My take on the Saints in Round 23.

[saynta]

For King goal kicking is less about technique and more about his state of mind.

Wow for Ben, 27 possessions, 17 marks and a goal. BOG. See what happens when his team mates have a bit of faith and kick the ball to him.

Not impressed by either of the McCartin boys. Tom 2 possessions for f*** sake. The swans can have them.

Horseface is a very poor winner. Says his swans had an off night. f*** 'im.

Campbell and Liniert both showed enough for another contract.

The boys, except for Sincs need more skill training. Dropped marks, missed handballs and fumbles are the main reasons we lost.

COULD HAVE got a lot closer if Higgins hadn't missed two very gettable goals earlier in the night.

SHOULD HAVE played Bytel instead of Kent. He MAY HAVE been the difference between a win and a loss.

WOULD HAVE made finals if we didn't play in a swamp on FNQ, and King had his kicking boots on earlier.

We are not far of finals despite what the doom sayers say.

Pity Hanners couldn't get his body right. Tonight he showed just what he was capable of and that the decision to recruit him was worth the risk.

We must go all out to keep NWM and Hill FFS.

C'mon saints I ain't got too many years to go to see that 2nd flag.

[cwrcyn]

Throw in a fit Gresham and McKenzie and that helps

We are a pretty reasonable team and yes, we cocked up a few games and lost our mojo for a few weeks, but there is still enough to work with to make us competitive against all teams bar Melbourne.

When we play with dare we play well. When we take the cautious approach we fall in a heap. It takes away all the drive and energy.

I'm like a broken record on this, but playing a third tall (and mobile) marking forward is critical to our forward line functioning properly.

Owens, Wanganeen-Milera, and Windhager will all be better next year. With a better preparation, so will Clark. Coffield is a mystery, but if he can come in and play well, that will be a bonus. I'm still a fan of Sharman, despite the naysayers on here. He can get better and stronger.

We need to get it right in the next two drafts, otherwise we'll have a very lopsided list profile in 4 years

I would leave Long down back. He's a much better player down there.

[Mr Magic]

When we play with dare we play well. When we take the cautious approach we fall in a heap. It takes away all the drive and energy.

I believe our poor skill execution makes the 'cautious approach gameplan' almost impossible for us to succeed with.
We don't have the necessary skills to keep it going for an extended period.
Inevitably we stuff it up with a skill error.

[CarlD]

The less I see of the chip, chip football the better. Yes, I would concede you can't play run and gun all day but we don't have the skill set of Geelong say to make the short passing game work consistently. The Saints looked so much better having a crack.

Kicking backwards when we were coming hard at the Swans also was a frustration. We often achieved little with what I assume were meant to be switches in play.

Time for the coaches to earn their money and sort a game plan out (with plan B's etc if things are not working). This has been an issue for a while now. As has been pointed out here by numerous posters the midfield/forward connection needs significant attention as does the forward line structure, including the way the Saints use the resting ruckman.

It will be interesting to see what changes are made to the list but clearly the midfield could still do with more bolstering. May be a task as it is difficult to see other clubs stumping up too much for players that Saint's management consider surplus to requirements.

[older saint]

Had a Melbourne fan text me yesterday commenting about the merits of looking at Collingwood's Slingshot style game with our personnel. I said the issue IMO is we cant kick well enough. on cue Battle kicked directly to a swans player which lead to a shot on goal .

IF all fit Crouch, Gresham, Mckenzie, Wood, Webster come in to our best 22 this year.
Long had a great game however I prefer him in the wing, decision making and foot skills down back really hurt in the past. Even forward better as foot mistakes are 150 m away from opposition goals.

Positives for the year overall:
- Owens, NWM and Windy - bets bunch of first year players since the early noughties;
- Crouch showed why we recruited him
- Sinclair should be AA
- development and importance of role players Wood and McKenzie ( and Long to an extent) - cant have everyone wanting to he queen Bee need workers;
- Paton got a year of footy under his belt;
- Battle settled at CHB - just needs to forget the point point pass to the opposition;

Negatives:
- Missing finals again
- Injuries to Coffield, Clark, Gresham - 3 who MUST form part of the future within the current group if we are to be successful;
- Losing games due to appalling foot skills and goal kicking - see 2021;
- Selling games to FNQ and losing AGAIN!
- the step backwards or lack of progress by second year players - Bytel, Connolly, Highmore, Brynes . Some due to injury, but often happens after a good year 1 get comfortable and don't work as hard in pre season as should

BIG call trade options (probably none will happen but for the right offer IMO need to be considered but not given away);
- Hill, Billings, Jones,
only for overs
- Gresham, Battle.

[saynta]

Bytel, Connolly, Highmore & Brynes

When were any of that quartet ever given a chance to shine.

All have ability as they have frequently shown at VFL level.

[bergsone]

A fit Steele for the whole season is badly needed,imo Hayes as a tall forward/ruck will help not only King but also our smalls