Year in review

[LENNY LEADS THE WAY]

For mine 2012 seemed like a year of almosts and what if's.

Many disappointing close losses and some youth coming thru has given us some hope that the future is bright and not all doom and gloom.

We narrowly missed the 8 which was widely tipped by the experts.

Looking at who we beat did we narrowly miss or are we a mile off?

victories against
Sydney 3rd
Carlton 10th x2
Essendon 11th
Brisbane 13th
Western Bullogs 15th x2
Melbourne 16th x2
Gold Coast 17th x2
GWS 18th

Not many quality wins there i thought 2012 was a solid year now i'm not so sure and we may be a mile off with some serious work to be done in the trading and drafting period.

GO SAINTS

[whiskers3614]

Lost to every team in the 8
Beat swans once
lost to port &tigers
Soft draw kept us in contention most of the way.
Having said that we weren't completely outclassed in any match.
Need a couple to step up as we can't expect much more from most of the veterans.
CAN HAPPEN!

[mad saint guy]

2012 was the year that 2011 should have been. We stuffed the year by losing very winnable games, but in terms of development we finally started to clear out the dead wood and bring in some young talent. The one thing I'm really happy with is that the likes of Siposs, Newnes, Dunell, Cripps etc have all been given opportunities throughout the year, while Armo, Steven, Simpkin and Stanley were given real responsibility. For so long we have just tried to bring in recycled players to play 'roles' around the core assembled from '98-'02. This almost got us a flag, but it failed and it was obvious that if we continued down the Gamble, Polo, Begley, McGough, Pattison, Peake etc line of recruiting that we'd crash hard once the stars slowed down. Thankfully Watters arrived just in time (if not a little late) to desperately try and reshape the list into something more sustainable.

It's clear that we're no longer the force we were in 2009, but I have no idea what could happen in 2013. After we were thrashed by Hawthorn in the 2008 prelim I thought our window was shut. We're probably a bit behind in development of the younger players coming through, but we should be heading in the right direction.

[oh when the]

We played a better brand of footy which is exciting to watch

We need a good leader on the ground who can swing the
Close games our way.

We uncovered some promising players now we need good recruiting over summer.

I am confident in Watters, not sure on some of his assistants.

[Old Mate]

We had the same problem in 2011, we couldn't beat finals teams except I think WC at the Dome and the Blues in round 22, which meant nothing to them. The difference this year is we developed a few more younger players and didn't waste time on guys like Polo, Raph and Peake.

[kaos theory]

- 12 wins
- 5 losses by 3 goals or less
- very few games comprehensively beaten
- Ist year for new coach rebuilding team with young players

Looking forward, its about setting the platform for the future , but also offering us a real crack at a flag next year. Consider:
- Full pre-season to hone skills/game plan and player preparation under new model
- Further improvement in 15 younger/newer players
- maintaining performance out of our stars/elites
- maintaing/improving performance out of our mid-tier players
- picking up an extra ruck and/or key defender

On that, we have a good chance to turn 12 wins into 14 to 16 wins next year....

[dragit]

Although we've seen flashes of excitement this year, I think we are still heading south rather than north of the ladder.

I think people are absolutely dreaming that we will be a flag challenger next year…

We have holes in our list all over the ground in my opinion, key back, ruck, key forward and quality midfield support.

McEvoy is promising, but at this stage I think he is beaten in the actual ruck work most games… Stanley could be anything, but can't seem to string 5 games together and is probably at least 3 years away from playing consistent footy.

Armitage and Steven are also promising, their best is what need, unfortunately we only get their best half of the time, again this will hopefully come with time. Games under 20 touches this year - Armo 7, Jack 9,

Monster key backmen are something that basically every club is looking for and not many clubs are letting them go… Unless Goddard goes, I can't see how we'd afford one.

Riewoldt was brilliant this year, needs a lot more support, Kosi would surely be retired off if it wasn't for a contract, we've been waiting for some miracle break-out year for 8 years… it aint going to happen.

I feel like we are about 5 players short of being a top 4 side at the moment, which is too many holes to plug in one off season… Unless we want to give up our early picks like Hawthorn did to plug their holes - Gibson, Hale, Burgoyne, Gunston… It worked for them, but it can also backfire badly.

You don't get good players for nothing (aside from the milera/saad steak knife collection!)

I think we have an exciting future on the horizon, but it isn't next year, or the year after for mine… more like 5 years… I would rather do it properly and return to be a force rather than a 5th-9th side NQR side.

[QuestionOfAccuracy]

We have holes in our list all over the ground in my opinion, key back, ruck, key forward and quality midfield support.

Well said. I think these glaring holes in our side were one of the key factors in us missing the finals. We weren't able to cover these deficiencies well enough against the top 8 sides.

Despite the glaring deficiencies, I still think that we should have made the finals given the favorable fixture that we had for the season.


Next year
- I can see us "improving" in the sense that we can make the finals, but I can't see us transforming into "challengers".
- Armo and Steven need to step up in terms of consistency
- Rhys, Siposs, Saad and Simpkin need to consolidate their spots in the side and also keep improving.
- Cripps, Newnes, Ledger need to developer their game and push hard for selection weekly

[Jacks Back]

Most of our losses against top 8 sides were quite big:

Fremantle -15 points
Hawthorn -35
WCE -30
Adelaide -4
Nth Melb -33
Swans -29
Collingwood -6
Geelong -42 points

So that's 5 top 8 teams that we lost to by 5 goals or more. Not too good at all unfortunately.

[Cairnsman]

I am of the firm belief that we will be lower than 9th next year but that doesn't worry me. As long as the players we introduced this year don't drop away and that we can introduce some more players with starting 22 potential.

Bring on 2013

[8856brother]

Most of our losses against top 8 sides were quite big:

Fremantle -15 points
Hawthorn -35
WCE -30
Adelaide -4
Nth Melb -33
Swans -29
Collingwood -6
Geelong -42 points

So that's 5 top 8 teams that we lost to by 5 goals or more. Not too good at all unfortunately.

What were the scores in all those games with 10 minutes to play? Think you will find the final margin flattered pretty much all those games bar the front running Roos. We were in at least 20 games this year with 10 minutes to play.

Both a positive and a negative IMO.

[Jacks Back]

Most of our losses against top 8 sides were quite big:

Fremantle -15 points
Hawthorn -35
WCE -30
Adelaide -4
Nth Melb -33
Swans -29
Collingwood -6
Geelong -42 points

So that's 5 top 8 teams that we lost to by 5 goals or more. Not too good at all unfortunately.

What were the scores in all those games with 10 minutes to play? Think you will find the final margin flattered pretty much all those games bar the front running Roos. We were in at least 20 games this year with 10 minutes to play.

Both a positive and a negative IMO.

I don't know what the scores were at those stages but maybe the altitude training will help us see through those periods.

[saintkellerm]

Whilst not happy we r not playing finals, it would have been good, but then I remember last year, I was more peeved at the finals game last year where we didn't play well except 3rd qtr.

I have been impressed with the lesser names doing well. My fav has to be Simpkin, whilst we still need a big backman, he has really stepped up, I don't have the "oh no what's going to happen" like I did last couple of years, he has settled really well in the back line. My other fav is Lenny to come back from his injury and play so damn well and happy he is playing on. Also Saad & Milera have added some excitement in our forwards, the team when they have won seem to be enjoying the game more - well who doesn't. I have been happy with the new kids getting a decent chance. We have taken more risks this yr in our playing style, but have lost ones that should have won. I am looking forward to next year, and hopefully with good preseason, alot of kicking practice, we can become the force again. Go Saints!

[R. Harvey 3 votes!]

Although we've seen flashes of excitement this year, I think we are still heading south rather than north of the ladder.

I think people are absolutely dreaming that we will be a flag challenger next year…

We have holes in our list all over the ground in my opinion, key back, ruck, key forward and quality midfield support.

McEvoy is promising, but at this stage I think he is beaten in the actual ruck work most games… Stanley could be anything, but can't seem to string 5 games together and is probably at least 3 years away from playing consistent footy.

Armitage and Steven are also promising, their best is what need, unfortunately we only get their best half of the time, again this will hopefully come with time. Games under 20 touches this year - Armo 7, Jack 9,

Monster key backmen are something that basically every club is looking for and not many clubs are letting them go… Unless Goddard goes, I can't see how we'd afford one.

Riewoldt was brilliant this year, needs a lot more support, Kosi would surely be retired off if it wasn't for a contract, we've been waiting for some miracle break-out year for 8 years… it aint going to happen.

I feel like we are about 5 players short of being a top 4 side at the moment, which is too many holes to plug in one off season… Unless we want to give up our early picks like Hawthorn did to plug their holes - Gibson, Hale, Burgoyne, Gunston… It worked for them, but it can also backfire badly.

You don't get good players for nothing (aside from the milera/saad steak knife collection!)

I think we have an exciting future on the horizon, but it isn't next year, or the year after for mine… more like 5 years… I would rather do it properly and return to be a force rather than a 5th-9th side NQR side.

This what I think too. We are in for some pain for a few years. I will cop that though as long as I can see a plan, that will give us decent crack down the track.
We had a really soft draw and the facts are we only beat Sydney out of the sides that finished in the top 8. Our main core will be one year older and in decline.
I have enjoyed the ride even though we didn't get that cup we wanted, but I just can't see us being anywhere near it next year....5 years time like dragit said.

[R. Harvey 3 votes!]

- 12 wins
- 5 losses by 3 goals or less
- very few games comprehensively beaten
- Ist year for new coach rebuilding team with young players

Looking forward, its about setting the platform for the future , but also offering us a real crack at a flag next year. Consider:
- Full pre-season to hone skills/game plan and player preparation under new model
- Further improvement in 15 younger/newer players
- maintaining performance out of our stars/elites
- maintaing/improving performance out of our mid-tier players
- picking up an extra ruck and/or key defender

On that, we have a good chance to turn 12 wins into 14 to 16 wins next year....

Tell him he's dreamin!

[Sainternist]

Although I'm disappointed about missing out on the finals, in the scheme of things, I'm actually relatively content with how the team finished overall.

12-10 is a respectable record for a team that was supposedly "on the slide".

Maybe I'm overly optimistic, but it seems like we're more in a semi-rebuild phase - similar to what Sydney endured - as opposed to full rebuild. I'll take that over say what the Bulldogs are currently having to go through.

[I love the saints!]

I know that Carlton and Essendon ultimately finished outside the eight but it is amazing how quickly people forget that we pantsed them when they were playing really good footy and sitting pretty inside the top 4. Injuries cruelled both of them,especially Essendon and the Collingwood game, all I have to say about that one is 9 free kicks to 1 in the last quarter to them.

[OneEyedSainter77]

Although I'm disappointed about missing out on the finals, in the scheme of things, I'm actually relatively content with how the team finished overall.

12-10 is a respectable record for a team that was supposedly "on the slide".

Maybe I'm overly optimistic, but it seems like we're more in a semi-rebuild phase - similar to what Sydney endured - as opposed to full rebuild. I'll take that over say what the Bulldogs are currently having to go through.

Quite agree with this. I think we will slide but not to the extent certain sides do. We won't tank either. I see this as more of a development period, where Watters will try to develop the next core of players while the upper tier players slowly retire over the next few years. Claims that our list is so old and we are in trouble are exaggerated. We won't lose to any of bulldogs, Melbourne, gold coast and GWS next year no matter where we play them so we are not in the ottom few teams of the league.

Looking forward to seeing how we approach the next few years.

[jays]

very true

[kaos theory]

Most of our losses against top 8 sides were quite big:

Fremantle -15 points
Hawthorn -35
WCE -30
Adelaide -4
Nth Melb -33
Swans -29
Collingwood -6
Geelong -42 points

So that's 5 top 8 teams that we lost to by 5 goals or more. Not too good at all unfortunately.

In the Hawthorn, WCE, Nth & Geel games we lost key structural players during the game (e.g. Stanley and/or Rooey) or before the game. Not saying we would have won, but doubt we would have lost by that much.

[desertsaint]

we fell away badly in the closing last ten minutes in too many matches.
but were competitive in almost every game.
the loss to freo cost us a spot in the eight.
unlike some of the above posters i have confidence we'll improve next year, but after that we'll fall away unless we uncover or trade for some decent kpps.
our draw was woeful though. it isn't down to just who you play, but the circumstances. we were shafted by a lot of consectutive 6 day breaks, and with two lots of back to back interstate games. we were unlucky in meeting some teams at the worst time possible. but we also had a pretty good run with injuries. we played 12 games against non top eight teams, only one more than collingwood, one less than freo.
overall, as stated, i'm looking ahead to a better 2013.