The Analyser – Round 22 Sydney vs St Kilda

The Analyser – Round 22 Sydney vs St Kilda

For the first time in 17 months, the Saints came up against the Swans on a sub-standard ANZ Stadium surface. The result of the match would have a big say in where these two teams would finish on the ladder at the end of the season.

The Saints led at every break except the one that mattered. This was despite incredible inaccuracy from the Swans in recording 23 behinds. This was the only reason the Saints were still in the game right up until late in the last quarter.

This week’s edition of The Analyser will take a look at the reasons why the Saints struggled, the dysfunctional forward set-up, Nick Riewoldt and much more.

GASTRO
The Saints were hit by two late withdrawals before the game in Justin Koschitzke and Zac Dawson. The reason given was that both players had gastro. Interestingly, Adam Schneider wasn’t present at a player sponsors function during the week due to “food poisoning”. Maybe more team members were affected by the virus going around than was announced.

I’m not suggesting that this was the reason for the loss, but several Saints looked tired and well below their standard outputs. This was definitely evident in the last quarter when the Saints recorded only 53 possessions. This is a very small tally for a “high possession” team.

SAM GILBERT
Not much mention of Gilbert’s performance on the weekend but I thought he did a superb job in shutting down dangerous Swans forward Sam Reid.

The Sydney full forward only had 8 possessions and 3 marks. He did kick a set shot goal in the third quarter but the mark he took before it was from a skewed tumble punt from a teammate and Gilbert wasn’t at fault.

Whilst Gilbert didn’t have his most prolific game with finding the football, he did kick a great running goal in the second quarter.

Zac Dawson would have been a certainty to take Reid had he been fit and Gilbert deputised at full back solidly. This was definitely a positive out of the game in my opinion.

INSIDE 50’S
The Saints were smashed in the Inside 50 count with the Swans having 67 to 52. The amount of times the Swans pumped the ball into their forward line was incredible considering Geelong broke the record (I’m pretty sure) for Inside 50’s two weeks ago against the Gold Coast with 80.

This statistic showed the inability of the Saints to stop the ball coming back inside 50 once they had it was cleared out of defence. Whether the Saints spread struggled because of viruses or just an off day, it definitely was a huge factor in why the Swans won.

Being smashed in the clearances also contributed to the Swans extraordinary inside 50 tally.

RUCK AND CLEARANCES
Shane Mumford and Josh Kennedy were the combination that, as Ross Lyon put, obliterated the Saints midfield.

Mumford dominated a tired Ben McEvoy in having 54 hitouts, 16 possessions and 6 marks (4 contested). He also chipped in with a goal in the last quarter.

Kennedy had an extraordinary 12 clearances as he constantly roved Mumford’s hitouts and either forced the ball forward or fired out a handball to Sydney’s outside runners.

In a strange tactical decision, the Saints abandoned the “third man up” ruck strategy that was effective against Collingwood and put McEvoy head-to-head against Mumford.

Out of the 32 hitouts that the Saints won, McEvoy had 25 of them. You wonder if employing a “third man up” at most stoppages would have helped McEvoy with an absence of a back-up because of Koschitzke’s withdrawal.

SEAN DEMPSTER
Dempster had one of his best games for the club which was unfortunately prematurely ended after being knocked out while courageously backing back into a pack.

Dempster spent time on several of the Swans damaging players but spent most time on dangerous half forward Ryan O’Keefe.

He managed to restrict O’Keefe to 16 disposals while gathering 20 disposals, 13 marks and 10 rebound 50’s himself.

The Saints will be hoping that Dempster will be able to recover quickly from his concussion as he is a vital part of the Saints defensive setup.

FORWARD SET-UP
The setup of the Saints forward clearly isn’t working at the moment. This is an issue that has been one of the Saints achilles heel for most of the season.

While the forward setup “clicked” for the game against the Crows, it has also struggled for lengthy periods in the wins against North Melbourne, Fremantle and Gold Coast whilst it was a major factor in losses against Collingwood and Sydney.

I believe the Saints have developed predictability when going forward. The only two forwards that continually provide quality leads are Nick Riewoldt and Stephen Milne. If an effective opposition defence can shut down both Milne and Riewoldt, then St Kilda’s goalscoring options are drastically reduced.

This fact is highlighted by the Saints leading goalkickers this season. Milne (48) and Riewoldt (30) lead the way with Adam Schneider (23) and Nick Dal Santo (12) a fair way behind.

Maybe it’s time to consider playing another target inside 50 who can trouble defences. Tommy Walsh is possibly a player who could fill the void. It may work, it may not but I’m sure none of us can argue about the fact that the current forward setup is dysfunctional and needs a change.

TOM LYNCH
Lynch really struggled after being a late call-up to the team following the two late withdrawals. He was employed in the position of half forward lead up that has been filled in previous weeks by Ryan Gamble. He also spent time in the ruck deputising for Ben McEvoy.

He was well beaten in the majority of marking contests and looked slow when the ball came to ground. It makes you wonder why Gamble, who has been in some pretty solid form, wasn’t recalled to play the half forward role.

As a lot of Saints fans have rightly pointed, Lynch has played his best football in the VFL as a defender. It seems a strange selection decision to play him forward because of this.

Whilst his performance was not up to scratch in my opinion, maybe he is playing out of position. Because of this fact, maybe we shouldn’t be too quick to judge him and condemn his development.

NICK RIEWOLDT
I have been astonished at some of the critics of Nick Riewoldt. We all know that he is not playing his best football and that he is not having the same impact on games. But I’ve heard several Saints supporters say that needs to be dropped and also mocking him for some of his efforts this year?

This talk is absolutely crazy. Riewoldt is captain of the club and is a champion who is down on form. He is also probably carrying some lower body injuries.
Surely you need to cut him some slack after all the years of dedicated service he has given the club?

I, for one, will continue to support Nick and laud him for the efforts that he has consistently put out for our club.

Nick Riewoldt is a champion and I know that he will bounce back from this lean stretch of form. We supporters need to back our skipper in and show the faith in him that he deserves.

LOOKING TOWARD THE NORTH GAME
It was only 8 weeks ago that the Saints snuck over the line with a goalless last quarter against the Roos. In his press conference after the game, Brad Scott stated twice that he confident of rectifying the result next time.

What a game it’s going to be on Saturday night. A win for the Saints will guarantee a finals berth whilst a win for the Roos will keep their finals hopes alive.

At the selection table, the Saints should have two definite additions in Zac Dawson and Justin Koschitzke. You would expect Tom Lynch and Steven Baker to be the two omissions. However, Baker may be retained if Sean Dempster doesn’t recover from his concussion injury.

The big question is whether the selection committee will select Tommy Walsh to make his debut. Ryan Gamble and Alastair Smith are also in the mix for selection.

However, it’s hard to see who could be omitted for these players to come in, especially with the certainty of Dawson and Koschitzke coming back.

THE FINAL WORD
Any questions, opinions, comments can be directed underneath this piece, to @kieran_francis or kewfrancis@gmail.com.

All feedback and improvement suggestions are welcome.

Saturday night can’t come quick enough. Our finals aspirations will be on the line and it will be telling how the boys respond to the poor display north of the border. Hopefully our boys can lick their wounds and answer their critics by making a statement that their season is not over just yet.