Thought we won,it was a real struggle to shrug off the Saints on Sunday.They certainly came to play.They out ran us and our tackled us all day.
Ballantyne was outstanding for us all day. Mzungu had a good day as did Fyfe.
In the first half especially they forced us into errors both by hand and foot.
Pavlich showed some form after a few weeks out and the run will do him good. Sandiland will take a few weeks longer to gain form I think. BArlow and Mundy both got a fair bit of the ball but butchered it a few times.Rustiness on their part I reckon.Hopefully they will use the ball better in the Derby next week.
Losing McPharlin is going to put some pressure on the back line for the Derby next week.It look like it could be a toss up between Silvagni and Foulkes as to who get to take over his role.I would like to see Foulkes given a shot as Silvagni has been tried and not made a goof fist of it when he has had a go.So Foulkes for me.
Sandilands was an embarrassment yesterday.. He is more of a hinderence to Freo now.. He cant take an overhead mark & ground balls are out of the question..even the Freo faithfull bronx cheered him when he did take a mark..
Lets see how he looks next week or the week after.He hasn’t played a game so far this season.Don’t write him off.
I remember many a very very good player getting the bronx cheer,doesn’t mean they are finished.
The small amount of the match I watched seem to feature pavlich. He seemed in good nick after his absence. Fantastic for freo to have him back. St kilda gave a reasonable account of themselves. But their skills don’t match the uncontested possession game they try to deploy. Both freo and west coast go into the derby coming off wins and will be confident they can win. Freo are the bookies fav at 1.50, west coast at 2.5 are good value.
Hey Terror, you are a bit harsh on Sandilands, don’t think he was embarrassing, but there is credence in your assessment. It is unknown what his future is at the moment, he was certainly way off the pace. He will need at least 5 - 6 weeks to show anything, not sure Lyon or the team can wait that long. He is a very motivated person and will give it his absolute best, so we will have to wait and see. I hope he comes good.
Lyon will continue to play Sandilands,he has to.When we play finals we have to have him fit and playing well.If he goes down again, we will have to rely on Clarke and Hannath and I am not sure how Big Jack will handle that,Sandilands is a vital part of our team.
I am sure all he needs is time and patience.