How bad was our defence against Gold Coast?

[shanegrambeau]

..reason, I ask is because I don't want Joyce dropped, but can't imagine Brown left out.

[The_Dud]

Joyce looked good everywhere but in the one-on-one contests with Wright, where he obviously would panic and kept holding an arm and giving away free kicks.

Though I would pick him over Brown. Joyce is the future, Brown is not, why waste games on him?

[guitars4]

..reason, I ask is because I don't want Joyce dropped, but can't imagine Brown left out.

Our defense was IMO admirable compared to our midfield . But as I said IMO only

[Devilhead]

Gold Coast had 19 shots on goal

[samuraisaint]

Ball kept rebounding straight out of the forward line. Ball was bombed in, sometimes to a GC defender on their own, sometimes to the GC defender's advantage, but the ball was coming straight back out, particularly noticeable in the last quarter. Can't really blame the defenders. I'd keep Joyce in myself. I thought he did a reasonable job on Wright who was always going to do well against us, as undermanned down back as were.

[Cairnsman]

The backline was the good news story from last weekend. I reckon Alan would have been relieved and happy in equal measure.

Joyce will be dropped this weekend to make way for Brown but will get another crack real soon.

Battle and Wilkie...there's ya Backline.

Wilkie could be one out of the box.

Battle is going to be something special.

Jake will be licking his lips.

[CURLY]

Umpires made sure our backline was always under the pump. Gave some of the most ridiculous free kicks you'll see.

[SaintPav]

The backline was the good news story from last weekend. I reckon Alan would have been relieved and happy in equal measure.

Joyce will be dropped this weekend to make way for Brown but will get another crack real soon.

Battle and Wilkie...there's ya Backline.

Wilkie could be one out of the box.

Battle is going to be something special.

Jake will be licking his lips.

[Beno88]

Our key defenders (Joyce, Battle, Wilkie) on Sunday had a total of 9 games AFL experience between them. You'd do well to find a more inexperienced key defensive trio in AFL/VFL history.

They were shaky at times, but all in all they battled (no pun intended) on well.

That said, Brown will almost certainly replace Joyce this week.

[bigred]

The backline was the good news story from last weekend. I reckon Alan would have been relieved and happy in equal measure.

Joyce will be dropped this weekend to make way for Brown but will get another crack real soon.

Battle and Wilkie...there's ya Backline.

Wilkie could be one out of the box.

Battle is going to be something special.

Jake will be licking his lips.

Yeah I agree with pretty much all of it except we leaked too many easy goals at times but a bit of that was some midfield lacking defensively. We leaked far, far too many soft ones.

Joyce just gave away too many frees. Just too many. Apart from that he was very good.

Battle was a surprise really. His intercept ability was on point. Wilkie was an absolute bonus and potentially could be the pick up of the year. He can play at that level.

[GilsAuPair]

Joyce is a bloke we need to get to 50 games.
Yes he is inexperienced and is giving aways fres but I'd try to play him when possible.
He could end up something special.

[DJ Higgins]

They did the best they could but they were inexperienced. Joyce gave away too many frees and there wasn't a lot of pace. Brown in for sure but Joyce better for the run. I am not sure but how did hind go for sandy

[The_Dud]

Umpires made sure our backline was always under the pump. Gave some of the most ridiculous free kicks you'll see.

Yep, didn’t even let Joyce repeatedly pin Wright’s arm, what is the game coming too?!

[CURLY]

Umpires made sure our backline was always under the pump. Gave some of the most ridiculous free kicks you'll see.

Yep, didn’t even let Joyce repeatedly pin Wright’s arm, what is the game coming too?!

Lol when all your looking for is free kick against StKilda you'll find it. GC defenders were allowed to get away with murder. The best was the non controlling umpire 200 meters away pinning Joyce.

[spert]

Our forward defensive work and mid defensive work wasn't great in some patches of that game, and that puts a bit of pressure on the backline. Too many time the GC midfield got the ball out to their advantage. Our midfield need to be switched on for four quarters.

[barneyboyz]

Umpires made sure our backline was always under the pump. Gave some of the most ridiculous free kicks you'll see.

Yep, didn’t even let Joyce repeatedly pin Wright’s arm, what is the game coming too?!

Lol when all your looking for is free kick against StKilda you'll find it. GC defenders were allowed to get away with murder. The best was the non controlling umpire 200 meters away pinning Joyce.

Hey CURLY, I'm with you on this, and I can understand why you get some of the flak you cop. Yes, there's plenty of occasions where our players are a little sloppy and give away the frees, but this has been going on through multiple years, through different regimes, coaches and most of all playing groups. Sorry, but I can't believe that there's been a 'plan' written on the walls of the place, that says "You are a Saints player now, this is how you must play", that's as silly as thinking we don't give away frees. All teams get sloppy, comes with aggression.

Sadly, I watch plenty of football (some not even ours) and it's not just us, this can happen in most games. Some players/clubs get a very different interpretation of (some of) the rules. For example, the Dogs...you can't dispute that they have been getting a fairly good run at it for some time now.

I can't speak of this game as I haven't seen much of it, but you only have to remember the praccy against the dogs, players aren't stupid, they know what's going on around them. It's time Richo booked a meeting

[Winmar7]

Ball kept rebounding straight out of the forward line. Ball was bombed in, sometimes to a GC defender on their own, sometimes to the GC defender's advantage, but the ball was coming straight back out, particularly noticeable in the last quarter. Can't really blame the defenders. I'd keep Joyce in myself. I thought he did a reasonable job on Wright who was always going to do well against us, as undermanned down back as were.

you nailed it! not enough forward pressure - too many easy kick outs from behinds and not enough crumbing pressure at the bottom of packs. if this improves the backline will be better protected.

[evertonfc]

The backline was the good news story from last weekend. I reckon Alan would have been relieved and happy in equal measure.

Joyce will be dropped this weekend to make way for Brown but will get another crack real soon.

Battle and Wilkie...there's ya Backline.

Wilkie could be one out of the box.

Battle is going to be something special.

Jake will be licking his lips.

Great summation. It was the good news story, by a mile.

We've found long-term players in Battle and Wilkie, even if they had to play patch-up jobs on the weekend and may find themselves exposed in the coming weeks.

Brown comes in to take the load off Joyce IMO.

We're still in band-aid mode but Marsh will soon be ready - and I think we'll get another player there, too.

[shanegrambeau]

Umpires made sure our backline was always under the pump. Gave some of the most ridiculous free kicks you'll see.

Yep, didn’t even let Joyce repeatedly pin Wright’s arm, what is the game coming too?!

Lol when all your looking for is free kick against StKilda you'll find it. GC defenders were allowed to get away with murder. The best was the non controlling umpire 200 meters away pinning Joyce.

Hey CURLY, I'm with you on this, and I can understand why you get some of the flak you cop. Yes, there's plenty of occasions where our players are a little sloppy and give away the frees, but this has been going on through multiple years, through different regimes, coaches and most of all playing groups. Sorry, but I can't believe that there's been a 'plan' written on the walls of the place, that says "You are a Saints player now, this is how you must play", that's as silly as thinking we don't give away frees. All teams get sloppy, comes with aggression.

Sadly, I watch plenty of football (some not even ours) and it's not just us, this can happen in most games. Some players/clubs get a very different interpretation of (some of) the rules. For example, the Dogs...you can't dispute that they have been getting a fairly good run at it for some time now.

I can't speak of this game as I haven't seen much of it, but you only have to remember the praccy against the dogs, players aren't stupid, they know what's going on around them. It's time Richo booked a meeting

Mnnnn. that's what I'm worried about. I read somewhere - I'm in Japan so can't see games - that Gold Coast converted 26% of their forward (x?) into goals and that was a poor sign for St Kilda, i.e. our defense was weak. I can't be sure what that (x) was. I thought initially they meant entries but that sounds insanely high. If you convert 26% of your forward entries into goals, that is dangerous I would have thought.

Essendon hvae skilled and zippy forwards and they might make short work out of clumsy trees. Geary will have his work cut out. So it would seem that our midfield and forward defense has to really tighten up.

[barneyboyz]

Umpires made sure our backline was always under the pump. Gave some of the most ridiculous free kicks you'll see.

Yep, didn’t even let Joyce repeatedly pin Wright’s arm, what is the game coming too?!

Lol when all your looking for is free kick against StKilda you'll find it. GC defenders were allowed to get away with murder. The best was the non controlling umpire 200 meters away pinning Joyce.

Hey CURLY, I'm with you on this, and I can understand why you get some of the flak you cop. Yes, there's plenty of occasions where our players are a little sloppy and give away the frees, but this has been going on through multiple years, through different regimes, coaches and most of all playing groups. Sorry, but I can't believe that there's been a 'plan' written on the walls of the place, that says "You are a Saints player now, this is how you must play", that's as silly as thinking we don't give away frees. All teams get sloppy, comes with aggression.

Sadly, I watch plenty of football (some not even ours) and it's not just us, this can happen in most games. Some players/clubs get a very different interpretation of (some of) the rules. For example, the Dogs...you can't dispute that they have been getting a fairly good run at it for some time now.

I can't speak of this game as I haven't seen much of it, but you only have to remember the praccy against the dogs, players aren't stupid, they know what's going on around them. It's time Richo booked a meeting

Mnnnn. that's what I'm worried about. I read somewhere - I'm in Japan so can't see games - that Gold Coast converted 26% of their forward (x?) into goals and that was a poor sign for St Kilda, i.e. our defense was weak. I can't be sure what that (x) was. I thought initially they meant entries but that sounds insanely high. If you convert 26% of your forward entries into goals, that is dangerous I would have thought.

Essendon hvae skilled and zippy forwards and they might make short work out of clumsy trees. Geary will have his work cut out. So it would seem that our midfield and forward defense has to really tighten up.

If two, three or four of those forward X's end up with unwarranted goals, you'd have an unfair advantage though, wouldn't you? and please don't think I'm just talking about inside 50 frees, a play-on advantage on centre wing now sees many a goal

All just my opinion though

No doubt our team needs to tighten up, there's no question from me

[Cairnsman]

Our key defenders (Joyce, Battle, Wilkie) on Sunday had a total of 9 games AFL experience between them. You'd do well to find a more inexperienced key defensive trio in AFL/VFL history.

They were shaky at times, but all in all they battled (no pun intended) on well.

That said, Brown will almost certainly replace Joyce this week.

And that's the thing for me about the very good point you make, yes we didn't set the world on fire against a team percieved as this years bottom dweller, but it was the little things that happened in the game with regards to green shoots appearing (apologies to Brendan Bolton for stealing your favorite cliche).

And also in context of finding replacements for our LTI players like Robbo and Jake. Depth could be something we are starting to see in the list too.

[bigcarl]

..reason, I ask is because I don't want Joyce dropped, but can't imagine Brown left out.

I actually thought Joyce showed some very good signs, but since Brown is a seasoned, experienced player in a backline lacking experience I expect someone will make way.

If it is Joyce, he will be back. I thought he looked a very good long term prospect

[shanegrambeau]

..reason, I ask is because I don't want Joyce dropped, but can't imagine Brown left out.

I actually thought Joyce showed some very good signs, but since Brown is a seasoned, experienced player in a backline lacking experience I expect someone will make way.

If it is Joyce, he will be back. I thought he looked a very good long term prospect

Yep..Joyce going back for Brown accepted..for this week. Then Wilkie to stay and was good I understand, and seems to be 'a find' as expressed by someone on this thread.

[sunsaint]

Gold Coast had 19 shots on goal

and we had 20 - point?

actually both had more - but there were some pretty woeful shots oof

[sunsaint]

The best was the non controlling umpire 200 meters away pinning Joyce.

that would be right - he was in the car park going home wasnt he curly?