How St Kilda responds to Sunday night’s demolition at the hands of Adelaide will determine how many steps backwards the Saints have taken, says St Kilda Coach Alan Richardson.

On a bitterly disappointing night at Adelaide Oval, the Saints were comprehensively beaten in almost every key indicator, with the Crows dominating possession (+176), inside 50s (+39), marks inside 50 (+20), contested ball (+38) and clearances (+11) to charge to an 88-point win.

After consecutive wins against Essendon and Fremantle, Richardson said in his post-match press conference that his side was reactionary all game, unable to get their hands on the ball and not up for the fight against an in-form side that looms as a premiership contender at the midway point of the season.

“It depends a little bit on how we respond – that would be my immediate thought. Tonight was a very poor performance. We played against a very, very good footy team,” Richardson told reporters in the wake of Sunday night’s loss to Adelaide.

“We weren’t able to get hold of the footy at all today. We got beaten really badly inside and just demolished on the outside. We just weren’t in the fight, we weren’t in the game at all. We were on the back foot, we played really reactionary.

“We were just second to the ball all day. The numbers will be horrific: entry, possession, uncontested marks for and against. But they are all the outcome of something and our guys just didn’t believe they could win that game, certainly after the way the Crows started that game.”

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On the back of a second hiding on the road in the space of a month, Richardson said the football department will investigate how to arrest the Saints’ poor form outside Victoria.

Sunday’s loss to Adelaide follows a triple figure defeat to West Coast at Domain Stadium in Round 8 and brings the Saints winless record at Adelaide Oval to six games.

“So our two worst performances in a month now have been against really strong footy teams when we’ve had to travel,” Richardson said.

“There’s a bit of a pattern – playing against really good teams on their home deck where we’ve had to travel. A couple of times now we haven’t got it done.

“We’re looking at ourselves from a coaching perspective. I’m looking at myself in terms of getting the group in a frame of mind where they believe they can be in the contest.”