Not exactly D day for the Saints

[damienc]

I guess the usual suspects - the naysayers who rarely have anything good to say about the St Kilda football club yet call themselves supporters on this forum- will be lining up to take potshots after we struggled to see off the Dees.

But they are wrong yet again. This was a tough game of football. The Dees came fired up. A lot of buckets of excrement had been dropped during the week about the Demons and their lack of desire. Paul Roos called them soft. I wished he hadn't.

No surprise they would come at us with everything they had. And that's exactly what happend. From the first bounce. Nothing was going to be easy for the Saints. And it wasn't. We got cleaned up at the clearances and were outdone in the contested possessions. Yet we still managed to conjure a win. And that is a good thing. A very good thing.

Our metal was tested and we came through with the four points. On that form Melbourne would have challenged even the very best AFL team. They showed character, spirit and endeavour. They also showed that James Magner clearly deserved a chance to play AFL footy. Twenty possessions and 13 tackles would indicate he's got what it takes. Pity he never got the chance to show us in a St Kilda jumper.

But in the end it was the Saints who held their composure and came away with the win. And it was convincing enough in my view.

I would hate to have seen us win by a country mile because that would not have been a test. These tight games are what this side needs to make us strong. It's a pity we couldn't replicate what we did today in last week's match against Fremantle and in the first game of the year against Port Adelaide. We would have been 4-0.

The game's we have dropped so far could just as easily have been wins so again I say we shouldn't be ready to write this team off. Wilkes was fantastic up forward. An unfortunate mix up saw him subbed off but Polo was a magnificent replacement.

We had a few blokes who were a bit down on form like Goddard but it was good to see Armitage and Montagna show improvement. Stanley took some nice grabs and McEvoy is a work in progress. Of course how good was it to see Milney kick his 500 th goal.

It's far too easy to dismiss this performance and say we struggled against weak opposition. Up until now Melbourne has been weak. But not today. They came out fighting and they made life tough. But the Saints need tough games if they are going to be serious contenders in 2012. Today they showed they are tough enough to win a tight contest.

That's good enough for me.

[dcstkfc]

I would hate to have seen us win by a country mile because that would not have been a test.

You lost me big-time here

[BigMart]

A huge dees supporter told me the other day, that this is the worse team he has seen since Balme/Hutchinson day, much worse than Bailey.... And we should beat them by 15 with Frawley out

Well that's as bad (till 3qtr time) I have seen stk since 2001. It was embarrassing.

That's my take.

[battye]

But they are wrong yet again. This was a tough game of football. The Dees came fired up. A lot of buckets of excrement had been dropped during the week about the Demons and their lack of desire. Paul Roos called them soft. I wished he hadn't.

Stuff like this... it's said all the time here. "Port are much improved this year, like WCE of 2011", "The Dees were fired up!". Nope, they are just excuses. They are mediocre teams that we have struggled against and we don't like to admit it, so we try and find reasons for performing so poorly. The problem doesn't rest with the other team, it rests with us.

The next month will be telling. We've got 4 genuinely tough games, not Mickey Mouse encounters against rubbish teams who are "fired up". If we can escape the next month with 2 or 3 wins I'll start believing that we are up for one last fight this year. Based on the footy we've played in the first five rounds I'm not overly optimistic.

[bergholt]

They also showed that James Magner clearly deserved a chance to play AFL footy. Twenty possessions and 13 tackles would indicate he's got what it takes. Pity he never got the chance to show us in a St Kilda jumper.

i don't reckon he was particularly damaging tonight, though you obviously disagree.

it wasn't a great performance from us and so we beat a poor side by not that much. we won't win any of the next four if we keep playing like that.

[bobmurray]

It's obvious we are a long way off a flag when we struggle against the chumps.....

However, a win is better than a loss..

Let's see what's on the menu against the Hawks....

[joffaboy]

Let's see what's on the menu against the Hawks....

We will in all probability lose.

Nowhere near a top four team. But we need to show the same type of fight and resolve a clearly inferior Melbourne put up last night.

We need to stop butchering the bloody ball though. that would be a nice start

[mullet]

Just watching the replay, and wow it was a tough game. Conditions really brought Melbourne into it, but they played it hard.

They had the momentum going into the last quarter and we kept them scoreless. We did well.

I hope it peeesss down today for the Hawthorn swans game to even it up for next week

[Legendary]

I believe Melbourne laid the 2nd most tackles EVER in a home and away game since statistics began.

That tells you something about their pressure and effort.

If they bring that intensity every week, they will win more than they lose. They were good last night.

[matrix]

worst st kilda since 2001??

did you see the conditions?

about 30 blokes fumbled a wet slippery ball about a million times last night, from both sides.
even the silky players had trouble with it

shesh
tough call

[Legendary]

102 tackles for Melbourne ... that's GF-type pressure.

Must give them some credit, they were far better last night than they have been all year.

[Old Mate]

I reckon we're about a 6 goal better team than the Demons and the wet brought it back a bit. The problem is teams like Carlton, WC and Hawthorn are 12 goal better teams than them.