Saints match thread

[Nico]

Yep it was a real all round effort. Our big 3 (hall, davis, magic) forwards only got 2 goals so it was shared around.

We become really promising when the blue collars start working hard. Guys like mcveigh, ablett, fosdike and co.
Schmidt was very good and the twins (amon and adam) were also effective.

It's looking good.

O'keefe, Bolton and Malceski for all australian chances!!!

Dont know that you could put Ablett in there. I reckon he will hand back his cheque this week.

As hard as we run I wish we would start to dominate the centre bounce clearances. We have the best ruck combo going around and we cant buy a centre clearance. Watch where Jude stands at centre bounces, way back on the defensive side and by the time the ball comes to ground he is last in there and chasing tail. He must have worked out now after what, 10 seasons, that the ball in most cases falls a metre from the feet of the ruckmen. The opposition players stand there, why dont ours.

[Hazcam]

Jonathan brown and buddy franklin got 6 and 5 goals each. Our defence will get a real test in these last 4 games.

gehrig/riewoldt
brown/brennan
franklin/dixon roughhead
rocca/cloke

I think it's good we have such a tough last 4 games, because if we win them all and hopefully dont get anyone injured, it's exactly the finals like footy we need going into the finals.

[Ludwig]

Hard to see LRT getting into the side next week. It will be hard enough finding someone to drop for Leo. Thought all the 'fringe' players did well.

Richards proved he can cover Jarrad Brennan easily.

Looking forward to see Craig playing on Brown next week. Love to see him shut down the hottest forward in league.

[Hazcam]

Dont know that you could put Ablett in there. I reckon he will hand back his cheque this week.

As hard as we run I wish we would start to dominate the centre bounce clearances. We have the best ruck combo going around and we cant buy a centre clearance. Watch where Jude stands at centre bounces, way back on the defensive side and by the time the ball comes to ground he is last in there and chasing tail. He must have worked out now after what, 10 seasons, that the ball in most cases falls a metre from the feet of the ruckmen. The opposition players stand there, why dont ours.

Comes down to being clean with the ball in the centre and frankly, time and time again you see how our midfield is inconsistent in this area...buchanan aside when he starts in the centre. but u always see bolton, kirk, ablett etc fumbling alot and don't get clean takeaways.

Compare that to judd, kerr, garry ablett jnr, brent harvvey, scott west etc and the difference is telling.

still think we could do with 1 really high quality midfielder to couple Goodes all round skills.

[Hazcam]

Hard to see LRT getting into the side next week. It will be hard enough finding someone to drop for Leo. Thought all the 'fringe' players did well.

Richards proved he can cover Jarrad Brennan easily.

Looking forward to see Craig playing on Brown next week. Love to see him shut down the hottest forward in league.

It's shaping as the defining game of our season.

Lions are in a rich vein of form and shutting down brown/brennan will win us the game

[NMWBloods]

We become really promising when the blue collars start working hard. Guys like mcveigh, ablett, fosdike and co.

[Hazcam]

Ablett in general. lol he was in our bottom 5 tonight.

[doctor swan]

great game craig bolton , and superted chose a great time to find form, a good shut out on riewoldt.now to eat humble pie bevan solid again , mcveigh 3 goals and benny was effective and got a goal for us at a important stage.
now we just need a certain b hall to click into gear for the run in and beyond.

[bodgie]

I was at the game and it seemed to me that for the first 3 quarters we were very tentative approaching the inside 50. Players would hold it up looking for a clear option while all the saints streamed into defence. There were many turnovers as a result and some hurt us straight away as the saints rebounded and scored with more direct football. We could have won that game by half-time if we had more faith in out forwards to win the contests.

[CRV05]

Personally i think the run home is the best we could hope for.... Really if we dont have the defence to stand up to the teams in the 8 e.g Brisbae/Pies/hawks howcan we really expec to beat side like Geelong/West Coast.

Really we are the 3rd best side in the comp at the moment but what i thk we are dosn't mean much if the boys dont beat Brisbane next week, Collingwood the week after and hawks.

[barry]

I was at the game and it seemed to me that for the first 3 quarters we were very tentative approaching the inside 50. Players would hold it up looking for a clear option while all the saints streamed into defence. There were many turnovers as a result and some hurt us straight away as the saints rebounded and scored with more direct football. We could have won that game by half-time if we had more faith in out forwards to win the contests.

Both sides played with a heavily stacked defense, so neither was able to get any real flow happening. Our midfield got on top in the 2nd half and thats how we were able to ease ahead.

A boring game.

[originalswan]

Ablett in general. lol he was in our bottom 5 tonight.

Ablett's job tonight was to curb the influence of Dal Santo. So let's just ask how well did Dal Santo play??? Did Ablett do his job???

[Nico]

Ablett's job tonight was to curb the influence of Dal Santo. So let's just ask how well did Dal Santo play??? Did Ablett do his job???

Cant always tell on TV who is on who, but the commentators had McVeigh on Del Santo in the first Q. Ablett looked to be on him in the last Q.

[NMWBloods]

Ablett's job tonight was to curb the influence of Dal Santo. So let's just ask how well did Dal Santo play??? Did Ablett do his job???

Ablett seemed to be on Montagna in the first half and DalSanto in the second half. McVeigh the other way around.

[ugg]

Ablett seemed to be on Montagna in the first half and DalSanto in the second half. McVeigh the other way around.

Bingo. And we know how well Montagna did in that first half. Kudos to McVeigh for curbing his influence in the 2nd.