St Kilda’s scratch match against Carlton has come up with several positives across the board, with senior coach Nick Dal Santo content with the side's first competitive hit-out ahead of Season 7.
The Saints fielded an extended squad of 24 players at Ikon Park on Saturday morning, using the four 18-minute quarters to both trial in-game set-ups and measure how they would fare against a quality opposition.
While the final score was secondary in the context of the morning session, St Kilda finished five points ahead of the Blues.
“It went really well, it was a great hit-out overall,” Dal Santo told saints.com.au.
“In regard to what we wanted to get out of the day, I think we walked away as a playing group and coaching staff really pleased with a handful of things.
“There was quite a bit that we wanted to work on heading into the game. There were some structural things we played around with and we were able to try some things that weren’t dependent on the scoreboard against a full opposition.
“The girls that needed some conditioning got that, the girls that needed some match fitness got that, so it was a tick in the box in a couple of areas.
“We’re still working on a few things before we roll out in a few weeks’ time about exactly how we line up and what style of football it’ll be, but we’re refining that day by day.”
Newcomers Erin McKinnon and Simone Nalder were effective in sharing ruck duties, spending time both in the middle and up forward to give weight to a dual-ruck set up for the upcoming campaign.
The Saints boasted a visibly taller set-up with Clara Fitzpatrick slotting back into the defensive half, while closer to ground level, J’Noemi Anderson took her opportunity with both hands with a “ferocious” display at the coalface.
Hannah Stuart was a standout as an inside through her two-way running as Deanna Jolliffe set up camp as a forward alongside Nicola Stevens, while Rosie Dillon, Darcy Guttridge and Molly McDonald put in the hard yards in their inside and outside roles respectively.
Season 7 recruits Grace Kelly and Caitlin Matthews did not take part in Saturday’s proceedings.
“I feel like I could go through everybody. In all honesty, everybody had a moment or patches in the game where you go ‘ah, I see why they’re playing here and at this level’,” Dal Santo said.
“Nic (Stevens) is a workhorse, she was really consistent with her efforts and I thought she did some really pleasing things. She probably didn’t impact ball in her hand as much as she would have liked, but her effort was exceptional so we can’t ask much more of her.
“Hannah (Stuart) has been sensational. Speaking about work rate, she’s really led the way in that space and she’s creating a really good and difficult conversation about what our midfield looks like.
“By saying that, as a collective we’ve still got a lot of growth ahead of us about being really competitive consistently. If I look us now compared to last year, we’re in front of where we were in regard to game style and executing under pressure.
“We’re seeing some growth but clearly there’s still a long way to go and a full season ahead.”
St Kilda will dial up its Season 7 preparations this coming Friday against Brisbane, with the official practice match to be livestreamed on saints.com.au beginning from 3:30pm AEST.
