Thoughts on Saints going into finals?

[Athomas]

Real 50/50 game this weekend.

What confuses me is why people rate Saints higher after the weekend and the Blues lower. Surely everyone can see this match meant nothing to us? We didn't rest Carrazzo, Jamo, Thornton, played fringe players like OHaiplin, Davies, Russell, Tuohy and Lucas to see who could put there hand up for a spot this week.

Saints had everything to play for.
Carlton had nothing to play for.
They barely won. Just confuses me.

 

[TassieSaint]

Real 50/50 game this weekend.

What confuses me is why people rate Saints higher after the weekend and the Blues lower. Surely everyone can see this match meant nothing to us? We didn't rest Carrazzo, Jamo, Thornton, played fringe players like OHaiplin, Davies, Russell, Tuohy and Lucas to see who could put there hand up for a spot this week.

Saints had everything to play for.
Carlton had nothing to play for.
They barely won. Just confuses me.

Haha excuses excuses mate. We both played our best available teams, went hard and St Kilda came out on top. Pretty sick of these 'I wasn't trying' excuses to discount results. All carlton's best players (Judd, Murphy, Gibbs, Walker, Betts etc) were playing, trying their hardest and came up short end of story. Same with the Swans/Geelong match, regardless of ladder relevance that was a legitimate and impressive win.

Oh and if you are really that confused why people may have changed their mind it is pretty simple. St Kilda showed they could actually beat fellow top 8 teams after having a poor record against them. Carlton lost their second consecutive game to a fellow finals contender and have now only the Essendon (who barely scraped in) flogging to their name in the past 11 rounds.

Hardly a stretch to say the Saints are looking slightly better and the Blues slightly worse than if the game had gone as expected

 

[Hank_Hill]

Exit second week of finals at best.

 

[Hank_Hill]

Haha excuses excuses mate. We both played our best available teams, went hard and St Kilda came out on top. Pretty sick of these 'I wasn't trying' excuses to discount results. All carlton's best players (Judd, Murphy, Gibbs, Walker, Betts etc) were playing, trying their hardest and came up short end of story. Same with the Swans/Geelong match, regardless of ladder relevance that was a legitimate and impressive win.

Oh and if you are really that confused why people may have changed their mind it is pretty simple. St Kilda showed they could actually beat fellow top 8 teams after having a poor record against them. Carlton lost their second consecutive game to a fellow finals contender and have now only the Essendon (who barely scraped in) flogging to their name in the past 11 rounds.

Hardly a stretch to say the Saints are looking slightly better and the Blues slightly worse than if the game had gone as expected

Ofcourse you played your best team . You had a home final to play for. We had nothing to lose so we basically tried our fringe players. If we went in strong and had something to play for i am sure we would have belted you guys. We did you a favour you ungrateful person. You should be thanking us not abusing us.

 

[TassieSaint]

Ofcourse you played your best team . You had a home final to play for. We had nothing to lose so we basically tried our fringe players. If we went in strong and had something to play for i am sure we would have belted you guys. We did you a favour you ungrateful person. You should be thanking us not abusing us.

Haha, delusional. Yeah mate I'm sure Juddy was just letting himself get towelled up out of pure generosity.

You had your best side earlier in the year during our form slump and won by a point. You had thereabouts your best side coming into finals and lost. It's not like you did a Hawthorn and took out 8 fit stars and replaced them with VFL players.

 

[Hank_Hill]

Haha, delusional. Yeah mate I'm sure Juddy was just letting himself get towelled up out of pure generosity.

You had your best side earlier in the year during our form slump and won by a point. You had thereabouts your best side coming into finals and lost. It's not like you did a Hawthorn and took out 8 fit stars and replaced them with VFL players.

Form slump . You guys never actually had any form. The only reason your in the top 8 is because other sides fell down. I think your the delusional one. The ony side with any true form going into the finals is West Coast Eagles.

 

[kosifantutti]

Exit second week of finals at best.

And at worst we win the flag?

 

[kosifantutti]

St Kilda fans the biggest whingers on bigfooty. How the **** can you justify saying that the reason Sydney won was because St Kilda players had gastro? The two players you were missing were Koschitzke and Dawson who are both extremely average players and I doubt would make the Sydney starting 22. The other players who you 'claim' had gastro were all judged fit enough to play. Besides, nearly every week teams have minor injury concerns, so your excuses mean shit all. Sydney smashed you a couple of weeks ago get over it. The only thing that slightly changes this game is the fact it is being played at Etihad. But if we play the way we have been over the last few weeks we will win, and quite comfortably I must say.

How many emergencies do you think we fly up to Sydney?

 

[Hank_Hill]

And at worst we win the flag?

 

[sauce_head]

Second half of the season ladder would be interesting to know.

 

[skipper kelly]

It's taken a while but the Saints supporters are back.

 

[Rors]

Confident of getting over the Swans this week... Massive inclusions compared to Round 22 defeat will be Kosi & Dawson, & while most opposition supporters would grade these 2 as spuds, StKildas team is based on structural balance. StKilda just plays better when Kosi is in the team.... And as others have mentioned, the Saints players wont have gastro the day before the game this time in

If StKilda can break even with the Swans at the stoppages, StKilda will win

O'Keefe's injury, while unfortunate, is a massive plus for the Saints too

 

[Bloods Rule!]

Perversely, I think the Blues did the Swans a favour. It looks like a Swans home final would have been played in the rain and the Swans haven't been playing good wet weather footy this year. The Swans have a better away record than at home this year.

Hard to deny that the Swans are obviously in better form than the Saints right now (especially the Cats at Skilled win but also beating the Saints three games ago and the Lions this weekend) and finally they are kicking goals rather than behinds.

Finals wins depend on both increased intensity and skill. I'm expecting the Swans to win this week but go out in week 2. They'll have the intensity but not the skills to get over the Pies, Cats and Hawks and the Eagles are playing good footy.

It's the time of the year that you imagine one of the bottom 4 playing in the Grand Final. But I can't see it happening, being realistic.

 

[bacon buster]

think the saints will beat sydney, and have a reasonable chance against the hawks or cats.

 

[legend166]

lol @ Saints fans simultaneously blowing off Carlton's excuses for losing on the weekend whilst coming up with their own for losing against us a few weeks back.

 

[St DAC]

I'd expect any team in the bottom half of the eight to be making up the numbers. The flag will almost definitely come from the top four. Given that if we could somehow sneak a preliminary final I'd be pretty content, but it's not my expectation that we'll get that far.

Sydney in the first week will be no joke, a hard uncompromising team in good form. If we get over them we'll have played well.

 

[Rors]

lol @ Saints fans simultaneously blowing off Carlton's excuses for losing on the weekend whilst coming up with their own for losing against us a few weeks back.

IMO Carlton should be seriously concerned with their teams performance... It's all very well to say "Oh it didnt matter cos we had nothing to gain" but the reality is they play Essendon on Sunday who this time will: 1) have Watson, 2) have Fletcher, their 2 MOST important players.... Carlton themselves look likely to have Jameson, Waite & Kreuzer all out

Essendon will also have noted that when the Saints turned up the pressure in the 2nd half, the Carlton small forwards went missing

I dare say that StKilda is feeling better about beating Sydney, than Carlton is of beating Essendon this week

Winning gives you confidence, losing can take it away... You know it makes sense

 

[Rors]

StKilda v Sydney will be an interesting one... For mine, the keys to winning will be in the match-ups & whoever wins at the stoppages

Goodes/Fisher i predict will go head to head again
Riewoldt/Grundy
Mumford/McEvoy-Gardiner
Bolton/Dempster

I reckon the Saints will use a lot of the 3rd-man up tactic in the ruck to somewhat attempt to nullify Mumford's influence at the stoppages

As i said earlier in the thread, if the Saints can break even at the stoppages & keep Goodes in check, they should win.... If they can't, it will be curtains

 

[Falchoon]

Your point being? How many games has he played this year? Go onto the Sydney board and most would say that he isn't in our best 22, probably on the fringes in that 23-27 player group. Will most likely be dropped this week

he's played 11 and Andrej's Everitt has played 11, I don't care which one you choose.

 

[Blues_Man]

Playing your lot who rely soooo heavily on the umpires friend Adam Goodes will be a breeze and then we will get back to you.
Make your you stay up to watch and learn.

I have no idea what this poster is trying to say ?

As for the OP i would think Sydney will beat the Saints this week...St Kilda have been far from impressive in the lead up to the finals ..whereas the Swans have looked pretty good .....not a real lot in it but the Swans for mine.

 

[legend166]

StKilda v Sydney will be an interesting one... For mine, the keys to winning will be in the match-ups & whoever wins at the stoppages

Goodes/Fisher i predict will go head to head again
Riewoldt/Grundy
Mumford/McEvoy-Gardiner
Bolton/Dempster

I reckon the Saints will use a lot of the 3rd-man up tactic in the ruck to somewhat attempt to nullify Mumford's influence at the stoppages

As i said earlier in the thread, if the Saints can break even at the stoppages & keep Goodes in check, they should win.... If they can't, it will be curtains

Teddy Richards will play on Riewoldt.

 

[Papale42]

Teddy Richards will play on Riewoldt.

Richards does bot have the engine to stick with Riewoldt.

 

[RizzoTheRat]

It was pretty clear Carlton didn't turn up to play this week, but they will be much better against Essendon.

Saints V Swans is a 50/50 proposition.

 

[Rors]

Teddy Richards will play on Riewoldt.

Yes, forgot about Ted. He will definitely play on Rooey. Ted easily got the better of him last time too

 

[Leg End]

but we will win and win well - we are a class above when finals hit.

Possibly - if:
1. you ignore Sydney's recent outstanding form - especially beating you pretty comfortably plus our win over Geelong at Geelong;
2. you ignore your recent form - flat track bullying against lower teams and pathetic Shitboners and Blues "efforts";
3. you ignore Sydney's renowned attack on the ball which sets us up beautifully in finals;
4. you ignore the fact that this Swans team never ever throws in the towel;
5. you completely ignore our finals record since 2003/4 - especially now in a rebuilding phase.

Class above in finals? You have got to be kidding.

If your team goes into this game with that attitude, we'll belt you by 60.