People are complaining about the last quarter...

[SainterK]

However the boys could of honestly put them away in the first.

I think Roo missed 3 goals? He certainly had the ball just outside the 50 another two times, and kicked it straight to the opposition. Joey missed another one.

At this point in the game, we were winning easily in the middle, but because of the turnovers and behinds, we gave the Roos the opportunity to go up the other end and goal.

To be fair, not sure our guys would of been in that position in the last quarter, had they worked with the momentum they had in the first.

Felt like Saints should of gone into the 1st break at least 25 points up.

[Con Gorozidis]

Norf had more scoring shots. Objectively speaking - we were lucky to hold on for a win.

From their perspective - if they kicked straight in the last - they bury us.

[White Winmar]

I think the inertia we showed in the last was due as much to tiredness as anything else. We looked shot. Lucky the Kangas didn't convert, as we were running on empty. Good effort just to get the 4 points. Maybe there is something to this, "coming off the bye is a disadvantage" stuff.

[AnythingsPossibleSaints]

It's just that it's not about the results of the first quarter versus the last, K, or the amount of effort put in in either (which I for one believe were equal), but the way they went about it that has rubbed so many up the wrong way.
Trying to protect a 3 goal lead, for 45 minutes, when you're well on top in general play and have the momentum and have the mental edge on the other team (after years of easy wins against them) is just gutless and pathetic, especially when you ought to be fresh after a two week break.
If it was the first time it had happened, or the second, or whatever, it could be excused, but this happens pretty much every time we get into that position in games. All it does is let the other side in basically every time and turns what could easily be an easy, confidence inspiring, percentage boosting win, that would get other sides uneasy (and give us a real boost in confidence), into an unnecessarily grinding, energy sapping game (that we've had a habit of not only letting them back into, but overrun us completely, of late).

[bigcarl]

Bit of killer instinct wouldn't go astray. Finish 'em off when you've got them on the ropes. Go the jugular like Collingwood does.

[Con Gorozidis]

I can also understand why people are peeved off when we won in this fashion.

Ok we got the 4 points. But I still havent forgotten Round 1 against Geelong when this whole mess of a year started. For people who watched that game its understandable to be angry when we cant score in the final term and are just waiting to get over-run.

I still havent gotten over that last quarter v the Cats. And we nearly did it again against luckily an inferior opponent.

[SainterK]

It's just that it's not about the results of the first quarter versus the last, K, or the amount of effort put in in either (which I for one believe were equal), but the way they went about it that has rubbed so many up the wrong way.
Trying to protect a 3 goal lead, for 45 minutes, when you're well on top in general play and have the momentum and have the mental edge on the other team (after years of easy wins against them) is just gutless and pathetic, especially when you ought to be fresh after a two week break.
If it was the first time it had happened, or the second, or whatever, it could be excused, but this happens pretty much every time we get into that position in games. All it does is let the other side in basically every time and turns what could easily be an easy, confidence inspiring, percentage boosting win, that would get other sides uneasy (and give us a real boost in confidence), into an unnecessarily grinding, energy sapping game (that we've had a habit of not only letting them back into, but overrun us completely, of late).

I'll have to watch the replay, but I don't think we were on top of general play towards the end of the third.

I think Goldstein got the ascendency, and their mids were on top, especially in the last.

We rely so much on getting the matchups right, limiting the oppositions stars impact, always have. Seems we can only hold them down so long, which IMO, dictates the trend in the last.

Just my opinion though APS.

[AnythingsPossibleSaints]

Bit of killer instinct wouldn't go astray. Finish 'em off when you've got them on the ropes. Go the jugular like Collingwood does.

+ 100,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000
Fair dinkum. Letting them back in? That's just asking for trouble, yet for us it's a tactic. Crazy s***.
Considering the mental edge we've had on most teams for the best part of 7 years, imagine how much we could have won so many of these games in the past couple of years by, if we'd had the remotest "killer instinct". The only reason most of these teams got close in so many games is because we refused to "put them away" and tried to protect leads, instead of just continuing to play the way that got us into those strong positions in the first place.
Then, instead of the Grand Finals resembling most of our games (close), they could so easily have been reasonably comfortable wins, given how dominant we were in 2009/2010 and our good records over Geelong and Collingwood in that time.

[AnythingsPossibleSaints]

It's just that it's not about the results of the first quarter versus the last, K, or the amount of effort put in in either (which I for one believe were equal), but the way they went about it that has rubbed so many up the wrong way.
Trying to protect a 3 goal lead, for 45 minutes, when you're well on top in general play and have the momentum and have the mental edge on the other team (after years of easy wins against them) is just gutless and pathetic, especially when you ought to be fresh after a two week break.
If it was the first time it had happened, or the second, or whatever, it could be excused, but this happens pretty much every time we get into that position in games. All it does is let the other side in basically every time and turns what could easily be an easy, confidence inspiring, percentage boosting win, that would get other sides uneasy (and give us a real boost in confidence), into an unnecessarily grinding, energy sapping game (that we've had a habit of not only letting them back into, but overrun us completely, of late).

I'll have to watch the replay, but I don't think we were on top of general play towards the end of the third.

I think Goldstein got the ascendency, and their mids were on top, especially in the last.

We rely so much on getting the matchups right, limiting the oppositions stars impact, always have. Seems we can only hold them down so long, which IMO, dictates the trend in the last.

Just my opinion though APS.

We went into defensive mode far earlier than late in the 3rd, though. By then we'd already put up the offensive shutters and said "pass us if you can".

[SainterK]

What do you mean by defensive mode though APS?

Going into the game with Jones on Wells, Dempster on Harvey, Polo and Joey Dal rotating on Swallow, Gram on Thomas, that is defensive from the get go. We have always tried to negate the oppositions flair under Ross, and they all did a pretty good job too for a large portion of the game.

When the signs are there though, that they are starting to push back, you prepare and absorb.

The opposition ruckman simply came into play, and our taggers/run with players tired. However I still think we tried to clear the ball from the middle and score, it just didn't come as easily as in the first half. I'd love to know how many of their goals in the last resulted from turnovers, like the rushed handball from McEvoy to Schneider inside 50.

[Junction Oval]

Lots of comments on other similar threads. I think that the consensus view is that firstly - glad we won, secondly - a very poor last quarter.

I was sitting right on the fence and both sides looked tired, but none particularly more than the other.

We should have kicked away in the last quarter, but our players lacked the confidence to move the ball forward and started kicking backwards from mid-way in the quarter, which was potentially suicidal. We certainly opened the door for North and it was only by luck (they missed a few sitters) that we won. Any other decent team would have rolled us.

In a radio interview, Ross said that they were not asked to play this way. However, I didn't see the runner out there directing them to play direct.

[St. Luke]

We looked sloppy at times, very sloppy. But I'm so glad we won. O might watch it again.

Clarke still has me crapping myself when he gets it.

[jays]

worst last quater ive seen

[Sainternist]

K, it was an awful last quarter, riddled with clangers and fundamental errors. The old "keepings off" and chipping it around almost backfired on us.

At the same time, North Melbourne would have to be kicking themselves. Their inability to capitalise from golden opportunities makes them look even worse, IMO.

Good teams make their opponents pay for their mistakes. Mediocre teams let their opponents off the hook.

We held on GRIMLY and got the 4 points, but I'll take that over losing any day of the week

[iwantmeseats]

whole game was craptastic, second half embarassing. I still turn up, but I just dont really care if we win or not anymore. I just couldnt be more uninspired watching the way we play week after week. Oh well.

[Moods]

whole game was craptastic, second half embarassing. I still turn up, but I just dont really care if we win or not anymore. I just couldnt be more uninspired watching the way we play week after week. Oh well.

Well that's a strange comment

We had 10 goals on the board at half time. We had gone in at half time kicking 5 goals in 8 minutes. If that's craptastic you are very hard to please. If you expect that 8 minutes of footy for 100 minutes you are still very hard to please. If you were annoyed at the 2nd half particularly the last 1/4 then understandable, but your post appears to be a gross over reaction imo.

[Old Mate]

It's fair for people to be unimpressed with our last quarter when we didn't score and hardly took the ball past our attacking side of the centre.

[desertsaint]

okay first quarter, but let nth back in it
great second quarter.
poor third to watch, but good pressure.
woeful last and very lucky north couldn't hit the proverbial side of a barn.
but i'll take it!

[AnythingsPossibleSaints]

What do you mean by defensive mode though APS?

Going into the game with Jones on Wells, Dempster on Harvey, Polo and Joey Dal rotating on Swallow, Gram on Thomas, that is defensive from the get go. We have always tried to negate the oppositions flair under Ross, and they all did a pretty good job too for a large portion of the game.

When the signs are there though, that they are starting to push back, you prepare and absorb.

The opposition ruckman simply came into play, and our taggers/run with players tired. However I still think we tried to clear the ball from the middle and score, it just didn't come as easily as in the first half. I'd love to know how many of their goals in the last resulted from turnovers, like the rushed handball from McEvoy to Schneider inside 50.

By "defensive mode" I mean that their whole mindset and approach seems to change and I've seen it happen time after time after time, in the last couple of years, when we get to about a 3 or 4 goal lead in a match.
Usually in those games we are well on top by the time we get out to that lead and as someone who's been to just about every St Kilda game in Melbourne since about 1990, you get a feel for when you're on top of a side and about to pretty much "break them" and 9 times out 10, under say Thomas, when we got to that stage, we would "go for the jugular" and as I said in another thread, go on to have a comfortable, enjoyable, percentage boosting win, of anywhere from 60 to 100+ points.
But under Lyon, we get to that same stage (where we feel another goal or two will break the game wide open and it will be "party-time") and instead of going for the jugular and continuing to play the same sort of attacking, positive enjoyable for us to watch footy, that generally got us out to that lead, we go into "lock the game down" mode. You can tell that their focus changes from scoring to "don't let them score". They also tend to try to slow the game down as much as they possibly can and that's when you start to see them looking backwards and sideways for an option, instead of mainly looking forward, as they had been doing to get in front. They then generally try to play keepings off for 40 minutes (which I reckon they would if they could get away with it) and I for one know it's going to be about the most boring and frustrating 40 or so following minutes that you could imagine, once you get the feeling they're playing that way.
As I said in another thread a few days ago, I used to pretty much live for the St Kilda games on the weekends, but now I start wanting to leave many of their games half way through the third, when they go into this mode, even though we're in front. There are about a million other better things to do than watch that rubbish. If I wanted to watch keepings-off and kick to kick, I could just go down to the local school at lunchtime and see the same stuff at no charge. Knowing that I'm pretty much paying them to play this way (by paying my memberships each year) makes me feel even more sick about it.
They basically lose all the urgency to attack and score that they had earlier in the game and just seem to put all their energy into doing their best to not let the other side score.
It's gutless, is a slap in the face to those of us who follow the club and tactically it makes pretty much no sense, as it would take up less energy to just keep playing the positive way they had been for a few more minutes, until we break the game open. Then you can just cruise, as the other side will have basically put up the white flag, or if they don't, they'll be too far behind to be likely to overrun us. (Far more often than not, if we kept on playing the way we were to get well on top, we would end up further in front, and I saw a stat a few months ago that said how few teams come back from a 40 point deficit these days (something like only 4%). But when we go into "lock-down mode", you pretty much guarantee that the other side will get close again, because we lose almost all of our attacking and scoring drive and it basically opens the door for the other side to come back into the match, which they invariably do. Ridiculous in so many ways.

[Harvey To Hayes]

As I said in another thread a few days ago, I used to pretty much live for the St Kilda games on the weekends, but now I start wanting to leave many of their games half way through the third, when they go into this mode, even though we're in front. There are about a million other better things to do than watch that rubbish.

I think Richmond would be pretty keen for your membership dollar, and you'd really fit in down at Punt Rd. That's where all the other pea-hearts congregate...

"Oh this gameplan isn't visually aesthetic enough for me, I want to go home..."

You sound like a dick...

[AnythingsPossibleSaints]

I'm not going to apologise for having better things to do with my time than watch them play like that. I have a life, please get over it. And how does not wanting to watch that make me a "pea- heart"? I'm not saying I don't want to watch them because they're losing. I kept buying memberships and going to watch the club week after week during the darkest times in the mid 90's and early 2000's, it's just that I have no interest in watching them play like that, especially when it makes no sense tactically, either. Life is far to short to sit through that on a regular basis.
I love watching footy, I have no interest in watching keepings off and kick to kick, with little interest in scoring. As it seems do the thousands and thousands of others who are now avoiding our games in droves. If you like spending your time watching stuff like that, then hip-hip-hooray for you, but if you reckon you're something special because you're happy to sit through it, you ought to get your hand off it and if you think I care in the slightest what you think of what I do, you're f***ed in the head.

[miskycat]

I'll have a go here.
I listened via the internet radio O/S.
I couldn't believe what I was hearing - after half time, a disgrace. Last quarter, you're gagging me. How could anyone, let alone young kids (our future) be inspired by this rubbish brand of football? No joy in this style of play.

[St Nick]

What do you mean by defensive mode though APS?

Going into the game with Jones on Wells, Dempster on Harvey, Polo and Joey Dal rotating on Swallow, Gram on Thomas, that is defensive from the get go. We have always tried to negate the oppositions flair under Ross, and they all did a pretty good job too for a large portion of the game.

When the signs are there though, that they are starting to push back, you prepare and absorb.

The opposition ruckman simply came into play, and our taggers/run with players tired. However I still think we tried to clear the ball from the middle and score, it just didn't come as easily as in the first half. I'd love to know how many of their goals in the last resulted from turnovers, like the rushed handball from McEvoy to Schneider inside 50.

By "defensive mode" I mean that their whole mindset and approach seems to change and I've seen it happen time after time after time, in the last couple of years, when we get to about a 3 or 4 goal lead in a match.
Usually in those games we are well on top by the time we get out to that lead and as someone who's been to just about every St Kilda game in Melbourne since about 1990, you get a feel for when you're on top of a side and about to pretty much "break them" and 9 times out 10, under say Thomas, when we got to that stage, we would "go for the jugular" and as I said in another thread, go on to have a comfortable, enjoyable, percentage boosting win, of anywhere from 60 to 100+ points.
But under Lyon, we get to that same stage (where we feel another goal or two will break the game wide open and it will be "party-time") and instead of going for the jugular and continuing to play the same sort of attacking, positive enjoyable for us to watch footy, that generally got us out to that lead, we go into "lock the game down" mode. You can tell that their focus changes from scoring to "don't let them score". They also tend to try to slow the game down as much as they possibly can and that's when you start to see them looking backwards and sideways for an option, instead of mainly looking forward, as they had been doing to get in front. They then generally try to play keepings off for 40 minutes (which I reckon they would if they could get away with it) and I for one know it's going to be about the most boring and frustrating 40 or so following minutes that you could imagine, once you get the feeling they're playing that way.
As I said in another thread a few days ago, I used to pretty much live for the St Kilda games on the weekends, but now I start wanting to leave many of their games half way through the third, when they go into this mode, even though we're in front. There are about a million other better things to do than watch that rubbish. If I wanted to watch keepings-off and kick to kick, I could just go down to the local school at lunchtime and see the same stuff at no charge. Knowing that I'm pretty much paying them to play this way (by paying my memberships each year) makes me feel even more sick about it.
They basically lose all the urgency to attack and score that they had earlier in the game and just seem to put all their energy into doing their best to not let the other side score.
It's gutless, is a slap in the face to those of us who follow the club and tactically it makes pretty much no sense, as it would take up less energy to just keep playing the positive way they had been for a few more minutes, until we break the game open. Then you can just cruise, as the other side will have basically put up the white flag, or if they don't, they'll be too far behind to be likely to overrun us. (Far more often than not, if we kept on playing the way we were to get well on top, we would end up further in front, and I saw a stat a few months ago that said how few teams come back from a 40 point deficit these days (something like only 4%). But when we go into "lock-down mode", you pretty much guarantee that the other side will get close again, because we lose almost all of our attacking and scoring drive and it basically opens the door for the other side to come back into the match, which they invariably do. Ridiculous in so many ways.

This my friends is the post of the year!! Perfect description of how the Saints play!!!

[ace]

Norf had more scoring shots. Objectively speaking - we were lucky to hold on for a win.

From their perspective - if they kicked straight in the last - they bury us.

Just looked at the possession count and dream team points - St Kilda had an overwhelming win in the stats (except the hitouts).

Those sort of stats are what you see in a 100 point thrashing BUT
North were direct, while St Kilda played keepings off for all but 5 to 10 minutes at the end of the 2nd quarter.

That 5 to 10 minutes looked so good and won the game but the rest was crap.

[SainterK]

St Kilda must heed the lessons of last week's final term against North Melbourne and be prepared to take risks if they're to get past Port Adelaide on Sunday, according to midfielder Nick Dal Santo.

The Saints were held scoreless in the final term and managed just two second-half goals before hanging on to win by nine points.

"There's been a little bit of criticism about the second half, but they're a tough side and they've had a really good previous month," Dal Santo said of the Kangaroos ahead of training at Seaford on Wednesday.

"That last quarter was a bit of a battle and I don't think we played great footy but we'll take some confidence out of being able to compete."

"We were just happy to get away with the win."

Dal Santo believes the Saints need to show a lot more run and enterprise against Port at AAMI Stadium.

"We need to be a little bit more aggressive with our ball movement, play-on and maybe take a few more risks, he said.

"The opposite of that was what you saw on the weekend, we were a little bit conservative and obviously didn't score."