The F word

[Toy Saint]

Going into this season my expectation was probably bottom 4, but with the hope we might win 6 or 7 games and finish around 10th.

After round 7 we find ourselves in the top 8, but my intuition tells me that we'll probably continue to slide down the ladder as expected.

However, history tells us that the top 8 doesn't generally change that much after about this time. Mind you, this year feels different. In addition to St Kilda, Brisbane, Fremantle and Port Adelaide are also in the top 8 at this time. Personally, I never expected any of these to play finals, and all are quite vulnerable.

But if we look outside the top 8 and ask which teams are likely to come in, I can only see West Coast , maybe Richmond, or possibly the Dogs.

Pre-season a lot were tipping Essendon, Sydney, Melbourne and possibly Hawthorn to play finals. These are beginning to look unlikely.

So it begs the question, which teams will drop out, and who will come in. And more importantly, is it actually possible for St Kilda to play finals this year?

With a bit of luck we'll get some of our injured players back after the bye, and with a bit more luck we might even see some natural improvement in our guys.

Tonight's game against West Coast will be interesting, the bookies are quoting us at $2.30 to win, sadly I'm more hopeful than confident, but if we do manage to get up, our chances of a finals berth will look that little bit more possible.

[samuraisaint]

Going into this season my expectation was probably bottom 4, but with the hope we might win 6 or 7 games and finish around 10th.

After round 7 we find ourselves in the top 8, but my intuition tells me that we'll probably continue to slide down the ladder as expected.

However, history tells us that the top 8 doesn't generally change that much after about this time. Mind you, this year feels different. In addition to St Kilda, Brisbane, Fremantle and Port Adelaide are also in the top 8 at this time. Personally, I never expected any of these to play finals, and all are quite vulnerable.

But if we look outside the top 8 and ask which teams are likely to come in, I can only see West Coast , maybe Richmond, or possibly the Dogs.

Pre-season a lot were tipping Essendon, Sydney, Melbourne and possibly Hawthorn to play finals. These are beginning to look unlikely.

So it begs the question, which teams will drop out, and who will come in. And more importantly, is it actually possible for St Kilda to play finals this year?

With a bit of luck we'll get some of our injured players back after the bye, and with a bit more luck we might even see some natural improvement in our guys.

Tonight's game against West Coast will be interesting, the bookies are quoting us at $2.30 to win, sadly I'm more hopeful than confident, but if we do manage to get up, our chances of a finals berth will look that little bit more possible.

If we win today as we might, and we win in two weeks when we play Carlton as we should, we will have won six matches out of ten and we will be in this season up to our necks. Lose today as most neutrals expect, and still win in two weeks against Carlton at home as we would be reasonably expected to do, and it becomes five wins out of ten and a development year with nine wins the likely outcome.

I think the Eagles have gone tall today because they see that we kick slow high bombs into our forward line which are very intercept when we only have one player over 190cms in our forward line. If we lower our eyes when delivering the ball into the forward 50 we will win today. If we don't, then we won't.

History tells us that since the inception of the Top Eight Finals System there is very little change in the makeup of the Top Eight after Round 8. That makes today's match significant. The Eagles' form looks like they have a premiership hangover and on the road they are vulnerable.

Win and we stay in the eight.

[SaintPav]

We can't afford to lose 3 in a row and expect to make the 8.

This is a must win game.

[Yorkeys]

If Kent can keep Hurn quiet and similarly Bruce on McGovern then we are a chance. If both those guys go chasing kicks the two Eagles will dominate with their ability to read the play. For all the believers and non believers this is a significant test for Alan's coaching skills. Home ground, we are in the 8 but WCE will be desperate to take our spot. If we capitulate it will be no good at all. Ironically Cripps plays his 150th. Hopefully it will be one he will want to forget.

[spert]

Quite a few players need to lift for this game- we had too many go missing in parts of the last two games. If we don't start beating the more highly fancied teams, then we're not making that much progress, but 4 games up our sleeve is good at this stage and it would be bad to drop another game in this position.

[asiu]

yep

need to win this one

the dons copping a loss
(which was surprisingly enjoyable to watch)
helps the bigger picture

just gotta do our bit

c’mon Sainters

[Cairnsman]

Going into this season my expectation was probably bottom 4, but with the hope we might win 6 or 7 games and finish around 10th.

After round 7 we find ourselves in the top 8, but my intuition tells me that we'll probably continue to slide down the ladder as expected.

However, history tells us that the top 8 doesn't generally change that much after about this time. Mind you, this year feels different. In addition to St Kilda, Brisbane, Fremantle and Port Adelaide are also in the top 8 at this time. Personally, I never expected any of these to play finals, and all are quite vulnerable.

But if we look outside the top 8 and ask which teams are likely to come in, I can only see West Coast , maybe Richmond, or possibly the Dogs.

Pre-season a lot were tipping Essendon, Sydney, Melbourne and possibly Hawthorn to play finals. These are beginning to look unlikely.

So it begs the question, which teams will drop out, and who will come in. And more importantly, is it actually possible for St Kilda to play finals this year?

With a bit of luck we'll get some of our injured players back after the bye, and with a bit more luck we might even see some natural improvement in our guys.

Tonight's game against West Coast will be interesting, the bookies are quoting us at $2.30 to win, sadly I'm more hopeful than confident, but if we do manage to get up, our chances of a finals berth will look that little bit more possible.

Fremantle will make the Grand Final

How many wins will get you 8th spot in 2019 is the first part of the equation.

We probably won't win tonight but what we do need to win tonight is respect for playing "never give up footy".

If we lose that then belief is the issue in the back half of the season even if we start to get most of our best 22 playing in the run home.

And to all the pelican coach haters and scared kittens that jump at shadows, FFS selection meetings become damn challenging when you are injury ravaged.

[Jacks Back]

I think the Eagles have gone tall today because they see that we kick slow high bombs into our forward line which are very intercept when we only have one player over 190cms in our forward line. If we lower our eyes when delivering the ball into the forward 50 we will win today. If we don't, then we won't.

This. We can win this if we lower the eyes otherwise, if we want to bomb long, then we should have a taller forward line with a 3rd tall there that can actually touch the ball (unlike Marsh last week). Maybe Joyce could have stayed along with Brown and Wilkie in the back line and we played Battle forward.

But with the team we have we'll have to play the way we did when we won our games. Switching, loose players and passes into the forward line.

[remboy]

We've won 4, need to win another 8 to play finals. Our draw isn't too bad. Hey Carlisle and Geary back, and with luck Hanners and Steven, we could get some serious momentum going.
Never say never. I reckon we've got more chance than Liverpool and Spurs had of making the champions league final.

[twirlyhair]

Yes big game today. The biggest for our club in a couple of seasons. Must get good games out of most senior players today. We are playing the premier s though who will hit back at some time. Possibly today so perspective is needed. They have mature and seasoned players, but we are a legitimate chance if we are on.

[Cairnsman]

Yes big game today. The biggest for our club in a couple of seasons. Must get good games out of most senior players today. We are playing the premier s though who will hit back at some time. Possibly today so perspective is needed. They have mature and seasoned players, but we are a legitimate chance if we are on.

We play well against the WCE at home.

I'm expecting a good game from Ed Phillips.

[tedtheodorelogan2018]

Massive chance today. We need to bounce back. I am expecting us to be hard and strong at the contest in all quarters. Marvel needs to make some noise.

[Annoyedsaint]

The F word:
Fa fa fa fa fa failure?
F off Richo?
Frustration?
Fourth from bottom at seasons end?

Talk about rose coloured glasses.
The same duds and coach isn’t miraculously turning into finals. Get a grip.