Match Thread v Power JLT Round 1

[Wayne42]

Hard to tell where we are at after that performance, lucky for us Port are crap, especially because Hinkley no longer has a quality Right Hand man like Richo and is slowy being exposed as a dud.

[degruch]

In a nutshell - underwhelming after 4 months of pre season training

...5 months of post-season training and this is the best you can come up with? You've got 5 weeks before the season starts, no long bombing into attack, I want to see some concise posting!!!

[Ape_Man]

I was pretty happy with tonight.

1st Quarter was on point. We gave a glimpse of what we can do. After that was some experimentation and holding back. That is almost exactly what I wanted to see.

Was difficult to not get frustrated after that, but looking back it makes more sense. Playing on nearly every chance even when it was obvious it was the wrong decision I think was to show the team what can happen when a poor decision is made. It looked to me as if the players had no choice but to play on at every stage.

The video reviews could be invaluable. Even if to just provide a wide screen view of what is happening around any given moment. Highlight the importance of listening and learning to trust your teammates.

Almost perfect initial hit out in my opinion. Live and learn.

[Devilhead]

A few of our guns were rested after half time and I did like the way that we shot out of the blocks and that we kept Port to under 20pts for the 1st half

People need to keep in mind that these are practice games that said it is bit problematic that we had close to a ridiculous 30 clangers kicks but that hot out should have blown out a few cobwebs

We won by 1pt as well which is a great omen for things to come

[Winmar]

As others have said, the first quarter was great, but the following three quarters were less so. What annoyed me was the inability to get possession in the forward half, so a lot of inside 50s were bombs. Also a few times when midfielders did have it in their hands around centre they would look up and see no teammates in front of them. In the old days Plugger would have been flying towards them from the goalsquare.

[Pwoit]

Look, we'll bank the 4 points and move on to next week.
Go Saints

[dsav]

Photo album now up.
http://www.davesavell.com/p365213739

Dave.
@SavellDave

[WellardSaint]

Preseason is all about building a fitness and strength base, they are the absolute priority.
Dunstan getting stronger in the shoulder, etc.
Skills take a back seat and hardly get a look in.
These mickey-mouse games are one step up from an intra-club game at Seaford
which are not as intense as a game against another team.
Round One is far enough away- 30 days, that proper skills sessions will be ramped up and pushed to the fore,
and the fitness and strength work will be done regularly, but not really as prominent.
How many goals were missed by both sides, from right in front?
Everybody is rusty. Boy, was the quality shite, but to be expected.

32 days to go.
We'll be different against the Chardonnay sippers on Mar 25.

[Griggsy]

Lol funny thread.

Perspective, last season a team won all three preseason games. all 3 losers made finals, the winner did not, that's how important it is.

[saintbob]

Hickey was horrible, McCartin was ordinary and Lonie's just isn't up to it.

Steven, Carlisle, Roberton, Dunstan and Billings were all good.

Stevens and Steele will need time to adapt to our game plan, but will both be in the 22 come Rnd 1.

[DJ Higgins]

You can't base the upcoming season on one performance but last night wasn't good.

* I expected better skills and more accurate disposals. There was less handballing behind a running player which meant for quicker ball movement which was awesome but a few times we ran all the way up to the goals but no one was ready to shot for goal
* Brown is big and solid but appeared slow at times. One play a port player ran around him as if he was standing still
* Jack Steven was incredibly disappointing. Not his game, that was great and in our top 5 from only half a game, but his hair style. WTF? Then Again Roo looked a bit peaky blinders for me as well
* Jake Carisle. Welcome big fella, nice first hit out and great to see Dempster and Gilbo have some more freedom to run although Gilbo needs to up his disposal efficiency
* Jack Lonie VFL level for me
* Forwards went missing for most the game after first quarter
* Billings looked good again and giving the new Saints time to adapt to our style
* Went back to long bombs into fifty in the second half which was sad to see
* Guys looked spent in fourth where as Port looked fresher so that is a concern

Ok for a first hit out but not great. Next game throw in some first years as well as Jack Sinclair & Acres

[Toy Saint]

At the game last night and it seemed we had no forward structure after 1/4 time. Thought Paddy was dissapointing, but he spent a lot of time with the mob in our backline...perhaps I sound old from a bygone era...but I reckon if we had forwards in the forward line leading toward the ball carrier we'd be a much better team..

[Beno88]

To me it seemed like one of those games where it's late February and neither side had played for six months.

[saynta]

Impressive 1st quarter, rest of game, not so good.

Good game from no 7.

A win by one point is much better than a loss.

[freely]

In a nutshell - underwhelming after 4 months of pre season training

...5 months of post-season training and this is the best you can come up with? You've got 5 weeks before the season starts, no long bombing into attack, I want to see some concise posting!!!

[saynta]

An unbiased perspective.

http://www.heraldsun.com.au/sport/afl/s ... 85bcdf194f


IF you thought Nick Riewoldt was about to slow down, think again.

If Saturday night’s performance is any indication, the most expensive forward in SuperCoach will be well worth the $549,500 price tag.

The ageless Saint compiled 14 disposals, six marks and a goal assist in just 67 per cent game time for 70 SuperCoach points.



Playing mostly on a wing and floating back to half-back, there seems no reason Riewoldt can’t replicate his outstanding form from 2016 when he averaged 101.

There was also plenty to like from fellow Saints Luke Dunstan (119), David Armitage (109) and breakout contenders Seb Ross (94) and Jack Billings (83).

Elsewhere, Jack Steele (50) played just 35 per cent game time and Koby Stevens (51) logged 69 per cent time on ground.

[Life Long Saint]

Just a few things for people to remember...
1. It's only February!
2. It's only February!
3. It's only February!
4. We're much better than we were this time last season.

[kosifantutti]

If Saturday night’s performance is any indication,

A great start to the article. Do they know what day it is at the Herald Sun?

[skeptic]

Sounds like they experimented a bit

[Bluthy]

They call these things scratch matches for a reason - pretty scratchy. And there is an element of players holding back a bit not wanting to get hurt with nothing on the line.

Great first quarter with fast ball movement caught Port off guard. Players obviously instructed to play on at all costs, and lots of handball, even handball for the sake of it a bit Thompson-era Geelong style to create dynamism and different angles. I think Richo's trademark will be fast ball movement. The worry is if you don't have the players skilled enough to pull of fast, kamikaze style movement and they start bobbling it or turning it over. In the last few quarters we had few players who could make creative, accurate decisions under pressure but it should get better

Billings has that high level footy intelligence to get the ball out in packs and find big play making gaps. But he was one of the few. My worry is we lack skilled, creative players with really good disposal. Gresham has that capability but was bombing a bit last night - hopefully he can lower his eyes as he gets used to AFL. Dunstan played well - found some gaps up forward. Stevens looked ok in parts, likewise Steele. Steven was his explosive self with shocking disposal but hopefully is just getting his top gear speed timing right.

Ross and Newnes don't impress me with their disposal as everyone else. For me they take the obvious option too much - which is sometimes a sideways kick that is accurate but doesn't really open things up.

You see why we use Joey at the back. Last night we had almost no one who could hit targets from the back. Savage kicks long but doesn't hit enough targets. Robbo is a bit the same but is starting to read the ball really well getting tonnes of it again. For me Roberton is starting to do Dempsters role. He is providing great defensive cover and intercept marking and maybe making Dempsters role redundant. Plus you have Gilbo and even Roo providing defensive height cover - it seems to much to me.

I would be looking at fast tracking White as a half-back. He is a great kick, will give us real penetration from the back and let us keep the ball. Otherwise our backline could be quite flat. I'm not as convinced about Mckenzie as everyone else. He's a goer, gives some line breaking but often see him spray it. But he's got the fitness that Richo loves for his players to get up and back all game.

Carlisle impressed me with his marking, agility and even his kicking. I feel pretty confident when he's got the ball and he will go for his marks. Will need time to really get a feel for the field back and get that balance of defence and attack (pushed very high forward a few times) and become a dominator for us.

Lonie tried hard but he tends to bounce off players in congestion. And he seems to have lost that ability to pinpoint passes in the forward line that I loved about him when he joined us. Just blindy kicks it a lot now. But then again a lot of our players did that last night - route one footy - kick it high into the forward line to give the defenders maximum time to get back - not smart. Lonie also tends to be too static up forward. There was one play where he should have lead out to the pocket which would have opened up space for the others but he just stands there clogging up space.

The forwards looked like they were going 75% maybe by instruction to not get hurt and maybe training loads. There wasn't the normal movement and leading but the ball delivery in was terrible.

Port were the much more skillful team after quarter time. They can kick the ball really well and kept possession. But don't seem to have much of a system. We relied on movement and pressure and effort which I think will become our trademarks. Worries me we aren't putting a high premium on keeping the footy.

I guess you got to remember they are pretty experimental in these games and are trying different things and could be effected by training loads and instructions not to get too banged up with a long, important season ahead. Things tighten up a lot in the real stuff.

[bigcarl]

No Acres? WTF? Is AR sending him another message like last year?

Hmmmm. Broke a team rule again? Or maybe he's been demoted down the pecking order.

[prwilkinson]

Was a funny match to watch live. They'll be better for the run. Def. trying a few different things. Hard to take a lot from praccy matches. In 2009... Port smashed us by 85 points in our last scratch match, we then went on to win 18 straight. Jake is going to be a beauty for us. Looks really hungry too.

[Bluthy]

No Acres? WTF? Is AR sending him another message like last year?

Hmmmm. Broke a team rule again? Or maybe he's been demoted down the pecking order.

Could just be a load issue or had a niggle or something. But ACres does strike me as someone who wouldn't impress you in the preseason - he's got this laconic, don't-seem-too-really-care style that would clash with like Weller & Geary smashing every training session. In the intra-club from what I saw he looked like a VFL reserves player, lost and not able to get in the play.

But where Acres comes into his own is the congested, lock-down game of the real season. That's when he will switch on and use his big body to barn-storm his way through tackles and use his x-factor and ability to read the game at a different level. I mean is all they care about fitness and who is training the house down? What about good old-fashioned talent and also players who bring something different to the team? You need x-factor and guys who can do the extraordinary and unexpected. Lot of AFL robots drilled in stock standard AFL decision making via hours of video brain-washing. But those who crack up the game and open the play up have something different inherent in them, which I reckon Blake does

[White Winmar]

He was a tad ordinary in the intra club game. Maybe AR gave him a reminder he has to earn his spot. I'm sure he has a bit of "Mark Waugh Syndrome". Looks like he's always coasting but is fiercely competitive. Dal suffered the same sorts of criticism early on in RL's tenure. Looks like Acres might have been saving himself for the real stuff. Message sent. I hope it has been well received. A fit and firing Blacres is exactly what we need.

[spert]

In hindsight, the JLT match was only a warm-up, and we won by playing one quarter of good footy and holding on...something top teams tend to do..

Not impressed with the forward line at all last night- a nice few goals early from Membrey, but forwards all played from behind and waited for the easy ball, which was cleared mostly by the Port backs. No obvious system.

Still bombing the ball into the forward line- Armo a bit if a culprit here, but I guess, no forwards wanted to lead, so no options.

Gresh has the makings of a midfielder, and he and Dustan showed glimpses of real class with ball in hand.

Carlise and Brown are good pickups no doubt.

Tackling was poor, and many tackles that should have stuck didn't.

I expect Acres to come in for DMac, who has a way to go yet.