PLAYING against a top-four side was a great learning curve for St Kilda on-baller Tom Curren.
The third gamer played his first full AFL match on Friday night against Hawthorn, collecting 17 disposals in a variety of midfield roles.
“Playing on Mitchell in the second half – I just learnt how he gets the footy and the little tricks he does around the stoppages,” Curren told SAINTS.com.au on Friday night. “I’ll benefit from that. It was good.”
“We are sort of in a transition phase so the younger boys playing against a quality side – we are only going to benefit from it. I think the boys got a lot out of tonight.”
[ RELATED: Full match report ]
The 21-year-old donned the green vest for his first two senior games after being elevated from the rookie list. Curren has been a prolific ball-winner in the VFL for two years now, a quality he is committed to demonstrating at AFL level.
“It’s always better to play the full game rather than the sub,” he said. “We just fell short again but it was a good experience for the boys. They had a few seasoned bodies and it was good to go up against them.”
The Saints trailed by four points at the first break, before Hawthorn booted five goals to St Kilda’s one in the second term to extend the margin heading into the second half. The contest was relatively even in the third and fourth quarters, with Curren lamenting the lapses in the second term that ultimately proved costly.
“We were pretty happy at quarter-time. All of our KPI’s were sort of where we wanted them to be… That second quarter was the difference in the end really.”
Already the inside midfielder is looking ahead to St Kilda’s next challenge - a trip to Sydney this weekend.
“I think we have a nine-day break,” he said. “From about Tuesday or Wednesday onwards we’ll start attacking training and get it good shape to tackle Sydney.”
“It will be good to get some quality training in throughout the week.”
You can follow Tom Morris on Twitter: @tommorris32
