Our Final game, our

[Ghost Dog]

There are going to be a few types of supporters

1. Those who think we were beaten by a far better team
2. Those that think we were just beaten on the day.Played again, we may have done the job.
3. Those who think we were outcoached
4. Those that think with Adam in or a better run with injuries, we would have gone further

Or a combination of one of the above.

So what's your view of the final game in one sentence?

In summary, final game 2010: Valiant effort by injury hit team, ground down by a better rested playing group.

That's my two cents anyway.Cooney, such a huge out.

[chef]

We blew it in the third quarter.

[FrediKanoute]

We blew it in the third quarter.

Actually we blew it int the second.....if we'd kixked some very gettable goals we would have had a 4 goal lead at the main chnage. Yes the 3rd was where a few guys crumbled, but the second was where we failed to covert our hard word into a match wining lead.

[chef]

Actually we blew it int the second.....if we'd kixked some very gettable goals we would have had a 4 goal lead at the main chnage. Yes the 3rd was where a few guys crumbled, but the second was where we failed to covert our hard word into a match wining lead.

The Saints missed just as many chances in the first quarter as we did in the second, so it kind of evened it self out. Straight after half time we were off the boil and the Saints blew us away, game over. That's my take on it anyway.

[Hotdog60]

Being that we had such an up and down season I think we did very well to get into the preliminary final.
You can digress on a lot things that didn't help us along the way, the flu, injuries to key players and aging list.
It now appears that getting in the top 4 is no longer enough, after a long season of being battered and bashed you need to win your first final to get a week's break to freshen the legs up. This in most parts could be contributed to the pace of the game going up another notch, this is my observation on how Collingwood rotate players a lot and they gut run for 5 mins and come off for a rest and then do it all over again.
Whether this will change if the AFL do things with the rotation time will tell.
I'm the eternal optimist and with some of the new kids coming through hopefully we will see a big change next year with our pace, defensive pressure and disposal.
It would have been nice to be able to access Sam Reid at this time but it's not to be. I think he might be the player that will replace Boyd in the center if he can get his body right.

This means Boyd will have to find a new position and re-invent himself.

[Bumper Bulldogs]

I was happy to 'On paper" get to the position we did and I think this will be the football worlds view. Yes we missed Cooney, Higgins, Reid & Aker, but for mine we lacked inputs from too many yet again. Between Minson, Eagleton, Gia, Johnson & Hall we got nothing. Its funny how it works at times, we got our power forward and he didn't fire a shot. Well how can you when the kicking skills are as poor as yesterday. that's final footy isn't it. maybe that should have been our focus.

The other point I think Rockets game play is #@$! or the players don't follow. Why the hell do we continue to bomb it to a 8 man contest after a behind. against Collingwood it didn't work and again last night it hurt us as they rebounded and we paid the price.

Well next year we have a few spots up for grabs and hopefully we find a few more soldiers like C.Ward.

[The Pie Man]

I think Mark Stevens said it well when he mentioned 'quality' won out in the end, and analysing this one is probably pointless, but you can't help it.


Actually we blew it int the second.....if we'd kixked some very gettable goals we would have had a 4 goal lead at the main chnage. Yes the 3rd was where a few guys crumbled, but the second was where we failed to covert our hard word into a match wining lead.

The second quarter is going to annoy me for a while.

* Boyd's handball to Harbrow for Schneider's goal - just wow at how bad that was
* McEvoy ran about 25 metres without bouncing for his goal
* Kicking 1.5, again with some very gettable shots just killed us
& add the quarter time siren denying Gia a shot to extend the lead


The Saints missed just as many chances in the first quarter as we did in the second, so it kind of evened it self out. Straight after half time we were off the boil and the Saints blew us away, game over. That's my take on it anyway

This is also true, the quarter time score flattered us somewhat with the Saints squandering chances (I remarked in the last that I want to see Roo & Cloke go point for point next week) but we were almost dominant in the second, yet lost the quarter narrowly.

Halfway through the third quarter, all my nerves and anxiety left me..to be replaced with an angry indifference. It hasn't subsided

[LostDoggy]

I was happy to 'On paper" get to the position we did and I think this will be the football worlds view. Yes we missed Cooney, Higgins, Reid & Aker,

I've heard "we missed Aker" one or two times now, I'd like to know if anyone else thinks this? Aker would have had some good experience but he couldn't get a kick all year, struggled to land his first goal early in the rounds and was looking that one year slower again. I don't see how, with Johnson and Eagle out there, we would have even made it to a prelim with another oldie??

[LostDoggy]

Actually we blew it int the second.....if we'd kixked some very gettable goals we would have had a 4 goal lead at the main chnage. Yes the 3rd was where a few guys crumbled, but the second was where we failed to covert our hard word into a match wining lead.

Gotta agree with you. Scoreboard pressure would have caused the saints to change how they played. The saints knew they can get 2-3 goals anytime they like and just bided their time.

[LostDoggy]

Being that we had such an up and down season I think we did very well to get into the preliminary final.
You can digress on a lot things that didn't help us along the way, the flu, injuries to key players and aging list.
It now appears that getting in the top 4 is no longer enough, after a long season of being battered and bashed you need to win your first final to get a week's break to freshen the legs up. This in most parts could be contributed to the pace of the game going up another notch, this is my observation on how Collingwood rotate players a lot and they gut run for 5 mins and come off for a rest and then do it all over again.
Whether this will change if the AFL do things with the rotation time will tell.
I'm the eternal optimist and with some of the new kids coming through hopefully we will see a big change next year with our pace, defensive pressure and disposal.
It would have been nice to be able to access Sam Reid at this time but it's not to be. I think he might be the player that will replace Boyd in the center if he can get his body right.

This means Boyd will have to find a new position and re-invent himself.

I thought the season had its issues with injuries and the like. Handling of players was a real concern that I feel cost us. Lake for example played every game including NAB cup games. That is poor man management in my opininion. We all see him stumble into the finals. Who cares if he was rested and replaced with Boumann, Everitt, Tiller or Markevic. Fact is poor list management cost us a lot this season.

[Hotdog60]

I thought the season had its issues with injuries and the like. Handling of players was a real concern that I feel cost us. Lake for example played every game including NAB cup games. That is poor man management in my opininion. We all see him stumble into the finals. Who cares if he was rested and replaced with Boumann, Everitt, Tiller or Markevic. Fact is poor list management cost us a lot this season.

Good point AW, I suppose the club may have look at this year as it's biggest chance to get to the GF, so when you drop some games you should have won the pressure to keep at the top of the ladder may come into play.

[LostDoggy]

Good point AW, I suppose the club may have look at this year as it's biggest chance to get to the GF, so when you drop some games you should have won the pressure to keep at the top of the ladder may come into play.

How hard would it be to pick an inform backman for example in the seconds and put him in the seniors for say 6 games and rotate out some of our best backs. I know there was games when we needed our A team but there also was a lot of games when we didn't and personally the lack of faith in anyone outside the golden 24-26 players is detrementle to the rest of the team. Lets say we had all players available for all games this year. We may have played better but we still would be struggling with very sore boys at this time of the year.

Last year we had very little injuries but I thought they struggled to come up for finals. Especially the crucial first final.

[Prince Imperial]

There was absolutely no excuse or reason to play Lake in Round 22. He was struggling with injury before then and it was a meaningless game.

[Hotdog60]

How hard would it be to pick an inform backman for example in the seconds and put him in the seniors for say 6 games and rotate out some of our best backs. I know there was games when we needed our A team but there also was a lot of games when we didn't and personally the lack of faith in anyone outside the golden 24-26 players is detrementle to the rest of the team. Lets say we had all players available for all games this year. We may have played better but we still would be struggling with very sore boys at this time of the year.

Last year we had very little injuries but I thought they struggled to come up for finals. Especially the crucial first final.

I do agree with you, our team has always been conservative on this and there has been a slight change with some inclusions this year. With Collingwood favorites to win the cup, we may see a change in attitude from the MC next year and go down Mick's path of only playing players on form and not reputation.

[OLD SCRAGGer]

I've heard "we missed Aker" one or two times now, I'd like to know if anyone else thinks this? Aker would have had some good experience but he couldn't get a kick all year, struggled to land his first goal early in the rounds and was looking that one year slower again. I don't see how, with Johnson and Eagle out there, we would have even made it to a prelim with another oldie??

We had Aker the past 2 Prelims and he did stuff all in those games, so why do people think he would have done anything better? He was bloody useless when he played this year!!! Just MY HUMBLE OPINION!!!!!

[Ghost Dog]

I thought the season had its issues with injuries and the like. Handling of players was a real concern that I feel cost us. Lake for example played every game including NAB cup games. That is poor man management in my opininion. We all see him stumble into the finals. Who cares if he was rested and replaced with Boumann, Everitt, Tiller or Markevic. Fact is poor list management cost us a lot this season.

This is a VERY good point. Collingwood's rotations or Freo's resting of half a team against the Hakws in Tassie. Ideas for next season.

[Ghost Dog]

How hard would it be to pick an inform backman for example in the seconds and put him in the seniors for say 6 games and rotate out some of our best backs. I know there was games when we needed our A team but there also was a lot of games when we didn't and personally the lack of faith in anyone outside the golden 24-26 players is detrementle to the rest of the team. Lets say we had all players available for all games this year. We may have played better but we still would be struggling with very sore boys at this time of the year.

Last year we had very little injuries but I thought they struggled to come up for finals. Especially the crucial first final.

The other point with this is, the underperforming senior players rob younger players their opportunities to come in and get some experience. We did ok in the area of blooding youngsters, but just 'ok'. Maybe the MC will be a bit more daring next season. For example, Hooper came in as our hand was forced, but Pies have introduced some 'no name' small forwards since the early part of the season and it seems to have worked. Medhurst, Lockyer and other 'big names' are out of the side.
IF we had their list, we would be playing those players I just mentioned because our MC seems so fixated on persona and 'credits'. Shaun Higgins an example, who has been out of sorts all season and kept getting picked. What did we get from him this season? Little. Not his fault really with his condition. But all the same, some kid could have had valuable experience with those games Shaun half-played.

The MC and Rocket managed things well in general. We did ok to get into the four. But they need to be very constructively critical of how they go about picking players because it just did not work for us this season with key position players going missing.

[AndrewP6]

Sort of combination of 1 and 4 for mine...

I think we were beaten by a better team, but with Adam in and a better run with injuries, we could have done better..

Unfortunately I think our 4th place finish was an accurate reflection of where we're at, and whilst shattered at the loss, I was not completely surprised. Too many doing too little, our 'leaders' seem OK at the off-field stuff but don't stand up when needed. Our skills have dropped right away, and this needs urgent attention. Our tackling/efforts to tackle is poo, IMO. It was painful watching players dance round us seemingly effortlessly. Hally was ordinary last night, but so too was the forward entry. Injuries are a big concern, and as others point out, the management side of it needs attention.

Well done chef for adhering to the OP request for one sentence ;) :)

[boydogs]

The Saints missed just as many chances in the first quarter as we did in the second, so it kind of evened it self out. Straight after half time we were off the boil and the Saints blew us away, game over. That's my take on it anyway.

My thoughts exactly. Our inability to stop the rot when the opposition gets a run on was the difference.

[LostDoggy]

The other point with this is, the underperforming senior players rob younger players their opportunities to come in and get some experience. We did ok in the area of blooding youngsters, but just 'ok'. Maybe the MC will be a bit more daring next season. For example, Hooper came in as our hand was forced, but Pies have introduced some 'no name' small forwards since the early part of the season and it seems to have worked. Medhurst, Lockyer and other 'big names' are out of the side.
IF we had their list, we would be playing those players I just mentioned because our MC seems so fixated on persona and 'credits'. Shaun Higgins an example, who has been out of sorts all season and kept getting picked. What did we get from him this season? Little. Not his fault really with his condition. But all the same, some kid could have had valuable experience with those games Shaun half-played.

The MC and Rocket managed things well in general. We did ok to get into the four. But they need to be very constructively critical of how they go about picking players because it just did not work for us this season with key position players going missing.
I think we were in actual fact the fifth best team and only injuries to Fremantle robbed them of a top four spot.

[craigsahibee]

This is a VERY good point. Collingwood's rotations or Freo's resting of half a team against the Hakws in Tassie. Ideas for next season.

One, possibly two byes next year to accommodate Gold Coast into the fixture (not sure how they propose to structure it) may have an effect on player management.

[LostDoggy]

We were beaten by a better team. :(

[Stefcep]

I thought the season had its issues with injuries and the like. Handling of players was a real concern that I feel cost us. Lake for example played every game including NAB cup games. That is poor man management in my opininion. We all see him stumble into the finals. Who cares if he was rested and replaced with Boumann, Everitt, Tiller or Markevic. Fact is poor list management cost us a lot this season.

I've felt that as the season progressed the NAB Cup cost us players. OTOH it was good for a club that lets face it hasn't had a lot of success to get some silverware, I think next year i want the club to focus on the regular season, and treat the NAB Cup for what it is:glorified training.

[Curly5]

I've heard "we missed Aker" one or two times now, I'd like to know if anyone else thinks this? Aker would have had some good experience but he couldn't get a kick all year, struggled to land his first goal early in the rounds and was looking that one year slower again. I don't see how, with Johnson and Eagle out there, we would have even made it to a prelim with another oldie??

Akerblameless certainly thinks so - on the Today show this morning he stated he would have kicked 6 goals! Not sure how that would happen if no one in the team would kick it to him. :D
At least he didn't bag Johnno for once, said he'd had a great career. Then added, "I had a great career too." Yep, it's still all about him.



I think we were in actual fact the fifth best team and only injuries to Fremantle robbed them of a top four spot.

Injuries robbed us too, but true, Freo were flying before they lost Barlow, then others.



We were beaten by a better team. :(

The inescapable conclusion. :(

And the NAB Cup lived up to its poison chalice reputation.

[EasternWest]

I've heard "we missed Aker" one or two times now, I'd like to know if anyone else thinks this? Aker would have had some good experience but he couldn't get a kick all year, struggled to land his first goal early in the rounds and was looking that one year slower again. I don't see how, with Johnson and Eagle out there, we would have even made it to a prelim with another oldie??

Sure we did. 2003 Aker would've been great. 2010 Aker, not so much.


We were beaten by a better team. :(

This. Dammit. We had our chances again. Needed to put a four goal buffer up at half time. They were always going to go on a run.