Preview St Kilda v Adelaide at AO, Sunday Mar 16 at 12:30 (Melb time)

[tomjoad]

Well this round has so far shown that "Special Sauce" on the day can trump all else.

If our players are fully committed, switched on and disciplined in how we play, then anything can happen, despite our handicaps.



One plus is that it is one of our better midfield groups that we have fielded for a while.

Roma/Boyd in ruck.

Macrae, Steele, Jones, Clark, Garcia, Windy......and at times Sinclair, though I am expecting he will mainly play HB along with Nas.

Plus supported by wingers in Wood, Wilson, Hill and the raw O'Connell.

Jones was handy player when he came back in Round 18 and played differently.


The games so far have also shown that you need to score goals from running players. If we fall back into just roosting the ball into the forward line the result will be ugly. How well our forward half functions is my deepest concern.

Our best games last year was when our mids ran the ball into the forward line and got on the score sheet, and our forwards kept agile and moving. We look putrid when we try and kick to a stationary one on one contest, as none of our forwards are strong or skilled enough to pull such feats off, except as a fluke. It kills our momentum each and every time...and negates our alleged running strength. All of our mids should be aiming at a minimum of a goal each per game, guys like Steele should be rotating through the forward line and getting 2 goals a game. Same with Roma.

 

[Ads734]

When is Sandy playing their praccy?

 

[dudeintheswamp]

When is Sandy playing their praccy?

I think it's today at 1pm at Arden St.

 

[Saintbloke]

Obviously it will be no good to drop a quarter and then try and play catch up- we have a habit of doing it. The mids need to be switched on from the first bounce.

 

[Sully111]

No game day thread? Where's George?

 

[dudeintheswamp]

No game day thread? Where's George?

 

[hangdog]

I'm married- so.... no.

Ahh yes, that's called Box Blox.

 

[Thrillthorpe7]

Hey guys, would your team only be flying into Adelaide this morning? Was just told there were a lot of Saints people only boarding a flight in the last hour (same one as Port). Just seemed odd to me given the game is at midday!

 

[SaintersFan]

Here's a link to the new AFL article by Josh Gabelich who spent a day at RSEA Park last week.

It's terrific IMO and I'll post it in the Media thread as well.

'We want to be a bigger club': Inside the Saints' grand plans - https://www.afl.com.au/news/1278626

 

[Saint Kidding]

We need to draft a Cox.

What a pairing that would be...

Cox and Box...

Get it?

Too subtle?

But surely they would never be in the team at the same time. One goes out before the other comes in.

 

[kosifantutti]

No game day thread? Where's George?

Gone for a Tosca

 

[sammm]

No game day thread? Where's George?

You know that anyone can create a new thread?

 

[Saintos The ITK]

Sam's wife and family situation was probably perfect for seducing the Battles.

Its our own fault for recruiting nice kids who make their bed and get married and have kids.
We should have drafted those bad boys who never sleep in their own bed and don't even know if they had kids.

It’s our fault for letting anyone from hawthorn anywhere near the ****en club. I hope the lessons been learnt.

 

[Jade Buddha]

Pitch report
Cool morning with light breeze, light over night rains so surface will be greasy.
Expect conditions to be a bit tricky.

 

[Bill Crouse]

Hey guys, would your team only be flying into Adelaide this morning? Was just told there were a lot of Saints people only boarding a flight in the last hour (same one as Port). Just seemed odd to me given the game is at midday!

This post suggests it was last night

 

[stavro#4]

Lesson learnt with Battle going as the Club has really ramped up their efforts to include the family of players more.

I’m glad they learnt something. But again to be clear.

If we desperately wanted to keep Battle. We could have.

Club made a decision inline with what they are talking up. A rebuild. Youth. 20 list changes in Lyons time.

If you need further confirmation. Rewatch that new show Rooey is on.

He said they made a business decision to let Battle go. Money isn’t and never was a problem for us.

Hey guys, would your team only be flying into Adelaide this morning? Was just told there were a lot of Saints people only boarding a flight in the last hour (same one as Port). Just seemed odd to me given the game is at midday!

We flew up yesterday. Delayed as we were booted off a flight aswell.

 

[snails13]

Need some kids to get themselves in that A category over the next couple of years but overall a very promising list

I am confident Pou will be better than B
And Henry will be far better than his grading.

 

[Dard Ball Get]

Just read the Gabelich article and all the brick walls in my vicinity are in danger of being ran through.

Saints by 10 goals.

 

[Jesuswasacarpenter]

Ross loves known quantities. From Buckley's better off with consistent 7s over sometimes 10s, Keeler is the type to do very little for periods and then do the stuff that makes you stand up in bursts. Hammer is your 100% effort and 50% talent to Keels 50% effort to 90% talent ratio.

I don't mind that we demand high standards of players that come in. It's setting a culture. Richmond had no right to win the other night and very little of it was pure talent. Every player on the ground went at 100% effort and worked Carlton over.

Keeler won't be left wondering about what is expected of him. He'll have a program and markers in place. It would have been nice to see him but he's just got to decide that he really wants it now.

I would have loved to see Keeler debut today.
Hopefully very soon, he looked calm and measured and reliable from what I saw in the praccy matches.

 

[Sully111]

You know that anyone can create a new thread?

I'm not allowed

Where's George?

 

[luca77]

You know that anyone can create a new thread?

Nah, leave that to the mods for the key threads.
Otherwise people with the creator on ignore have to log out to find the thread.

 

[The_Steadier]

Pitch report
Cool morning with light breeze, light over night rains so surface will be greasy.
Expect conditions to be a bit tricky.

King, howard, battle, owens, sharman gonna struggle

 

[SteeleSaints]

I’m glad they learnt something. But again to be clear.

If we desperately wanted to keep Battle. We could have.

Club made a decision inline with what they are talking up. A rebuild. Youth. 20 list changes in Lyons time.

If you need further confirmation. Rewatch that new show Rooey is on.

He said they made a business decision to let Battle go. Money isn’t and never was a problem for us.

We flew up yesterday. Delayed as we were booted off a flight aswell.

If thats the case then why did they exclude him from the B&F? What you are suggesting doesnt wash, when we had zero replacements for him! Its clear Battle left for other reasons hence the club being so quickly to review the cause and make changes.

 

[stavro#4]

If thats the case then why did they exclude him from the B&F? What you are suggesting doesnt wash, when we had zero replacements for him! Its clear Battle left for other reasons hence the club being so quickly to review the cause and make changes.

As I mentioned multiple times last year.

It was Battle or Dougal.

Night of the pies game. We had a deal agreed with Battle - SOS was telling everyone. Ralphy was even running with it by the nights end.

Whatever happened in between. He wanted more money. We were going shit.

We said no. - this was the business decision.

We were very confident we would get a a band 1 pick.

The BnF stuff isn’t just based on the week he walked out. It’s a culmination of what happened.

 

[SteeleSaints]

As I mentioned multiple times last year.

It was Battle or Dougal.

Night of the pies game. We had a deal agreed with Battle - SOS was telling everyone. Ralphy was even running with it by the nights end.

Whatever happened in between. He wanted more money. We were going shit.

We said no. - this was the business decision.

We were very confident we would get a a band 1 pick.

The BnF stuff isn’t just based on the week he walked out. It’s a culmination of what happened.

Fair enough, if accurate it was pretty ordinary by Battle. I can understand him being told not to go to the B&F.