Beware, my fellow Sainters...

[philtee]

Be ready for the week ahead.
For one thing is certain about last night's loss - it means the army of St Kilda haters will now be rising from the dead, saying "I told you they're no good".
The usual self-important snipers and blowhards will all be lining up to rattle your cage. It might be your wife's aunt, the office bore, or a bloke at the pub.
The Saints' success over the last two years has kept them quiet, but this nasty loss will have filled them with confidence to spout their tired theories about
"windows of opportunity" and St Kilda "culture".
They all believe that the last two years has been an abberation, that the natural order is being restored, and the Saints are reverting to being the League whipping boy.
One peanut has already told me he "the Saints are no good and have never been any good because they've got no heart". Clearly he hadn't seen last year's Grand Final.

Please don't rise to their bait - that is what they are looking for.
If I can suggest this - politely concede the obvious - "Yes, they are in a form slump at the wrong time of year", or "I agree, Koschitzke does need to take a few more grabs".
Maybe "No Baker, no Saints". Or even "I think you're full of cr*p". Us fans don't know why the team is playing so poorly, and the snipers certainly don't.

Unfortunately, the only way to stop the sniping is to get a win on the board, and that is at least seven days away. So it's going to be a tough week, but hey, we're third on the ladder.

[3rd generation saint]

Unfortunately, until we win a premiership, they will be right.
We have failed grasp opportunties that we have created and have been put forward to us.
I hate them too, but I hate them because it's hard to argue against them, especially when their cupboards are full of Premiership Cups and ours isn't.

[sainter27]

I didn't judge that Collingwood game and neither did the players. When there are less than 5 working to their capacity there isn't any great point of individualising performance. They were collectively so bad that it was no guide. I thought it was a much improved performance last week.
However, last night it was a collective nightmare. Like most of you, I was embarrassed by what I saw last night. And I can see many lists being compiled on this site as to all the areas we need to improve. And much of it is right. But fundamentally our mojo has been lost. And that is obviously the most important thing to get back.

There will no doubt Saints bashing will come thick and fast this week- and it is well-deserved. If I was a player, I'd be embarrassed about the performance- and I am sure many are.

And I don't want this to sound too positive, but when everything dies down the situation is pretty simple.

We are in the top four, we have no critical injuries, a terrific group of coaches, and a playing group that desperately want a flag.

But how desperately? We'll find out soon.

We have four weeks to find the spark. And we all know it doesn't take much for it to ignite.

[Thinline]

Self imposed media ban until game time on Sunday.

It'll do my head in otherwise.

[backit]

Self imposed media ban until game time on Sunday.

It'll do my head in otherwise.

And this week don't we have Roo one one HD, Lenny on another station, Ross on before the game so it will be all out in the media which will give the good and hack journo's a field day.

Just glad we don't get all these shows up here because like last nights game I can do without it, sometimes you just gotta love the delayed telecasts and thank someone higher for the internet.

[SydneySainter]

Self imposed media ban until game time on Sunday.

It'll do my head in otherwise.

And this week don't we have Roo one one HD, Lenny on another station, Ross on before the game so it will be all out in the media which will give the good and hack journo's a field day.

Just glad we don't get all these shows up here because like last nights game I can do without it, sometimes you just gotta love the delayed telecasts and thank someone higher for the internet.

I think Ross is on Game Day. Perfect time for him to come out and make a public statement.

[#1GILL]

Roo is On The Couch I'm pretty sure.

[GSG]

Unfortunately, until we win a premiership, they will be right.
We have failed grasp opportunties that we have created and have been put forward to us.
I hate them too, but I hate them because it's hard to argue against them, especially when their cupboards are full of Premiership Cups and ours isn't.

You know what I hate most about losing like yesterday, is not that we lost to Essendon and Collingwood by a considerable margin – I can live with that.

What I absolutely detest so much is that people always seem to be right when it comes to St. Kilda. Many years ago, one of my bosses told me that the Saints will never win a flag! Caroline Wilson was talking about “implodingâ€

[philtee]

You can live by the labels others apply to you, or you can rise above.
Dermie has a nasty streak a mile wide and will put the boots in when he can. Caro suffers that fate that
all columnists face - Oh my God, what am I gonna write about ! - and goes for a soft target like the Saints.
1000 words, old quotes, a bit of history, a bit of conjecture, easy !

Leave them to their mind games.
The game, the team, the club have all moved on.

St Kilda has the players, the culture and the professionalism to succeed at the highest level.
What kept us from winning the 2009 flag ?
Tom Hawkins' cheaters "goal", a few bad misses, a few unkind bounces, a few nutty umpiring decisions.

Oddly, it is pleasing that we are all gutted about the loss to the Bombers.
It shows how far we have moved on from the days of old - the culture HAS changed, in supporters as well. Near enough
is no longer good enough.

We still have the ammo to take it all the way in 2010. We just need the players to find the will.

(Immensely satisfied that Port Adelaide have kebab-ed the Hawks).

[saint75]

You can live by the labels others apply to you, or you can rise above.
Dermie has a nasty streak a mile wide and will put the boots in when he can. Caro suffers that fate that
all columnists face - Oh my God, what am I gonna write about ! - and goes for a soft target like the Saints.
1000 words, old quotes, a bit of history, a bit of conjecture, easy !

Leave them to their mind games.
The game, the team, the club have all moved on.

St Kilda has the players, the culture and the professionalism to succeed at the highest level.
What kept us from winning the 2009 flag ?
Tom Hawkins' cheaters "goal", a few bad misses, a few unkind bounces, a few nutty umpiring decisions.

Oddly, it is pleasing that we are all gutted about the loss to the Bombers.
It shows how far we have moved on from the days of old - the culture HAS changed, in supporters as well. Near enough
is no longer good enough.

We still have the ammo to take it all the way in 2010. We just need the players to find the will.

(Immensely satisfied that Port Adelaide have kebab-ed the Hawks).

Excellent post! Couldn't agree with you more.

[backit]

You can live by the labels others apply to you, or you can rise above.
Dermie has a nasty streak a mile wide and will put the boots in when he can. Caro suffers that fate that
all columnists face - Oh my God, what am I gonna write about ! - and goes for a soft target like the Saints.
1000 words, old quotes, a bit of history, a bit of conjecture, easy !

Leave them to their mind games.
The game, the team, the club have all moved on.

St Kilda has the players, the culture and the professionalism to succeed at the highest level.
What kept us from winning the 2009 flag ?
Tom Hawkins' cheaters "goal", a few bad misses, a few unkind bounces, a few nutty umpiring decisions.

Oddly, it is pleasing that we are all gutted about the loss to the Bombers.
It shows how far we have moved on from the days of old - the culture HAS changed, in supporters as well. Near enough
is no longer good enough.

We still have the ammo to take it all the way in 2010. We just need the players to find the will.

(Immensely satisfied that Port Adelaide have kebab-ed the Hawks).

Excellent post! Couldn't agree with you more.

Very true, as supporters we do not accept failure like we used to and now show more passion about our club. There is no such thing anymore as losses we had to have, we can't beat them, they are better than us it is now we played poorly, we should have beaten them because we are better and the effort today was unacceptable and we should have done better. We don't like to lose and don't look for excuses we now look for answers and want to ensure that we learn from losses and come back stronger. After the loss last night it showed the passion of our supporters who all saw it an unacceptable effort because we know and expect better of our team.

[bobmurray]

St Kilda haters is a bit off...i would say the LONG SUFFERING Saints fans can see the dream slipping away again and who knows when we will get another go.....we don't have a very good record of backing up the next year.....
65 and 66 were the exception....

and we have limited depth aided by ordinary recruiting or recruiting that has an eye for ordinary talent....

[On the Bench]

Don't forget that this time last year the Saints were flying, unbeaten, looking invincible.

Bomber Thompson gave that address to the players in front of the Geelong faithful.

It was along the lines of, "How do you want be remembered?
As a team that won a premiership or a great team that won many premierships."

Geelong had a few issues this time last year.

[plugger66]

Don't forget that this time last year the Saints were flying, unbeaten, looking invincible.

Bomber Thompson gave that address to the players in front of the Geelong faithful.

It was along the lines of, "How do you want be remembered?
As a team that won a premiership or a great team that won many premierships."

Geelong had a few issues this time last year.

Geelong has also wrapped up top 2.

[On the Bench]

Don't forget that this time last year the Saints were flying, unbeaten, looking invincible.

Bomber Thompson gave that address to the players in front of the Geelong faithful.

It was along the lines of, "How do you want be remembered?
As a team that won a premiership or a great team that won many premierships."

Geelong had a few issues this time last year.

Geelong has also wrapped up top 2.

I'm desperately hoping that top 4 will be equivalent to top 2 this year as it will )said praying hopefully) be Victorian based clubs in the top 4.

That said, I agree that the Saints need to find form quickly.