My take so far

[Goose is king]

I’m stoked with the way we are playing this year so for what it’s worth here is my take

Against Gold Coast we came up against a side who have proven to be ok. They would have targeted the game from a long way out as a possible win and for us to get the four points was good but after the game I felt the season was probably going to be long

Against Essendon we came up against a bit of a rabble and our endeavour and defensive set up were the only team positives I could take out of it other than the four points. Bruce’s mark was awesome on an individual note. The defensive set up that impressed here had Essendon moving the ball so slowly and it played into our hands. It is their main asset and we stood up all game and denied them

Against Freo we got jumped a bit and they seemed to have the answers when we made a charge. Losing in Perth after two wins was not a big concern for me

Hawthorn game showed that we are genuinely competent as a league team. Even though they were two down (D-MAC out for us) the players proved Lethlean’s comments about us being the fittest team out there.

Now for Melbourne, what a win and even though they appear to be a bit of a rabble mainly in defence you better bloody believe that if you let them get going they can pound on the goals. We didn’t let them and that brings me to defence

The defence is working beautifully. Who picked that Wilkie would be so committed, competent and even dominant? Not me
Who would of thought Battle would be so committed, competent and dominant? Not me
Brown is proving that in a good side he is an excellent defender.
Savage and Webster are both very important for us. Along with being solid tough defenders they are long accurate kicks and provide drive and the long kicks help open up the ground and the switch.
Geary, D-MAC are tough and inspirational and Paton has surprised me down back as I thought he was a kid who could kick a goal (3 goals from 3 games last year I think).
As a group they have delivered every match and they have been helped out by our midfield

Midfield. Most of our mids have played 4 good games out of the 5. Billings is now elite has probably played 5 good ones and even though it could be argued he isn’t elite that’s only because it’s a 5 game sample. Two years ago he averaged 20 touches and a goal a game and the only other players to do that were Danger and Dusty. This year he could average 30 and a goal. If we win enough games he could even win the Brownlow. Ross seemed down then had a big one against the Hawks and Melbourne. Sinclair is slowly gaining some consistency. Steven is going to take us to the next level required when we play the top teams and I hope we works through his issues. Gresham is a fan favourite and mine too, he is such a creative offensive weapon. Acres improvement and hopefully consistency will like Steven hopefully be two players that give us genuine improvement against the contenders.

Marshal. Yes, yes and f##k yeah. He seems like a great guy. Dare I say it he seems Lenny-like. His mobility is a weapon and his ruck work competitive against most, not all as we saw against Gawn. He has definitely improved in this area so I’m sure that will continue. I think his upside is as big as any in the club.

The forwards are working bloody hard. Bruce and Skunk have had their moments and quarters without dominating a match. Lonie has improved even from his season ending run of form. His tackling is now strong he has been the best of the small forwards but the importance of Parker, Long and Kent all being dangerous is so important as it means defenders can’t play off them. We haven’t kicked 100 yet nearly against Melbourne so these guys need to sort things out and iron out some issues. I’m sure they will as the entire pre season would of been based around McCartin playing.

Our ball movement is significantly better, more creative by hand, handballing where the players should move to instead of where they are. This was a big issue last season as a player would receive the handball and have no movement and were forced to kick off a step or just get tackled. We are certainly more safe but also effective by foot as well. I think all players are working harder than previous to provide options in space or on leads. We butchered it last year and it just hasn’t happened so far.

Our tackling is off the chart I’m my opinion. Not going to back this up with stats, statistically it may be false but to the eye we are fierce. These repeated strong tackles must be demoralising for the opposition. Opposition seem to handball it around and we beat them all up taking them to ground until we outnumber through a work rate that excites. And this is where we must congratulate Richo and the other coaches

Last year I remember posting how If we booted Richo and got Ratten it couldn’t be worse. Now we have both and although Ratten and Laide have added something Richo has to get credit. And good on him. He wants us to succeed more than any of us so it’s time for all to jump on board. Me too I started a thread that he had lost the players last year. I still believe that happened to a point but his personal connections proved strong enough.

Anyway, I’ve been on this site for about 10 years and have never bothered writing so much so I must be excited. I hope we continue to improve as I believe our improvement can continue a long way due to our age profile.

[thejiggingsaint]

Like your good self, I'm impressed with the defence. Firstly in their refusal to panic (SUCH an improvement) and be pressured into poor decision-making. The manner in which they collectively stifled Melbourne's forward line, and then created the counter-attacks had me in raptures!

[Goose is king]

[quote=thejiggingsaint post_id=1786536 time=1555845027 user_id=1523]
Like your good self, I'm impressed with the defence. Firstly in their refusal to panic (SUCH an improvement) and be pressured into poor decision-making. The manner in which they collectively stifled Melbourne's forward line, and then created the counter-attacks had me in raptures!
[/quote]

And the great thing has been we totally stoped both Essendon and Melbourne who can pile on goals if not stopped. Even better is how well we seemed to play the G. Gresham has always been Mr MCG and Billings has been good there too. Maybe it was because of Melbourne’s poor work ethic, our strong work ethic or both but we played the opposition and the ground to perfection.

Our improvement seems sustainable and that’s why I’m excited.

I forgot to mention Steele before. Beast of a player with huge upside and with Gresham and Billings will be elite by seasons end

[SaintPav]

Great post Goose.

You’re still having problems quoting properly though.

[Goose is king]

Still haven’t figured it out after ten years

[Dis Believer]

Great post, and like most of us, I think the wider football community has been waiting for a bigger sample size to confirm the re-emergence of the mighty Saints. The improvement in our defence is remarkable, but the other notable aspect of the overall improvement is the sharing of the workload in the midfield, and that is on the back of improvement from Sinclair, Billings, Gresham, Acres, and to a degree even Ross. I think Marshall's role in all this should not be undersold either. We also now have a functioning ruckman, so he is competing in the air, having an influence around the ground, and based on the output from Longer last year, is like having an extra player on the ground after the centre bounce.....

[The Fireman]

my take....new coaching staff...new performance

[The Craw]

One certain assistant coach gone .... happier team, better performance.

[saynta]

The most unfair aspect of all our wins so far this year is how the scum press have focused , not on the Saints, but on how poor the other side, our opposition, has played.

The only exception was the suns game, There, the press almost unanimously stated that the suns were very unlucky to lose.

[SaintPav]

The most unfair aspect of all our wins so far this year is how the scum press have focused , not on the Saints, but on how poor the other side, our opposition, has played.

The only exception was the suns game, There, the press almost unanimously stated that the suns were very unlucky to lose.

Well the opposite to this is hype and we all know how that has turned out for us over the tears. All the better if we are underestimated. Should work in our favour.

[Cairnsman]

Great post Goose. It's been a great start.

The coaches for the teams we play from round 6 to 9 will have called special meetings with thier surveillance and strategy department's recently I am sure and would have asked how much resource they spent on our club over the summer, I'm tipping the response was "not much".

Those very strategists will be scrambling now.

Expect things to get tougher though.

We are well back on track and I predict in 2 to 3 years we will be a consistent top 4 side.

If we are mightily lucky we could snatch one ahead of scheduled development, ala Doggies.

In the mean time we should expect to enjoy some good footy played by this list, and also...

For the True Believers: THE PLAYERS ARE STICKING IT UP EM!

[SemperFidelis]

Great post Goose.

Something that has always irritated me is that for a few years now our list has had great depth.

We haven’t had the fancy top end talent but I’d back our second and even third 10 over most in the league - one goes out, another of equal, decent calibre comes in.

The scribes have been banging on about our lack of “elite” talent but what I am just loving is our so called B-Grade talent lifting it up a few notches.

North have imported that so called elite talent and they have bugger all idea how to play as a team.

Whatever happened in the off season to fix it, we now have it in home-grown spades.

Go Saints.

[SemperFidelis]

The most unfair aspect of all our wins so far this year is how the scum press have focused , not on the Saints, but on how poor the other side, our opposition, has played.

The only exception was the suns game, There, the press almost unanimously stated that the suns were very unlucky to lose.

Michael Gleeson has an excellent piece on us in the Age today. These are my favourite bits:

“It is true and utterly unfair that a second narrative of St Kilda’s surprising resurrection this season – amusingly sealed by vanquishing Demons and arriving atop the ladder on Easter Sunday – is that the story to emerge out of each victory is not about them, but how bad the opposition must have been.

Reluctantly, because St Kilda deserve the credit, that is partly true again this week. The difference here is that Melbourne are not criticised for being beaten by what we had assumed to be a poor team, but for playing like the poor team when we assumed them to be better.”

https://www.theage.com.au/sport/afl/fou ... 51fz7.html

[saynta]

Yeah, well, Gleeson is right.Spot on actually. The press have been piss poor on reporting our games.

[tedtheodorelogan2018]

He highlighted when Finnis came into the rooms after a JLT game and the team sang the song.

Like others, I thought it was hugely positive to do this as a club and those that were against it misinterpreted the entire meaning of why it was significant.

The Saints created character and mateship after that game. Now its showing up right in our faces like a pair of large half cooked onions or kranskys.

[Scollop]

Inappropriate teddie. Please edit your post
There are women and girls who might visit the forum.

[Vazelos]

Well constructed analysis the improvement of a good chunk players in that age demographic was always going to happen but its obvious some of these boys and I read this also said" Enough is enough we have to make this happen I am sick of losing."
We now run much deeper in mid field and we have a quality Ruckman that can hurt teams around the ground.
Wilkie has been a revelation, the 4 mature aged recruits have placed enormous pressure on first 22 spots which has raised the standard.
You play a poor game or two your in trouble.
Look at Ben Paton, he has seamlessly gone onto that team & performed strongly.
No doubt the tactics are much better we now dont lose games due to poor structures & tactics we have a strong brand of football that the players have bought into & are confident of following.

[SaintPav]

If we gain more confidence, I think we can get better too particularly our transition and finishing.

[Premium89]

What a difference a couple of wins makes! Let’s just hope they keep coming, and the sunshine and rainbows continue!

[Goose is king]

Now I know Melbourne are having a bigger crack at Richmond than they did against us but Richmond mustn’t of seen how we moved the ball forward using the switch because they begin the switch but then are going long up the middle and ignoring their free wingmen. I’m not sure why But I want Richmond to smash the Dees in the second half

[thejiggingsaint]

I know it may be just a tiny detail, but watching the replay of the Hawthorn game, I was struck by the reaction of the players at the final sireen. The joy and enthusiasm of the boys in congratulating each other on a hard fought win was something to behold (IMHO) and certainly gave me the impression of a side that have become good team mates and are prepared to battle for EACH OTHER. Shane Savage had a grin from ear-to-ear and was hugging his teammates as if it was a GF! As I say, it may only be a tiny detail....but it illustrates just how things can be changed up for the better, with just a wee bit of confidence and self-belief.

[The Craw]

I know it may be just a tiny detail, but watching the replay of the Hawthorn game, I was struck by the reaction of the players at the final sireen. The joy and enthusiasm of the boys in congratulating each other on a hard fought win was something to behold (IMHO) and certainly gave me the impression of a side that have become good team mates and are prepared to battle for EACH OTHER. Shane Savage had a grin from ear-to-ear and was hugging his teammates as if it was a GF! As I say, it may only be a tiny detail....but it illustrates just how things can be changed up for the better, with just a wee bit of confidence and self-belief.

Billy Slaters influence. Not a minor detail at all. I like it ...... it is infectious, creates hunger for that feeling over and over again.

[cwrcyn]

Better organised, with Ratten and Lade responsible for the massive improvement. The other factor is Battle, Paton, Wilkie, Long, Parker, and Kent being introduced or becoming regulars, and the move of Billings and Gresham into the middle. Acres is the X factor. When he's on, he can bludgeon the opposition. If he can continue his good form he will be one of our most important players. Hats off the Brown, too. He's been outstanding

[saynta]

Better organised, with Ratten and Lade responsible for the massive improvement. The other factor is Battle, Paton, Wilkie, Long, Parker, and Kent being introduced or becoming regulars, and the move of Billings and Gresham into the middle. Acres is the X factor. When he's on, he can bludgeon the opposition. If he can continue his good form he will be one of our most important players. Hats off the Brown, too. He's been outstanding

Billings, Gresham, Marshall, Steele.Ross, Lonie and Sinclair haven't been too bad either. Savage is now a gun.

[stkfc1]

I think the best thing so far is obviously Ratten and Co have come up with a plan what our our boys can actually execute instead of a plan that the players had to try to manufacture.
Everyone is on the same page and enjoying it as it's playing to their strengths not their weaknesses. Also the group has seen what can happen if they all tip in and the pressure is now relentless. It has become a snowball effect with our confidence as week by week, they see for themselves that the system works amd they're getting good at executing it. That winning feeling is becoming infectious!!
We'll drop off here and there but if we maintain the rage we'll be in most games each week and we'll win more than loose. Also the fitness base has given the boys the confidence to run out games. I think it was Steele who said the other week, it gave the boys a massive boost when they looked around at the other team, who were already gassed towards the end of quarters and they were still full of steam. Last year it was the other way around ,as we always got scored against heavily in red time. Hasn't happened this year.