Happy With

[Batnoe]

Schneider

20 possesions- played well, is what we need will fit in nicely

Charlie Gardiner

10 possesions, 10 marks

Michael Gardiner
19 hit outs- therefore giving us the first use of the ball, we had 23 to 12 at one stage centre clearances. When we have Gehrig, Kosi, Fisher, Max, Goddard, Maguire back we will be unstoppable. For so long we needed our mids to find the ball without advantage. Now we can finally use it from the middle

Clint Jones- still overused the ball a little bit and ran in circles but tried hard the whole game. Will be a good player for us

Jason Blake- very courageous, running back with flight of ball so many times. Didn't get a lot of possessions but always proved to be that extra man back

King- 17 possessions as a ruckman and and 12 hit outs, what we have been missing, a huge body that makes the young kids stand up. We have been missing a lot of senior players but King just seems to make players walk and play taller

Armo- seemed to be wherever we needed him. Getting better with each game. Will be a player

Birss- started off slowly but did some good things towards the end

Milne- 5 tackles, there was an instance where he ran from forward 50 and tackled twice for no result, it was obvious both should have been free kicks. A great tackle count for a crumber


This is very promising when players like Joey, Gram and Gilbert were below their best

Also happy with Rix's defensive job. he let a few go, but tried hard and is a new position for him, a pass mark for a non defender

[plugger66]

Not sure if Gaediner was much chop but he did get into it in the last quarter. Hayes was sensational. BOG by far.

[fugazi]

Yep, Schneider was good, will be interesting to see how long he can run in the midfield. Very good evasive skills....Fraser, Roo and Kosi with Schneider and Milne crumbing could be a tricky fwd line.

Blake took about 3 good hits and ran back into the hole a bunch of times...very gutsy.

Jones was pretty good, still does those up and under kicks, but good tackling and chasing.

[Otiman]

The combination of Hayes and King was amazing in the first half.

Schneider's second quarter running from the wing, behind the packs and recieving - was just amazing to see, time and again. Happened at about 4 clearances in a row.

Thought Gilbert played really well on Lucas, especially in the second half.

Blake did his 5-6 excellent things down back and didn't stuff up once, top game too.

Jones got a heap of the ball, but one would think that Essendon wouldn't have minded that at all. Needs to gain composure under pressure and I think that some more AFL game time will be good for him. His best work was done defensively, with tackles and shepherds.

[bigred]

Absolutely smashed the clearances.

Dont know the stats on hitouts to advantage, but they surely would be considerable.

[Batnoe]

Gilbert did do well on a much stronger opponent, however the fact that Lucas got 4 behinds helped his cause.

Previous to tonight Lucas had not missed a goal during the NAB

Charlie seemed to bob up when Riewoldt was off the ground. i think he is worthy of selection...but needs to prove he is a player with the stars on the ground. Could be worth a defensive role!!!

[Oh When the Saints]

Charlie took 10 marks according to the stats ...

[Hawkesbury Saint]

I don't know if I am being too critical, but I can't say I was overawed with the performance. I only caught the last three quarters but I found it really stressful whenever the Bombers went into attack. Their forward line was open and every entry into the 50 looked like it would score.

I know we had KPPs out and a makeshift forward line but it seemed that the Bomber Blitz over us was going to continue.

I thought the tackling lacked intensity at times, especially early on. It was reminiscent of times when we have come off a stirring win and then played like we just need to turn up to get the points. Then all of a sudden Milney came up with a sequence of great chasing down and the youngsters seemed to kick up a gear too. Avoiding injuries doesn't answer what was happening because the intensity did lift!

I'm rapt that we won and I saw things to get excited about. If that's the best the Bombers have to throw up then fair enough, we're right on top. But to smash them so comprehensively in the clearances and win by only 3 points is interesting.

I'm looking forward to the replay again.

Jones under pressure coughs up. I love the X-Man but a lot of his kicking went nowhere. It was a good thing the Bombers consitently tried to take his head off at least then he had a set kick to move the ball forward. Generally rushed field kicking was woeful. But this is the NAB Cup and the idea is to get game time to prepare for the real thing.

Being a resident of Darwin I love Raph too...but he seemed all at sea with added responsibiity in the backline. It may be just me but the second tier players seemed to lift in previous weeks and walk tall. Tonight with Sam Fisher not down back directing traffic the defence looked incredibly brittle.

We won.....I'm happy. The boys got game time in...I'm happy

[joffaboy]

Charlie seemed to bob up when Riewoldt was off the ground. i think he is worthy of selection...but needs to prove he is a player with the stars on the ground. Could be worth a defensive role!!!

Why put him in defence when he was doing exactly what was equired of him, ie play the Riewoldt role when Roo was having arest on the bench?

Did the job wery well tonight especially in the 4th qtr.

[maverick]

Was very happy with Schneider and King for that matter.
Gardiner was solid enough and in the last quarter really did contest well up forward.
Thought Allen showed a bit and was super impressed with Armo, his tackling is a real weapon.
Really enjoyed the use of Joey and Dal tonight as well.

One thing, not convinced Riewoldt will make it through the year though...

[Batnoe]

Charlie seemed to bob up when Riewoldt was off the ground. i think he is worthy of selection...but needs to prove he is a player with the stars on the ground. Could be worth a defensive role!!!

Why put him in defence when he was doing exactly what was equired of him, ie play the Riewoldt role when Roo was having arest on the bench?

Did the job wery well tonight especially in the 4th qtr.

what if Riewoldt, Kosi, Gehrig all play?

does that mean that Charlie has no spot on the field, i know it was asked of him but it is disappointing to be a fringe player when you could fit into most forward lines going by NAB form, as we have a great forward line, wouldnt you try and make a defensive spot your own when you are only important when the teams best forwards are injured

No game time at Geelong (good forward line) can see this happening at saints if we get no injuries, he is a good lead , can play flank but sometimes that means we would be too tall heavy

[Solar]

a couple of players sealed their positions for round 1 IMO

charlie was fantastic, especially in the final quarter. Gives us that extra option to kick towards coming off half back. We have really lacked that since sammy went down a few years ago.

Schneider is thinner and fitter then I have seen before, maybe I'm used to seeing him on the TV but he used to be tubby, now he is sleak and fast.

Armo was awesome in a team chock full of senior midfielders. He showed a turn of speed I didn't know he had, tackles stuck and was working from hallf back to half forward in sprints. Seems to really want it, huge improvement from last year.

The rucks were awesome and the fact that M.Gardiner was able to go forward and give us a contest was a great sign. Fantastic back up ruck to king. Talking about king, when was the last time he played in a losing side?

Hayes was awesome, big year in store for him. Dal still slips in and out of the game but everything he does is pure class. tackles from him are starting to stick and he is going in for hard balls I used to think was only the domain of a ball or hayes.

Ball looks very scratchy, in fact most of the senior players looked rusty.

BTW some of the coaching has been brilliant. Couple of things I noticed:

- The positioning of players at spillages, especially in the forward line is a lot more effective. Our crumbing was really really good.

- When they kicked the goal to go in front late in the final quarter we pushed all the forwards back to about 20 m out. This opened up a huge amount of space goal side of the centre bounce. We then won the hit out, the ball went into this space and x was free kicked near the 50. Reminded me of what the eagles did to us last year. Very very smart, noticed ball the general also calming some of the youngsters down.

The set plays of working a roving player on the outside of packs for the tap. This is something that Port has done very well and scores then a couple of extra goals a game.

We didn't play at close to our best but its starting to come together. Put kosi and G in that forward set up and we might be a little hard to stop.

[saint66au]

Charlie G...fantastic last quarter when Roo was off the ground

CJ...God knows how many extra possesions we had because of his chasing and harassing. RUn down and tackle in the last quater turned the game

Scheider. His gorgeous ruinning goal in the 3nd quarter is EXACTLY why we recruited him

Birss. Impressed me tonight. Found a heap of it and his intensity was great. Was blowing hard at the end

Blake. Close to the gutsiest bloke on the ground. Took 3 hits backing back into packs that I saw, and a knee in the kidneys that amazingly resulted in him standing the mark after the dumbest free of hte night was paid to the Essendon bloke with the knee

Fiora..think he was playing on Welsh early?? If so, got ripped a newie, Welsh dominated. QUiet night

Armo..Impressed again,,really has a lovely left foot

Dal..silk when required. great contested mark at the death

[Oh When the Saints]

Dal still slips in and out of the game but everything he does is pure class. tackles from him are starting to stick and he is going in for hard balls I used to think was only the domain of a ball or hayes.

Dal has been top 2 at the club for hard ball gets and contested possessions the last couple of seasons ...

[Armoooo]

Dal still slips in and out of the game but everything he does is pure class. tackles from him are starting to stick and he is going in for hard balls I used to think was only the domain of a ball or hayes.

Dal has been top 2 at the club for hard ball gets and contested possessions the last couple of seasons ...

Yeah he really doesn't mind going in for a hard ball despite popular belief, but to be fair though, how many games did Lenny and Ball miss last year? Dal hasn't missed a game in like 4 or 5 years now...

[Spinner]

Schneider

20 possesions- played well, is what we need will fit in nicely

Didnt notice that.

But geez he was fast. Especially around the packs.

[To the top]

The only things I would contribute are how different it is to have Gardiner and King in the side and, in regards Milne an his tackling from behind, in too may instances it was because he was behind - he is supposed to be a forward and be in front - not behind and therefore HAVING to lay a tackle.

Schnieder will replace him.

[To the top]

Just to add for the sake of conversation:-

I thought both Gilbert and R. Clarke did well given the jobs they were asked to do in the absence of Sam Fisher, Max and Maguire.

Rix, the jury is still out, but the rest of the defence did well in the circumstances, and the ability to have King drop back, but still have Gardiner contesting forward showed what is in prospect - fingers crossed.