Steph Chiocci’s season-ending injury won’t inhibit or diminish the impact she has on St Kilda’s playing group moving into the tail-end of the season, according to senior coach Nick Dal Santo.
The 34-year-old leader was ruled out of Saturday’s contest with Hawthorn following a tackle in the game’s opening minutes, with scans later that day confirming a right ACL rupture to put a dampener on the nine-point victory.
Chiocci joined the Saints during this year’s Sign & Trade Period as part of a blockbuster trade which brought her and ex-Magpie Jaimee Lambert to RSEA Park, being inducted into the leadership group a few months later after captaining Collingwood for seven seasons.
“She’s had a huge influence on our group,” Dal Santo said post-game.
“Clearly, the bit that everybody sees is her leadership and her performance on-field, but just as much it’s the Monday to Friday stuff (that has an influence).
“She’s so invested, so sharing of information that she’ll pass on as much as she can to the next person.
“She’s been a significant part of our group for the last six to nine months and we’ll make sure she stays a big part of it.”
Saturday’s triumph over Hawthorn marked the first time the Saints had achieved three consecutive wins; the hat-trick beginning with a stirring win over Collingwood at home and flowing into an under-lights triumph over the Western Bulldogs before the most recent result.
St Kilda held sway for majority of proceedings to take a 27-point lead at three-quarter time, but were forced to fight to the finish line as the Hawks booted the last three goals of the game without reply.
“I mentioned it to the group post-game (that) it’s nice to be able to tick off some things along the way,”
“We’ve never spoken about winning a certain amount of games in a row. Clearly we’re in the win-loss industry and we want to win more than we lose, but we speak so much about the process and how we give ourselves opportunities to win.
“Overall, pleasing. It’s nice to be able to walk away with a result that we’re proud of and, for a majority of the game, a style of football that we’re proud of.
“But we’re under no illusions we’ve got work to do. There’s some really pleasing signs of growth, but within that, there’s some work to do.”
