He might have been missing the bright red trunks of St Kilda’s pre-season, but Cooper Sharman could have been mistaken for Superman the way he was taking to the skies at Marvel Stadium on Saturday afternoon.

Unfortunately for Essendon, there was no kryptonite to momentarily quell Sharman’s sharpshooting and high flying, which yielded a perfect 10 coaches’ votes as his side raced away to a noteworthy 53-point win.

However the performance from the young forward — who charted a career-best 21 disposals, 10 marks, three goals and three assists — paints a much bigger picture in regard to St Kilda’s forward efficiency over the past fortnight, which has resulted in the two biggest winning margins (72 and 53 points) under Ross Lyon between this year and last.

In layman terms, take more marks inside forward-50 and the likelier it is to subsequently convert on the scoreboard. 

Sharman and the Saints have certainly taken that with them in their recent pair of victories, combining for an impressive 39 marks inside the arc to slot 17 goals and tip over into triple figures in each game.

A quarter (five of 20) of St Kilda’s forward-50 marks were taken by Sharman on Saturday, with three resulting in goals and one being selflessly palmed off to Jack Steele who streamed into a vacant square to notch up his second of three third-quarter majors.

Prior to the past fortnight, St Kilda had averaged 11 marks inside-50 per game, with 16 against North Melbourne in Round 8 the previous best figure held by the club this season.

“I thought it was really positive. I think since he’s come back in he’s moved well and competed well, a bit like Ryan Byrnes and Mattaes Phillipou,” Lyon said of Sharman’s efforts post-game.

“All credit to our development coaches. Clearly they identified what (he) needed to work on and they go back and work on it, and it’s really pleasing to see that it’s stood up over the last few weeks over AFL level.

“You need that. You need to contribute and they (our young players) will be feeling good about themselves. And we feel good about them.”

Last week against West Coast, it was the more senior head in Tim Membrey who similarly capitalised with safe dukes and steady boots in front of the big sticks, clunking four of his side’s 19 marks inside-50 which resulted in three of his five majors (and coincidentally involved another team-first play to get Steele on the board). 

On Saturday against Essendon, almost half of St Kilda’s forward-50 marks (nine of 20) resulted in majors kicked directly from set shots and accounted for exactly half its total score.

Additionally across the past two weeks, Membrey, Sharman and Mitch Owens have charted within the competition’s top-five for forward-half marks. 

Cumulatively, and against a side pressing for September action this week just gone, it’s an overall pleasing picture for Lyon.

“I think confronting an opposition with real intent and desire to maintain their position in the eight in front of a big crowd… that was really pleasing,” Lyon said.

“To handle their intent, and with method, and take control of the game, I thought we played really smart football. To then execute on it… everyone stood up.”