At a glance:

  • Nick Coffield says Sunday's win over Essendon has added another layer of confidence to his game and the backline.
  • The young defender says the club is focussed on working towards a long-awaited finals berth.
  • Coffield also spoke highly of Hunter Clark, whose evasive skills are 'out of this world'.

Young defender Nick Coffield says another win on the board has injected another dose of confidence into the Saints’ emergent backline brigade.

The 20-year-old starred in last Sunday’s win against Essendon with 19 disposals, 10 marks, seven intercepts and six rebound-50s to poll his second AFL Coaches’ Association votes for the year.

Coffield has played every game following the season restart to find himself in career-best touch as part of the remodelled defensive.

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And his assuredness and self-belief, plus that of the young backline, has only grown as he nestles down in his niche in defence.

“I’m definitely starting to feel a lot more comfortable,” Coffield told RSN.

“We’ve got some experienced heads with Jake and Gears when they’re down there, but just as a whole backline group (we’re feeling confident).”

Knowing that we’re young but we can still get the result and string some pretty decent form together, it gives us belief and a bit of confidence to grow together.

- Nick Coffield

With Jake Carlisle managed for Round 12, skipper Jarryn Geary and recruit Dougal Howard were the only defenders to take to the park on Sunday with over 50 games to their name.

Collectively, Coffield, Hunter Clark, Ben Long, Ben Paton and Callum Wilkie’s 174-game tally still fell shy of their captain’s 197 senior appearances.

A nasty concussion to Paton in the opening shrunk that tally down to 146.

But it’s done little to sway the No. 1’s mindset, particularly as the tumultuous season heads into its final stanza.

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'We wanted to come out and respond this week': Coffield after Round 12 win

Nick Coffield spoke to STK Media after our Round 12 win over Essendon

“We know what we want to do, we want to play finals,” Coffield said.

“You can’t really be stringing too many bad games together. It’s probably not going to get you to where you want to go.”

Coffield also spoke glowingly of draft mate Clark, whose silky influence has started to seep into the Saints’ midfield force.

“He’s already started filtering through there a little bit and he’s really comfortable and just the way he uses the ball, it’s unreal for us,” Coffield said.

“Some of the stuff he does is just crazy, the way he can sort of walk through traffic and all that, he’s one that’s out of this world with some of the stuff he can do.

“He’d probably get in there before me, I reckon.”

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