Positives

[borderbarry]

Another positive. Paddy kicking 7 and giving off another two. He could of had nine!
Bring him in for the Dogs!!

[spert]

I thought our last quarter was such a negative, that it overshadowed any positives apart for the great effort of Hickey, who played the best ruck game by a Saint for years, and I do believe he will get better. I was encouraged by Acres, who is able to get the ball out of tight situations, and like Hickey, will benefit from game time. Quick ball movement is improving, but on a negative- Geary surely cannot be carried with his shocking disposal and poor decision making.. the turnovers kill a team like us who are struggling to take a step, and had a golden opportunity to have an upset win. Very unimpressed by the forward structure and the ease at which Port could get hand on the ball in our forward line and have time to clear effectively- I thought AR said he was addressing the poor defensive work of the forward line in a preseason interview- better pull out the coaching 101 manual Richo and look up defensive football!

I'm obviously not a regular poster here but I don't really understand your constant negative comments regarding AR whilst also still lauding Scott Watters (who became an obvious liability for the club) - when did he last coach us? Anyway what do you specifically mean by improving defensive structures? You mention this constantly in relation to forwards, midfielders and back line players - to win a game of footy you have to take risks - you cant be totally defensive. Where do want players to stand? Can they initiate play or just be reactionary? I thought AR and his team coached sensationally on the weekend - exposing Port behind their zone - how many times - 8 times? There was all this criticism about team selection and how undersized we would be - yet we almost pull off a miracle win - away from home with the 16th weakest list in the comp.

Personally, I reckon we are in very good hands.

Are you Plugger66, bbm?
AR is no less liable to criticism than any players when reviewing the outcome of a match- in this case a 5 goal loss after grinding to a halt in one quarter of football, I'm not big on excuses unlike some Sainters who believe a good effort is enough. I'm am wrapped that the guys went flat out and took risks, but in the end- we lost, and no matter how many risks a team takes, it has to be backed up with a sound defensive game structure.. and that was, and has been one of our weaknesses so far- the opposition kicked 20 goals, and answered most of our goals with ease- it's an aspect of our game that I want to see it improve. The positives will be when we win. (btw, I never lauded Watters as a coach, just highly criticised the lack of support he had as a coach from the club, and the stupid way the club sacked him)

[Griggsy]

My biggest positive was the clean hand passes. Last year we couldn't hit a target standing still and in the first 3 quarters were hitting people on the sprint without missing a step.

There was, for me, one specific reminder of wooden spoon behaviour which annoyed me.
All guys streaming forward, (3rd qtr I think) Roberton handballed to Newnes, who was still, had to jump up to collect it, 2 Power guys nearby, one crunched him.
Bad for Newnes to call while vulnerable, and even worse for Dylan who has 5 years in the system and should know better!
Don't do that Rubbish any more please!

Agreed, there was one in the 1st as well on our forward 50. Definitely a couple hospital passes were handed out in the game, its first game back so hopefully the spacial awareness in a proper match atmosphere comes back to them soon. One of the things that cant really be prepared in the off season.

[BigMart]

Dylan has had 6 years in the system
He was drafted 09

Biggest positives on an individual level
Hickey, Ross, Acres... All played their best ever games
Armo obviously not having a letdown
Steven continuing on his merry way
We move it quicker when we gained possession across HB - again until we were buggered

On a team level
Our pressure is still awesome when we are not buggered

[Sainter_Dad]

Agreed, there was one in the 1st as well on our forward 50. Definitely a couple hospital passes were handed out in the game, its first game back so hopefully the spacial awareness in a proper match atmosphere comes back to them soon. One of the things that cant really be prepared in the off season.

This is the bane of my football existence, and it happens in lesser leagues too. Handpasses for the sake of handpasses. What give me the absolute sh!ts is the handpass after a mark has been taken to a guy further back, standing still, and him then having to kick it quickly because the initial player has played on. No advantage, no forethought, just looks like 'I don't want this responsibility, here you take it'.

The other is a handpass from one stationary player to another standing around the pack, less than 5 metres away, often in a worse position ie back to goals, or about to be tackled. I am all for quick handpasses, if someone is running past the marker, or someone is in a better position, but handpasses to our advantage, simply to hand pass drives me to despair.

And .... And what absolutely kills me is the hand pass to where a person is. The sooner we learn to handpass a metre infront of someone and that person accepts responsibility for getting to the ball at speed, the sooner we will be the front runners. Handpasses (and kicks for that matter) where the player has to stop and wait for it are negative football. Even if the player is running away from goal when they take a mark, at least it is harder to intercept than the kick to a stationary player just waiting for the opposition to intercept and wrong foot us.

/endrant!!!!

[bbm]

I thought our last quarter was such a negative, that it overshadowed any positives apart for the great effort of Hickey, who played the best ruck game by a Saint for years, and I do believe he will get better. I was encouraged by Acres, who is able to get the ball out of tight situations, and like Hickey, will benefit from game time. Quick ball movement is improving, but on a negative- Geary surely cannot be carried with his shocking disposal and poor decision making.. the turnovers kill a team like us who are struggling to take a step, and had a golden opportunity to have an upset win. Very unimpressed by the forward structure and the ease at which Port could get hand on the ball in our forward line and have time to clear effectively- I thought AR said he was addressing the poor defensive work of the forward line in a preseason interview- better pull out the coaching 101 manual Richo and look up defensive football!

I'm obviously not a regular poster here but I don't really understand your constant negative comments regarding AR whilst also still lauding Scott Watters (who became an obvious liability for the club) - when did he last coach us? Anyway what do you specifically mean by improving defensive structures? You mention this constantly in relation to forwards, midfielders and back line players - to win a game of footy you have to take risks - you cant be totally defensive. Where do want players to stand? Can they initiate play or just be reactionary? I thought AR and his team coached sensationally on the weekend - exposing Port behind their zone - how many times - 8 times? There was all this criticism about team selection and how undersized we would be - yet we almost pull off a miracle win - away from home with the 16th weakest list in the comp.

Personally, I reckon we are in very good hands.

Are you Plugger66, bbm?
AR is no less liable to criticism than any players when reviewing the outcome of a match- in this case a 5 goal loss after grinding to a halt in one quarter of football, I'm not big on excuses unlike some Sainters who believe a good effort is enough. I'm am wrapped that the guys went flat out and took risks, but in the end- we lost, and no matter how many risks a team takes, it has to be backed up with a sound defensive game structure.. and that was, and has been one of our weaknesses so far- the opposition kicked 20 goals, and answered most of our goals with ease- it's an aspect of our game that I want to see it improve. The positives will be when we win. (btw, I never lauded Watters as a coach, just highly criticised the lack of support he had as a coach from the club, and the stupid way the club sacked him)

No I'm not Plugger66 and I'm more than happy to see our coaches moves and approach analysed. I just get a bit frustrated when people suggest solutions (seemingly very simple ones) without explaining how they would actually work. From what I can see - we play an extra man back a lot of the time/but generally a zone press that all players have been playing with tremendous enthusiasm (isn't that our core defensive structure?) - do you think we should play two back, play man on man, stay in a rolling zone, or something else?