Season preview on AFL site

[j s]

Originally posted by Go Swannies
All we need is Robert Walls to say that he expects us to miss out on the eight and we can look forward to winning the first 12 games of the season.

I'm predicting (or at least hoping) that Robert Walls will miss out on a commentary job in 2007!

[Go Swannies]

Originally posted by j s
I'm predicting (or at least hoping) that Robert Walls will miss out on a commentary job in 2007!

We need him! There's a good case to be made that his "Roos' selfish coaching" comment gave us a flag.

[Missy]

They've got Bevan in the top22, but he hasn't had a run yet. It'll be hard to get back in there. Its a strong team.

[dimelb]

Articles like that I find amusing. As people on the board have said before, we have perhaps the most potent forward line in the comp, a solid midfield and the second stingiest defence. And the best they can allow is 5th? It's not impossible - luck's a fortune - but you'd expect top four at least, and a very good chance at top two. But I quite like being underestimated.

[NMWBloods]

Originally posted by dimelb
we have perhaps the most potent forward line in the comp

This gets raised a lot, and yes we do have one of the best forward lines in the competition on paper. However, we've hardly set the world on fire kicking high scores. So an outsider looking at it is naturally going to discount this aspect, which goes part of the way to explaining the reluctance to put us in the top 4.

[anne]

Another article today (I don't know how to post links) will give the Swans even more ammunition or incentive to succeed. It says ST kilda will win and the Swans only beat them last year because of injuries. It is particularly insulting to Sydney. I really hope the Saints fall in a heap.

[NMWBloods]

Another article where?

To post links the easiest way is to copy the URL from the address bar and paste it into your post.

[liz]

Read the back page of the sports section of the Australian while waiting for my coffee today and there was an article suggesting this. So maybe that is the source.

[NMWBloods]

Yep - I see.

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5744,18579638%255E36035,00.html

First comment - "LAST season St Kilda had the best list in the competition and had they all been fit during the finals, they would have won the premiership. No doubt."

What a load of rubbish.

Injuries were a major factor for St Kilda (look at who they were missing against us), but to say "no doubt" is just silly. Excusing their poor final quarter solely through injuries is wrong.

{note though, with interest I think back to people here who write off the Saints because they fell apart in that last quarter, but is that a disservice to our pressure game?}

[Sanecow]

The Saints did get horribly mangled by Freo late in the season (rd 21?). Bazza could have single-handedly ripped them up in the final though, they were a rabble (moving Gehrig to the backline isn't an "injury", it's @@@@@house coaching). I wasn't the slightest bit concerned about losing that game (compared with Geelong and the Eagles).

I will be surprised if Gehrig makes it through the season this year.

[NMWBloods]

Originally posted by Sanecow
The Saints did get horribly mangled by Freo late in the season (rd 21?).

As I recall they lost by less than a goal after being shafted by the umpires and 'losing half their side' through injury.

Bazza could have single-handedly ripped them up in the final though,

He could have, but he didn't.

they were a rabble (moving Gehrig to the backline isn't an "injury", it's @@@@@house coaching).

Amazingly crap coaching, but that's what we've come to expect.

I wasn't the slightest bit concerned about losing that game (compared with Geelong and the Eagles).

People thought the same thing about the game against the Saints in 2004 too.

I will be surprised if Gehrig makes it through the season this year.

Yep, I think he'll struggle.

[goswannie14]

Originally posted by NMWBloods
Yep - I see.

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5744,18579638%255E36035,00.html

First comment - "LAST season St Kilda had the best list in the competition and had they all been fit during the finals, they would have won the premiership. No doubt."

What a load of rubbish.

Injuries were a major factor for St Kilda (look at who they were missing against us), but to say "no doubt" is just silly. Excusing their poor final quarter solely through injuries is wrong.

{note though, with interest I think back to people here who write off the Saints because they fell apart in that last quarter, but is that a disservice to our pressure game?}

Just wondering if Denham is actually a pseudonym for Grant Thomas.

It sounds like the sort of tripe that Thomas comes out wih in press conferences.

I repeat my prediction...Whilst Grant Thomas is coaching them St Kilda will not win a premiership.

[giant]

Originally posted by Sanecow
(moving Gehrig to the backline isn't an "injury", it's @@@@@house coaching).

I will be surprised if Gehrig makes it through the season this year.

I always assumed that it was Gehrig who made that move off his own bat rather than Thomas. Agree tho, a mid-season retirement for the G-Tram is not off the cards. Thomas is no Rocket Eade when it comes to macth-day tactics but he has other strengths that don't get acknowledged on this board (or elsewhere) - Saints performance late last year when most people had written them off was actually pretty good seen in the cold light of day rather than in the unreasonable expectations of your average Saints supporter.

As peeving as the AFL review is, at least the writer has managed to express his views w/o maligning Sydney as the "worst premiership team in 15 years".

[Sanecow]

Originally posted by NMWBloods
As I recall they lost by less than a goal after being shafted by the umpires and 'losing half their side' through injury.

It was the injuries I was referring to. Classic game and seriously damaged the Saints.

Source

[Thunder Shaker]

Originally posted by Sanecow
moving Gehrig to the backline isn't an "injury", it's @@@@@house coaching

Assuming it was a coaching move, I agree 100%. Yes, it was a final, and it was desperation. Nevertheless, the move still had the hallmarks of a monumental brain explosion in the coaches' box. Bazza exposed the stupidity of the move simply by running around and around in the forward line until Gehrig was puffing harder than Puffing Billy. It's easy to run off your opponent when your opponent is unfit.