Well this is probably one of the bigger team scores of the year, and if my calculations are correct this week then the team actually falls below the original Salary Cap of $10,000,000. The forward line was saved by the one massive score, which we will get into later, because other than this teams captain it was pretty disappointing area of the team.
Posts Tagged ‘Sam Fisher’
Best Supercoach Team – Round 16 2010
Tuesday, July 20th, 2010Collingwood vs. St Kilda – Round 16 Match Review
Saturday, July 17th, 2010Collingwood – 15.10 (100)
St Kilda – 6.16 (52)
The Collingwood Football Club has climbed to the top of the AFL ladder after a convincing 48 point win over St Kilda at the MCG on Saturday afternoon. (more…)
St Kilda Mid-season Review (late – sorry)
Monday, July 12th, 2010Current Ladder Position: 2nd
Flag odds $3.65
ContestedFooty’s start of the year preview
1st-3rd St Kilda are still one of the best teams in the competition and assuming distractions like Lovett and Ball don’t have too great an impact, there is still plenty to get excited about with the St Kilda Football Club.
Ross Lyon has them all playing ‘Saints Footy’ and that could yet deliver them a premiership.
West Coast vs. St Kilda – Round 9 Match Preview
Friday, May 21st, 2010SportsBet odds: $2.00 vs. $1.82
13th vs. 7th
There are plenty of people jumping off the Saints and tipping West Coast this week. I guess the logic isn’t too hard to follow; the Saints have lost their last two games whilst the Eagles have won, the game is at Subiaco Oval and Nick Riewoldt is still injured.
When you look a little deeper though you notice that West Coast haven’t exactly beaten the best teams in the competition (Melbourne and Hawthorn) and the Saints have been adjusting to life without Riewoldt, with last weeks game looking closer to the Saints Footy many expect. (more…)
St Kilda vs. Collingwood – Round 3 Match Preview
Friday, April 9th, 2010SportsBet Odds: $1.33 vs. $3.40
1st vs. 5th
St Kilda/Collingwood games always promise a good clash regardless of circumstance and this game has plenty of extra excitement to go with it. The Luke Ball vs. St Kilda saga will finally play out in front of everyone and the football public can’t wait to see what happens.
St Kilda are coming off a big win which is in contrast to the Magpies who just got over the line against an inspired Melbourne side, it’s anyone’s guess how those results will impact on each team’s performance this week but one thing is for sure, both teams are going to come out firing in front of a capacity crowd!
(more…)
Top 5 Most Important Players to St Kilda
Friday, February 12th, 2010In days gone by this was an easy task but St Kilda under Ross Lyon have a much more even spread of contributors, which made this a difficult task.
1. Nick Riewoldt
It’s hard to go past a player who is arguably the best player in the league. Riewoldt has willed St Kilda across the line on many occasions and a player of his talent will have to play a big role if St Kilda is to win the flag in 2010.
Like most teams key forward Riewoldt also holds great structural importance to the Saints as he straightens the team up and gives them a target under pressure.
2. Lenny Hayes
All the talk is that Lenny Hayes has stress fractures in his foot, the clubs official line is he has calf tightness, for St Kilda’s sake I hope this is true.
Hayes was once in my eyes one of the most underrated players on St Kilda’s list but now he gets the praise he deserves from the football community. In 2009 Hayes stepped his football up another gear and as a result he is recognized as one of the best midfielders in the league. Like Riewoldt for St Kilda to give the flag another crack, Hayes needs to be at his best.
3. Brendon Goddard
My smokey for the Brownlow in 2010, Goddard looks just about ready to tear games apart. I’d expect ‘BJ’ to move to a more permanent midfield role and exploit his long kicking for the Saints.
Importantly Goddard can go forward and kick a few goals or head to half back and play the ‘quarterback’ role for the club as well.
4. Sam Fisher
Whilst Fisher didn’t dominate the game offensively in 2009 he still regularly beat his opponents and did some damage going the other way. Fisher is as important structurally as he is for his run and carry as when he beats his opponents he allows Gilbert and Gram to run the ball if he can’t himself.
5. Leigh Montagna
Leigh is a player who really came of age in 2009 and I expect him to at least hold that form in 2010. If he can however find another gear then St Kilda will have one of, if not the, best midfields in the competition and when they are feeding the ball to Riewoldt, Koschitzke, Milne and Schneider St Kilda become a very hard team to beat.
St Kilda Saints Season Review
Sunday, September 27th, 2009Expected Finish – 4th–6th
Actual Finish – 2nd (and minor premiers)
Home and Away Season: 20 Wins, 2 Losses
A truly remarkable St Kilda season has finally come to an end, unfortunately for them and their fans they just fell a bit short of the mark in the 2009 Grand Final.
The Saints achieved a lot in 2009:
• They played off in one of the better Grand Finals in recent times for a chance to win the 2009 premiership cup.
• They won the minor premiership- just the third in their history.
• They won the first 19 games of the year, easily eclipsing their previous best of 10 games which was set in 2004.
• Played in front of a record crowd at Etihad Stadium against Geelong in Round 14, that day 54,444 people watched St Kilda pip Geelong.
Backline
St Kilda’s defense (different from backline) was amazing this year, the Saints easily shut down most teams and ended the home and away season with a miserly 1,411 scored against them or 64 points a game. This was achieved through a disciplined game plan that revolved around zoning and frontal pressure, the latter being St Kilda’s particular strength.
The backline itself was actually quite offensive in that just about every player to line up down back in 2009 had a tendency to run of their opponent and try to set up play. Brendon Goddard, Sam Fisher and Jason Gram led the way in this regard with all averaging over 20 possessions a game the Saints were able to set up their attacks from the backline with great effect. Surprisingly Goddard was the only St Kilda defender recognized with All Australian selection and he only made it onto the bench.
Unfortunately there has been one disappointing member of the St Kilda backline in Raphael Clarke, those who know me will understand that I am actually a fan of ‘Raph’ but despite my assurances to friends and other supporters Clarke never really came good at the business end of the year as I had hoped- it will be interesting to see what happens with him going forward, as a St Kilda supporter I hope he is still at the club next year as he has the potential to be a fine player.
Lenny Hayes ran a well deserved third in the 2009 Brownlow Medal and with team mates like Dal Santo, Goddard, Ball, Montagna, Jones, Ray and the occasional pinch hitter is it any wonder teams get less kicks against St Kilda than they do against any other team? Conversely, those same players manage to get boot to ball more often per match than any other team as well.
Such dominance regularly led to St Kilda dominating the inside 50 count in any given clash as well and when you have St Kilda’s forward line that tends to lead to a pretty convincing result.
It was often argued this year that St Kilda relied too heavily on Riewoldt to do the damage and it is true that the St Kilda players do look to him too often. Riewoldt isn’t a bad person to rely on mind you and managed to slot 78 goals whilst still managing to accumulate 17 touches a game, it’s only natural to put your faith in someone that good.
Riewoldt was not without support mind you with some handy forwards around him in the form of Koschitzke (48 goals), Milne (46 goals), Schneider (34 goals) and McQualter (22 goals) with a support class like that and a resting midfielder/defensive forward it wasn’t like St Kilda weren’t finding other avenues to goal.
Whist Koschitzke has delivered a solid year of football for the St Kilda Football Club, all involved would be hoping to see him build to something better next year as when he is firing he provides the perfect foil for Riewoldt and St Kilda look neigh on unstoppable.
Rucks
Until recently a significant weakness for St Kilda has been their Ruck division, not so anymore. Michael Gardiner and Steven King are both delivering a good standard of football on a consistent basis and Gardiner in particular has shown that they are still capable of influencing the result of a game on occasion.
With Gardiner and King nearing the end it is worth having a look at the other options at the club. Koschitzke and Blake are both options and have battled gamely in the past but with both finding better form elsewhere it isn’t a move St Kilda would want to make. Fortunately McEvoy got some important game time in 2009 and looked comfortable in a support role, Rhys Stanley has looked better and better at VFL level and as we saw on Grand Final day (in the half time sprint) he is no slouch across the ground (he won). Throw in a couple developing players in Blake McGrath and Samuel McGarry and it doesn’t look like St Kilda needs to panic in this area.
What is needed?
St Kilda looked threatened by some of the quicker teams in Essendon and the Bulldogs throughout the year so they’ll be keeping an eye on any opportunity to inject some pace into their side.
The coaches will also have a damaging midsized forward on their wish list as such a player would provide an excellent foil for Riewoldt, Koschitzke and Milne. St Kilda was shown firsthand the benefits of such a player in the form of Chapman in this year’s grand final.
• They played off in one of the better Grand Finals in recent times for a chance to win the 2009 premiership cup.
• They won the minor premiership- just the third in their history.
• They won the first 19 games of the year, easily eclipsing their previous best of 10 games which was set in 2004.
• Played in front of a record crowd at Etihad Stadium against Geelong in Round 14, that day 54,444 people watched St Kilda pip Geelong.
Unfortunately what was to be the dream season for all who love St Kilda can only be viewed as a great season and hopefully a building block towards future success.
Backline
St Kilda’s defense (different from backline) was amazing this year, the Saints easily shut down most teams and ended the home and away season with a miserly 1,411 scored against them or 64 points a game. This was achieved through a disciplined game plan that revolved around zoning and frontal pressure, the latter being St Kilda’s particular strength.
The backline itself was actually quite offensive in that just about every player to line up down back in 2009 had a tendency to run of their opponent and try to set up play. Brendon Goddard, Sam Fisher and Jason Gram led the way in this regard with all averaging over 20 possessions a game the Saints were able to set up their attacks from the backline with great effect. Surprisingly Goddard was the only St Kilda defender recognized with All Australian selection and he only made it onto the bench.
Much press surrounded the Zac Dawson/Max Hudghton debate, particularly in the 2009 finals series but I couldn’t possibly imagine changing what had been a very successful line-up. Dawson and Gilbert are an underrated aspect of St Kilda’s backline with both regularly beating their opponents and marking a lot of their opponents forward 50 entrances, which makes it a lot easier to set up a counter attack.
Unfortunately there has been one disappointing member of the St Kilda backline in Raphael Clarke, those who know me will understand that I am actually a fan of ‘Raph’ but despite my assurances to friends and other supporters Clarke never really came good at the business end of the year as I had hoped- it will be interesting to see what happens with him going forward, as a St Kilda supporter I hope he is still at the club next year as he has the potential to be a fine player.
Midfield
Tough is the word for St Kilda’s midfield, as in you are in for a tough game if you line up opposite them. Whether it is the all round class and determination of Hayes, the silk of Dal Santo or the shut down ability of Clinton Jones- you know you are in for a tough day.
Lenny Hayes ran a well deserved third in the 2009 Brownlow Medal and with team mates like Dal Santo, Goddard, Ball, Montagna, Jones, Ray and the occasional pinch hitter is it any wonder teams get less kicks against St Kilda than they do against any other team? Conversely, those same players manage to get boot to ball more often per match than any other team as well.
Such dominance regularly led to St Kilda dominating the inside 50 count in any given clash as well and when you have St Kilda’s forward line that tends to lead to a pretty convincing result.
Forwards
St Kilda’s forward line has been good this year, despite being the third best statistically it was often the defensive work of the Saints forward line that made the difference between victory and defeat.
It was often argued this year that St Kilda relied too heavily on Riewoldt to do the damage and it is true that the St Kilda players do look to him too often. Riewoldt isn’t a bad person to rely on mind you and managed to slot 78 goals whilst still managing to accumulate 17 touches a game, it’s only natural to put your faith in someone that good.
Riewoldt was not without support mind you with some handy forwards around him in the form of Koschitzke (48 goals), Milne (46 goals), Schneider (34 goals) and McQualter (22 goals) with a support class like that and a resting midfielder/defensive forward it wasn’t like St Kilda weren’t finding other avenues to goal.
Whist Koschitzke has delivered a solid year of football for the St Kilda Football Club, all involved would be hoping to see him build to something better next year as when he is firing he provides the perfect foil for Riewoldt and St Kilda look neigh on unstoppable.
Rucks
Until recently a significant weakness for St Kilda has been their Ruck division, not so anymore. Michael Gardiner and Steven King are both delivering a good standard of football on a consistent basis and Gardiner in particular has shown that they are still capable of influencing the result of a game on occasion.
With Gardiner and King nearing the end it is worth having a look at the other options at the club. Koschitzke and Blake are both options and have battled gamely in the past but with both finding better form elsewhere it isn’t a move St Kilda would want to make. Fortunately McEvoy got some important game time in 2009 and looked comfortable in a support role, Rhys Stanley has looked better and better at VFL level and as we saw on Grand Final day (in the half time sprint) he is no slouch across the ground (he won). Throw in a couple developing players in Blake McGrath and Samuel McGarry and it doesn’t look like St Kilda needs to panic in this area.
What is needed?
St Kilda looked threatened by some of the quicker teams in Essendon and the Bulldogs throughout the year so they’ll be keeping an eye on any opportunity to inject some pace into their side.
The coaches will also have a damaging midsized forward on their wish list as such a player would provide an excellent foil for Riewoldt, Koschitzke and Milne. St Kilda was shown firsthand the benefits of such a player in the form of Chapman in this year’s grand final.
With the retirement of Hudghton the Saints may also want to draft a young key position player just in case one of Fisher, Dawson or Blake go down with injury.
Looking Forward
Barring a Hawthorne-esque implosion it is hard to see St Kilda achieving anything less than a preliminary finals appearance next year. Ross Lyon and Nick Riewoldt are strong leaders with a good idea of what they want- this year will cut them deep and injuries permitting it wouldn’t surprise me to see an even more intense and ruthless St Kilda side next year.
St Kilda vs. Western Bulldogs – Preliminary Final Match Review
Friday, September 18th, 2009
St Kilda – 9.6 (60)
Western Bulldogs – 7.11 (53)
The Western Bulldogs are a little bit stiff after losing to the Saints by just 7 points in a tight contest. The Dogs will be very disappointed after leading for the first half, but they will no doubt be back with a vengeance next year. The Saints wunderkid Nick Riewoldt was tremendous, he kicked the two last goals of the match to win the game for St Kilda. It was by no means an easy game to win and the Saints will no doubt be tired next week. Riewoldt had a vomit just before the siren highlighting how hard the players had to work tonight. My heart is still pumping a million miles an hour.
Big moment
Nick Riewoldt got a free kick for a bump behind play and got a free kick directly in front. Roo goaled and it signaled a shift in momentum towards the Saints. This moment is sure to get a bundle of media attention.
Key players for St Kilda
Nick Riewoldt – True leader of the club. 4 goals to his name including two crucial goals in the final quarter to win the match. 11 marks on one leg effectively. Took pain meds for his knee injury and still was gut running like normal.
Lenny Hayes – 34 possessions a lot of them in the final quarter which made it much easier for St Kilda to get over the line. Another Saint with injuries, he came off limping with ankle issues in the second quarter.
Clinton Jones – Another player that really stood up in the final quarter whilst tagging Cooney.
Sam Fisher – Was the loose man in defence when the Bulldogs allowed him to be free. 30 disposals with 22 kicks under little pressure, he was still very reliable though.
Key players for Western Bulldogs
Mitch Hahn – Played well in the last quarter too. 7 marks and 2 goals is a good effort in the forward-line of a losing team in a very low scoring match.
Daniel Cross – 8 tackles and 23 touches (mostly handballs).
Brian Lake – Minded Koschitzke and kept him quiet. He didn’t go to Roo, like we predicted, which might have been a mistake considering Lake is the premier defender and Roo kicked 4 goals.
Ryan Griffen – Managed to keep Goddard fairly quiet and got 28 touches himself.
General musings from the match
- Umpiring was not good enough for the stage. The Bulldogs were robbed a bit by the umpires in the first two quarters when the Dogs were dominating.
- The game got off to a shaky start. Both teams seemed like they were very nervous and were making uncharacteristic errors, especially the Bulldogs.
St Kilda match musings
- Milne was dudalicious. He dropped a sitter of a mark in the warm up then dropped a sitter of a mark in the first quarter. It just wasn’t his day. He did get a goal from goal hanging though. I quite like Milne, but he wasn’t on tonight.
- Schneider also had a shocker. You would have expected that when they were kicking it to the twin towers down there that one of either Milne or Schneider would be at their feet to crumb. Seeing neither of those players at their feet was rare and worrying for Saints fans.
- Could argue that Morris was niggling Riewoldt all game and it was a compounding effect to give away the free kick to him. It did seem like a team strategy to bump in to Roo whenever a Bulldog was running past him. I have heard that Morris was warned about it and that’s why the free was given.
Western Bulldogs match musings
- The Bulldogs need to either not bomb the ball in to forward 50 or get a tall forward already, maybe Ayce Cory is their saviour, but he can’t come on soon enough for the Westerner.
- The Bulldogs dominated for about the first 40 minutes of the game but didn’t capitalise.
- Aker was disappointing too. I felt like he was going to exploded at any time and get two quick goals and rescue the Bulldogs, but it never happened. He was very ineffective, especially when handballing under pressure.
- Eagleton’s outside midfield role was not needed in this game which was very contested and was much more suited to the harder bodies.
- Bit stiff with the umpires but they should have taken their chances.
- Cooney was alright, not brilliant though. He seemed to be slapping it on the boot a lot for mine.
Where to now for both clubs?
Bulldogs will be ruing both this loss and their loss in the first week of the finals to Geelong, because they were both winnable games and they could have brought them closer to the premiership. They will be back next year.
Saints will not be celebrating too much, that was a very close match and they were beaten for a large part of it. They will have to play a better first half if they want to beat Geelong or Collingwood in a week, because I don’t think they will give the Saints a second chance like the Bulldogs did.78 thousand people were there, which is pretty disappointing for a final with two Melbourne teams. The weather was perfect for spectating, perfect jumper and jeans weather.
St Kilda vs. Collingwood – Qualifying Final 1 Match Review
Sunday, September 6th, 2009
St Kilda – 12.8 (80)
Collingwood – 7.10 (52)
St Kilda were simply too good for the Pies. Despite Collingwood’s good start the Saints controlled the game. They stamped their authority on the game in the midfield. They were able to create far more chances for their forwards than the Pies were. The Saints were jubilant in getting the week off. Collingwood disappointed to play Adelaide next week. Injury to Scott Pendlebury early limited Collingwood’s rotations.
Big moment
An inspiring moment was when Riewoldt shot truly from outside 50. That moment lifted the Saints.
Key players for St Kilda
Nick Riewoldt – Was absolutely fantastic, especially on the lead. His goal kicking was great too. 10 marks, five goals and five tackles is a really good effort on a crook knee. Definitely best on ground for captain amazing.
Sam Fisher – Sheer weight of numbers forces Sam in to the bests. He was great at finding the football. 42 disposals and 16 marks is Gary Ablett-esc.
Brendon Goddard – Even with hamstring problems he still managed to play a great part in the Saint’s plans. As always very effective by foot.
Key players for Collingwood
Travis Cloke – Pushed up the ground to take a lot of marks on the lead. He probably did well because he wasn’t marking Fisher well enough too.
Nick Maxwell – 17 possessions, most of which were damaging whilst he was tagged by Eddy.
Dane Swan – The Brownlow favourite wasn’t at his best but still amassed 24 touches in a game were the Pies were attempting to kick long at every opportunity.
Musings from the match
• Not sure if Rocca was the best inclusion considering Dick kicked 5 in the VFL. He does have the ability to break games open. He really needed to kick a few more to lift his team.
• Scott Pendlebury was a big out as he is one of the most important players for the pies.
• Alan Didak did not stand up. He was well tagged by Jones.
• Big forwards for the Saints were in great nick (no pun intended).
• Milne had a disappointing game, he was clearly not the spark that the Saints wanted instead Andrew McQualter provided that little bit extra for them.
• Crowd was a little bit disappointing for mine. I heard reports that there were more Saints supporters at the ground. This news is clearly manufactured by St Kilda supporters (joking).
• Shane O’Bree was being a dud.
Where to now for both clubs?
Saints will have a well earned rest and play the winner of the Bulldogs vs. Brisbane. Collingwood will play next week against Adelaide. Luckily for Collingwood they have beaten Adelaide recently.
North Melbourne vs. St Kilda – Round 21 match review
Sunday, August 23rd, 2009
North Melbourne– 10.4 (64)
St Kilda – 8.11 (59)
An accurate and committed North Melbourne consigned St Kilda to their second loss in a row in a tight and low scoring game at the Dome.
The Kangaroos kicked the first 5 goals for the game which forced the Saints to play catch up all game. Considering that St Kilda only kicked 8 goals for the match; the game was most definitely lost early for the Saints.
Big moment
There were a few big moments in this match with Riewoldt’s set-shot that fell just short to win them the match, and the Schneider incident’ but I just love clutch’ goals and Drew Petrie’s set shot to give North the lead with 4 minutes to go was leadership at its best.
Key players for North Melbourne
Drew Petrie – Was massive up forward with 4 goals, all of them in the first and last quarters, basically where the game was won. If David Hales career at North wasn’t finished; it is now. His last 10 minutes were just awesome.
Levi Greenwood – Will probably end up being the only player to successfully restrict Nick Dal Santo. Kept the Saint midfielder to 9 possessions in an excellent performance.
Andrew Swallow – Think of him as Lenny Hayes but in a North jumper. Fanatical at the ball either on ground level or in the air. Finished with 33 possessions.
Key players for St Kilda
Nick Riewoldt – If his kicking was better, it would have been a superb match from the captain. He finished with 19 possessions 11 marks and 3.3. He had a chance to win the game but having to kick from 55 meters out with an injured knee, he was always up against it.
Sam Fisher – Back to his best with 31 possessions, 4 inside-50s and 2 assists for the game. With Dawson having a shocker of a day, he kept the backline in check.
David Armitage – Playing well at the right time of the year. His appetite for the contest and fresh body may be a handy addition come the finals. Finished with13 tackles and 2 assist’s.
Musings from the match
• No biggie for the Saints if you ask me. With the best fitness man in the business in David Misson; they are more than likely overloading their training
• You would hope so given the lack of their trademark intensity in the first half.
• Milne and Schneider, who have been excellent all year, had their worst games collectively.
• Geez they needed Lenny Hayes or Luke Ball though. Swallow dominated around the packs.
• If anything, it would be good to see a few of the bottom group like Armitage and Dempster play well.
• Even though North kicked the first 5 goals of the game, it could have been different if the Saints kicked straighter, with 6 behinds on the board before their first goal.
• Brady Rawlings was also exceptional for North in his 200th game with 32 possessions.
• Lachie Hansen played in his best position at CHB and looked 10 times better than he has when he’s played up forward.
SuperCoach news
Andrew Swallows excellent game yielded and an excellent score of 177pt’s, the highest by a fair bit.
The next best was Sam Fisher on 149p’ts.
Others to score over 100pt’s were Armitage (127pt’s), Goddard (125pt’s), Montagna (114pt’s), Rawlings(112pt’s), Ray (111pt’s), Anthony (109pt’s),Riewoldt (106pt’s), Blake (105pt’s) and Grima (103pt’s)
