Jack Sinclair is adamant that he and the Saints aren’t putting the cue in the rack as the playing group looks to get “on the same page” and not allow their current run of form to define the remainder of the season.
St Kilda’s most recent loss to Melbourne on Sunday was the club’s third in a row and eighth for the season, putting the ledger at 3-8 with matches to come against West Coast, Gold Coast and Brisbane before its mid-season bye.
Sinclair pointed to a number of issues in execution, ball use and the side’s front-half form which has compounded scoring in recent weeks, however was strong in not letting those problems affect the team’s confidence ahead of this week’s contest against the Eagles.
“We’re definitely focussed on this year and this week. We don’t want to waste any time,” Sinclair said at this morning’s press conference at RSEA Park.
“Every opportunity we get to go out there we can improve. That’s going to be the focus this week (against West Coast).
“We’ve been starting pretty poorly the last few weeks which has been frustrating, but a lot of learnings again and the coaches have made it really clear for us what we need to improve on.
“There are certainly positives, not enough obviously. We are lacking a little bit of belief so far, but we know we can turn it around and get a bit of momentum.”
Sinclair has been playing extended time in the midfield in recent weeks as opposed to at half-back where he won two All-Australians and two club Best & Fairests, but could soon be accompanied by Brad Crouch and Hunter Clark who have put together a solid patch via the VFL in their respective returns from injury.
Tim Membrey (six goals) and Dan Butler were also notable for Sandringham over the weekend, with second-year Saint Mattaes Phillipou also in the frame for a recall.
“We’re really healthy which is positive, a lot of experienced guys playing well and a lot of guys playing well in the twos, Sandringham had a good win on the weekend,” Sinclair said.
“We had 17 guys playing there (on Sunday). We need that pressure for spots, it’s probably something we’ve lacked a bit this season and I think that’s going to help us for the rest of the year.”
St Kilda will travel to Optus Stadium to face West Coast — also in the hunt for its fourth win of the season — who despite going down to Adelaide by 99 points last weekend has won three of its past five games at home.
“I’m optimistic, I see every game as winnable. But it is hard to know what we’re going to dish up a bit which is a bit frustrating because we’ve been so inconsistent,” Sinclair said.
“There’s certainly nothing easy about going there, that’s for sure. I’m really optimistic about how we can play for the rest of the year, turn it around and get a bit of confidence.”
