Round 1 2013

Preview
by Nick Ciantar

Gold Coast:

Gold Coast had a reasonably low key summer. Promising forward Tom Lynch has had a minor setback with a foot injury and key defender Nathan Bock is still recovering from a broken leg. They were smashed by 91 points in their last game of 2012 by Adelaide, but despite that obliteration, the young Suns look ready to make an impact this year.

Highly-rated midfielder Jaeger O’Meara was very impressive over the summer and is favourite to win the NAB Rising Star award. Midfielders Harley Bennell and Brandon Matera and exciting ruckmen/forward Charlie Dixon are ready to show the football world their talents. Handy half-back Greg Broughton was traded to the club from Fremantle and is a disposal king.

St Kilda:

St Kilda’s quiet off-season was a welcome change, however, they did lose star utility Brendon Goddard via Free Agency to Essendon. The Saints drafted and traded a vast amount of youth, including Tom Hickey from Gold Coast and Trent Dennis-Lane from Sydney.

The Saints ended 2012 with a 15 point victory against Carlton. In a dead rubber, St Kilda gave their youth vital experience. Ben McEvoy is set to have a breakout year in the ruck, whilst David Armitage and Jack Steven could possibly do the same in the midfield.

Stat’s that matter:

St Kida were the 4th (73.6%) best disposal efficient team in 2012 and Gold Coast was 11th (71.8%)

St Kilda only averaged 33.8 hitouts per game in 2012 (17th overall) and Gold Coast managed 30 (18th)

St Kilda took the 7th (95.4 avg per game) most marks in 2012 and Gold Coast took the 17th (81.2) most

Injury Room and Suspensions:

Gold Coast:

Nathan Bock (leg), Tom Lynch (foot), Trent McKenzie (knee), Seb Tape (knee), Campbell Brown (suspended)

St Kilda:

Sam Fisher (foot), Sean Dempster (hamstring), Daniel Markworth (knee), Jackson Ferguson (knee), Leigh Montagna (suspended)

Player’s on a hot streak:

Gold Coast:

<p style="color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:Georgia,TimesNewRoman,BitstreamCharter,Times,serif;line-height:19px;">Jaeger O’Meara, Steven May, Jared Brennan, Harley Bennell

<p style="color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:Georgia,TimesNewRoman,BitstreamCharter,Times,serif;line-height:19px;">St Kilda:

<p style="color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:Georgia,TimesNewRoman,BitstreamCharter,Times,serif;line-height:19px;">Ahmed Saad, Jack Steven, David Armitage, Jack Newnes

<p style="color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:Georgia,TimesNewRoman,BitstreamCharter,Times,serif;line-height:19px;">Player’s on thin ice:

<p style="color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:Georgia,TimesNewRoman,BitstreamCharter,Times,serif;line-height:19px;">Gold Coast:

<p style="color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:Georgia,TimesNewRoman,BitstreamCharter,Times,serif;line-height:19px;">Sam Day, Jarrod Harbrow

<p style="color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:Georgia,TimesNewRoman,BitstreamCharter,Times,serif;line-height:19px;">St Kilda:

<p style="color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:Georgia,TimesNewRoman,BitstreamCharter,Times,serif;line-height:19px;">Sam Gilbert, Clint Jones

<p style="color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:Georgia,TimesNewRoman,BitstreamCharter,Times,serif;line-height:19px;">Key Match Up: Rory Thompson v Nick Riewoldt:

<p style="color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:Georgia,TimesNewRoman,BitstreamCharter,Times,serif;line-height:19px;">Riewoldt demolished the Suns last time by kicking seven goals. He completely destroyed the Suns back line and threatens to do the same. At 200cm tall, Thompson will need to use his height to intercept Riewoldt’s superb marking skills.

<p style="color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:Georgia,TimesNewRoman,BitstreamCharter,Times,serif;line-height:19px;">Prediction:

<p style="color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:Georgia,TimesNewRoman,BitstreamCharter,Times,serif;line-height:19px;">Both teams will come into the game fully confident that they can get the victory. Gold Coast is expected to show the football world their talent this year and could surprise many teams. Many believe that St Kilda will fall this year and in this early season game, many questions could be answered.

<p style="color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:Georgia,TimesNewRoman,BitstreamCharter,Times,serif;line-height:19px;">Gold Coast’s problem will be their ruck. They lost Hickey to St Kilda and Zac Smith will be told to shoulder most of the ruck load this year, as regular ruckmen Josh Fraser retired. Smith had the 21st most hitouts in 2012 and Hickey was 39th. Hickey is a major boost to St Kilda’s ruck stocks, as the club was 17th last year in hitouts and he will relieve the pressure off McEvoy.

<p style="color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:Georgia,TimesNewRoman,BitstreamCharter,Times,serif;line-height:19px;">St Kilda’s forwards and midfielders will be too strong for Gold Coast. The Saints stars may be aging, but Lenny Hayes, Nick Dal Santo, Nick Riewoldt and Stephen Milne are still playing quality football. These may be familiar names, but Armitage, Steven, James Gwilt, Jarryn Geary, Ahmed Saad and Arryn Siposs are leading the next generation.

<p style="color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:Georgia,TimesNewRoman,BitstreamCharter,Times,serif;line-height:19px;">The Sun’s aims will be to minimize St Kilda’s midfield talent, find a way to stop Nick Riewoldt and worry St Kilda’s defenders. St Kilda’s aims will be to expose Smith, pressure the young Suns’ midfield and win the contested football.

<p style="color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:Georgia,TimesNewRoman,BitstreamCharter,Times,serif;line-height:19px;">The Saints are two steps ahead of the Suns and have accumulated a massive 207 points winning margin over there three encounters. St Kilda has much more experience and will be too strong up at Metricon Stadium, but Gold Coast will put in a fight.

Teams
<span style="color:rgb(67,67,67);font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:18.1875px;">GOLD COAST 

<span style="color:rgb(67,67,67);font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:18.1875px;">B: Joel Wilkinson, Matthew Warnock, Tom Murphy

<span style="color:rgb(67,67,67);font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:18.1875px;">HB: Dion Prestia, Rory Thompson, Greg Broughton

<span style="color:rgb(67,67,67);font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:18.1875px;">C: Matt Shaw, Gary Ablett, Jarrod Harbrow

<span style="color:rgb(67,67,67);font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:18.1875px;">HF: Harley Bennell, Charlie Dixon, Brandon Matera

<span style="color:rgb(67,67,67);font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:18.1875px;">F: Luke Russell, Sam Day, Steven May

<span style="color:rgb(67,67,67);font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:18.1875px;">Foll: Zac Smith, Karmichael Hunt, David Swallow

<span style="color:rgb(67,67,67);font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:18.1875px;">I/C: Aaron Hall, Jaeger O'Meara, Jared Brennan, Michael Rischitelli

<span style="color:rgb(67,67,67);font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:18.1875px;">Emg: Maverick Weller, Jack Hutchins, Kyal Horsley

<span style="color:rgb(67,67,67);font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:18.1875px;">NEW: Jaeger O'Meara, Greg Broughton (Fremantle)

<span style="color:rgb(67,67,67);font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:18.1875px;">ST KILDA 

<span style="color:rgb(67,67,67);font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:18.1875px;">B: Jason Blake, James Gwilt, Dylan Roberton

<span style="color:rgb(67,67,67);font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:18.1875px;">HB: Jarryn Geary, Tom Simpkin, Sam Gilbert

<span style="color:rgb(67,67,67);font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:18.1875px;">C: Jack Newnes, Lenny Hayes, Nick Dal Santo

<span style="color:rgb(67,67,67);font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:18.1875px;">HF: Aaron Siposs, Nick Riewoldt, Terry Milera

<span style="color:rgb(67,67,67);font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:18.1875px;">F: Stephen Milne, Beau Maister, Rhys Stanley

<span style="color:rgb(67,67,67);font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:18.1875px;">Foll: Ben McEvoy, David Armitage, Jack Steven

<span style="color:rgb(67,67,67);font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:18.1875px;">I/C: Ahmed Saad, Tom Hickey, Clinton Jones, Farren Ray

<span style="color:rgb(67,67,67);font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:18.1875px;">Emg: Nathan Wright, Trent Dennis-Lane, Tom Lee

<span style="color:rgb(67,67,67);font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:18.1875px;">NEW: Dylan Roberton (Fremantle), Tom Hickey (Gold Coast)

Result and Aftermath
Despite the Saints going in to the game as hot favourites, the Suns, lead by skipper Gary Ablett put up a strong fight. The Saints were poor with their use of the footy, and it kept the Suns in the game, until they were able to pinch the lead and over-run the Saints in the final quarter.

Of the shock loss, coach Scott Watters stated that "you take something out of every game you play. From our point of view, the effort was strong, from the players efficiency was poor. You need both and you have to work extremely hard when you are not efficient. The players will be stung by that and they will work hard to rectify it. You lose a game on the back of it and that hurts. After half a game you are certainly never satisfied but we controlled the ball well in the second quarter and really our efficiency for large portions of the game outside of that wasn’t where we needed it to be. There were multiple inside 50 entries without really being composed so probably our efficiency hurt us. We had our own issues with David Armitage throughout that third quarter and he spent a large majority of that quarter off the ground. That probably robbed us of a bit of midfield grunt because he was playing particularly well up to that point. They finished the game probably with more running despite the amount of repeat inside 50s we had. He had pretty strong cramps throughout the third quarter. The doctors couldn’t quite get on top of them and in trying conditions early in the season you need your complete midfield up and going. For a portion there we were vulnerable. We probably thought when we were short of rotations in that third quarter it was having an impact on our midfield at that time. They certainly got some momentum through that period and we were probably unable to finish that game the way we would have liked after some of our midfielders were pretty taxed in the third quarter. I don’t want to throw these up as excuses – they are just the facts of the game and they (Gold Coast) finished the game well."