Notes from the game: 2016 Round 3 St Kilda

The Pies get walloped.

Team            Q1      Q2      Q3      Q4      Final
St Kilda        6.3     9.6     15.7    18.11   119
Collingwood     4.3     9.4     10.6    14.6    90 

On our selection

In 
        Tyson Goldsack, 
        Jeremy Howe, 
        Matthew Goodyear, 
        Brayden Maynard
Out 
        Brent Macaffer (Omitted), 
        Corey Gault (Omitted), 
        Jackson Ramsay (Knee), 
        Jack Frost (Omitted)

I would have thought that every team wants stability. So I was astonished to learn of the three unforced errors - I mean, changes.

Let's start with Goodyear. I've never heard of him, but that doesn't say a lot - probably more about me than about him. Given the other changes, was there an overwhelmingly compelling reason to blood Goodyear? Not from what I saw.

You'd think Maynard was the like-for-like sub for Ramsay. And I suppose Gault was far from scintillating last week. So you could have replaced him with Howe.

Were we perhaps guilty of taking the Saints lightly? Like our form has been so brilliant that we can afford to take any team lightly. (Anyone who thinks that we won last week, stand in the corner for 5 minutes.)

Warning

The Footy Bogan has a confession to make. He went to the ground as a Collingwood supporter, but he watched the replay as a St Kilda supporter. Consequently, at least once he was able to appreciate some really fine football.

The game

Collingwood flew out of the blocks kicking the first two goals (Tom Langdon in the first minute and Adam Oxley in the 4th). At the game, we noted that St Kilda kicked 6 of the next 8 goals. Ominous? Maybe.

This quarter produced Pendlebury's goal. The captain is fast gaining a Joel Selwood reputation at least with us but possibly with the entire AFL community. This was probably his most egregious example of the tactic. He picks up the ball as an opponent approaches, then turns slightly and thrusts his head and neck downwards into the opponent's armpit. The benighted umpire awards a free for a high tackle. Wrong! It should be the same as ducking into a tackle, as should have been the case for Selwood until the umpires stopped rewarding him. If the intent is to protect the player from serious injury, then there is no difference between diving forward into an opponent (which is sort of what Riewoldt did a bit later) and what Pendlebury does. The only defence for Riewoldt, a point that does make it subtly different, is that he was trying to pick up the ball, whereas the rule about diving probably covers a player already in possession. But perhaps not.

But in Q2, the Pies kicked 5 goals to 3, leaving the teams separated by 2 points at half time. We breathed more easily. I asked how the game would unfold; the answer was noncommittal - which reflected my own opinion. Perhaps we were thinking of our NAB Challenge form. Perhaps we should have remembered our previous two games.

The Saints proceeded to peel off the next 6 goals, pretty much ending the contest. Jeremy Howe bobbed up with a goal near the end of Q3.

During the second half, the Saints were down 2 players (Riewoldt and McCartin).

We outscored the Saints 4 goals straight to 3.4 in the last quarter, but we never looked like winning after half time.

St Kilda's play was breathtaking, especially in the 1st and 3rd quarters. So often they managed to take the ball coast-to-coast and deliver to an unmarked player not far from goal. They had an army of Jacks to harass and tackle, take possession and move the ball on swiftly and accurately: Jack Steven, Jack Lonie, Jack Billings, Jack Newnes and Jack Sinclair. (Perhaps the Rules of the Game committee could look at a cap on the number of Jacks per team.) The number of uncontested marks the Saints took in their F50 beggars belief.

If ever a team could be said to have lost it's shape, this game was that time for Collingwood. Whenever a Collingwood player had the ball, the field ahead was static; no movement. When the Saints started one of their forward runs from defence, Collingwood defenders at the other end were caught out ball-watching. Far from taking uncontested - or even contested - marks in F50, Collingwood managed to give opponents uncontested intercept marks.

When you're hot, you're hot; and when you're not, you're not. So it should come as no surprise that Collingwood's disposal efficiency was way below St Kilda's all day.

Once again, Collingwood wilted under pressure. If there was a game plan, the spectators were unable to see any evidence. Saints outnumbered Pies all over the ground, at every drop of the ball and at every kick. Of course, that's not possible, and yet that's how the game played out.

The wrap

At the moment, this ship is heading nowhere fast, pretty much like Turnbull's government. If something doesn't happen soon, future prospects look bleak for both.

Sources, Notes, Footnotes, References

http://www.theage.com.au/match-centre/afl/match-20160140305.html
http://www.footywire.com/afl/footy/ft_match_statistics?mid=6191