At a glance:

• Peta Searle says some "time in the storm" will help the Saints grow following a trying afternoon against Adelaide.
• St Kilda fell to the dual-Premiers by 53 points at Norwood Oval, with the loss marking their third defeat of the year.
• Connection between the lines and time against seasoned opposition will be two key takeaways from Sunday's match.

Some “time in the storm” will be tough to swallow at first, but is an experience which St Kilda coach Peta Searle says her young side will take many lessons from moving forward.

The Saints were outmuscled by dual-Premiers Adelaide at Norwood Oval on Sunday afternoon by 53 points, spelling the club’s third loss of the season against a flag fancy.

Experience was the real winner on the day, with St Kilda – eleven games into its AFLW journey – unable to contend with the clockwork-like proficiency of their dual-Premiership opposition at Norwood Oval.

“It was definitely a tough game. In the end Adelaide were definitely were too big, too strong and too drilled,” Searle told saints.com.au.

“Our last 30 minutes we showed passages of how we could break down a team like this, but it’s just one of those days where they were way too experienced and we’re still on our journey.”

Despite tenacious outings from Norwood recruit Hannah Priest (20 disposals, eight marks), Tilly Lucas-Rodd (24 disposals, seven intercepts) and Georgia Patrikios (24 disposals, four clearances), any potential chinks in Adelaide’s armour couldn’t be exploited.

The Crows instead strong-armed their way on top of proceedings and put St Kilda’s backline into overdrive, amassing an overwhelming 47 inside-50s against the Saints’ eight.

It was all one-way traffic until Kate Shierlaw broke the scoring drought late in the third quarter, but by that time, the dual-Premiers were comfortably in charge.

Priest and Lucas-Rodd staved off the onslaught with 11 of their side’s 38 rebounds – the Crows conversely had six rebounds for the match – but the subsequent connection between the arcs was promptly dismantled by the seasoned Adelaide.

“What’s breaking down for us the most when we’re on the back foot is probably time in the game,” Searle said.

“It’s knowing what to do when that happens, it’s knowing when to pull the trigger on a kick, it’s knowing when to go around, it’s knowing when to go long, and that’s just experience.

“That’s pretty much (where we’re) falling down a bit in those patches. As I said to the girls, you’re not going to get a better look at this to improve and get better.

“We can’t replicate this type of stuff at training, so this is where we’ve got an opportunity to really grow and that’s what it’s about: it’s about learning from what the game gave us.”