We are a joke

[Aussie Bears]

Plain and Simple. play this stupid brand of football.

[Batnoe]

im with you

are we a team of reserves?

worst game of footy i have seen so far, am deeply annoyed an offended of being a fan of this rabble. pick your act up saints and play attacking footy

[Iceman234]

Way too early to call that, but improvement is needed

[perfectionist]

About three and a half goals! Maybe they have a ten goal breeze! Think positive (ly for those who are literate).

By the way, did you see how accurate the Pussies were last night? Strong straight kicking from men on muscle juice. How come we can't get away with it for just one year at least?

[mad saint guy]

Serious question...

Did we have a single goalless quarter from 2004-2006? We seem to be having at at least one every couple of games these days.

[battye]

Serious question...

Did we have a single goalless quarter from 2004-2006? We seem to be having at at least one every couple of games these days.

Is it too early in the season to create a "Sack Lyon" topic?

[tezza1]

We are a joke...........

Refuse to run...........refuse to take a risk................

poor skills ..........continually turn over the ball in our all consuming quest to keep possession even at the expense of trying to kick some sort of score.......................

HEY ROSS..........How about we try to attack and put some sort of scoreboard pressure on instead of playing flooding rugby type footy.............

[perfectionist]

Had a better team in 2004 and 2005 which would have won the flag with an all out attack play if it was not for injuries. But our team is now worse and we need to play like Sydney to keep in the game. We need to finish last with no more wins for three years, and then watch out 2012!

PS I'm not watching it - don't have pay through the nose TV - just as well!
Keep me informed of the classic moves.

[mad saint guy]

But our team is now worse and we need to play like Sydney to keep in the game.

Don't agree with that. I think our team has just as much scoring power as in 04, and has a better defence. If coached properly there is no reason why this team couldn't be a force.

[perfectionist]

And the evidence for your assertion is?

[Saintschampions08]

But our team is now worse and we need to play like Sydney to keep in the game.

Don't agree with that. I think our team has just as much scoring power as in 04, and has a better defence. If coached properly there is no reason why this team couldn't be a force.

3-3 with a % of about 90 says they can't be a force.

[SuperSaint]

The game is still young but tonight will reveal all about the quality of players we really have. The fact that they have had so little heart of late when the going gets tough is what is so hard to swallow. You can still have heart and toughness regardless of skill level and to date very, very few of our players have shown such qualities. No excuses after tonight, had a gutful of hearing those.

[hAyES]

Will we even make the finals this year? This brand of football is absolute crap.

[mad saint guy]

And the evidence for your assertion is?

Riewoldt = Elite forward
Koschitzke = Potentially elite ruck/forward
Gehrig = Good for 60 goals if used properly
Milne = Quality small forward
Schneider = Quality goalkicking midfielder
C.Gardiner = Reliable medium marking forward

Hayes = Elite inside midfielder
Montagna = Quality midfielder
Harvey = Quality midfielder
Ball = Quality midfielder
Dal Santo = Potentially elite midfielder

Hudghton, S.Fisher, Goddard outstanding defenders.

Our list is far superior to Collingwood, North Melbourne, Adelaide and Sydney who are all doing much better than us.

[hAyES]

And the evidence for your assertion is?

Riewoldt = Elite forward
Koschitzke = Potentially elite ruck/forward
Gehrig = Good for 60 goals if used properly
Milne = Quality small forward
Schneider = Quality goalkicking midfielder
C.Gardiner = Reliable medium marking forward

Hayes = Elite inside midfielder
Montagna = Quality midfielder
Harvey = Quality midfielder
Ball = Quality midfielder
Dal Santo = Potentially elite midfielder

Hudghton, S.Fisher, Goddard outstanding defenders.

Our list is far superior to Collingwood, North Melbourne, Adelaide and Sydney who are all doing much better than us.

Couldn't agree more. Everybody else is overachieving, while we're struggling to kick goals every week.

[perfectionist]

Did you see the Pussy players last night? Muscles on muscles, strong legs running ALL night AND kicking straight, just as they did against us.

THAT is the missing ingredient to talent, but whereas we once had plenty, we only have two thirds of a team. For instance, those who can't play and never will are: Jones, Armitage, Gilbert and, well I won't include Rix, as my dead Aunt could play better.

[Saintschampions08]

And the evidence for your assertion is?

Riewoldt = Elite forward
Koschitzke = Potentially elite ruck/forward
Gehrig = Good for 60 goals if used properly
Milne = Quality small forward
Schneider = Quality goalkicking midfielder
C.Gardiner = Reliable medium marking forward

Hayes = Elite inside midfielder
Montagna = Quality midfielder
Harvey = Quality midfielder
Ball = Quality midfielder
Dal Santo = Potentially elite midfielder

Hudghton, S.Fisher, Goddard outstanding defenders.

Our list is far superior to Collingwood, North Melbourne, Adelaide and Sydney who are all doing much better than us.

Oh cmon.

Gehrig can't kick a goal for Casey, let alone kick 60 this year.

As much as i like him, Gardiner was dumped from the cats, and hasn't proven that they made the wrong choice yet.

Dal Santo and Ball are mediocre to average midfielders, not quality. The only quality mids we have are Hayes and Montagna, and it shows week after week.
They are the two guys who play well when we get killed (like today), where as Dal and Ball play well when we win by 6 goals

Your list is inflated by about 40%

[hAyES]

This manning up style of football makes our players look worse than they are. Put Kosi at FF for Geelong and he kicks at least 50 goals.

[SuperSaint]

Mad saint guy, Harvs is a legend who has bugger all left in his tank now. Ball WAS a quality midfielder and I wouldn't be putting a lot of praise on Montagna. His hard ball gets are almost as bad as Dal Santo's. When you look at our midfield without rose coloured glasses (and you can include X Clarke in that group), they are not as good as we and some of the media have led ourselves to believe they are. Are they quick?? NO Can they kick goals and rip a game open?? NO

Oh and by the way, is there a big question mark on the mental toughness of several of our players?? YES

Good to see there are some realists around, llike Saintschampions08's post above.

[mad saint guy]

Gehrig can't kick a goal for Casey, let alone kick 60 this year.

If he gets good delivery on a lead he'll mark it and kick the goal 9 times out of 10.

Dal Santo and Ball are mediocre to average midfielders, not quality. The only quality mids we have are Hayes and Montagna, and it shows week after week.

In 2005 they were both very close to elite. Dal is a brilliantly skilled player who needs a massive kick up the arse. Ball is probably the best tackler in the competition and can still be very effective if he's got some skilled runners to dish it out to.

Your list is inflated by about 40%

I think their potential output is being negated by about 40% by the s*** style of football we're playing.

Mad saint guy, Harvs is a legend who has bugger all left in his tank now.

He's still good for 18 touches and 3 goal assists per game.

Oh and by the way, is there a big question mark on the mental toughness of several of our players?? YES

Absolutely. I am not denying that the majority of our team are mentally weak as piss. That is a side effect of "Father Grant" - They seem to someone to get them motivated and be confident. When he was still there is wasn't a problem, but under Lyon it sticks out like dog's balls.

Good to see there are some realists around, llike Saintschampions08's post above.

I am realistic about our chances this year (bugger all). I just don't think that we should resign ourselves to a toal rebuild. Recruit a few quality midfielders in the next couple of years, change the game style (and if that means changing coach, so be it) and the core of the list would form a very strong team.

[Saintschampions08]

Gehrig can't kick a goal for Casey, let alone kick 60 this year.

If he gets good delivery on a lead he'll mark it and kick the goal 9 times out of 10.

Dal Santo and Ball are mediocre to average midfielders, not quality. The only quality mids we have are Hayes and Montagna, and it shows week after week.

In 2005 they were both very close to elite. Dal is a brilliantly skilled player who needs a massive kick up the arse. Ball is probably the best tackler in the competition and can still be very effective if he's got some skilled runners to dish it out to.

Your list is inflated by about 40%

I think their potential output is being negated by about 40% by the s*** style of football we're playing.

Gehrig can only kick goals from pinpoint perfect delivery, or from free kicks. Maybe he kicks 60 goals a year at training, but i doubt he'd get those kind of kicks from any team in a game. The game passed him by last year, took it 2 years too far.

Its not about potential, they've had 4 years now to show where they're at, and have only gotten worse since '05.

I can't stand the gameplan. I despise it, but it has nothing to do with them not being able to get the ball or do anything effective with it.

[The_Dud]

We are whats wrong with AFL football

Ross is killing our team....

[dcstkfc]

We are a bunch of chronic under-acheivers and flat-track bullies.

[mad saint guy]

We are a bunch of chronic under-acheivers and flat-track bullies.

Dunno about that. We used to be flat-track bullies...now we even struggle on the flat track. If we start dominating a team we don't bash their head into the ground like we used to...we stop trying to score and let them feel better about themselves with a few easy goals.

[devil saint]

Lenny Hayes is our only quality midfielder and I have good feelings about Armitage's potential. Montagna serviceable but too slight - gets thrown off the ball easily. Others have too many weaknesses in their game.
(Harvey exempt from this analysis because he has given everything every time he has put on a St Kilda jumper).