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Saturday, 4 September 2004 |
Collection of St Kilda Stories
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Saints play scared footy
FRIGHTENING and frightened. Let's not beat around bush here. The Saints were belted, on the scoreboard, about their heads and in their hearts in a finals assault of the highest brutality. Last night the Saints may have bled to death. They played scared, physically and mentally, in what was their worst effort of the season. At the start, they picked a fight with the tough boys, the warriors of Brisbane, and got their heads kicked in. It did their heads in as well. After that, they lost energy and hunger. At worst, they lost their courage. The fall-out will be known in seven days time when the Saints front up at home. It remains to be seen if this team can pick up their sorry little bodies and make a run at the premiership. You'd have to think it is against them. The damage was done in the first half. The embarrassment came in the second. Simply, the Lions were too quick with their hands and heads, and way, way too tough. By half-time, they led by 46 points. It was a forgettable two quarters for the Saints. By the end they had increased it to 80. St Kilda's grand plans, devised after they were thumped two weeks ago at the same venue, fell apart within minutes. Individually, they followed soon after. By the half it was all over. So what went wrong? Let's start in the midfield. Luke Ball could not have played any worse. Just two touches to half-time, he was monstered at every contest. Lenny Hayes and Robert Harvey could not keep up with Simon Black and Nigel Lappin. The Brisbane pair had 39 touches in two quarters and Hayes and Harvey were on the pine. Up forward, coach Grant Thomas started Nick Riewoldt deep (on Justin Leppitsch) and Fraser Gehrig (Mal Michael) at centre half-forward and Justin Koschitzke (Martin Pike) beside him. None of it worked. It was a strange tactic. Gehrig doesn't like running at the best of times, and the ball couldn't get to Riewoldt. Perhaps Thomas wanted to keep Leppa away from centre half-back. Whatever, it didn't work. Beside them, Brent Guerra was supposed to take Chris Johnson out of the play. Johnson ignored him, as he tends to do, and played the type of creative, supportive footy that's made him an All Australian in recent years. It wasn't any better at the other end. Aussie Jones, an All Australian contender, watched his opponent Craig McRae kick three goals in the first quarter and along the way had zero possessions himself. Thomas put Steven Baker on Jason Akermanis and Aker came the supplier rather than goalkicker. He had 11 kicks to half-time and 11 inside 50ms. Baker had one kick and one handball. Jonathan Brown beat up Luke Penny and had him removed by the 11th minute of the second quarter. Daniel Bradshaw booted two himself. Collectively, the Saints played panicked football. Missed handballs, dropped marks, lost possession, over-running balls, fumbles, short steps – the pressure was extreme. And when they did win the ball, the Lions made them play stagnant football. No one wanted to present, no one wanted to run. It was made too easy for Brisbane. The only positives, arguably, were Heath Black's game on a wing and in the middle after the long break, Max Hudghton who battled hard, Trent Knobel early, Allan Murray early, and the fact they didn't get any injuries. There was little else to cheer about. Worse still, Thomas and his players have no excuses. Two weeks back, it was a swelter. Last night, the only heat came from Brisbane. Black, Lappin, Power, Aker, Hadley and Voss were awesome with the ball, while Brown, the Scott boys, Leppa, Pike, Johnson, Copeland and Michael didn't let up with the aggression and verbal. It is a powerful combination. Throw in the goals – six to Brown, four to Bradshaw – and the Saints were demolished. For Thomas, it was a savage beating. He hasn't eaten much in recent weeks the coach, but perhaps he could start with the words he said as he flew out of Melbourne on Thursday. "One thing is absolutely, categorically for certain," Thomas said. "They'll respect us by the end of Friday night." Yeah, right. 12:50:15 AM  comment [] trackback [] G!
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