Dal Santo's form !!

[Eastern]

A lot has been said about how hard Dal has worked over pre-season and that his form on Saturday night reflected this.

I have a thought on another aspect to Dal's form (albiet for 1 game only). Our new assistant coach, Leigh Tudor came to us from Geelong where they made an art form of protecting their better players like Ablett, Bartel etc. Could it be that he has brought some of that intelligence with him and our guys have adapted to it?

Dal had a hard tag on Sat night and he might have been given some help from his team-mates in getting away from his tag, just like the Geelong guys have been able to do for a couple of yeas (I'll look closely at this when I watch the replay). I'd be interested in others ideas on this

I might need to add that Saturday night was the "HARDEST" I had seen Dal play .........ever !!

[saintbrat]

his stats alone made him the only Saint to get into the Burgan team of the week
http://www.afl.com.au/news/newsarticle/ ... fault.aspx

[lovedal26]

i completely agree with you.
he dove into tackles and ran harder then iv ever seen him before
i hope he continues the form from saturday for the rest of this year and boost his confidence up.

Saints in '09, beware.

[saintjake]

i think the fact the he collected the most contested touches out of the whole game.
against sydney the hardest team at it some would say.
i think it was something like 16 hardball gets.
he did alot of his hard work himself.
admiration is needed here.
a great effort.

[vacuous space]

i think [Dal had] something like 16 hardball gets.

Not quite. He had 14 contested possessions, four of which came from frees and one was a contested mark. The remaining nine would have been some combination of hardball gets and looseball gets.

[saintjake]

i think [Dal had] something like 16 hardball gets.

Not quite. He had 14 contested possessions, four of which came from frees and one was a contested mark. The remaining nine would have been some combination of hardball gets and looseball gets.

to get those free kicks he had to go in hard, and be first to the ball.
and looseball gets is another catagory.
not part of the 16? im talking about.

[vacuous space]

to get those free kicks he had to go in hard, and be first to the ball.
and looseball gets is another catagory.
not part of the 16? im talking about.

Looseball gets are contested possessions.

I'm not having a go at him. The most he could have had would be 9 hardball gets. He probably didn't get that many either.

[Sobraz]

I have been of the opinion for some time that Dal doesnt work himself into the game often enough when things arnt going his way...

By this, I am refering to the cheap handball behind the mark for an easy stat... Sure, it isn't a hard ball get, but getting his hands on it helps out the confidence, and he can grow from there...

Ablett is a master of this....

Dal did this a number of times on saturday night, consistently getting the handball recieve and then following up... His foot skills are so good that he is more than likely a better option than whoever he took the ball off anyhow... win/win...

I hope he continues to do this, as his inside game will improve as he gets more involved in the game.... Despite what many think, Dal is quite a tough footballer imo, he just lacks confidence when the chips are down, and he struggles to work his way out of it....

[WayneJudson42]

Fair point Eastern.

One would think that it's footy 101 that you protect the playmakers.

Steve Powell was very good at this IIRC.

Did it take Tudor to arrive before we worked it out?

Will be interesting to watch the reply tomorrow night... and to see who was protecting him... if it was the same players accused of not doing enough, demanding the pill etc.

[Loyal]

Dal found something in the Hawthorn H&A game last season.
He has found an ability to believe in himself. I love that he really, genuinely, honestly believes in himself now.