I seriously think we can topple the dogs!!!!!

[stonecold]

They are ripe for the pickin and I think we can win!!!!!

[stonecold]

Pick a margin, Saints by 5pts is mine!!!!!

[satchmo]

Saints by a lucky 13

[lintonstreet]

17 pts.

Hope is a good thing, maybe the best of things!

[Milne]

Think we will lose but I hope we give them a real fight.

[BackFromUSA]

Saints by 22. Go the Gresh.

[carn_sainter]

There would be no more sure sign of improvement than beating the dogs this week...they completely smashed us last time.

Just completely smashed us...we were outcoached and outplayed in every possible facet of the game. At our best our ball movement is fast and precise...in round 2 this year it was woefully stagnant and we couldn't get hands on the ball.

Massive test. A win this week would be greater cause for optimism and excitement than the cats win was.

Go saints!

[Hemi Baxter]

Dogs easily.

[Toy Saint]

I'm equal 1st in my tipping competition....Saints or Dogs?.....

[White Winmar]

Saints by 11. It's now or never. BTW, we should be on free to air, not the hillbillies versus the weird, sex crime and murder capital of Australia. I know they're higher on the ladder, but I reckon ours looms as a clash of "generation next".

[SaintPav]

I have no doubt we can pull one out of the hat. My doubt is if we can follow it up next week.

We may have to wait until next year for the consistency we expect.

[Jacks Back]

You guys (and girls - is that appropriate?) are funny. Every time we have a good game the week before this place goes nuts and there are so many threads saying we will win the next game (this time against the doggies) and then if we have a really poor game it's just all doom and gloom around here.

And yet the opposite always seems to happen.

This week's barometer is telling me that most people think we will win. Therefore we will lose. I obviously hope we win but that seems to be what happens imho - the opposite of what the majority think.

[Bruce G McAbee]

The one thing we have going for us is that they played up in Cairns last week and more than often teams that play up north have a hard time backing up the following week as the heat and humidity can take a bit out of them.
Can we win tomorrow night, yes, will we win, well we've just won another 2 games in row, our third game tends to be the downer, though we aren't interstate this time.
Just want a competitive effort, we have exceeded my expectations for this season already, anything else is a bonus.

[Impatient Sainter]

I think you are right - its the most confident Ive felt about our chances of knocking over a top 8 side all year. Our game against Melbourne was inches away from giving them a complete smashing. Stringer is a big loss he is their go to man and barometre so that helps. I also think the outside chance of playing finals has the club excited which is nice to see.

Armitage is due for a big one, as is Bruce - so if we can contain their attacking run from defence we win !

[6621104]

If we can neutralise Bontompelli, the closest to a Simon Black clone I have seen, then we have a chance. Keep it out of his hands and the outside run will be easier to counter!
Saints for me!

[samuraisaint]

I think we can too, although it is definitely 60/40 their way for mine. Their injuries upsets their team balance a bit, so this lets us in just slightly. I was surprised to read that they have won 4 out of the last 5 against us however.

[samuraisaint]

I have no doubt we can pull one out of the hat. My doubt is if we can follow it up next week.

We may have to wait until next year for the consistency we expect.

Agreed. Good post. We seem to play our matches in cycles this season.
Game 1 - Win comfortably (last week).
Game 2 - Play well against good opposition, in it up to our necks but just lose due to bad luck (this week).
Game 3 - Get a hiding in a game where we never looked like it from the first bounce (next week).

Although, oddly enough, we have won 50% of our matches this year, so obviously we are not losing 2/3 games - and this is why I think we are a slight chance this week.

North are always a tough side to beat. Carlisle would've been very handy against them because they play a very tall forward line.
I think we will be able to beat sides like North and Richmond next year with an improved back line, but not this year. We are just too undersized down back. No Goddard, no Carlisle and no Fisher means sides with big forwards are always going to trouble us until this is rectified.

[stevie]

Yep, i have a good feeling about this game.

On the subject of heat, if anyone has a bet then I think the Suns will beat Freo today. 2pm start and forecast is for 29C

[Bluthy]

Lack of tall backs for Boyd and Redpath worry me. Felt we dodged a bullet with Hogan copping a big fall and not kicking straight last week.

[desertsaint]

as the katana wielding one mentioned - from round 2 we have been unbelievably consistent. terrible game, followed by two good performances where we match the best teams and easily account for the rest. unfortunately we again meet the bullies at the bad game, our final bad game we meet the swans. the good news is our good games are all against beatable opponents, so we could be looking at four more wins. Likely to just miss finals by perecentage or a game. although we may lose a close game to richmond as well.
Of course maybe playing the dogs we can break the three game pattern, but unlikely.

[The Fireman]

The saints have two diff game plans...one is full on intensity the other is not. If they bring the former to the table we will win.

[spert]

If our midfield decide not to start playing until 20 mins into the first quarter then the dogs will win easily. If we hit the ground running from the first bounce, then we have a good chance, but we need to close down their rebound attack from half back, and Bruce needs to kick a few.

[The_President]

They are ripe for the pickin and I think we can win!!!!!

I heard a rumour that if we win we will
-Sign Hurley
-Sign Fyfe
-Brad Scott will coach Brisbane next season
- Bomber Thompson will coach North next season

[wasaintsfan]

id rather lose this game then next weeks. preference would be win both however everytime i think finals, i come back to the game against the gold coast. It shows mentally we are fragile. This talk of finals scares me and i hope they arent even considering it yet in the club as i feel if they are thinking it we wont be on this evening

although when we play our brand of football we can match and beat anyone which we have proven several times this year. Be off even 5% and we fall to pieces IE vs bulldogs earlier in year. every one says we were outcoached etc. Biggest issue was missing easy targets in crucial parts of the game and getting killed on the rebound. 4 times we turned over very easy possessions that should resulted in goals in our forward line for it to rebound for a goal at other end. this wasn't due to pressure(2v1 and turn it over by 5m handball???) but poor ball skills. Simple maths shows an 8 goal turn around IE Scores would've been STK 8.5 53 to WB 5.13 43.(yes i am aware what if they kicked straighter etc) Take those 4 plays out of the game and we were a shot by the last qtr with the score board and mental advantage


WCE GWS the crows Port Power are other key examples of being slightly off and get torn to pieces.

[The Fireman]

If we kick more goals than them it should get us over the line.