After establishing themselves as one of the best pressure applying sides in the competition last year, St Kilda’s focus is again on being the best in this area of the game says star midfielder David Armitage.

Across the opening three rounds of 2016, Alan Richardson’s side has continued to build its game around pressure, with the Saints ranked third for pressure points (weighted sum of pressure acts – physical worth more than implied) and pressure factor (pressure points per pressure chance), and fourth for total pressure acts.

On the back of the Saints impressive performance against Collingwood last weekend, a win carved from an emphatic pressure factor win (1.893 to 1.632), Armitage said frenetic pressure is what St Kilda wants to be known for.

“That’s our mantra, last year we were the No. 1 pressure team in the competition for twenty weeks – we dropped away in the last couple of games,” Armitage told Triple M’s the Rush Hour.

“This year, what we want to stand for is our pressure. So far we’ve been pretty good in three games.”

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Armitage revealed emerging star Jack Billings’ improved defensive efforts against the Magpies was the by-product of a concentrated effort during the week, following St Kilda’s disappointing performance in Round 2. Billings collected 29.4 pressure acts and five tackles, to go with a career-high possession haul of 30.

“Clearly he’s got the talent and all his offense stuff is awesome to watch and awesome to see, but there was a couple of times last week (against Western Bulldogs) we wanted him to work on the defensive side of his game and get some tackles,” Armitage said.

“He went away during the week and had a really solid session doing some tackling work with Aaron Hamill. He got five tackles and was spruiking about that after the game.”

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