Autopsy Round 19, 2024: Saints v Eagles

[BrutThough]

Something particularly impressive about Membrey's performance yesterday was he did it while matched up on Barrass for most of the day. For as poor as WC is, Barrass is still an elite defender so it's encouraging he did that on a high quality player.

 

[Diehard Saint]

Membrey showed how smart and valuable he is in the forward line with his forward craft, and how he worked well with the midfielders.
Where was that last week?

It was a crap game, ok?
It happens. We’re not consistent. We all know that. What’s your point?
Weather, and the way we played it, didn’t help.

 

[saintbill]

As usual, Stocker spoke really well.
I really hope that he can cement his place on the list. He seems like he's good for the culture of the club in a similar manner to Wood and Hill. Which I think is really important to aid in the development of the kids that we are hoping our future can be built upon.

Nice to see a Saints player that doesn't look underdeveloped physically in the side. Has very thick quads Stocker.

I am sick of seeing tackles broken, blokes being bullied around the contest. We need some heavier players like Stocker who can stand up in the contest.

 

[saintbill]

Sharman is going to he a player. Great leading patterns and a nice leg on him. I would keep Membrey another year if we can.

Membrey and Sharman is a nice combination. Hammer as possibly the third option.

I think we need to turn King into a forward ruck. The reality is the forward line simply functions better when he doesn't play.

He just doesn't seem a good fit for our game style. His second efforts are really poor and is outmarked far too regularly. It ruins our whole high pressure set up, as we cant afford any slack players in the F50.

I personally would trade for a gun midfielder all day long but that is not going to happen, therefore we need to figure a plan B for King and a more mobile ruck/forward is all I can think of.

King as a stay at home forward 100% of the time, actually makes us worse.

 

[PJays]

Great win. Yes, weak opposition but still nice to destroy someone and nice seeing Membrey winding the clock back

But, crowd a real worry. Much lower than historical crowds against West Coast

23,598 round 8 2015 at 145pm on a Saturday

22,688 round 20 2017 at 110pm on a Sunday

It's fair to assume Saints fans are fed up with our uninspiring play and confirming that with their time and wallets

 

[gubby88]

Great win. Yes, weak opposition but still nice to destroy someone and nice seeing Membrey winding the clock back

But, crowd a real worry. Much lower than historical crowds against West Coast

23,598 round 8 2015 at 145pm on a Saturday

22,688 round 20 2017 at 110pm on a Sunday

It's fair to assume Saints fans are fed up with our uninspiring play and confirming that with their time and wallets

or its the middle of winter with horrible weather and the flu running rampant.



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[BrutThough]

Great win. Yes, weak opposition but still nice to destroy someone and nice seeing Membrey winding the clock back

But, crowd a real worry. Much lower than historical crowds against West Coast

23,598 round 8 2015 at 145pm on a Saturday

22,688 round 20 2017 at 110pm on a Sunday

It's fair to assume Saints fans are fed up with our uninspiring play and confirming that with their time and wallets

In the grand scheme of things, 4k difference between a dead rubber and a game with both teams fighting to make finals isnt that drastic.

 

[austinnn]

Signature performance from Tim, if it's to be the end this year then that's a nice way to sign off, and if not most people wouldn't begrudge him an extention. I've been a massive fan of his over his time with us - IMO it's time to move on but another year wouldn't make me furious.

Great to see Stocker back in and playing well. Love everything he brings.

Battle - I absolutely want him to stay, more because I know he will take himself and Hawthorn to another level, I couldnt bear it. After seeing the Ginnivan-led shenanigans this weekend against the Pies, I think Josh would love that kind of energy - and I'd love to see him bring that to St Kilda rather than join Hawthorn.

RTB: for god's sake, make Battle captain and double his salary, keep him and give him carte blanche to do what he likes, play where he wants. Switch with Sharman up front or Sinclair in the middle, make him the face of the Saints. Use him properly, or watch Hawthorn blitz with him starring on and off field.

It was a weird game, it honestly looked like hard work and we didn't look like we were dominating at all then I checked the scores and we were 70 points up! How did that happen. Massive asterisk game, but very much needed prior to taking on the Injectors next week. Crush em Saints!

 

[PJays]

or its the middle of winter with horrible weather and the flu running rampant.



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In the grand scheme of things, 4k difference between a dead rubber and a game with both teams fighting to make finals isnt that drastic.

I like your optimism, both of you. The optimism to think things aren't looking dire.

However, St Kilda has played 291 games at Marvel over the past 25 seasons (300, but I'm excluding 9 in 2020 and 2021)

Our recent home games against Gold Coast, Port and West Coast all fall within the bottom 20 for crowds.

This is especially worrying when you consider the games were in decent time slots- 110pm Sunday, 145pm Saturday and 730pm Saturday. None fell in the horrible 320pm and 440pm Sunday slots.

 

[BrutThough]

I like your optimism, both of you. The optimism to think things aren't looking dire.

However, St Kilda has played 291 games at Marvel over the past 25 seasons (300, but I'm excluding 9 in 2020 and 2021)

Our recent home games against Gold Coast, Port and West Coast all fall within the bottom 20 for crowds.

This is especially worrying when you consider the games were in decent time slots- 110pm Sunday, 145pm Saturday and 730pm Saturday. None fell in the horrible 320pm and 440pm Sunday slots.

Of course we'd like the crowds to be higher but GC and Port are 2 of the 3 lowest drawing teams in Victoria. Those are hardly the teams worth highlighting for low crowd numbers. That's part of the reason we rarely play Port in Victoria.

It's much more nuanced than 'people dislike Ross' gamestyle' to why the crowds are down this year.

 

[gubby88]

I like your optimism, both of you. The optimism to think things aren't looking dire.

However, St Kilda has played 291 games at Marvel over the past 25 seasons (300, but I'm excluding 9 in 2020 and 2021)

Our recent home games against Gold Coast, Port and West Coast all fall within the bottom 20 for crowds.

This is especially worrying when you consider the games were in decent time slots- 110pm Sunday, 145pm Saturday and 730pm Saturday. None fell in the horrible 320pm and 440pm Sunday slots.

you mean the three lowest teams with supporter bases in melbourne?



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[hayes]

I like your optimism, both of you. The optimism to think things aren't looking dire.

However, St Kilda has played 291 games at Marvel over the past 25 seasons (300, but I'm excluding 9 in 2020 and 2021)

Our recent home games against Gold Coast, Port and West Coast all fall within the bottom 20 for crowds.

This is especially worrying when you consider the games were in decent time slots- 110pm Sunday, 145pm Saturday and 730pm Saturday. None fell in the horrible 320pm and 440pm Sunday slots.

There’s not really much to worry about, fans only really turn up when you’re a finals or top 4 side. Richmond only got 18,000 to a game against GWS on a Sunday and they just came off three flags.

I wouldn’t underestimate the early Saturday timeslot either. People work and kids sport runs basically all day.

 

[MordySaint]

Signature performance from Tim, if it's to be the end this year then that's a nice way to sign off, and if not most people wouldn't begrudge him an extention. I've been a massive fan of his over his time with us - IMO it's time to move on but another year wouldn't make me furious.

Great to see Stocker back in and playing well. Love everything he brings.

Battle - I absolutely want him to stay, more because I know he will take himself and Hawthorn to another level, I couldnt bear it. After seeing the Ginnivan-led shenanigans this weekend against the Pies, I think Josh would love that kind of energy - and I'd love to see him bring that to St Kilda rather than join Hawthorn.

RTB: for god's sake, make Battle captain and double his salary, keep him and give him carte blanche to do what he likes, play where he wants. Switch with Sharman up front or Sinclair in the middle, make him the face of the Saints. Use him properly, or watch Hawthorn blitz with him starring on and off field.

It was a weird game, it honestly looked like hard work and we didn't look like we were dominating at all then I checked the scores and we were 70 points up! How did that happen. Massive asterisk game, but very much needed prior to taking on the Injectors next week. Crush em Saints!

Agree with this on Battle.

Money is not the problem here, the club has enough in reserves to match Hawthorns.

One thing Saints supporters can't stand is watching another best 22 player be traded to to another club, then improve on their performance and win a flag.

I understand that its all about picks and getting in a decent midfielder, but something is more at stake here and that's the fabric of the club.

We have pick 4 coming, if the club reckons they have improved in drafting then do it with this one... don't trade out one of your home grown talents and best 22 for another roll of the dice.

 

[Saint Watto]

Great win. Yes, weak opposition but still nice to destroy someone and nice seeing Membrey winding the clock back

But, crowd a real worry. Much lower than historical crowds against West Coast

23,598 round 8 2015 at 145pm on a Saturday

22,688 round 20 2017 at 110pm on a Sunday

It's fair to assume Saints fans are fed up with our uninspiring play and confirming that with their time and wallets

I strongly suspect that the weather and our ordinary form had a lot to do with the crowd number.

The arctic conditions yesterday in Melb certainly didn't help.

The wind was icy along with blinding sheets of rain.

And there's been some very nasty "bugs" flying around Melb the last month or so.

One of our group was flattened with it late in the week.

I was tipping 15K pre game and as mentioned earlier....was very surprised a tad over 18K rocked up.

 

[gubby88]

Agree with this on Battle.

Money is not the problem here, the club has enough in reserves to match Hawthorns.

One thing Saints supporters can't stand is watching another best 22 player be traded to to another club, then improve on their performance and win a flag.

I understand that its all about picks and getting in a decent midfielder, but something is more at stake here and that's the fabric of the club.

We have pick 4 coming, if the club reckons they have improved in drafting then do it with this one... don't trade out one of your home grown talents and best 22 for another roll of the dice.

oh horse shit.

so people expect premierships but expect a mid tier team to do it.

we need more grunt in the middle. third defenders are a dime a dozen. yes battle plays his position well. we have another person who could be far better.

you have to make list sacrifices to get a premiersbip winning list, this is one of them

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[MordySaint]

oh horse shit.

so people expect premierships but expect a mid tier team to do it.

we need more grunt in the middle. third defenders are a dime a dozen. yes battle plays his position well. we have another person who could be far better.

you have to make list sacrifices to get a premiersbip winning list, this is one of them

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Thats what the club said about trading McEvoy.... we have three ruckman (Longer, Hickey, Pierce) . "He's excess to needs... Rucks are a dime a dozen"

Then a few years later we had no effective ruckmen on our list.

People say we can't use history to govern our future, but the smart people say that you use history to learn from your mistakes.

 

[littlecreatures]

I like your optimism, both of you. The optimism to think things aren't looking dire.

However, St Kilda has played 291 games at Marvel over the past 25 seasons (300, but I'm excluding 9 in 2020 and 2021)

Our recent home games against Gold Coast, Port and West Coast all fall within the bottom 20 for crowds.

This is especially worrying when you consider the games were in decent time slots- 110pm Sunday, 145pm Saturday and 730pm Saturday. None fell in the horrible 320pm and 440pm Sunday slots.

Fixturing mate. Richmond pulled less than 20k the other week against the Giants.

Do you really see us pulling the same numbers against say Collingwood, Geelong, Essendon or Carlton?

That’s basically the argument, why we are playing a fixture weighted by minnow teams at Marvel or travelling interstate when we could be playing at least 2-4 games at the G against teams the AFL knows will pull a decent attendance which offers better equity.

Unfortunately, the AFL wants to stack the fixture with revenue based games for the big 4 who just don’t have to travel as much, whom we get painted with the same brush and while we’re hamstrung by being a subsidised club. For instance, when was the last time Essendon, Carlton, Collingwood, etc travelled to GMHBA?

 

[gubby88]

Thats what the club said about trading McEvoy.... we have three ruckman (Longer, Hickey, Pierce) . "He's excess to needs... Rucks are a dime a dozen"

Then a few years later we had no effective ruckmen on our list.

People say we can't use history to govern our future, but the smart people say that you use history to learn from your mistakes.

yes, use it to learn.

when we had mcevoy we only had Hickey on the list so im unsure where your history comes from.

howver i dont see how a trade from a decade ago compares to a free agent leaving? the club is well and truly all over what is needed from the draft, but i suppose as is the norm, we dont listen to the club, only what happened over a decade ago..

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[cooperrules]

Yay we beat a WAFL team.

 

[Saint Watto]

Of course we'd like the crowds to be higher but GC and Port are 2 of the 3 lowest drawing teams in Victoria. Those are hardly the teams worth highlighting for low crowd numbers. That's part of the reason we rarely play Port in Victoria.

It's much more nuanced than 'people dislike Ross' gamestyle' to why the crowds are down this year.

Absolutely there Brut.

As I mentioned a week or so ago,this Sat against the Planes will be our first game against a Vic club for 9 long weeks(The Dees at the G was the last Vict club)

During that stretch....we played home games against 4 interstate clubs(although 30 K against the Ducks was a good crowd)

It's why our total home game/away game crowds this season will look a very soft.

I'll bet the bean counters at Rsea will be tearing their hair out at this years draw.

 

[BrutThough]

Absolutely there Brut.

As I mentioned a week or so ago,this Sat against the Planes will be our first game against a Vic club for 9 long weeks(The Dees at the G was the last Vict club)

During that stretch....we played home games against 4 interstate clubs(although 30 K against the Ducks was a good crowd)

It's why our total home game/away game crowds this season will look a very soft.

I'll bet the bean counters at Rsea will be tearing their hair out at this years draw.

Not even just the last 9 weeks, it's been horrible from rd1- no home game at Marvel until rd6 and no home games against a big vic since rd2.

Definitely expecting a hit with the clubs finances this year because it was always going to be a struggle making a profit this year.

 

[Pakenhamsaint]

But, crowd a real worry. Much lower than historical crowds against West Coast

23,598 round 8 2015 at 145pm on a Saturday

22,688 round 20 2017 at 110pm on a Sunday

It's fair to assume Saints fans are fed up with our uninspiring play and confirming that with their time and wallets

It's the back end of the season and we aren't playing finals. That's the crowd dissapearing

 

[SteeleSaints]

oh horse shit.
so people expect premierships but expect a mid tier team to do it.
we need more grunt in the middle. third defenders are a dime a dozen. yes battle plays his position well. we have another person who could be far better.
you have to make list sacrifices to get a premiersbip winning list, this is one of them

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He is 14th in the competition for intercept marks and possessions, if those players are dime a dozen where does a similiar or better replacement come from for next year?

 

[Diehard Saint]

Great win. Yes, weak opposition but still nice to destroy someone and nice seeing Membrey winding the clock back

But, crowd a real worry. Much lower than historical crowds against West Coast

23,598 round 8 2015 at 145pm on a Saturday

22,688 round 20 2017 at 110pm on a Sunday

It's fair to assume Saints fans are fed up with our uninspiring play and confirming that with their time and wallets

It was bloody freezing! I had 5 layers on and could’ve had another.
People chose to stay home and watch on the couch. Can’t blame them really.

 

[Saintos The ITK]

We actually have fairly decent players that can put on a show when they want to. That’s the challenge for rtb to get them all to put on a show every week.
Players need to stop resting on their laurels and put in consistent effort.