“Well done boys, that was fantastic… excellent,” a masked-up Brett Ratten, who just made his way down from the coaches’ box, says as he and the Saints head down the race.

It was a result that had floored pundit, tipster and commentator alike: a 29-point victory against the Swans off the back of a three-week stint which had yielded varying levels of disappointment. The most recent of those losses – a 31-point demoralising defeat to Carlton – was the kick in the guts for the confidence-hit side.

But Saturday’s result was the perfect response. It wasn’t always pretty, but it was emblematic of a side who, in the words of Dean Kent, had been carrying “a chip on its shoulder”.

Moments later plastic chairs are gathered in front of the whiteboard, guernseys stripped off, tape and socks removed and ice promptly strapped to assorted ankles and calves as Ratten prepares to debrief the group.

It’s your typical address in many ways, with Ratten pointing out individual players and commending the group’s four-quarter performance. But underpinning his message was a quality that at times this year had failed to make the post-game assessment: courage.

Not in the sense of careening into contests with careless abandon, but for rallying together and having the courage to beat the Swans – ranked No. 1 in the league for pressure – at their own game after many had them written off both them as a side and the season at large.

Ratts works his way around the room.

It was the courage of Callum Wilkie who, despite giving away three inches and 20 kilograms to one of the game’s greatest ever forwards and being without his defensive foil Dougal Howard, kept Lance Franklin to just five touches and a goal.

Same goes for forwards Dean Kent and Dan Butler, whose persistent pressure often goes overlooked – the latter’s 35 pressure acts and eight tackles inside-50 surpassing even his best figures from last year’s near All-Australian campaign – along with Rowan Marshall for standing tall without Paddy Ryder alongside him.

And then there’s Nick Coffield for having the boldness to come off his man and bite off aggressive kicks through the centre. In many ways, the No. 1’s up-and-down campaign following a sterling 2020 has been an embodiment of the club’s season to date.

All had their own reasons to be second guessing themselves, as did the whole wounded brigade who had the air sucked out of them after a demoralising sequence of losses.

So, when the final siren sounded many were staring at the final scores (and tipping competitions) with both disbelief and frustration. "Where has this St Kilda been all year?”, the faithful cry out in unison.

But when the backs have been firmly against the wall – and when we’re least expecting it – that’s when the Saints have galvanised and been strongest.

Whatever spurred on Saturday's courageous victory left a sense of both what the side is capable of and what it has so sorely lacked in order to be a contender.

It’s symptomatic of the Saints' season: The good has been great, the bad near-impossible to stomach. It’s consequently had the red, white and black precariously perched for the entire year: just keeping in touch with the top-eight logjam and then when presented the opportunity to make up ground, stumbling badly. Adelaide and Carlton games the textbook example which still keep us awake at night.

Many could argue that this St Kilda’s true dogged enemy this season hasn't been injury, a torrid opening fixture or mental fatigue, but inconsistency. In turn, it's resulted in a a lack of confidence that's flowed from individual to team form. Deeper than that, there’s a story to be told about a side who questioned whether or not they belonged in the finals conversation, rightly or wrongly.

Out of the six sides clamouring to lock down a place in the top-eight, for many, the Saints invariably shape as the least likely option to squeeze into September action.

It is still a long shot, and is now a campaign reliant on two wins against top-four fancy Geelong and finals aspirant Fremantle, along with a myriad of other results out of St Kilda’s control.

The book on 2021 might be closed for some parties, yet others earnestly wait to see what the next entry holds. All that matters is that Round 22 against the Cats at their fortress will be a tough ask – and a task no Saints outfit has conquered since 1999.

But as the Saints showed on Saturday, when they have courage on-side, they have the capacity to contend with the best.