Review Round 4: Saints v Pies

[St Chiko]

its puzzling how anyone could defend hickeys game. he got pantsed significantly and brodie was one of the pies that looked like he could be the difference and get them over the line

i'd be very nervous if i was collingwood, i reckon brodie is going to return to SA and cash in on a very good deal

Maybe Brodie's a better player. Tom tried his guts out and contributed to the win.

 

[FlyingSledghamer]

Due to our pressure, Grundy beat Hickey comprehensively IMO.

Longer if form permits, should be given a crack, has more mongrel in him.

What? He just kept cracking in all day and tackling and 2nd efforts. I thought he played really well. No way he should get dropped.
Longer would have got slaughtered today and we probably would have lost.

 

[Rors]

Yeah the reason they didn't damage us as they should have was our pressure, it wasn't a case of our midfield outplaying theirs which was my point.

Our midfield pressuring them to turn it over.... We have a midfield that works both ways. If we don't win the ball, we cause them to turn it over.

When things click for us, we're gonna bury a good team by 120points. You can see it but it's just not there yet

 

[atlaser]

Nearly half his touches were contested possessions and had 5 shots on goal so I don't think that is true at all.

I take it back. As I said I thought he played much better this week, I didn't notice how much of the ball he got until the end of the game though.

 

[Marlo]

Incorrect

That's a beautiful sight.

That is where Billings belongs. Today looked like him shaking off rust in his natural position. Just needs to feel at home, get some games under his belt with a forwards mindset, and he'll be a match winner.

Straight kicking at goal off of an elite game while rusty says a lot.

That looked like Jacky Billings, baby!

 

[Joffaboy]

Yeah the reason they didn't damage us as they should have was our pressure, it wasn't a case of our midfield outplaying theirs which was my point.

But isnt part of playing is pressure?

Their midfield had a multitude of useless possessions.

Hope our mid get beaten every week and wn by 3 goals.

 

[Confuscius]

First quarter aside, Pies were only threatening during the centre stoppages. If we created a secondary stoppage it felt like we at a minimum matched their midfields influence.

But they were very dangerous during some of them, ball was coming in quickly and our back half stood up supremely.

Carlisle was good.

Thought Gresh got us going in the third with his steps creating space and playing on at all costs. Only way they got him was via a trip that somehow was missed.

Billings needs to build off that second half. Better kicking and it's 28 and 4 goals but that's not what was important. Worked his arse off up and down the ground getting handball receives and forcing himself into the play. Won't get 28 every game but as long as he's doing that he'll become more than handy.

Geary... Gears saved a certain goal end of the first half with a spoil and then backed it up with a huge smother. He wasn't my choice for skipper but he doesn't leave you wondering why he was picked. That play alone kept us in front going into the half. And he was very strong overhead too.

Please kick straight next week though ya bastards

 

[Verdun66]

Positive has replaced Pleasing.

 

[George]

Our midfield pressuring them to turn it over.... We have a midfield that works both ways. If we don't win the ball, we cause them to turn it over.

When things click for us, we're gonna bury a good team by 120points. You can see it but it's just not there yet

If you give any midfield that much more of the ball and get beaten in contested possession by 18 then you open yourself up to getting smashed. Our defense allowed us to paper over the cracks but if we come against a team that is able to handle our pressure and is good enough to be first to the ball like Collingwood were today then we will be beaten. We have to be first to the ball.

But isnt part of playing is pressure?

Their midfield had a multitude of useless possessions.

Yes it is but I'd rather be first to the ball and get first use to our threatening forward line than having to essentially play off of the back foot for most parts of the game.

 

[PaddysurDaddy]

lingy said it best


'St Kilda leads by six points after a scrappy half.

Both sides have had their chances, but shooting for goal has been wayward.

Cameron Ling said the half-time statistics can be deceiving.

"There'd be a lot of players sitting at half time fairly happy with the way they're going, given they may have had 15-18 possessions," Lingy said.

"But really, (they've had) no impact on the game."


I saw a lot of collingwood mids handpassing quickly to avoid getting crunched, chains of 6 or 7 handballs that ended up with a turnover, we then went direct and scored (behinds). So they'd get 8 touches and we'd get three and a shot at goal.

 

[StKing11]

A few did it last week unfortunately

Did it to Paddy last week

Really? I was at the game and didn't hear anything, although Paddy didn't exactly give anyone a chance to do the bronx cheers because he didn't get the ball

 

[CALL ME SNAKE]

A shout out to Sammy Gilbert after tonight. He didn't get big numbers, but is rarely beaten in the contest. I wasn't sure how he'd fit into our best 22 at the start of the year, but is doing more than enough to hold his spot at the moment.

Hang on, dont you realize that if you dont get more supercoach points than your opponent that you couldnt have possibly contributed to the team

 

[#gosaintas]

this. their midfield destroyed ours for the majority of the game, what we did though was out tackle them and use the ball better. i felt our effort was better as well. i felt our defence was also substantially better

we cant paper over the cracks here because we won dirty. we have very significant issues in the midfield. our midfield struggles to run and spread. we need to start addressing these issues along with our disposal going inside 50 and our conversion

a wins a win, but dont let that absolve the club from resolving these issues

we play like that against geelong and we'll get flogged

Crap. That's how their midfield played. Crap. Rushed and feeble. If we play like that against Geelong then we'll beat them again. Go Dockers.

 

[sobraz]

While Hickey was most certainly beaten, he chipped away all day and certainly closed the gap as the game progressed.
Grundy is a very good ruck who will beat many in the season to come.
But most importantly, it's not like we have any real replacement for Hickey kicking down the door.
Longer is barely a VFL quality player at the moment and Holmes is playing development squad.
Had Longer got 11 touches like Hickey did today, the Longerphiles would be lauding his game, irrespective of Grungy's dominance.
I think we have to accept that Hickey is our number one ruck no matter what, back him in to get out of his minor form slump (much like the team) and he/we will thrive.
Longer is not the answer.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[VDS66]

Lies, damn lies, and statistics.

After the first 20 minutes can anybody honestly say qe dod not dominate the game?
To say our ruck and mindfield got "destroyed" while having a fairly comfortable 3 goal win just does not take into account the general play.
It is obvious the filth could not crack our defece coming out of their back half.
When there was a problem we slowed the game down and controlled possession.
When they went direct ladt 7 minutes, we applied unbelievable physical pressure.
If our ruck and mids were destroyed we could mot have dominated the game.
Stats are a fine indicator but thy are not the be all and end all.

So much this.

A very good win. They had all those positions because we set up well and caused them to chip the ball around, not to mention all those hand passes under pressure in our front 50.

Now there's a stat I'd like to see... how much of the game was played in our front half.

We controlled that game for the last 3 quarters, whatever stats you want throw out, it's fact. Should have been 10 goals up at 3/4 time.

Back half was immense. I'll admit I was wrong about Geary.

Gilbert was great. As was Joey.

Great team effort and coaching effort imo.

Great win. If sad sacks want to pick at faults then good for them. I'd have taken a 2 goal win at the start.

As for Hickey, forget the stats. Some of his efforts when the game was on the line were fantastic. Got do e in the ruck, but worked his butt of, which Grundy didn't do as much.

 

[StKing11]

One of the best things for me today was seeing Billings want to get on the ball, time and time again, in spite of missing a few kicks at goal, he didn't put his head down.

28 disposals and 10 marks.

He looked so hungry in the 2nd half. Instead of coasting around the fringe of the packs he was cracking in himself, and when he disposed of the ball he'd push hard to get into a position to get it back again.

Bring that intensity and work rate every week and get some confidence in front of goal and Jack will have a big year.

 

[Saint Watto]

if you showed me vision of roberton back in 2011 i'd laugh my ass off and accuse you of photo shopping his face on the players body. the transformation has been unbelievable

StCicatriz.....I was just thinking that after reading an earlier post.....

From memory.....he had an ok first year(when we were pretty ordinary) and then sort of vanished.....I thought at the time,this guy just won't make it when the side gets better in years to come....

He certainly has surprised me BIG TIME and I love being proved wrong when a Saints player comes good.

 

[atlaser]

Incorrect

Nice one. whatever changed this week compared to last week should be the m.o. permanently, because they way he played just looked natural.

 

[PaddysurDaddy]

StCicatriz.....I was just thinking that after reading an earlier post.....

From memory.....he had an ok first year(when we were pretty ordinary) and then sort of vanished.....I thought at the time,this guy just won't make it when the side gets better in years to come....

He certainly has surprised me BIG TIME and I love being proved wrong when a Saints player comes good.

he f****ed his ankle after that first year

 

[Tommy Wigs]

BT can't count past 10, so when he saw 15 and 16 he assumed they were figments and the same people.

Ergo, Newnes was Billings and Billings was Billings unless Newnes was Newnes and Billings was Newnes. Then BT lamented it wasn't Geelong or a factory, or he ran out of fingers.

Under-loved post

 

[The_Steadier]

how the **** did we win that playing so damn badly

i'm even more puzzled by how the pies somehow managed to beat sydney

I don't think we played badly.

It was a tight, pressure filled game.

I was really impressed at how our skills actually got better, not worse, as all the players tired and the game opened up after HT.

Bruce played his best game in ages, crashing in and running all day like a madman.
Billings responded well, and the whole backline was huge.
Gresh will be our best player in a couple of years.

 

[gringo2011]

But isnt part of playing is pressure?

Their midfield had a multitude of useless possessions.

Hope our mid get beaten every week and wn by 3 goals.

I reckon they played like us last week and got ahead of themselves.

 

[Gangnam Saint]

Ben Long didn't have a lot of it today but by geez he looked at home. He just has that certain something that suggests he's going to be a special player for us in the important moments.

 

[sunny3193]

Due to our pressure, Grundy beat Hickey comprehensively IMO.

Longer if form permits, should be given a crack, has more mongrel in him.

Having seen Billy yesterday and Tom today, Tom is clearly in the better form.
His performance today notwithstanding.

 

[VDS66]

Odd comment. Their midfield did win out today. Adams 39 touches. Treloar 28 and Pendlebury 25. On our end Ross 36, Steele 20, Armitage 17, Dunstan 11. If you want to throw Sidebottom in their midfield mix then he had 31 himself. If it wasn't for our back six and around the ground pressure we'd have lost the game.

Watch the replay and then count how many of those touches were effective and how many handballs went in circles to avoid tackles...