern game. As I have been banging on for 10 years - our problem is not coaches, it is list, list, list and list.

 

[AirWinmar]

1 thing with Sharman is he looked absolutely gassed after about 5 minutes. Im a fan, but its not a good look

 

[AirWinmar]

I think you are right. That is how the top 3 or 4 teams are playing and it is winning games of footy. We don't have the skill and talent of those teams but at the same time we can't afford not to play a modern game. As I have been banging on for 10 years - our problem is not coaches, it is list, list, list and list.

I'm hoping most of our guys need to get used to it. I'm usually measured, but watching yesterday's game was the 1st time I've thought gut the list. Too many with either low footy iq, too slow or can't kick.
Jones handball to Clark with his back turned raised my pulse a little gringo2011
1 no footy iq the other just too slow for afl football

 

[pebblesofsand]

We won - I'm happy, Camma's happy

 

[Miha]

Good grief we’re so far off it. Staggered if we make finals. Some changes needed off-season

 

[Cairnsman]

If you look at it glass half empty though would you rather have a decent team down on its luck sitting at 14th amd getting a great draft pick or a s**t team sitting 6th and getting nothing ~ THATS us...

Absolutely the former.

We are the best bottom 4 side ever to sit at 6th on the ladder in the history of the game….how St Kilda.