St Kilda's Dangermen

[Bulldog Revolution]

For me it's Goddard and Dalsanto

If we can limit their influence and our best players provide some drive then I think we can win

Cross/Boyd should be able to break even with Hayes, and Jones will presumably tag Cooney

Who are the primary dangermen you want to see curtailed?

[The Coon Dog]

Picken did a sterling job on Sherman last light. He goes to Montagna for me.

[LostDoggy]

I expect Cooney to give Jones a bath, he has returned to terrific form.

We need someone to really make Goddard accountable, punish them on the scoreboard early.

[LostDoggy]

Dangermen? Hmm...Riewoltd, Dal Santo, Goddard, Farre.....haha yeh nah, better stop there

[Stefcep]

The key will be St Kilda's defense and our forwards. For all the talk about Riewoldt and Kossie, their strength lies in their ability to stop teams scoring, rather than their forwards dominating. The delivery to our forwards will have to be precise, out in front and we have to avoid kicking to a contest, we just don't have forwards with the marking power to compete. If we can kick 13 goals we will win. Thats only a little over 3 per quarter, its doable.

[cede nullis]

For me it's Goddard and Dalsanto

If we can limit their influence and our best players provide some drive then I think we can win

Cross/Boyd should be able to break even with Hayes, and Jones will presumably tag Cooney

Who are the primary dangermen you want to see curtailed?

Suggested by a doggie supporter on radio SEN this morning that we needed to tag Goddard. Brereton supported Higgins for the role
Lock down centre clearnces. I cannot see that the doggies "blocking" to allow cooney. Ward does it at times, sometimes Boyd but we need to take out Hayes and Del Santo from the centre clearances.

[bornadog]

For me it's Goddard and Delsanto

Agree. need to stop Goddards influence on the game. He wil be the hardest to match up on.

[mjp]

Don't let there defenders work together...we have to separate Fisher from everyone else. If Goddard plays back, he needs an assigned opponent.

There is a thing they are doing to defend the post-up handball (1-2 using a stationary first receiver) that we could take advantage of as well...not sure if it can be taught though.

[DOG GOD]

Everything starts from their defense with the run they generate. Goddard, Fisher and Gilbert are the keys that we have to put a stop to. Goddard HAS to be tagged and i agree that Higgins could be the man, similar to his role against Milburn last pre-lim.

[anfo27]

Everything starts from their defense with the run they generate. Goddard, Fisher and Gilbert are the keys that we have to put a stop to. Goddard HAS to be tagged and i agree that Higgins could be the man, similar to his role against Milburn last pre-lim.

Agree with that, those 3 are very important and we have to stop their run out of defence. We have to at least match their tackling intensity in we are to have any chance. Goddard has had son much footy against in the past.

[Dry Rot]

All good points above but most objective footy fans would have us as the clear underdog.

To win, we need to do stuff like that previously mentioned, pull a few surprises out, have everyone on and make a brilliant start.

On paper, Saints should win but I wonder whether the break will really do them some good.

Seems that when they rested players they didn't fire properly after that and despite whatever we do I think we need something surprisingly bad to happen on the Saints side for a Dogs win. If the break brings some rustiness to them, then we really have to play out of our skins for the first 2 quarters and have them playing catch up footy and have niggling self doubts.

But if we have one of our nervous or non-switched on starts, then we'll be stuffed IMO.

BTW, any news on Goddard's fitness? IIRC, he looked to be injured in the Pies game.

[lemmon]

Kosi could be a wild card with our relatively short back line

[boydogs]

Fisher, Goddard and Riewoldt
I would bring Josh Hill back, hoping he has got the message that he needs to stop the opposition defense from clearing the ball away easily. Stopping all 3 will be a team effort - all the forward 6 need to work to lock the ball in, and it will take multiple defenders over the course of the game given Riewoldt's tank to curtail his influence

[bulldogtragic]

Fisher, Goddard and Riewoldt
I would bring Josh Hill back, hoping he has got the message that he needs to stop the opposition defense from clearing the ball away easily. Stopping all 3 will be a team effort - all the forward 6 need to work to lock the ball in, and it will take multiple defenders over the course of the game given Riewoldt's tank to curtail his influence
On his game today, his 2009 season has finished. Absolutely horrible game by him, he almost looked like he was sulking all game such was my reading of his body language.

[boydogs]

On his game today, his 2009 season has finished. Absolutely horrible game by him, he almost looked like he was sulking all game such was my reading of his body language.

Not good. With a spot in our prelim final side on the line I would have expected better. With the average age of our forwardline, a switched on Hill is vital for defensive pressure. Need Johnno, Murph et al to step up now

[The Bulldogs Bite]

All good points above but most objective footy fans would have us as the clear underdog.

To win, we need to do stuff like that previously mentioned, pull a few surprises out, have everyone on and make a brilliant start.

But if we have one of our nervous or non-switched on starts, then we'll be stuffed IMO.

A real key.

We need to put the pressure on St. Kilda, ratehr than it being the other way around. A good start is imperative. The Saints have fallen over in a few PF's themselves so I think it's a great opportunity for our boys to apply the mental pressure from the get go.

If we start poorly (ala QF v Geelong) then we're going to struggle badly.

It all begins in the midfield with the clearances and stoppages. Must get on top of them early.

[FrediKanoute]

I think we'll try to make the Saints defenders more accountable and place pressure on them by moving Harbrow from defence to the forward line. Callan played well enough yesterday to suggest that he could take one of the Saints small forwards (most likely Milne). Having Harbrow in attack adds a bit of electric pace into the area and means that they guy marking him has something to think about.

Would give some thought to dropping Welsh as well, but I really am 50-50 on this. ON one hand he hasn't played well, but then as a defender he does read the play pretty well and gets himself into good positions. The problem is his disposal sometimes lets him down.

[dog town]

Don't let there defenders work together...we have to separate Fisher from everyone else. If Goddard plays back, he needs an assigned opponent.

There is a thing they are doing to defend the post-up handball (1-2 using a stationary first receiver) that we could take advantage of as well...not sure if it can be taught though. Can you elaborate further on this MJP? I understand the post up handball but how are they defending it. It is something we do quite a bit so that would be pretty important.

For me the main part of the game I worry about is getting through their defensive zone. If they push up on us and try and keep us in our defensive 50 as they have done so well all season I want to see how we A) go about getting it through there and B) whether we can get it through there and still have an effective forward structure to kick to once through. No point getting through it if we are kicking hopefully to Johnson against his direct opponent plus Fisher and another defender.

I think centre bounces will be a big factor as well. Would love the chance to get there defenders one out straight out of the middle.

We simply wont kick 15-20 goals. The focus has to be on finding a way to kicking our 12-14 and defending well enough to keep them under that. Not sure what they are going to do with Reiwoldt.

[Bulldog Revolution]

Picken to Montagna seems a likely move

Fisher is one board members feel we need to target - who is the man for him?

Who are we thinking on Dalsanto - Boyd?

With Cross to take Hayes?