Micky Milkshake on Ratts

[bangaulegend]

Not a Malthouse fan but I think some of his comments were pretty accurate don't agree with all of them but he's entitled to his opinion like we all are

[Teflon]

I agree with Malthouse
Sides get a run on against us we are not strong defensively and our mids can get caught out
If Ratts can add some of that lockdown defensive mindset when we don’t have the footy it’ll help stop the top sides (see Cats) getting and continuing on a roll against us

[Saintmatt]

Agree that the absence of Hannebery, Gresham and Dunstan is hurting

Simply we are denied the flexibility of rotations because none of our “small forwards” are capable of giving a chop out

Butler I would excuse because his asset is his ability to score

The remainder only jag a goal every now or then so not dangerous forward and not able to rotate thru the midfield

Gresham and Hannebery are able to go forward and hit the scoreboard

Career statistics for Ross show he has no impact on the scorecard (remember Gram kicking 4 off half back?)

Dunstan is ahead of Ross for scoreboard contribution

We need class mids who can go forward and cause problems for the opposition whilst the likes of Gresham take a turn in the midfield

Our defence is our jewel - and will get far better with time

Our wings are good with Hill and Billings (yes, Billings)

Our rucks with Ryder and chop outs from Marshall are good

Marshall, King and Membrey is an attack with good potential - if not great even

So what does that leave?

Noting currently we are missing Hannebery, Gresham and Dunstan

Bytel and Byrnes are young with their futures ahead of them

Spot on ToT.

We're carrying one too many small forwards.

Can't have Kent, Hind and Butler in the same team. Butler picks himself.
I'd rather we play a mid type instead but we're lacking in that area.

True enough. Of the fit mids we have left .. only Langlands is a natural goal kicker. Byrnes is that too but he’s far too light at present.

[Moods]

That's utter bullsh!t. Billings gets back plenty well defensively. He plays the role of a modern wingman well and sweeps back to give the half backs support - Same with Hill. But Jack's presently horribly out of form.. The most effective exponent is Menagola at Geelong.

Defensive running is not just about midfielders - it's about how you structure your forwards when the ball goes in. Mick is right when he says we leave the corridor wide open - it's a function of wanting to switch into the corridor to attack to the top of the goal square (where we've kicked the majority of our easy goals from this year). The flip side is that your forwards have to sit deep to get front and square which means if the ball doesn't stay in the forward line repeatedly (or we kick a goal) then it flushes out quickly because there's not much of a line of defence at half forward to slow the ball movement into the corridor. Once it gets there - good luck midfielders - nothing will stop a tsunami of overlap run.

Our problem is that our 3.5 midfielders (Steele, Jones, Ross and a bit of Sinclair) never get a chop out and have to play the entire game as mids. We have no depth and hence, can't rotate through what we don't have. Put Gresham and Hanneberry (as mids resting forward or vice versa) into Saturday's team and (a) our midfield looks way stronger and more functional); (b) our entries to F50 are cleaner and more likely to result in a score; and (c) the ball isn't spitting back out like a pinball if we don't score.

He doesn't play the role well enough to be paid 800k.
That size pay packet is usually reserved for players who stand up in big games and finals, are match winners and are players who fans pay money just to watch exclusively. I doubt Jack is even on the radar of opposition fans he's that inconspicuous.

It's only my opinion, clearly because I type it out, but Billings is a down hill skier and refuses to roll up the sleaves and get dirty when the team needs him.

He's been in the system for 7 years now and I can't see him turning into a player that is deserving of 800k

I have no idea whether he's on $800K or $600K - who knows ... do you? Would it matter if he was on $600K instead of $800k? The average AFL player salary is $371K. Is Jack worth double the average player salary? Absolutely - he's comfortably twice as good as an 'average' player. Comparatively - Jack Martin is on $800K as well. FFS - I'd much rather Billings' output than Jack Martin's.

Who cares whether a player is on the radar of opposition fans? What has that got to do with a player's output. Personally, I'd quite happy have 22 Shane Ellen's flying under the opposition fans' radar running amok on GF day.

What's your definition of 'roll your sleeves up'? Gut running, putting your head over it, goalkicking, 1%'s ? I'd say he's been excellent in all of those areas this year except the last two games where he's played 1 good quarter out of 8. If you're getting sucked into the Billings v Bontempelli thing well, 17 other teams got that wrong too.

As for your "deserving of 800K" comment - that's plainly myopic. Deserving has got nothing to do with how much a player gets paid. It's about time and circumstance of both player and club. Did Hanners deserve what he's getting paid? Nope - probably not but, we wanted/needed a name and no one else would come so, he got overs. Did Reece Conca deserve more than Dusty in 2013 when both were out of contract? Of course not - but in a genuis piece of player management, Reece committed whilst Dusty was touring GWS and got most of the coin that was set aside for him.

Billings has been out of form longer than 8 quarters. Hasn't played well for 4 games. basically since the cats. I can't recall before then.

[minneapolis]

Good observation, reckon Mick is spot on.

Trev I like you and your posts but Mick is just saying cliches to fill up a column to receive money from the Hun.

[The_President]

Agree that the absence of Hannebery, Gresham and Dunstan is hurting

Simply we are denied the flexibility of rotations because none of our “small forwards” are capable of giving a chop out

Butler I would excuse because his asset is his ability to score

The remainder only jag a goal every now or then so not dangerous forward and not able to rotate thru the midfield

Gresham and Hannebery are able to go forward and hit the scoreboard

Career statistics for Ross show he has no impact on the scorecard (remember Gram kicking 4 off half back?)

Dunstan is ahead of Ross for scoreboard contribution

We need class mids who can go forward and cause problems for the opposition whilst the likes of Gresham take a turn in the midfield

Our defence is our jewel - and will get far better with time

Our wings are good with Hill and Billings (yes, Billings)

Our rucks with Ryder and chop outs from Marshall are good

Marshall, King and Membrey is an attack with good potential - if not great even

So what does that leave?

Noting currently we are missing Hannebery, Gresham and Dunstan

Bytel and Byrnes are young with their futures ahead of them

Spot on ToT.

We're carrying one too many small forwards.

Can't have Kent, Hind and Butler in the same team. Butler picks himself.
I'd rather we play a mid type instead but we're lacking in that area.

True enough. Of the fit mids we have left .. only Langlands is a natural goal kicker. Byrnes is that too but he’s far too light at present.

Earlier in the year Steele rested forward a couple of times and took decent marks in the goalsquare. That was when Hanners and Gresh were both playing though.

[Trev from the Bush]

Good observation, reckon Mick is spot on.

Trev I like you and your posts but Mick is just saying cliches to fill up a column to receive money from the Hun.

That's your opinion and you're welcome to it. So, tell us if Mick is wrong.

[spert]

It's pretty obvious to me that our poor half forward/ midfield defensive pressure has been a reason for our close losses, and also the Freo loss- the centre corridor is the easiest route home for the opposition against the Saints. A lot of this is tactical/structure work and it falls in Ratt's lap. We won games through all out fast attack, but once we lose possession forward of centre, we're cooked...we put all our eggs in one basket. This puts our backline under a lot of pressure, and thankfully they are doing an OK job.

[minneapolis]

Good observation, reckon Mick is spot on.

Trev I like you and your posts but Mick is just saying cliches to fill up a column to receive money from the Hun.

That's your opinion and you're welcome to it. So, tell us if Mick is wrong.

"Brett Ratten, 49, played 255 games with Carlton, won three best-and-fairests and a premiership. He coached Carlton for six seasons and I am sincerely rapt that he has been given a second chance with St Kilda. He has done the hard yards and been through the high and lows of coaching, which will work to his advantage. His players appear to love his style.

The Saints recruited brilliantly over the summer and younger players like Josh Battle and Hunter Clark have jumped ahead.

With fantastic speed, the Saints are playing good team football. The backline is reasonably solid, and the forward line can be dangerous. Young Max King will have his ups and downs early in his career, but by playing two ruckmen — Paddy Ryder and Rowan Marshall — Marshall can play forward to support King.

With the league’s best stopper, Jack Steele, in its midfield, the Saints will dominate weaker teams, but they are highly susceptible to the top clubs.

No side leaves the corridor gate open like St Kilda and that’s due to the unaccountability and work rate of the midfield. It is the Saints’ Achilles heel. If it tightens up and stops the opposition from waltzing through the middle, then they are genuine contenders, but there’s not a lot of games left to cement that play.

Ratten tends to coach from the boundary which is good for getting a feel for the game. But you are stifled from seeing general play, so he may need to view the game from the coaches’ box, not in replay, to see more.

St Kilda supporters are clinging to the hope that their team will play finals. Destiny is in its own hands. Ratten needs to look at the losses to the top sides where it will be obvious where the main issue is, and address it. Then the Saints could do some serious damage come October.

It is difficult enough to coach without all the obstacles they’ve faced this season.

The football world does not take prisoners. It is brutal. The system itself will judge you. You are judged by supporters and the media. The players unconsciously judge you. And unfortunately your board judges you too.

A coach cannot be worried about outside noise. As time goes on, wins are celebrated for five minutes and losses last until the next chance for redemption.

But the art of coaching is intoxicating. To plan and execute and help your team win games of football, especially against more fancied opponents, is incredible, from your first season to your last. I hope they all remember that, and enjoy it.

The part in yellow is more than 80% of the article and it is all background filler.

The part in red just fluff. Malthouse coached from the boundary himself. There are senior coaches and line coaches in the box and a telephone on the bench.

The part in bold is the only part that analyzes our game (two sentences) and it is not factual. Melbourne, North and Hawks (at least) were criticised for leaving the middle open. In fact, we were praised for defending the middle of the ground this year. When we were beaten by Geelong it was not the middle of the ground that was the problem - they beat us everywhere and seldom got thru the middle.

I hope that at least partially explains my previous comment.

Most of the contents of the Hun are specifically designed to be lowest common denominator. Malthouse is doing what he is paid for. And I would guess that he didn't write it but just talked to a staff member on the phone. I may be wrong on that.

To your question, yes he is wrong. We need to improve our forward entry more than anything else if we are a chance to win finals games. Secondly we need to improve our disposal accuracy. Both of those are more important than defending the middle of the ground.

Cheers.