AS SATISFIED as Alan Richardson was with St Kilda’s round one win over Melbourne, he is refusing to take a vastly-improved GWS team lightly this weekend.

Both teams began the season with a victory, with the Giants defeat of the Sydney Swans at ANZ Stadium sending shockwaves through the AFL.

“There are certainly some areas to work on,” Richardson said on Thursday morning.

“We’ve got no illusions about the fact we’ve started on a journey and there is going to be some young players and therefore some inconsistency and non-compliance. This is not through a lack of want, that’s just what you get with young guys.”

St Kilda’s coach refused to be drawn into any suggestion the Saints will take the foot off the pedal on Saturday afternoon, citing the Giants’ tall timber, numerous first-round draft picks and their improved strength in the clinches as their main weapons.  

“[Jonathon] Patton is back now, [Jeremy] Cameron has had another pre-season and he was already all-Australian. They are a quality group. They physical nature of the way they played against Sydney suggests that they are going to be really physical against us. We rate them really highly.”

And it wasn’t long ago that St Kilda felt the full brunt of GWS’s raft of talented youngsters following a defeat in the NAB Challenge in country New South Wales.

“They were very impressive against us in Wagga Wagga. They have got some incredible talent and they have got another pre-season into their kids. Their ability to run was very impressive.”

“They’ve got some real depth there. [Lachie] Plowman is a really good defensive player; [Jonathan] Giles has played some good footy for them in the pre-season, so they hav

“Armo played a really aggressive and physical game for us so there was a lot of general soreness. He got a bit of a corky just above his knee. He’s responded really well.”

“Webby will have to get through training today but the Doctors are suggesting he’s much more likely to play than not. We’ll give him every chance.”

St Kilda hasn’t won back-to-back games to begin a season since its Grand Final year 2010, and while Richardson is determined to get the right results, he’s also committed to getting the process right.

“We go out to win every game we play irrespective of the opposition. It’s about the way we play and the way we go about our footy... We are on record as wanting to be really tough and hard to play against.”
You can follow Tom Morris on Twitter: @tommorris32