Preview St Kilda V North Melbourne Sunday 3:20 Etihad Stadium

[wolfpup]

I think we are a sniff in this one, north's forward line is deadly from the games i have seen and this is where we have our biggest holes.
Game will be won in the midfield you would think, i love how richo is telling our players to take risks. if we are off with our disposals then we are in trouble if we are on we look awesome.

no idea who comes in, i would think lonie but maybe murdoch as well or perhaps a minor surprise with goddard or lee?

 

[kosifantutti]

I'm scared of this game. So far, every time we've gone into a match feeling confident, we've lost. And every time we've been disappointed and frustrated, we've won. Let me show you:

Port: "Oh no! We're playing them away, we're going to get bludgeoned!" - lead for 3 quarters and lose because we missed a NAB game
Dogs: "We match up well against the Dogs!" - we know what happened
Pies: was Armageddon here for a whole week haha - We won!
Hawks: "Premiers in Tassie; will be happy with a 30 point loss" - Ran them super close, everyone reckons we're on track.
GWS: "Giants at Ethihad, we should win" - get embarrassed
Demons: "Will be tough - 50/50 game" - win easily at the end


So, join me and turn up the negativity.

" We're the worst team to grace the AFL since Carlton last year. Honesty, Billings is a softer than melted ice-cream, Jack Steven couldn't hit a target even if it was 50 foot tall and Josh Bruce has bad hair. North will flog us so badly, they'll call of the match at half-time and implement the mercy rule for the first time ever. I'm so nervous. We don't match up well at all."

Your theory didn't even make it past Round 1.

 

[Simple Jack]

I think it was summed up earlier in this thread. Something along the lines of 'if they're a bit off and we take our chances'. Problem is we literally never take our chances. It's probably cost us a conservative 10 wins over the past 2 seasons (look no further than the North game last year).

Even the Melbourne and Collingwood games should have been 10 goals plus.

I'm not confident about this game at all unfortunately.

 

[Rors]

Still not a taggable half back is what I meant. Montagna had a game where he was BOG against the Pies from half back. Savage hasn't had a BOG type game.

Shaw (gws) is someone who needs to be tagged at half back. Not sure Savage is in the same kind of game impact range.

Not sure if you watched much footy last year, but Savage was tagged in just about every 2nd game because he's so damaging by foot. Having Joey back there playing Quarterback actually helps Savage a lot & vice versa. If they both get locked down, release Jimmy Webster into a more attacking role or move Savage to the wing (take his tagger with him) & drop Newnes back into Savs role.

They've all had brilliant years IMHO in the roles they've been given

 

[Rors]

I'm scared of this game. So far, every time we've gone into a match feeling confident, we've lost. And every time we've been disappointed and frustrated, we've won. Let me show you:

Port: "Oh no! We're playing them away, we're going to get bludgeoned!" - lead for 3 quarters and lose because we missed a NAB game
Dogs: "We match up well against the Dogs!" - we know what happened
Pies: was Armageddon here for a whole week haha - We won!
Hawks: "Premiers in Tassie; will be happy with a 30 point loss" - Ran them super close, everyone reckons we're on track.
GWS: "Giants at Ethihad, we should win" - get embarrassed
Demons: "Will be tough - 50/50 game" - win easily at the end


So, join me and turn up the negativity.

" We're the worst team to grace the AFL since Carlton last year. Honesty, Billings is a softer than melted ice-cream, Jack Steven couldn't hit a target even if it was 50 foot tall and Josh Bruce has bad hair. North will flog us so badly, they'll call of the match at half-time and implement the mercy rule for the first time ever. I'm so nervous. We don't match up well at all."

North are on top undefeated & don't really look like losing TBH.... I'm not confident at all.

If we get within 20 points I'll be happy, but i honestly expect us to get dusted by 40-60points

 

[Masquerade]

North are on top undefeated & don't really look like losing TBH.... I'm not confident at all.

If we get within 20 points I'll be happy, but i honestly expect us to get dusted by 40-60points

Aye! Now you're getting it!

 

[the big lebowski]

Definitely a danger game for us.

You guys have improved leaps and bounds.

The saving grace for us is that it's drews 300th and the boys will want to win it for him.

The 9 day break for us will also help as we have had consecutive 6 day breaks the last 2 weeks.

If we can get over the saints we will be 9-0 with the blues and * to come. It's hard not to look ahead but you guys are certainly a team that demands opposition respect

 

[TheKanga]

I echo the sentiments that it's a danger game, though to be honest every game is.
The comp is pretty damn even at the moment.

I think this game is likely to be more of a shootout than our match vs. the Dogs.
It will be just be attack vs. attack whoever can scrounge up enough pts.

 

[puppy_dog7]

Regardless of if we bring in Goddard or Lee as another KPD.. I think our best option against North which the demons did well is just go for a good old fashioned shootout!
They're Tall forwards will kill us no matter what, so we'll have to win the midfield battle and use our quick ball movement to cut through their defence and just try and out score them.

 

[Only Forwards]

Someone on the Kangas board suggested resting Ballsteam this week because surely Hickey wont play 2 good games in a row. Obviously hasn't watched many of our games this year. Most think it's a danger game though at this stage.

Sent from my SM-T210 using Tapatalk

There is just no way that Goldy will be rested for this game.

Whoever posted that has not been paying close enough attention.

I expect a decent game this week, I think we will have the edge but won't have it all our own way.

Gotta respect what you lot are building. I'm also not sure I will ever truly shake the fear of Riewoldt, hurt us too many times.

 

[holllywood]

The Roo's bigs play really well for each other. They are excellent at paving a way for another big to go up and take uncontested marks in packs and all of the three spill the ball in dangerous areas when they are not taking marks. I don't think we have the personnel this year to cover them so we must stop them at the supply.

This means keeping the ball in our forward 50 and forcing them to kick under pressure, so that we can have multiple i50s and keep their defence under constant attack.

If we let it get to a shoot out, we will lose (but it will be an entertaining loss).

 

[saintbill]

Goddard in for Gresh. Dont mind the smaller backline personally but not this week. Brown and Petrie are not only huge but they mark the ball at its highest point. Fisher would get torched by Petrie IMO.

Goddard to Petrie, Dempster to Brown, Webster or Fisher to Waite. Watching games live this year I honestly have far more confidence in Webster than Fisher one on one these days. Far more athletic and scraps like crazy. Would also pose some issues for Waite working the other way.

 

[The Punter]

The cycle this year has been loss with upside, embarrassing let down, winning hands and heels. So this week we're due for our honourable loss before getting spanked in the west and then beating Essendon by 134,489 points.

I'd like to see Goddard in the next two weeks at least. If he's been named as an emergency then he's ready to play ones and the club is saying so. The only other player I'd be considering to bring in is Lonie. If Roberton is right he can have a run at Sandy for a week.

I think Gresham and Minchington are the possible outs, but I'd like to see changes kept to a minimum.

 

[freebloke]

I echo the sentiments that it's a danger game, though to be honest every game is.
The comp is pretty damn even at the moment.

I think this game is likely to be more of a shootout than our match vs. the Dogs.
It will be just be attack vs. attack whoever can scrounge up enough pts.

Agree with everything. Bulldogs were just holding it in. Did they have even one player stream out of backline? I don't think so.

Against the Saints, I expect it'll pretty much be a fight between the two half back lines and the centre clearance/wings.

 

[Joffaboy]

I think it was summed up earlier in this thread. Something along the lines of 'if they're a bit off and we take our chances'. Problem is we literally never take our chances. It's probably cost us a conservative 10 wins over the past 2 seasons (look no further than the North game last year).

Even the Melbourne and Collingwood games should have been 10 goals plus.

I'm not confident about this game at all unfortunately.

We literally took our chances 20 times on the weekend.

Please don't use literally when you mean metaphorically or figuratively.

 

[Joffaboy]

Reckon North are just too experienced for us this weekend.

However it all starts in the centre. If Hickey can get us first use or nullify Goldstein for a contest, we can put our gameplan into action.

It relies on winning contested possession then spreading it wide and opening up the field.

Reason why Lee and Lonie were dropped and Acres earlier this season.

If the team doesn't contest, our gameplan doesnt work.

 

[LiterallyNobody]

I can't see any reason why any of the 22 from the weekend deserve to lose their place. yet again, we had a good match with very few passengers. I agree with what most have said re: Gresham and Lonie - ie that Gresham, despite having little ball did a lot of good things and had great efficiency and needs more games into him and Lonie needs another week or two in the twos before we bring him back - consistency is the key.

I wasn't aware the reason we dropped Lee was because of lack of defensive output. I watched that game and thought he performed well. However, if that is the case, I don't want to see him back for this game. We need strong defensive output if we're to be any chance this week.

The thing that worries is that forward line. ALL three of our key backs are too short for a majority of the competition but North is one of the worst - supposing the following match ups:

Brown v Dempster
Webster v Waite
Fisher v Petrie

We're giving away 9cm, 6cm and 6cm respectively. That's almost no chance of stopping them unfortunately.

I think its' going to come down to a shootout which mean the key match ups for us are in the midfield. We cannot afford ANY passengers this week - Armitage, Steven, Montagna, Savage etc need to all fire up. I think we have the gameplan to beat the roos and I think we have the ability in our midfielders. We need QUALITY delivery into the forward line. The reason we got towelled up by the Dogs/Giants and Dees in the first term was poor delivery into the forward fifty. Alleviate that and we're halfway there. I think we can take them on in a shootout but its up to the aforementioned four in the middle to get us into that position. I'm looking forward to this match even if we get flogged just to watch the Roos. Undoubtedly, these two teams are the most exciting to watch this year and we're up for a cracker.

 

[Only Forwards]

Who would you currently rate as your best mid?

 

[Diehard Saint]

Who would you currently rate as your best mid?

You do know that your avatar is currently incorrect....
Jack actually lives HERE - we have 5 of them

But to answer your question, probably our reigning B&F Jack! ( Steven)

 

[aussierulesrules]

Who would you currently rate as your best mid?

It's probably a tie between Steven and Armitage, with Ross closing in on them pretty rapidly and being super-consistent, averaging 27 possies a game this year I think.

 

[Only Forwards]

You do know that your avatar is currently incorrect....
Jack actually lives HERE - we have 5 of them

But to answer your question, probably our reigning B&F Jack! ( Steven)

But your number 7 is Dunstan.

It's probably a tie between Steven and Armitage, with Ross closing in on them pretty rapidly and being super-consistent, averaging 27 possies a game this year I think.

Can Jack Steven or Armitage be tagged?

 

[IllBeTheJudge]

We are going to struggle all season against the big key forwards. Cameron smashed us last week, Hogan this week and Waite/Brown next week.

North Melbourne are an inconsistent side so I think the only way we can get a win is to catch them on an off-day and stop their big forwards.

Goldstein is going to be a bit of a worry in the ruck, although Hickey is holding his own at the moment!

I wish we were inconsistently 6-0 at this stage of the season

 

[Armitage2Riewoldt]

Can Jack Steven or Armitage be tagged?

They usually work their way through it. Armo had very few down games last year although he did cool off after a ridiculous start to the year. And Jack was consistent enough to win the B&F ahead of him.

Good thing is we have quite a number of players capable of stepping up if either of them are down. All of Ross, Newnes, Billings, Weller and Acres have shown so far this season they're capable of amassing 30 or so touches.

 

[St Kilda Death]

But your number 7 is Dunstan.


Can Jack Steven or Armitage be tagged?

If you're wondering who jacobs would run with, a tagger doesn't worry Steven much. Or armo.

 

[Only Forwards]

They usually work their way through it. Armo had very few down games last year although he did cool off after a ridiculous start to the year. And Jack was consistent enough to win the B&F ahead of him.

Good thing is we have quite a number of players capable of stepping up if either of them are down. All of Ross, Newnes, Billings, Weller and Acres have shown so far this season they're capable of amassing 30 or so touches.

If you're wondering who jacobs would run with, a tagger doesn't worry Steven much. Or armo.

Thanks

I was, we are capable of having Jacobs and Gibson play run with games, however this year we haven't really been doing that so much. If both your best mids are capable of working their way through it we may opt to either not run a tag or run one of a more outside accumulator type (I'm not sure who that would be).

TBH I am not sure what to expect from North this weekend. Our first weeks were much more of a shoot out style of game. Friday night was a massive contested slugfest where we blocked up the options forced the long ball to a turn over and banged it back to try and take advantage of our talls.

What I do expect is for the spectical to be better than what Friday night was.