Who were our worst players today?

[SaintBot]

In: A.McQualter, C.Jones
Out: D.Armitage, R.Clarke

And with that should (touchwood) be our September side.

I dont think Clarke should be dropped.

He is in the side as a running defender and quite frankly even in previous weeks while he has been gathering his 15-16 odd possesions they really haven't been the line-breaking runs like we saw in that one final against Collingwood last year. If he isn't providing run then there really isn't much use for him, he is simply woeful as a defender.

Every center bounce he was causing chaos in the backline - almost as though he wanted to be a loose man, while there was not enough numbers to have the luxury of an extra man. At one stage he was pointing to the other defenders and having them all move around picking up different players while he stood in the clear leaving one man unoccupied. If this is a directive from the coach then blimey.

All that sounds a little dramatic I know but weak players (particularly defenders) get exposed by clever teams and in finals Raph would be one of those players teams try to play through.

[Bernard Shakey]

Flirting with form, by resting sore players, has come home to roost.

[Gurgman]

Fair go , you guys that have Raph in the gun are full of it , he was by no means our worst today , look at your love child Max , he was shocking , he still thinks he can chop arms and reminds me me of an older slower version of Tom Harley who is at the end of the road , yes its only one loss but you cant just say it didnt happen or it was the loss we neeeded , learn from it or it wont be our last lofor the year

[Moccha]

Flirting with form, by resting sore players, has come home to roost.

Are you joking?

ONE loss! Where would you prefer that loss - Finals or home and away?

[degruch]

Flirting with form, by resting sore players, has come home to roost.

Are you joking?

ONE loss! Where would you prefer that loss - Finals or home and away?

You do realise we could be exactly where Geelong were round 14...who says we only have to suffer one loss this season? I tend to agree with Bernardo, although to what extent you can aportion lame individual performances to this, or maybe an increased training load, is anyones guess really.

[saintsRrising]

Flirting with form, by resting sore players, has come home to roost.

That is your assumption...mine is that no-one was rested and instead they hada tapering training load and so preference was given to that.

IMO it is no co-incidence that the Bulldogs lost last week.


however i agree...players should not be rested..for rest alone.

However again I would guess hat they have been tapered and were jaded as a result.

[Beej]

That is your assumption...mine is that no-one was rested and instead they hada tapering training load and so preference was given to that.

Either the St Kilda 8 had legitimate injuries, or they were rested.

If you believe they were given a week off because of the additional work-load, they were rested.

If a player is right to play, but doesn't, for whatever reason, it's rest.

[borderbarry]

I must agree. They were restrf. They certainly did mot play in the VFL.

[DWOODROW]

Everyone reckons Armo should be out hey, Well I reckon Max should come out. Looked like a has been, Roo could not kick a goal when it counted, Gardiner didn't take a contested mark at the end of the game and kick a winning goal. Kosi should have had his head taken off put back on and showed he was tougher than that, Clarke shouldn't hand ball or try and pick up near the goals, fisher should play back pocket, dempster should work on his modelling career,milne should play soccer.shneider should kick more goals dawson should do less interviews with the media, Dal santo needs to get a right foot, Hayes needs to stop getting tagged and ball - well I've said enough.

It was one game this far into the season that we have lost, after 19 wins we have 1 loss. Isn't the game in September the one we are after. I agree David didn't play the best but it was his second game of the season and I didn't see many other midfielders or team members who shone today. I mean Saints didn't even come and play till the last QTR. They looked tired, slack,disinterested and none too worried when it was sailing over their heads through the goals. Wouldn't you blame the defenders for not staying with their man.
It was a disappointing team effort. Not an individual player FFS.

[jay young]

All the players that were rested last week were average, if Essendon had no injuries going into the last quarter we would of lost by 10 goals .

[spert]

Fisher in the forward line was one of RLs few flops this season- even though a couple of goals came from it. He needs to play down back and do what he is good at. It's not ideal to dump players from a winning team as we did after the Hawthorn match -totally unsettling and undeserved in a couple of cases. I think McEvoy is a better pick than King right now purely as he is more mobile and takes a good mark around the ground. Geary and Gwilt should be back in the team at the expense of Ball and Armo.
This was a mindset game and hopefully next week they will be all switched on.

[AnythingsPossibleSaints]

Who were our worst players today? I would say C.Jones and McQualter to return, and maybe Geary (who should not have been dropped in the first place). Who would you drop based on todays performance?

They were lining up to be considered our "worst". Armo, Dempster, Ball and maybe even Max would be looking over their shoulders this week and Zac, Gilbo, Bakes, Fisher, Raph and Blake all played possibly their worst games of the year. Which, on reflection, is basically our whole backline.
I hope CJ, Mini and Geary come back in this week and the one I wouldn't be picking, first of all, is Dempster, who I don't think has done enough this year to keep his spot. Ross seems to have a "man-crush" on him, though, so he may be in till the cows come home.

[Sobraz]

Hard to pick the worst players, but Dempster, Max and Gilbo stood out as having shockers imo...

Ball and Armo didnt do much, but Armo again showed his danger around goals and could develop this as a strong asset in his game...

Armo is ahead of Ball right now IMO....

Zac had a very poor game, but has had an outstanding season... As has Gilbo...

King is a statue... But has experience and will probably keep his place...

Raph was closer to being in our best, let alone in the group of our worst... Didnt have a heap of touches, but played a very hard, tough game and ran the lines well.... Is developing to have a terrific finals campaign again...

Changes IMO should be-

out: Max, King, Ball (or Demp)
in: CJ, Mini, BigMac

[QuestionOfAccuracy]

Fisher in the forward line was one of RLs few flops this season- even though a couple of goals came from it.

I think its a bit harsh to label that move as a flop because it was a good idea to try it now and it gives us another option for the finals if Fisher gets tagged (as he probably will against good sides). It was an experiment that was worth the risk.

[Arthur Mullard]

Max headroom!

[Moccha]

All the players that were rested last week were average, if Essendon had no injuries going into the last quarter we would of lost by 10 goals .

Your grammar needs correcting
"we would of" should be "we would have"

[DWOODROW]

Who were our worst players today? I would say C.Jones and McQualter to return, and maybe Geary (who should not have been dropped in the first place). Who would you drop based on todays performance?

They were lining up to be considered our "worst". Armo, Dempster, Ball and maybe even Max would be looking over their shoulders this week and Zac, Gilbo, Bakes, Fisher, Raph and Blake all played possibly their worst games of the year. Which, on reflection, is basically our whole backline.
I hope CJ, Mini and Geary come back in this week and the one I wouldn't be picking, first of all, is Dempster, who I don't think has done enough this year to keep his spot. Ross seems to have a "man-crush" on him, though, so he may be in till the cows come home.

When you say Armo was out worst I am guess you mean cause he didn't get much of the ball. Not the fact he did nothing with it when he got it like others.

[Bernard Shakey]

Who were our worst players today? I would say C.Jones and McQualter to return, and maybe Geary (who should not have been dropped in the first place). Who would you drop based on todays performance?

They were lining up to be considered our "worst". Armo, Dempster, Ball and maybe even Max would be looking over their shoulders this week and Zac, Gilbo, Bakes, Fisher, Raph and Blake all played possibly their worst games of the year. Which, on reflection, is basically our whole backline.
I hope CJ, Mini and Geary come back in this week and the one I wouldn't be picking, first of all, is Dempster, who I don't think has done enough this year to keep his spot. Ross seems to have a "man-crush" on him, though, so he may be in till the cows come home.

When you say Armo was out worst I am guess you mean cause he didn't get much of the ball. Not the fact he did nothing with it when he got it like others.

NIMROD are you Armo's soul mate?

[noob]

I think not just the playing group but ourselves we got over confident. All week people we were saying easy win, but maybe we got into cruise control and didnt take opposition with much respect.

[Bernard Shakey]

I think not just the playing group but ourselves we got over confident. All week people we were saying easy win, but maybe we got into cruise control and didnt take opposition with much respect.

Does that have an impact on the game?

[Moods]

Flirting with form, by resting sore players, has come home to roost.

What are you on about? Losing a meaningless Rd 20 H&A game when we're 3 games and 30% clear on top????

Most 'experts' are saying the 2 point loss is the best thing that could have happened to us in the context of the entire year.

The alternative? Play sore players until we run them into the ground, or evntually they are so sore that they can't play anywhere near their potential, or not at all?

Can you explain how resting sore players has 'come home to roost'

[Duggie]

Max worried me a bit...slow decision making

It's hard-- and we have had to say that many times past-- but Maxie is a potential liability at times. He seems to get trapped in the goal mouth too often. Gone are the clearing dashes and great spoils of the past.

[DWOODROW]

Who were our worst players today? I would say C.Jones and McQualter to return, and maybe Geary (who should not have been dropped in the first place). Who would you drop based on todays performance?

They were lining up to be considered our "worst". Armo, Dempster, Ball and maybe even Max would be looking over their shoulders this week and Zac, Gilbo, Bakes, Fisher, Raph and Blake all played possibly their worst games of the year. Which, on reflection, is basically our whole backline.
I hope CJ, Mini and Geary come back in this week and the one I wouldn't be picking, first of all, is Dempster, who I don't think has done enough this year to keep his spot. Ross seems to have a "man-crush" on him, though, so he may be in till the cows come home.

When you say Armo was out worst I am guess you mean cause he didn't get much of the ball. Not the fact he did nothing with it when he got it like others.

NIMROD are you Armo's soul mate?

I've been nice long enough to you. Why does it matter I am sticking up for him idiot. I don't see why he should be dropped for his second game of the year when the team as a whole did stuff all. Go back to you your vege patch and see if you can attempt to be a normal human being and how much impact do you have on a game old man.

[Bernard Shakey]

Sorry to offend you DWOOD, it was a little lighthearted humour.

I'm not calling for anyone to be dropped, let's allow Ross and the match committee do that.

[matrix]

In: A.McQualter, C.Jones
Out: D.Armitage, R.Clarke

And with that should (touchwood) be our September side.

I dont think Clarke should be dropped.

He is in the side as a running defender and quite frankly even in previous weeks while he has been gathering his 15-16 odd possesions they really haven't been the line-breaking runs like we saw in that one final against Collingwood last year. If he isn't providing run then there really isn't much use for him, he is simply woeful as a defender.

Every center bounce he was causing chaos in the backline - almost as though he wanted to be a loose man, while there was not enough numbers to have the luxury of an extra man. At one stage he was pointing to the other defenders and having them all move around picking up different players while he stood in the clear leaving one man unoccupied. If this is a directive from the coach then blimey.

All that sounds a little dramatic I know but weak players (particularly defenders) get exposed by clever teams and in finals Raph would be one of those players teams try to play through.

ok so now we have teams trying to play thru raph as well as blake and max becasue all three are shocking.

woefull as a defender
blimey
i remember him having some pretty good games this year and playing some great finals footy last year

woeful?
cant agree