Aftermatch thread

[mad saint guy]

We played absolutely brilliant footy in the first 15 minutes, but after that we struggled to move the ball quickly and wasted numerous chances in front of goal. The best thing about the game was that we held on under pressure.

Gram - A bit disappoiting. His defensive game was better than usual, but offered nothing on the rebound. Sydney shut him down well. 4/10

King - Solid. Jolly had the edge on him in the ruck but he held his ground and played a fair game. 5.5/10

X.Clarke - Throws himself around like a rag doll. I thought his season was over a few times tonight, but he lasted the game and played fairly well. 6.5/10

L.Fisher - Excellent taging game on Goodes. Completely shut down a dual brownlow medallist. 8/10

Hayes - Didn't get a huge amount of the footy but his tackling and stoppage work was brilliant. 7.5/10

Hudghton - Killed the moron. Very good game defensively and he even offered a bit on the rebound. 8/10

Montagna - Started brilliantly, but was in and out of the game after that. Made a good contribution but wasn't dominant. 7/10

Riewoldt - Was as good as you could possibly expect from a CHF in that kind of game. Leading and marking was great and he used the footy well. 9/10

Schneider - Poor game overall. Did a couple of nice things, but he did his absolute best to win it for Sydney in the last quarter. Didn't have the confidence he showed in the NAB Cup. 4/10

Ball - Hardly got the footy but his tackling was great as usual. No big impact but made a contribution. 5.5/10

M.Gardiner - He really impressed me with his intensity and effort. He knows where to run and he's getting more confident in every game. Almost pulled down an absolute screamer at one stage. 6/10

R.Clarke - More of the same. Did some very good things and some stupid things. Seems to be permanently rusty. 5.5/10

Fiora - His effort was very good and he did a reasonable job with limited game time, but didn't make it hard to drop him next week. 5/10

Gilbert - Had a solid game, but doesn't seem to have the condifence or flare that made him so good last year. Didn't see any of his trademark tackles and he isn't taking players on. 6/10

Koschitzke - Should have kicked at least 4 goals. Kosi seems to have beaten the injury curse, but now he has to beat his kicking yips and umpires' hatred of him.

S.Fisher - Good game. Was very good coming out of defence and didn't let his opponent hurt us. 8/10

Dal Santo - When he got near the ball he was brilliant, but wasn't in the play enough. Still one of our best. 7.5/10

C.Gardiner - Was reasonable late in the game, but generally he struggled to get the footy and used it poorly when he did. Deserves another chance on the back of his great pre season. 4.5/10

Harvey - Good game. Got 19 touches, used the footy well and had one great smother that probably saved us a goal. 7/10

Jones - Showed great courage in that collision, but didn't do much else. No real impact on the game. His skills do seem to have improved though. 4.5/10

Geary - Wasn't as confident as in the NAB Cup, but that was still a very good debut. Would like to see him move up the ground in future games. 6.5/10

Milne - Played a pretty good game that could have been great if he kicked straight. He worked hard to get the footy inside 50 but just couldn't finish it off. 6.5/10

[jonesy]

Get f***ed 'jonesy'

We won.

A s*** match, but hey.

Saints 4
Sydney 0


there the types of games you have to win.

Pull your head in

Saints

1 win
0 losses

My point is,don't tell me too "get f#cked" !!! Or don't bother posting

[stinger]

winners are grinners........losers can please themselves....


or.....how about.....


a win is a win is a win....losers...read whingers..... can f*** off......

[terry smith rules]

go back through the last 6 years it was a typical saints v swans game,

roos shut it down beautifully, you could start to see it happen with 5 minutes left in first quarter

then it bacame the usual slug fest. both sides know how to shut it down and give nothing

terrible game, take the four points beat the blues be 2 and 0

go from there

impossible to pick either good or bad players

but if I could just mention one

l.ball ... stats might not be great but courageous and under packs, he is a leader

fqf

[stinger]

Hudghton - Killed the moron. Very good game defensively and he even offered a bit on the rebound. 8/10

love that comment...but then i love maxie...hate ...absolutely hate boofhead......

[stinger]

impossible to pick either good or bad players

but if I could just mention one

l.ball ... stats might not be great but courageous and under packs, he is a leader

fqf

i can tell you who the good players were......


roo, dal, maxie, geary and banger......

[terry smith rules]

impossible to pick either good or bad players

but if I could just mention one

l.ball ... stats might not be great but courageous and under packs, he is a leader

fqf

i can tell you who the good players were......


roo, dal, maxie, geary and banger......

i meant it was all fairly even

even nick did not get a touch for ost of the second quarter

[LaUrEnCe]

You just knew even after the first 20 mins..Sydney would eventually come back..
think we could've/should've done more in that period but credit to swans they always stick around
Jolly did pretty well in ruck, thought we'd smash em in that area (never thought i'd ever say something like that!) but gee for this season those two (King and Gardiner) are gonna be so good for us
3rd quarter was so damn confusing, wtf.. so much clangers
the Clinton Jones effort was definitely the feel good moment of the game by far, and then Schneider kicking the goal to cap it off..huge moment in the game too

Schneider was pretty dire at the end, missed shot at goal that should've been slotted to seal the game and then getting run down by Hall, think nerves of playing first (official) game for Saints? and that playing against his former team too
the interview after the game was interesting, kept praising the swans lol heh
that said he did kick that goal and set up another one (cant remember if that resulted in a goal), he's going to be huge for us, bigggg fan of him, type of player that can do bugger all for majority but then sneak in 2 crucial goals

just out of interest where would you guys rate us as a tackling team.. with Geelong and Pies i recn at the top of the tree in that aspect

[F_Q_F]

Was there a reason that most of the goals were kicked at one end?
Havn't seen the game yet so I don't know if the roof was closed or open or if it was just poor kicking.

[matrix]

3rd quarter was so damn confusing, wtf.. so much clangers

how frustrating was that!!

just out of interest where would you guys rate us as a tackling team.. with Geelong and Pies i recn at the top of the tree in that aspect

def top two behind the cats..even equal with them...tackling was great in the first half

[midas_touch]

Besides the first 15-20 mins, it was a very ugly game with a good number of skill errors carried out by both sides. It was perhaps the worst victory I've been to, but four points is four points nonetheless. Bring on Carltank next week.

[LaUrEnCe]

3rd quarter was so damn confusing, wtf.. so much clangers

how frustrating was that!!

yerr was happy when they did one..then we did one.. then they did one... then we'd do one again.. deadset!

a similar game was played i think a few years ago in sydney where we won by a point.. (Roos pack mark in the dieing seconds) was also full of clangers.... but it was raining and wet! one feels we'll never see an un-scrappy game with these two coaches playing one another lol

[matrix]

i agree..i think most teams that are gonna play sydney are going to end up playing the same game we did too.
its just the way sydney play and u end up with just flooding, turning over and having an over all scrapy stop start game.
we won, they didnt...in my mind their game plan didnt work. ours prob didnt either, but a wins a win so maybe it really did

[LaUrEnCe]

we also flooded heaps too i thought

[matrix]

yes we did...but as long thats only the game plan against sydney then i can live with that..
i think we have the team to go with anyone this year without the need to flood everytime its turned over in our forward 50

[Saint Bev]

Max was awesome tonight, surely one of our best.

[devil saint]

Max and Sam Fisher were our best players tonight. Bally was sad. Enough said on that matter.

Our first 15-20 mins was great tonight and I though to myself - 'How much are we going to win by?' Unfortuately we hardly scored thereafter and I refuse to lay the blame solely at the feet of Roos. Our coach flooded just as much and perhaps even insigated this type of play. Don't you remember last year? This type of play doesn't work for the saints. We were lucky to win tonight (having said that, we would have been unlucky to lose - it was just one of those games - a stalemate). I'm happy we won but with the team we have I expect 4 or 5 goals a quarter. Take some risks. There aren't many teams with a backline to cover Riewoldt and Kosi and our ruck and midfield got 12 of the first 14 clearances. Play attacking football all the time. Don't worry if the opposition flood. I'd back Roo and Kosi to take the contested grab any day. Just get in there!

[bigcarl]

It was also clear that we missed Fraser a great deal, and that Kosi looks like a fantastic forward up to the point where he has to kick for goal. I still reckon he's a great ruckman, but am unconvinced about him as a forward.

he and riewoldt were the only two multiple goal-kickers in the entire game and i'm convinced we're on the right track by playing him forward.

no doubt we missed fraser and perhaps should have played allen in his place when G withdrew to maintain our tall forward structure.

[bigcarl]

then it bacame the usual slug fest. both sides know how to shut it down and give nothing

so the swans decide to shut it down. my question is why do we have to follow suit?

roos must be a true footballing genius to force us to change our game to counter his defensive and negative style.

it is only round 1 but already i've had a gutful of us being forced on to the back foot by inferior oppositions.

we should be setting the agenda. not responding to it ... trying to win a game of football rather than stopping the other team winning it.

[avid]

Watched it live and now on taped replay. There are quite a few players who looked good on telly but not live.

And vice versa -- Harvey seemed to infuse the team with purpose on the night, but then he just didn't seem to be in the play much on the TV.

Geary, on the other hand, got great TV coverage, but really was hesitant and weak-kicking all night when seen from the stands (He'll be great, though, with a smidge more confidence. Still a terrific debut game.)

Raph is a terrible worry. Just cannot kick or handball with any urgency. His soft, ballooning passes put teammates under the hammer almost every time. Rievoldt almost broke his back stretching for one Raph pass floating languidly over his head which should have been a tight snap to the chest. Surely we have coaches to teach him how to handball, and to kick flat. It's infuriating + frustrating -- I love him, but I wish he was doing better by now.

I love Jones' attack on the ball and endeavour everywhere. (And what a great mark!!!!) But his disposal is deplorable. So poor that he appears to actively avoid any disposal of the ball at all.

But there were heaps of players tonight who did some things well. If we can bring them all together, like we did in the 1st qtr, we are looking good.
Still very excited, despite tonight's slightly numbing last 3 quarters.

[Otiman]

I thought tonight was one of Milne's best games up field. He was the equivalent of Schneider.

[Megamaguire]

Make it another 4 Pts. !

Percentage... Percentage .... Percentage.

G O SAINTS!
Kosi up on Roos on the scoreboard and ready to take his marking to the bank.

G O K O S I !

G O S A I N T S !

[clobba]

winners are grinners........losers can please themselves....


or.....how about.....


a win is a win is a win....losers...read whingers..... can f*** off......

hmmmn now to try and come up with an equally trite aphorism in reply

Ahhh "S**t served up as roastbeef is still s**t"

[dcstkfc]

We wouldn't want to play like that again, but you can't read too much into a game v Sydney. The game styles produce ridiculous games like that, but we should be proud at least that we beat them at their own game.

We couldn't have actually done that much more tactically, the skills just need to be better.

Still, 4 points and another close win are always welcome.