Autopsy Round 2, 2021: St.Kilda v Melbourne *SPUD'S GAME* *SINCLAIR 100TH*

[PostmanBish]

Yeah clearly an umpire mistake, Ratts implied that in his presser too

Saints' Heads (Don't) Matter.

 

[gringo2011]

Bank it. It’s a win.

It’s the next 3 after. We need a win. 2 and we forget Melbourne.

Win 4 in a row and this board will be talking flags.

Point is, we are behind the strength of our fixture now. So we need to take a few that we would have marked down as losses.

Honestly only North look horrible this year, I reckon if we go into any game with the same attitude as last night we lose. I could see us finishing bottom 4 if that becomes our normal output. There are no easy games any more. If that had been Geelong or the Dogs we would have lost but 120 points.

They need to win back some trust, they were so bad it's hard to see how we flip it around. Essendon were probably as bad as us so it should be a great game, a real hobo fight. I'm probably just angry that I got sucked back into believing in this club again, the 30 something years I've been watching this club do it's thing should have taught me that expect nothing and enjoy any outlier positive experiences. Last night was just the Saints doing Saints footy.

 

[plugger66]

We got into enough great positions forward of the centre and won the ball easy enough from their clearances.

We hurt ourselves. If you did watch it back, you would have been tying a noose watching us turn the ball over and over when in a great spot.

Even if you are super worried about our midfield. It gets the injection of Crouch next week.

We need the injection of a proper ruckman. Without one are clearances are hurried compared to opposition which the forwards little chance.

 

[gringo2011]

Chemist warehouse.

Look I was disappointed last night, but so many played poorly that it’s an aberration rather than our regular output.


Hope the coaches formulate some better plans to our forward entries against them though, we didn’t seem to have a plan B when plan A was clearly not working. No excuse for the amount of times Gawn marked uncontested in our F50.

Last week papered over some concerns with a last minute win. We actually played poorly then too.

 

[Red White Black]

Skills last night probably the worst I've seen by an AFL side. The amount of unpressured turnovers was deplorable

Lazy football, lazy effort, deserved to lose putting up that trash

Review on Monday should be fun, time to light a fire Ratts

 

[plugger66]

Last week papered over some concerns with a last minute win. We actually played poorly then too.

Can’t agree with that. Beating gws in the wet at their home ground in a high class game was an excellent win. Last night was terrible. The result was flattering. Play close to that again next week and we lose. Pure and simple. Play like we did week one we win.

 

[CaptainRisky]

I just hope that performance was fatigue from last week because they did look cooked . If not its back to the drawing board

Mate , they were crap from the time the game started lets not start excuses

 

[gringo2011]

Some post sleep and stat looking thoughts.

- I think we kicked 3 goals from them dropping sitter marks... and they had 13 more scoring shots. Scoreboard flattered us.
- for our much lauded small forwards they had 12 tackles inside 50 to our 6 (we had 53 inside 50s to their 54)
- somehow the only people in the footballing universe that didn’t get the memo about not sitting the ball on the head of Gawn, May and Lever were to 40 odd blokes at Moorabbin all week
- Hill, Higgins, Sinclair and Butler have a lot of self reflection to do. Battle, Clark, Jones as well (slightly less so)
- Wilkie is out of form. Didn’t look great last week and looked worse this week.
- I’d have traded my first born for a ruckman last night BUT we all know hunter is limited and McKernan is undersized, why did we have no plan for it? We tried absolutely nothing different at stoppages and night.
- I’ve already clipped the small forwards but Salem and Rivers just waltzed out of defence all night. Made me sick

Let’s hope this was an abbhoration and not a trend cause I honestly don’t want to waste my time going if we put up that garbage.

Wilkie looked pretty good to me. He didn't lower his colours IMO. The volume of good entries that him and Howard chopped off made us look a lot better than we were. I thought Coff was the one who looked a bit ordinary this season, Long gets too far off his man and Webster is a trier but not naturally very gifted. We miss Paton, he was a terrier.

 

[phantom13]

Chemist warehouse.

Look I was disappointed last night, but so many played poorly that it’s an aberration rather than our regular output.


Hope the coaches formulate some better plans to our forward entries against them though, we didn’t seem to have a plan B when plan A was clearly not working. No excuse for the amount of times Gawn marked uncontested in our F50.

I sort of agree with you but the issue is we couldn’t afford to have a night that bad. Our first four weeks are really our only reasonable block of games all year. I’ve said for ages we need to be 3-1 (ideally 4-0) before the RICHMOND game. We need to find ways to win when we’re not “on”.

So now we MUST win Essendon and West Coast. If we don’t... top 4 is basically gone IMO.

 

[phantom13]

Wilkie looked pretty good to me. He didn't lower his colours IMO. The volume of good entries that him and Howard chopped off made us look a lot better than we were. I thought Coff was the one who looked a bit ordinary this season, Long gets too far off his man and Webster is a trier but not naturally very gifted. We miss Paton, he was a terrier.

Can’t question his effort but decision making and skills were real average last night.

 

[kernelT]

I sort of agree with you but the issue is we couldn’t afford to have a night that bad. Our first four weeks are really our only reasonable block of games all year. I’ve said for ages we need to be 3-1 (ideally 4-0) before the RICHMOND game. We need to find ways to win when we’re not “on”.

So now we MUST win Essendon and West Coast. If we don’t... top 4 is basically gone IMO.

If we’re a top 4-6 side then we’ll need to be competitive with Richmond, Geelong, west coast, port etc... I believe we will be when we’re playing at our best.

If we can’t compete with those sides then it doesn’t matter anyway.

 

[plugger66]

I sort of agree with you but the issue is we couldn’t afford to have a night that bad. Our first four weeks are really our only reasonable block of games all year. I’ve said for ages we need to be 3-1 (ideally 4-0) before the RICHMOND game. We need to find ways to win when we’re not “on”.

So now we MUST win Essendon and West Coast. If we don’t... top 4 is basically gone IMO.

Never thought top 4 was realistic anyway. Our major problem still lack of elite players and you don’t have them you always need 100% effort from everyone as you have no player who can grab the game off his own boot Until we get those players it’s going to be nearly impossible to be a top 4 side.

 

[phantom13]

If we’re a top 4-6 side then we’ll need to be competitive with Richmond, Geelong, west coast, port etc... I believe we will be when we’re playing at our best.

If we can’t compete with those sides then it doesn’t matter anyway.

I think if we can’t beat Melbourne on an average night we’re saying the same thing.

 

[vandelay11]

Can’t agree with that. Beating gws in the wet at their home ground in a high class game was an excellent win. Last night was terrible. The result was flattering. Play close to that again next week and we lose. Pure and simple. Play like we did week one we win.

Agree it was a good win, although how good GWS will actually be this year remains to be seen.

 

[gringo2011]

We got into enough great positions forward of the centre and won the ball easy enough from their clearances.

We hurt ourselves. If you did watch it back, you would have been tying a noose watching us turn the ball over and over when in a great spot.

Even if you are super worried about our midfield. It gets the injection of Crouch next week.

I hope Crouch hits the ground running, he's carrying the whole side on his back. I reckon the rest of the side found his stash before last night's game.

 

[phantom13]

I hope Crouch hits the ground running, he's carrying the whole side on his back. I reckon the rest of the side found his stash before last night's game.

lol, I think if anything the boys could have used a bit of rack last night.

 

[StPiper]

The workrate of our mids was pathetic at times. The first play of the last quarter that led to a Melbourne goal was symbolic of the night.

Ball kicked high out of the centre by Oliver. Competed in air by Battle and Brayshaw. Both Petracca and Pickett, who were at the centre bounce, at the drop of the ball. No saints mids anywhere to be seen.

yuck.

 

[CaptainRisky]

Or maybe it’s just that the hub life suited us. We don’t look like we could beat anyone after tonight. Embarrassed

Maybe something in that , I think the club has well and truly got ahead of itself and the worst part is that we couldn't respond last night , pathetic

 

[vandelay11]

People saying our guys were soft, disinterested, not putting in the effort - I think that's wrong.

I've watched it again this morning.

It was gameplan and coaching that lost us the game. Melbourne turned up knowing exactly what they needed to do and they did it in spades.

- They were always moving around stoppages and with their ruck dominance they had some hugely effective clearances.
- They always took on the tackler and usually broke through because they're bigger and stronger, which frequently gave them a man in space.
- Their forward 50 was generally pretty empty, and their entries were either to a lead or deep.
- Their transition was smart, either through the middle or down the wings. We tried to defend both and ended up defending neither.
- They made skill errors, as we did, but generally they weren't in damaging areas.

We never adjusted to any of this. We should have played some tempo footy, regained our composure, and started to pick a way through. But we didn't.

Not sure whether that's the coaching or the on-field leadership, but either way it's a problem.

But blaming individuals for mistakes or lack of effort is misdirection, and it'll lead to the wrong solutions.

Disagree with not being disinterested - summed up best by the Langdon goal early in 3rd qtr where Gawn kicking from 50 out (zero chance to make that) goes over to Langdon all on his own in the pocket who then is allowed to play on and waltz in.

Could barely believe I was watching professional sport.

 

[bergholt]

Even if you are super worried about our midfield. It gets the injection of Crouch next week.

I am, because unless Crouch and Hanners (and Steele) stay fit all year, it looks like we're still not going to be good enough in the midfield to beat any decent side on their day.

 

[bergholt]

Disagree with not being disinterested - summed up best by the Langdon goal early in 3rd qtr where Gawn kicking from 50 out (zero chance to make that) goes over to Langdon all on his own in the pocket who then is allowed to play on and waltz in.

Could barely believe I was watching professional sport.

That looked an absolute shocker, but clearly that's about system not about "interest".

It's not like there was a player who knew he was supposed to be standing in that hole but couldn't be bother.

It's worse than that - none of them knew who was supposed to be doing that job.

Probably a one-off, but if that sort of thing happens frequently then it's clearly the fault of the coaching staff.

 

[Yawkey way]

Oliver hipped someone like Long did to the Freo ruckman but didn't get proper contact. If they got Long for potential to cause injury Oliver has to get a couple of weeks too. He tried to take the head. The AFL make it up as they go though so asking for consistency is pointless.

It was butler and Oliver was bloody lucky he didn’t do some damage, he obviously meant to bump after running past the ball so it’s an interesting one.

 

[gringo2011]

Can’t question his effort but decision making and skills were real average last night.

I don't remember him missing targets but there were so many it's hard to remember who was responsible. We were sitting at ground level so couldn't see everything either. He is a great reader of the play and knows when to leave his man to come out to a free man who's drifted in while directing others to fill his hole. I feel very confident with him and Howard, the others not so much. Coffield looked like he was panicking and hitting up Dees on purpose and even Long who decision making and skills are usually tight was ****ing horrendous. I thought Highmore was pretty solid too, he took a massive hit at one point where you could hear the air knock out of him. He's a very similar type to Wilkie.

 

[Jack Stevens]

Tim Membrey

28

Tim Membrey

Age

30

Ht

188cm

Wt

92kg

Pos.

Fwd

Career

Season

Last 5

D

12.2

3star

K

8.1

3star

HB

4.1

3star

M

5.8

5star

T

1.5

3star

G

1.8

5star

D

9.4

2star

K

6.5

3star

HB

2.9

2star

M

4.5

4star

T

1.3

2star

G

1.5

5star

D

9.6

3star

K

4.8

2star

HB

4.8

4star

M

3.2

4star

T

1.4

4star

G

0.6

3star

isn't getting enough love imo. He was playing like the game was still on the line even when the Demons were icing their cake, he always cracks in. I know people like the romanticism of a standalone captain, but I'd be proud to see him named co-captain with Steele in the future.

 

[puppy_dog7]

Exactly, Clark, Gresh and Jones can play part-time in the midfield but none are full time mids or can compete with midfield bulls like Oliver, Petracca, Viney and Bradshaw.
- Gresham is a long bomb, rushed kick kind of mid, can’t bring others players in.
- Clark still too green and inconsistent to play full-time mid
- Jones again needs space to run, although is tough but does not have the nous of an inside mid..

So we actually need Steele, Crouch and Bytel at the centre bounces/clearances, and have Ross, Gresham, Jones rotating. Hill, Billings on the outside..

Missing Crouch, Bytel and a competent ruck tonight.. Plus when the opposition hit their targets all day, put pressure game is ineffective.. so play a full-press from the backline only allows easy goals to be conceded.. Ratten needs to do better here..

I know we wanted Jones back last night but Bytel was really stiff to get dropped from last week. Kid laid a game high 10 tackles and had the 2nd most pressure acts in the game. Would’ve rather’d that effort tonight tbh