Team v Cats: Bytel and Geary for Jones and Ryder

[saynta]

I actually suspect Dunstan is best of the bunch at this juncture, in terms of giving immediate value to the team - a team that is so far advanced to what it was eight months ago, but us usual, I've gotta be honest, a lot of it is based on what I hear here and from various media pundits, Garry Llyon etc.

Garry Lyon is a f*** wit, and Dunstan is certaintly not the best of those four. The others kept getting picked when Dunstan wasn't. Don't think you know more than Ratts ffs. ::

[Trev from the Bush]

Thought Savage would have waltzed back in given he’s such an incredible player and Long is terrible

Surprised there aren’t more changes... thought we might have rotated a few and rested them after a short turnaround

We are going well enough we can afford to carry Long for another round.

[The_Dud]

I actually suspect Dunstan is best of the bunch at this juncture, in terms of giving immediate value to the team - a team that is so far advanced to what it was eight months ago, but us usual, I've gotta be honest, a lot of it is based on what I hear here and from various media pundits, Garry Llyon etc.

I think Dunstan is underrated too. IMO he’d do well in our team at the moment and offer more than Seb or DH (who I think needs to be put aside until he can string more than a handful of games together).

[Trev from the Bush]

The boys must be feeling ok ..... except Jones

Jones had his head buried heavily into the turf Thursday night, happy for him to watch from the stand this match.

[Devilhead]

I’m pleased Ratogalea is not playing - he’s dangerous.

You mean Ratonoidea?

[Trev from the Bush]

Dunstan
Hannebery
Ross
Jones

Our starting midfield decimated

Yes, It’s a worry. You need mature, hardened AFL bodies around the ball. Ross is still on the injured list, no doubt, or he would have been selected. He’s not even an emergency.

Good luck to Bytel. It is going to be a baptism of fire against the Cats midfield - if he lines up there.

Yeah, but...

Dunstan (mediocre player, debatable best 22)
Hannebery (chronically injured)
Ross (disposal weak, barely top 22?)
Jones (had a few great games, had some quiet ones, called c grader on this board)

It's not exactly the Beatles, if you know what I mean.

What brand of TV do you watch our games on? Braille?

[saynta]

Dunstan
Hannebery
Ross
Jones

Our starting midfield decimated

Yes, It’s a worry. You need mature, hardened AFL bodies around the ball. Ross is still on the injured list, no doubt, or he would have been selected. He’s not even an emergency.

Good luck to Bytel. It is going to be a baptism of fire against the Cats midfield - if he lines up there.

Yeah, but...

Dunstan (mediocre player, debatable best 22)
Hannebery (chronically injured)
Ross (disposal weak, barely top 22?)
Jones (had a few great games, had some quiet ones, called c grader on this board)

It's not exactly the Beatles, if you know what I mean.

What brand of TV do you watch our games on? Braille?

Post of the week.

[johnearljames]

Not confident in this week.

Due for a loss. Boys look really tired.

Wouldn't be unhappy if we lose so we could smash the Bombers next Sunday.

[HardSaint]

no problem with Jones being rested
maybe someone can show me a stat of clearance opportunities Vs kicking into someone / being smothered

sorry as hard at it as he is - this is a constant

[HardSaint]

Not confident in this week.

Due for a loss. Boys look really tired.

Wouldn't be unhappy if we lose so we could smash the Bombers next Sunday.

Really?
Look very tired?
How so?

GAF about the bombers, smashing Geelong is what this is about - f*** them and Essendon and any excuses you want to introduce with no evidence to support it

[johnearljames]

Not confident in this week.

Due for a loss. Boys look really tired.

Wouldn't be unhappy if we lose so we could smash the Bombers next Sunday.

Really?
Look very tired?
How so?

GAF about the bombers, smashing Geelong is what this is about - f*** them and Essendon and any excuses you want to introduce with no evidence to support it

Pretty obvious.

4 wins. 2 in Adelaide on the road. Lots of travelling. Barely scraped past the GC. Not much rest.

Boys are a bit cooked.

We won't be favourites and will probably lose despite playing quite well recently. Its still a marathon. Even 2020.

[Toy Saint]

I actually suspect Dunstan is best of the bunch at this juncture, in terms of giving immediate value to the team - a team that is so far advanced to what it was eight months ago, but us usual, I've gotta be honest, a lot of it is based on what I hear here and from various media pundits, Garry Llyon etc.

I think Dunstan is underrated too. IMO he’d do well in our team at the moment and offer more than Seb or DH (who I think needs to be put aside until he can string more than a handful of games together).

Also agree that Dunstan is underrated. He's a tough in-and-under player who was thrown into the middle in his first year and took huge on a huge work load for a young kid. To be effective in his role he needs classy outside mids, Unfortunately there's been a void of these at St Kilda - until this year. Finally we have the outside mids we've desperately needed, and now we need a tough extractor. I'd love to see Dunstan in this team.

[HardSaint]

Not confident in this week.

Due for a loss. Boys look really tired.

Wouldn't be unhappy if we lose so we could smash the Bombers next Sunday.

Really?
Look very tired?
How so?

GAF about the bombers, smashing Geelong is what this is about - f*** them and Essendon and any excuses you want to introduce with no evidence to support it

Pretty obvious.

4 wins. 2 in Adelaide on the road. Lots of travelling. Barely scraped past the GC. Not much rest.

Boys are a bit cooked.

We won't be favourites and will probably lose despite playing quite well recently. Its still a marathon. Even 2020.

who told you that?

[bigred]

Yeah not confident about this one.

Would love to keep the momentum up though.

A decent effort across the board would see us close to the win though.

Cant help thinking that we might be a tad cooked after the past month.

[Cordz2]

I haven’t been confident before any game this year - or for the past 5 for that matter.
In terms of midfield we have a lot of depth there.
Gresham is #1 with clearances and works well with Ryder.
Hill/Billings are great on the wings.
Steele is killing it
The others who run through the middle are:
Sinclair, Hind and both our Rucks are great at clearance work too which is a rarity in the AFL this year. We have lots of options all over the park which is a great sign for any team.
I’m still not confident we’ll win though.
Point is We’re winning without Dunstan, Ross, or Hanners and I don't think we need them like we used to. Our ball use and goal efficiency is through the roof - why mess with it to bring in tough guys who can get it - Ross and Dunstan - but are poor users.

[shanegrambeau]

Yeah not confident about this one.

Would love to keep the momentum up though.

A decent effort across the board would see us close to the win though.

Cant help thinking that we might be a tad cooked after the past month.

I think much of the comp is pretty cooked. And yet the games are still getting better.
We are $2.50 underdogs at the bookies. As for the Gold Coast game, yes, we could say that GC were brilliant and desperate to bounce back, yet we matched them, and the takeaway for us is that we will be cooked. Or, you could say Gold Coast were not that flash and neither were we, and the takeaway is that we might be cooked.

But just say, GC got the win, would we more inclined to say we should be able to bounce back? I don’t think so, so I don’t want us to concede any ground to a Geelong on the basis that we can ‘recover’ to beat Essendon.

We might be in for a rude awakening again here, ala Collingwood game, expect Geelong...who knows. Fascinated to see what happens.

Hoping Geelong won’t gel or it rains!

[StPeter]

Not confident in this week.

Due for a loss. Boys look really tired.

Wouldn't be unhappy if we lose so we could smash the Bombers next Sunday.

This is an "eight point" game against Geelong.

So probably even more important to win than the Essendon game.

That said, I still hope we smash the Bombers.

[ace]

I’m pleased Ratogalea is not playing - he’s dangerous.

Who is going give Stuv a bit of stick?

Butler will give him some unpleasant stick.

[axcellence]

Not a popular opinion, but I think it would be a good idea to give Ryan Abbott a go to relieve Paddy. It's just giving a senior body a relief as the team then has a 6 day turnaround to Sunday's game.

[ace]

The boys must be feeling ok ..... except Jones

Remember that Zac has already missed with a hammy this season. Reckon it’s just to make sure it’s not stretched to the brink before another compressed block of games against good teams.

The AFL has not revealed the last 5 rounds yet.
That's 4 matches for the Saints plus 1 bye.
We should expect those rounds to be compressed into just 4 weeks, 3 weeks would be too taxing.
One of those rounds will give the Saints a bye.
After Geelong on Monday the Saints play on consecutive Sundays.
We could get a bye for round 14 and still be playing round 15 and playing the following weekend.
That bye would move the Saints from playing at the second last day of round 13 to the start of round 15
That would then allow 3 consecutive weekend games to the end of the season.

Playing the last 6 games at weekends would be ideal.

[Sanctorum]

I didn't see any overall signs that the Saints were "cooked" during or after the win over GC Suns (unlike me, I found it exhausting and nerve-wrecking ), except perhaps for Zak Jones who didn't have his usual zip.

Since the only big loss (against Collingwood) and the surprising fade-out against the Dockers, I believe the team has turned things around and know what it takes to win - GC Suns had a red hot go and yet the players found that extra edge to keep on attacking and getting the points.

I also am not confident about tonight's game but then Geelong are not at full strength either, Guthrie will be missed, and if our boys can continue in the manner they have played in the past 4 games a win is on the cards.

It is also worth noting that the big win over comp leaders Port will have given the team immense confidence that they can beat anybody. Playing at the Gabba instead of Kardinia Park is also a big advantage.

Go Saints!!!!

[CURLY]

I didn't see any overall signs that the Saints were "cooked" during or after the win over GC Suns (unlike me, I found it exhausting and nerve-wrecking ), except perhaps for Zak Jones who didn't have his usual zip.

Since the only big loss (against Collingwood) and the surprising fade-out against the Dockers, I believe the team has turned things around and know what it takes to win - GC Suns had a red hot go and yet the players found that extra edge to keep on attacking and getting the points.

I also am not confident about tonight's game but then Geelong are not at full strength either, Guthrie will be missed, and if our boys can continue in the manner they have played in the past 4 games a win is on the cards.

It is also worth noting that the big win over comp leaders Port will have given the team immense confidence that they can beat anybody. Playing at the Gabba instead of Kardinia Park is also a big advantage.

Go Saints!!!!

Its not the good Guthrie that is missing its Zach his rubbish brother.

[shanegrambeau]

I didn't see any overall signs that the Saints were "cooked" during or after the win over GC Suns (unlike me, I found it exhausting and nerve-wrecking ), except perhaps for Zak Jones who didn't have his usual zip.

Since the only big loss (against Collingwood) and the surprising fade-out against the Dockers, I believe the team has turned things around and know what it takes to win - GC Suns had a red hot go and yet the players found that extra edge to keep on attacking and getting the points.

I also am not confident about tonight's game but then Geelong are not at full strength either, Guthrie will be missed, and if our boys can continue in the manner they have played in the past 4 games a win is on the cards.

It is also worth noting that the big win over comp leaders Port will have given the team immense confidence that they can beat anybody. Playing at the Gabba instead of Kardinia Park is also a big advantage.

Go Saints!!!!

Love it.

Yep, that game certainly got the ticker working. You know it felt like a 50/50 game for most of it, but GC were in front three times, but for only minutes...in total, probably less than ten minutes of game time, including the bit when they kicked the first goal of the game. But we were being chased like wolves..perhaps that’s why it gets on the nerves!

[perfectionist]

I didn't see any overall signs that the Saints were "cooked" during or after the win over GC Suns (unlike me, I found it exhausting and nerve-wrecking ), except perhaps for Zak Jones who didn't have his usual zip...

There was some issue, and an interaction with the coach on the boundary which "looked" concerning. Hopefully that was all it was. I am not a fan of coaches being on the boundary as a matter of course rather than for special occasions. It seems to be a fad for no good reason.

Our midfield strength and depth is lower tonight than at any other stage of the year. We have had five players who have consistently cleared the ball from centre bounces - Jack Steele, Zak Jones, Dan Hannebery, Jade Gresham and Seb Ross. Tonight, three of those will be missing. If Geelong have been watching at all, they'll "sit" on Jack Steele. Jade Gresham's use of the ball has been poor, especially with respect to the first three on the list. This probably is the reason that the bookies have us at $2.60 with the cats at $1.50. You can't expect a first gamer to make up the deficit. It will be up to Jack Sinclair, Nick Hind and maybe Dean Kent to step up. It will be interesting to see if Jack Billings is thrown into mid mix. I would prefer to see perhaps Josh Battle in there to add a bit of height and weight and leave Jack and Brad to do the running outside work.

[shanegrambeau]

... We have had five players who have consistently cleared the ball from centre bounces - Jack Steele, Zak Jones, Dan Hannebery, Jade Gresham and Seb Ross. Tonight, three of those will be missing. ...

Really?

Steele yes.
Zak, pressure yes, good clearance to advantage?
Dan, injured, injured and about to be injured. But yes, of course...if only
Gresh..as you say kicking?
Seb, work rate but not effective.

THat is the message I am picking up.

Something is really working...so maybe it is one of those 'sum of all parts being greater than the units individual value' situations.
Nervous about tonight too. Hope our boys can settle.
How about Hunter goes in?

Was Ratts in a barny with one of the players?

Do they get less camera on them on the bench? Could that be part of it?