Skipper Jack Steele has commended his side’s tenacity in the face of significant adversity, applauding the Saints’ endeavour despite the final result and injury toll.

St Kilda lost key forward Max King in the opening minute of the game with a shoulder injury, followed in quick succession by Seb Ross (hamstring) and Zaine Cordy (concussion).

It left the Saints with just two men on the bench by quarter-time, however led by Steele, stubbornly refused to throw in the towel to push Melbourne right to the end.

“We were obviously faced with a little bit of adversity in the first quarter or two with the three boys going down, but I thought the group really fought back,” Steele told saints.com.au post-match.

“Although we were on the ropes, we left everything out there. That was very pleasing.

“It’s always disappointing to lose and it would have been pretty sweet to win the 150th, but we’ll go back to the drawing board during the week and review what we left down there and go forward.”

Senior coach Ross Lyon noted his side’s effort despite the accumulating injury toll and its flow-on effects, however refused to chalk Saturday’s result up in the ‘honourable losses’ column.

Cleaner execution and a real drive to hammer the ball into attack and make the most of their opportunities were among Lyon’s demands for the Saints to rectify post-game, and while a stark improvement over last week’s first half against West Coast, wouldn’t accept anything less moving forward.

“There was definitely a little bit of polish that we lacked. Ross was pretty happy but he still challenged us, which I think is very important,” Steele said.

“I’m glad he did that and hopefully we can put that effort in over the next couple of weeks.”

Steele was among the Saints’ best on Saturday night, chalking up 31 disposals, 12 tackles ad a goal in what was his 150th senior game.

The captain’s form has been the subject of extended discussion over the past few weeks, particularly after collarbone and knee injuries sustained throughout 2023, however proved his best wasn’t far out of reach with a fierce resurgence to inspire his side.

“I feel like my body’s been getting better and better each week after some of the injuries I’ve had,” Steele said.

“I thought it would take a bit of time before I started to see that translate into my form and I thought I was able to contribute today with some of my contest work and my tackling. I feel that was back to its best.

“The midfield was good tonight after a couple of weeks where we weren’t probably the best. It’s a positive, but we’ve got to keep it going.”

Steele was quick to praise the work of Rowan Marshall, who finished the night as St Kilda’s best with 30 disposals, 15 hit-outs, eight clearances and seven tackles all the while coming up against the highly touted ruck duo of Max Gawn and Brodie Grundy.

“It was great. To be honest, it was probably one of Rowan’s best games this year and that’s saying something,” Steele said.

“He’s played an unbelievable season to-date, so massive credit to big Rowan and his work-rate, because he was coming up against the two premier ruckmen in the competition.

“I had a little conversation with him at half-time that he’s had an amazing half, but we needed him to keep going. He was able to do that in the second half and just provide contests - that’s what he’s so good for.”