Watters performance

[oh when the]

rate his coaching for yesterdays game
i reckon selection of not playing simpkin was wrong.
i think he is improving but he needs to settle on a forward structure that is relevant to todays footy.

[plugger66]

Pretty hard to tell from the bar but Stanley left back to long IMO and if we play 3 smalls again i will spew up. Dont care that one was Sub. Milera and TDL are not AFL footballers. Its that simple. And it stops midfield rotations. No wonder we struggle in the second half of games.

[bergholt]

Pretty hard to tell from the bar but Stanley left back to long IMO and if we play 3 smalls again i will spew up. Dont care that one was Sub. Milera and TDL are not AFL footballers. Its that simple. And it stops midfield rotations. No wonder we struggle in the second half of games.

I'd say it's a mistake to pick three small forwards given that most of the second half was four talk forwards - Riewoldt, Lee, Stanley and McEvoy/Hickey. What are the smalls supposed to do then?

[Old Mate]

Too many smalls and too many talls. Milne, Milera and TDL shouldn't be in the same team neither should Stanley, Hickey and McEvoy.

[saintspremiers]

Too many smalls and too many talls. Milne, Milera and TDL shouldn't be in the same team neither should Stanley, Hickey and McEvoy.

Correct.

We have the choice of Dunnell, Ledger and Ross to come back next week.

[QuestionOfAccuracy]

Too many smalls and too many talls. Milne, Milera and TDL shouldn't be in the same team neither should Stanley, Hickey and McEvoy.

I agree, but he has already said that they want to get games into Hickey. So it seems he'll get played regardless of performance. Same with Lee if his body holds up.

Selection is 'compromised' at the minute by the fact that there certain players they want to pump game time into.

[Saintlester]

Agree with Plugger, Milera & TDL not up to AFL standard. Could we package Milera & Stanley to either of the Adelaide sides for a second rounder?

[patto]

Pretty hard to tell from the bar but Stanley left back to long IMO and if we play 3 smalls again i will spew up. Dont care that one was Sub. Milera and TDL are not AFL footballers. Its that simple. And it stops midfield rotations. No wonder we struggle in the second half of games.

Youve prettymuch summed up my thoughts.
Also his non-selection of TC/Ledger is starting to get on my nerves. Curren is one of my labourers mates and from what ive heard at work hes also starting to get quite frustrated also.

[dragit]

We've been saying the same thing all year & it's now round 16, I'm about to give this away....

We're essentially tanking with this small forward setup, maybe having saad too would have given us away.

Tell me we couldn't have done with any of wright, Webster, Simpkin, Dunell, Ledger or Curren last night.

[SaintWal]

Spot on.

Lack of midfield rotations is killing us late in games. Ross and Ledger for the rest of the year in place of TDL and Millera IMO and then run them through the centre as well.

Pretty hard to tell from the bar but Stanley left back to long IMO and if we play 3 smalls again i will spew up. Dont care that one was Sub. Milera and TDL are not AFL footballers. Its that simple. And it stops midfield rotations. No wonder we struggle in the second half of games.

[plugger66]

We've been saying the same thing all year & it's now round 16, I'm about to give this away....

We're essentially tanking with this small forward setup, maybe having saad too would have given us away.

Tell me we couldn't have done with any of wright, Webster, Simpkin, Dunell, Ledger or Curren last night.

We couldnt have done with wright, Simpkin, Dunnell,Ledger or Curran last night.

[Eastern]

Pretty hard to tell from the bar but Stanley left back to long IMO and if we play 3 smalls again i will spew up. Dont care that one was Sub. Milera and TDL are not AFL footballers. Its that simple. And it stops midfield rotations. No wonder we struggle in the second half of games.

I'm thinking that we should look really closely at BOTH Ledger & Curran next week. Although BOTH may have deficiencies, both have proven that they can play midfield AND kick goals, albeit at a lower level !!

[Junction Oval]

As Eastern said :

I'm thinking that we should look really closely at BOTH Ledger & Curran next week. Although BOTH may have deficiencies, both have proven that they can play midfield AND kick goals, albeit at a lower level !!

Yep, we need to see whether Ledger & Curren can play at AFL level - nothing to lose now. Clearly, lack of midfield rotations means that our guys are dead on their feet by the last quarter.

[patto]

I'm thinking that we should look really closely at BOTH Ledger & Curran next week. Although BOTH may have deficiencies, both have proven that they can play midfield AND kick goals, albeit at a lower level !!

Absolutely. Minor deficiencies maybe but time to see what they can give us. Even our champion captain has his deficiency of slotting the ball through the big sticks.

[joffaboy]

As Eastern said :

I'm thinking that we should look really closely at BOTH Ledger & Curran next week. Although BOTH may have deficiencies, both have proven that they can play midfield AND kick goals, albeit at a lower level !!

Yep, we need to see whether Ledger & Curren can play at AFL level - nothing to lose now. Clearly, lack of midfield rotations means that our guys are dead on their feet by the last quarter.

From what I saw yesterday for Sandy, Ledger, Curren, and Dunnell would be pushing for selection next week.

[gringo]

I still think he's playing guys for the future not the win on the day. He is offering a competitive brand while still fast tracking development. I'm not worried about too many types playing as he just needs to get games into players ATM. We are stepping back to leap forward in a couple of years with out being humiliated by a lack of effort.

The team needs probably 2 big defenders is my thinking and a couple of really good future mids to compliment the young ones we have building up ATM.

[Junction Oval]

Gringo said :

The team needs probably 2 big defenders is my thinking and a couple of really good future mids to compliment the young ones we have building up ATM.

Yep - go get em Gringo

[patto]

From what I saw yesterday for Sandy, Ledger, Curren, and Dunnell would be pushing for selection next week.

Would agree from what i could see on the TV but im still not filled with confidence that TC/Ledger will get a lookin again for whatever reason they havnt to date.

[bigcarl]

Simpkin should have played at full back. Yes he's giving away height, but at least he is a proper defender. I don't like Stanley on the last line.

Also agree three small forwards is killing the midfield rotations.

[gringo]

Gringo said :

The team needs probably 2 big defenders is my thinking and a couple of really good future mids to compliment the young ones we have building up ATM.

Yep - go get em Gringo

A guy at my kids footy match today he's heard contract had been offered to both Browns and a couple of contingencies. He's a Saints fan and says he knows a few blokes at the club but can't vouch for him.

I would be looking at guys like Nick Rodda even as a back up FB if the one we get goes down. Otherwise try getting Jaksche or Mohr or Corr from GWS just like their forwards one will need to go to get opportunity. They also have a guy called Josh Bruce and Phil Davis etc.

Plenty of competition for spots, should offer up a third rounder for Mohr and a second rounder for one of the others, just to sound them out while getting into the ears of the players about future opportunities.

[BigMart]

Watters is responsible for both Selection and GD tactics

He did poorly on both counts for this game

[tweedaletomanning]

Watters is responsible for both Selection and GD tactics

He did poorly on both counts for this game

Have to disagree, if his objective is to try and get us the earliest draft pick possible, without looking like tanking,

Then I say he is doing a very good job.

[skeptic]

Have to disagree, if his objective is to try and get us the earliest draft pick possible, without looking like tanking,

Then I say he is doing a very good job.

I'm inclined to agree

I think he's trying to get draft picks by playing kids but has persevered with some seniority in order to demonstrate he is not out and out tanking

[Junction Oval]

Skeptic said :

I think he's trying to get draft picks by playing kids but has persevered with some seniority in order to demonstrate he is not out and out tanking

He must be a good actor. I was in a good position last night to watch SW at the 1/4 & 3/4 time breaks. His animation and intensity at the breaks certainly indicated that he thought that we could win.

[bigcarl]

He must be a good actor. I was in a good position last night to watch SW at the 1/4 & 3/4 time breaks. His animation and intensity at the breaks certainly indicated that he thought that we could win.

We're not going to win anything while our backline is leaking like a sieve and we're being monstered by opposition tall forwards. And while our midfield is bereft of rotations because we continue to play two soft and one dimensional small forwards.

Our structure is stuffed. We have no full back or centre half back.