Saints set for finals return

Depends on what the swans offer in terms of compensation. I think it might be low and heavily incentivised. If we don’t get first round compo blame doddorro and sack him on the spot and refuse to provide a reference for doddorro. I have nothing against Daniher but we should’ve traded him for what the swans were offering.

Who knows? You'd hope they have tried to convince him to stay but it looks like he might be gone though.

Yeah but the question is does Joey want to stay?

Merret would be a good acquistion but he might cost too much as you said. You have lose something to gain something in trades but the Bombers would demand more than pick 15 for him and he is one of Essendon's best players. I think it is probably wishful thinking anyway. Losing potentially Daniher, Fantasia and Merrett would really put Essendon behind the 8 ball for a few years. The only one they can afford to lose is probably Fantasia right now. They should try to keep Daniher at all costs since they won't get a deal as good as what the Swans offered again this year so they might as well hold onto him and hope he can stay fit.

If the saints were being real gutsy in this years trade period they should be angling for Zach Merrett, a great collector of the ball, who always tries his hardest, but as the reigning best and fairest the bombers will extract a significant price.

Last year was tough to watch at times. It was a false dawn in the first 5 rounds when they were in the top 2 after belting Melbourne but then lost the next 4 games to top 8 sides and it was business as usual. Richo knew the writing was on the wall and he did the right thing stepping down after the Geelong loss. Richo was just never cut out to be the guy running the show in the end but he was good managing behind closed doors. You could immediately tell it was a new era when Ratten stepped in as caretaker coach after they smashed the in-form dogs in r18 and won a tight game against Freo. They just need to focus more in those tight games. The North and Freo losses were attitude problems and the Melbourne loss was due to poor conversion. They are a young side still so I expect some lapses but I reckon with more experience they will be better for it and know what to do in close games. There is a lot to be hopeful about at least and you couldn't say that in 2018 and 2019, when they were at rock bottom.

Considering the mess they were in last year i think they have performed well above expectation. I agree with you that they will need to fix their performance in tight games, and also they need to work on their accuracy when pressured, the last few weeks they have been poor in front of goal. All in all though they deserve praise, they have looked competitive in most games this year and that is not something i have seen from the Saints in a long time.

Big tick for Brett Ratten and the recruiting team for getting this mob back to playing finals. It has been a long time since 2011 and it means a lot to the supporters who have to put up a with a painful 9 years. Normally they would have chucked the towel in the season after losing important games to Brisbane and Melbourne after being in a position to play finals but they persisted and things haved ended up clicking. I always had a feeling that Ratten was the right guy for the job and that they nailed the recruiting last year. Everything was purposeful and had logic behind it and it has been a big success. It appears they will play either the bulldogs or Collingwood in finals. Both match-ups will be interesting either way. It’s disappointing that a lot of the Saint’s supporters down in Melbourne can’t be there to watch them play. I reckon if this final were played at the MCG, they would get over 90,000 easy to attend. Next year they will have to be better in close games and close the gap between their best and worst. Inexcusable losses to North, Freo and Melbourne cost them a top 4 spot but there is plenty of up-side and improvement still left in the side for them to fix that. Getting another A-grader in the midfield in the off-season would help a lot too. It has been an outstanding year overall after most people had written them off before the season had even started. I must admit I had my doubts at stages too but they didn’t let us down.

well done saints.

Well done Sainters. Made me think of Danny Frawley for a moment there. Oh when the Saints, go over there, oh when the Saints go over there.....

Pleased for Saints but especially Rats. I hope they reek havoc.

Well done Saints - great year. Sayonnara Gru°bs.