Well it seems we may have made anohter super recruitment blunder with Watson McCarthy Mitchell and no mids in there...can understand the thinking at the time. Hindsight says it was a blunder of perhaps epic proportions. 1 of them at least should be treading 20 games now I would have thought. Apart from the potential of Bell we have nothing coming through from NB - that hurts the most.

I think this is an over reaction saying he has been cruising for 50 games. So for the last 2 years he has been cruising? I disagree. I thought he was quite good last season, particularly toward the end of it and he was missed in the WCE final.

I just think this season he is disappointing to say the least. Maybe dont drop him this week, but he needs a talking to. Maybe a shift in position would be suitable for him. But there's no more excuses for Gibbs.

He shouldn't be in the "contributed" section of the team. He should be in the "won the match" section of the team with his other highly regarded team members.

Agree about Thornton, at least he is a marking option. Something we didnt have last night. Waite played too far up the ground yet again and when the ball did come into our forward line, which was more often than St Kilda did, there was noone to mark or make a contest. He must be pretty frustrated.

3 out of his last 4 weeks have been bad but he was very good against Richmond, Brisbane, Collingwood and Freo.

Terrible last night, no good against the Bombers and had a good second half against GWS and an average 1st half.
He wont get dropped. He will be asked to find something and lift after last night. He will be a professional and knuckle down and work hard to try to recapture his early season form.
I am betting he will have plenty more top games this season.

Really no surprises with that performance.

Once again showed the problems that are holding us back, no it's not the coach.

Key factors

-Mindset, too flat too often. Not playing the precentages. Too lazy. No chasing.

-Soft, no other word for it. Essendon* set the tone, Hawthorn have done it to us for years, bottom line, we're scared and a statement needs to be made. Nothing stupid or "Line in the Sand" type all-in (Although it might not hurt) but at least show you won't be pushed around

-Talk is cheap. All week we heard about how filthy they were with the performance against GWS, we hear about "cracking in" and "raring to go" Who cares? Show it on the field!

-Selection. The same guys are going to be dropped and that leads to the complacencey. We know that Russell, Bower and Joseph will get dropped because they're always the first out (Along with Thornton). Bryce Gibbs needs to be dropped. His form this year has been poor. He gives us nothing off half back (no run), he never looks tired or spent like he's not willing to pay a price for victory. His disposal is unacceptable. For his last 50 games he's been cruising. Dropping him makes a statement and shows that nobody is safe if they don't perform.
Thornton is in our best 22, he can play both ends, he presents well and he's got good hands.

- Small things, A key moment in the game last night, Rhys Stanley took a mark on the 50 and Hampson told Judd to stand the mark so he could go to the goal line. Judd refused and stood doubled over taking a breather about 10 metres away. Not good enough from the captain and sets a very bad example. Judd was our best last night but no excuse for that no matter how tired you are. Small things that don't appear on stats sheets like standing the mark with one hand on your hip (Gibbs again), or running to close to the man on the mark when shooting for goal, point to a poor attitude.

Another concern long term is the lack of draft picks 30-70 from recent drafts who look like long term prospects. Our luck with the rookie list has masked some ordinary recruiting in recent years.

Can someone please tell Kruze and Hammer to actually tap it to one of their own players? The number of times their hit outs went straight into Haye's or Del Santo's hands was laughable; hence why we won the hit-out stat, but failed the clearance stat. If our strength is in our speed, then sometimes we need to think about the strategy that Fremantle employ with Sandi where he just punches the ball forward 20-30m into space where there is no congestion. I noticed we only did that a couple of times last night when we should've done it alot more and exposed St Kilda's lack of pace on the outside from stoppages.

Bad, bad loss, mainly because it shows the improvement is not as much as I'd hoped. I suspect that until we have a CHF and an extractor or two in the midfield to help Judd and Murph we will struggle to take the next step. That Brock has not been able to fill that role as the extractor and the talls we recruited have not become CHF's (yet?) means while I think many things about this side are better, the weaknesses are the same as last year and the year before. I'd be happy to take a step or two back, play some players other than the same 25 we rotate through, and try and find the answers.

I understand that the injuries to talls mean we may be stuck without a CHF but lets try some things that are different. Give some other players a chance. Perhaps try to develop players we need to play them - even those we think not ready etc.

Bluevain mentioned in the match thread how our ruckmen need to mix it up a bit. When you have such ruck dominance it becomes very predictable to the opposition - see Sandilands. Hayes is just about best in the league at sharking opposition hitouts. Hampson likes to use his right hand to softly hit it left at centre bounces. As BV mentioned, get more distance on the hitout...instead of hitting it within a few metres radius, hit it further...make it unpredictable.

Bluevain mentioned in the match thread how our ruckmen need to mix it up a bit. When you have such ruck dominance it becomes very predictable to the opposition - see Sandilands. Hayes is just about best in the league at sharking opposition hitouts. Hampson likes to use his right hand to softly hit it left at centre bounces. As BV mentioned, get more distance on the hitout...instead of hitting it within a few metres radius, hit it further...make it unpredictable.

Wow. The reaction is worse than the Bomber game. I felt that the game against Collingwood told us as much about our strengths as our weaknesses. How would we go when we didn't easily win every centre square, when our defence was under real pressure and our forwards didn't get good delivery?

Our weaknesses have been shown up. Done by the Bombers and Saints and lucky to beat Freeo. Waite is a handy third tall but not a power forward. Big K and Hammo are rucks not forwards. Sure, rest them up there, but they are not key forwards. We have never taken a big bodied mid in the ND - that may just be because they weren't available, but we don't have a Jordan Lewis/Heath Hocking type. We went after Brock and the Swans went after Kennedy. They got it right, we didn't.

Stats Ratts needs to start watching the games and being in control not sitting at the back of the dugout watching the interchanges. Sides seem to have worked us out. We need to turn ruck dominance into possession. Jammo is looking just workmanlike. JR has gone backwards. Gibbs is neat and clean, but very outside and doesn't change matches. We have been passed by the Bombers and WCE and maybe Adelaide. We should have been aiming for a grand final not top four, that was very marginal improvement. If we continue to be ahead of sides we were ahead of last year then we are progressing, if they get to us or pass us, that is not enough progress. Lucky Taylor Walker is out next week, our defence is struggling. Juddy is still carrying us on his shoulders. TBird may come in but that is just deck chairs on the Titanic. I can't see Warnock helping much, we won most of the hitouts last night anyway. Give Collins a go. I know he won't help much with hard ball gets, but I'd like to see if he has anything to offer. Apart from Yarran is there much to come back in the next few weeks?

Henderson said last night's loss reflected more on where St Kilda were in their development under Watters than any major chinks in Carlton's armoury

3 out of his last 4 weeks have been bad but he was very good against Richmond, Brisbane, Collingwood and Freo.

Terrible last night, no good against the Bombers and had a good second half against GWS and an average 1st half.
He wont get dropped. He will be asked to find something and lift after last night. He will be a professional and knuckle down and work hard to try to recapture his early season form.
I am betting he will have plenty more top games this season.

It's OK everyone, just relax.

St Kilda, it seems, are the real deal. We lost to a genuine flag threat by just 4 goals.

http://www.theage.com.au/afl/afl-news/s ... 1yo7a.html



Really?