After a week of speculation regarding the slim possibility of reaching September, St Kilda Coach Alan Richardson admits he was pleased by his side’s ability to cope with the pressure and play their brand against the Western Bulldogs on Saturday night.
Ever since the Saints eclipsed Melbourne less than a week ago, mathematicians around the country were looking at possible routes to the finals.
Back page headlines and repeated questions from journalists ensued all week long. And they will continue in the coming days after the Saints worked their way past Luke Beveridge’s side at Etihad Stadium to move to 9-8 and within striking distance of the top-eight.
“It was a really positive result because of the conversation of if the Saints keep winning and if the Kangaroos slip up at all we might be a chance to sneak in (to the finals),” Richardson told reporters in his post-match press conference on Saturday night.
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“So with that expectation, with that noise, with that pressure, I was just so pleased that the players were able to play really strong, bold footy; that the occasion didn’t affect them negatively in any way.
“In fact, I think it did the opposite. I think that it was a real positive for the group and they embraced the challenge; they want to be in this space; they want to be in this conversation.
“We acknowledge that we still need a fair bit of luck, but all we can do now is control what we can control.”
After being jumped early by the Bulldogs, the Saints kicked five unanswered goals between the second and third quarters to surge to a 19-point lead, before three goals in three minutes by the Dogs midway through the third term levelled the scores.
The Saints then maintained control of proceedings in the final stanza, holding the Western Bulldogs scoreless, before steering to a 15-point win. In his post-mortem, Richardson labelled the performance one of the Saints’ best four-quarter efforts of the season.
“It was as good a performance from a four quarters perspective that we’ve had for a while,” Richardson said.
“We’ve won seven out of nine, so we’ve been reasonably positive (for some time), but four quarters in terms of the way we want to play – really strong with our contest, our pressure was where we want to be for all of the game.”
After winning four games in Richardson’s first season in charge in 2014, six and half last year, the Saints sit on nine wins with five games remaining in the home and away season. A whiff of September lingers in the air.
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