Preview Round 20, 2023: Hawthorn v St.Kilda - Marvel Stadium, Sunday 30th July, 1:10PM AEST

[phantom13]

We have the Hawks who are very gettable. Richmond are hit and miss. Carlton have injuries mounting by the week. McKay and Walsh both look like they are out for weeks and they play the Pies this week. They could already be done for the year by the time we meet them. Geelong could as well. Brisbane in Brisbane sounds like the only absolute unlikely one.

Knock off a couple of Hawks, Carton and Tigers and we possibly make finals. Win 3 more for the year and we almost guarantee it. Ross Lyon will have a better list available late and that should help a lot. Our fire power is a real issue and having players back helps that.

Everyone hates Seb Ross but if we could get him back to the player he was early in the season he's an upgrade on a couple currently playing.

Depending where they land Brissy might rest some players too, although the pre finals bye kind of robs that.

Ultimately on current form we likely dont beat any of them with the hawks our best chance. Weve gotta improve alot to win any of them but theyre all there.

 

[SaintsSeptember]

You don't tag as such, you just block his run and stand him so that everything is earned. Owens is a contested player so suits playing a tight one on one.

Yeah it still doesn't make sense to me that the forward chooses which defender he will be on. To me you just end up with 4 people standing in the same space.

I think your other comment was closer to the issue.

" Our forwards need to learn how to pull players out into space and leave holes behind them for others to lead into ".

The Hawks are a young team too, but they seem to do that, and our defenders seem to fall for every trick in the book when they do it.

 

[gringo2011]

Yeah it still doesn't make sense to me that the forward chooses which defender he will be on. To me you just end up with 4 people standing in the same space.

I think your other comment was closer to the issue.

" Our forwards need to learn how to pull players out into space and leave holes behind them for others to lead into ".

The Hawks are a young team too, but they seem to do that, and our defenders seem to fall for every trick in the book when they do it.

We are a running spread side, they are an inside contested side with a handball happy game plan to get it out into space. Our biggest issue was that turn over to Sicily gave them heaps of rebound chances. They jumped us and we were on holidays a week early last time. It should be a better game this time.

 

[pebblesofsand]

If we don’t try something on Sicily I’ll be ******* spewing. He had 40 and 20 odd intercept possies against us last time.

My option - Campbell ruck, Marshall & Caminiti as the tall fwds, Phillipou & Owens as the hybrid forwards, Butler & Higgins and the small forwards. Hopefully that's enough for us to kick a reasonable score.

What they will do - Marshall ruck, Cordy to play purely as a defender on Sicily, struggle to score and hope that we can stop them from scoring more than us.

 

[beside the seaside]

My option - Campbell ruck, Marshall & Caminiti as the tall fwds, Phillipou & Owens as the hybrid forwards, Butler & Higgins and the small forwards. Hopefully that's enough for us to kick a reasonable score.

What they will do - Marshall ruck, Cordy to play purely as a defender on Sicily, struggle to score and hope that we can stop them from scoring more than us.

The issue is that Campbell is a VFL level ruckman and Marshall is an average forward.

The best option is surely Hayes.

 

[The Punter]

The issue is that Campbell is a VFL level ruckman and Marshall is an average forward.

The best option is surely Hayes.

I think that's the view of the coach too, going by all public utterances.

 

[SaintsSeptember]

My option - Campbell ruck, Marshall & Caminiti as the tall fwds, Phillipou & Owens as the hybrid forwards, Butler & Higgins and the small forwards. Hopefully that's enough for us to kick a reasonable score.

What they will do - Marshall ruck, Cordy to play purely as a defender on Sicily, struggle to score and hope that we can stop them from scoring more than us.

You don't get to choose in the forward line.

Tom Hawkins could line up on Ben Paton, but we'd sure as hell put another tall there.

 

[AirWinmar]

You don't tag as such, you just block his run and stand him so that everything is earned. Owens is a contested player so suits playing a tight one on one.

Easier said than done and you'll risk giving away frees for blocking if you're too obvious. We need to be less predictable with our entries and spread their defence and we need 3 genuine marking threats. We've been so predictable with our entries, which is why interceptors like Sicily will always have a day out against us. Will be an interesting watch what we do. RTB looks like he is starting to make some moves

 

[The Punter]

The entries are slow because the forwards don't work hard enough to present an easy, simple, quick option. Mids are left with no alternative to attempt, often to no avail, to try and manufacture a 50/50 stoppage from the forward 50 entry.

Blokes lead and get away from their opponents you HAVE to kick it to them, lest they stop leading. So the mids aren't entirely blameless.

 

[g_TRAIN]

The entries are slow because the forwards don't work hard enough to present an easy, simple, quick option. Mids are left with no alternative to attempt, often to no avail, to try and manufacture a 50/50 stoppage from the forward 50 entry.

Blokes lead and get away from their opponents you HAVE to kick it to them, lest they stop leading. So the mids aren't entirely blameless.

With our young inexperienced forward line there is an element of this but personally the way I see it most of the issue is with our mids and HFs with their delivery and ability to generate a good entry.

But interesting that you see it slightly more the other way around.

 

[Diehard Saint]

Lmao, the twists and turns in that few days are unbelievable. Just got better and better and better. Never seen a group of supporters (us) collectively rile up so many oppo supporters like that. We were in the zone. Flow state.

Forgot about that … what did I say?
Level - headed… not sure the fam would agree

I’m up to the part where they banned Diehard Saint - our most respectful and level-headed poster, for quoting literal fact, a direct statement from a presser lmao

Lmao, the twists and turns in that few days are unbelievable. Just got better and better and better. Never seen a group of supporters (us) collectively rile up so many oppo supporters like that. We were in the zone. Flow state.

Forgot about that … what did I say?
Level - headed… not sure the fam would agree

 

[pebblesofsand]

The issue is that Campbell is a VFL level ruckman and Marshall is an average forward.

The best option is surely Hayes.

Irrelevant.

The only issue is whether they are the best option that is currently available for our team.

 

[beside the seaside]

Irrelevant.

The only issue is whether they are the best option that is currently available for our team.

I think one of the reasons Marshall worked in that last quarter was that he was running forward from the centre so it caused confusion for the Roos and Owens went into the ruck and actually won clearances. It was a superb coaching move that won us the game.

 

[PostmanBish]

Need a big bodied mature player on him, he tends to nudge you under the ball Caminiti played on him earlier in the year and it was like lambs to the slaughter.

Tell Caminiti that Sicily reckons he should have got 6 weeks for hitting Murphy, and that he doesn't have enough BDE to try it on him

 

[Dard Ball Get]

Forgot about that … what did I say?
Level - headed… not sure the fam would agree


Forgot about that … what did I say?
Level - headed… not sure the fam would agree

Think it was to do with how old mate Langford said we’d picked them for our 150th because we “saw them as an easy kill”, to which you replied with the direct quote that we’d actually requested Collingwood.
Then you were hit with the ban hammer

 

[jwikked]

Reminiscing on better times.

Do yourselves a favour and go check the 150th game preview thread. We are months removed but some of the stuff in there is pure gold.

Preview - Round 3, 2023: St.Kilda v Essendon - MCG, Saturday 1st April, 7:25PM AEDT *150 YEARS OF THE SAINTS*

https://www.afl.com.au/afl/matches/4807 Looking forward to this one. Just got my tickets last night, hopefully there's a huge crowd there. You can buy 150th year merch here; https://shop.saints.com.au/150th/ Also pick up a 150th year membership (gets you access to the game + other...

www.bigfooty.com

Think it has to be the best ever week on the board

I said before that game that if we only win one game of the year, it has to be that one. That week was a complete celebration of the club. The club handled that week brilliantly, the players included.

 

[Tommy Wigs]

The issue is that Campbell is a VFL level ruckman and Marshall is an average forward.

The best option is surely Hayes.

Meek isn’t much better (and never really understood the Campbell dislike - he’s absolutely no champ, but he’s better than most journeymen out there and has a big body).

 

[Tommy Wigs]

Tell Caminiti that Sicily reckons he should have got 6 weeks for hitting Murphy, and that he doesn't have enough BDE to try it on him

I just learned that the Rioli incident was with Murphy. That guy certainly does attract a punch. And loves playing victim. And their supporters love being racist ferals after the fact. Remember the stuff leveled at Hammer!

 

[Dr Spaceman]

Need a big bodied mature player on him, he tends to nudge you under the ball Caminiti played on him earlier in the year and it was like lambs to the slaughter.

I wonder whether either of these big bodied mature blokes are available this week

 

[Mowman]

I wonder whether either of these big bodied mature blokes are available this week

Is that George in the white shorts

 

[bird_man]

You don't get to choose in the forward line.

Tom Hawkins could line up on Ben Paton, but we'd sure as hell put another tall there.

You see defensive forwards go to a defender quite often in the modern game so that's not true.

If Cordy wants to play on Sicily that's what will happen.

 

[stfan]

Is that George in the white shorts

Only if he has gotten a lot fitter...

 

[Sun Ra]

Well the season is getting towards the pointy end - and my feeling is, we have been employing the Ali "Rope-A-Dope" strategy
for some months now (under the radar of course) - I haven't figured out if we are using it against the rest of the league or just our fans ?

 

[George]

Is that George in the white shorts

Good one

 

[Mowman]

Good one

Thanks Biff