Star St Kilda midfielder David Armitage has lauded the Saints' self-belief after his side willed its way to victory over Fremantle, after staring defeat in the eye late in the third quarter.

Armitage was one of the most influential players on the ground, accumulating 28 disposals, 17 tackles, 14 contested possessions and seven clearances, as well as limiting the destruction caused by Dockers star Lachie Neale in the second half.

At 13-points down at the final break, Armitage admits the result could have gone either way had it not been for the belief the Saints had in their own game and the time they spend on mindfulness training.

“It could have gone two ways at three-quarter time. We were in a similar position against Essendon at half-time, we felt like we were on top of the game and we didn’t drop our bundle,” Armitage told saints.com.au post-game on Saturday night.

“It’s a credit to the belief and the work we’ve done with mental training hanging in there and it will eventually turn. It took to the last quarter and most weeks it will take until the last quarter. But it was a credit to the boys that we finally got over the line.”

Despite escaping with the four premiership points, Armitage was critical of the middle two quarters where Fremantle dominated a number of key indicators including clearances (27-11), inside 50 entries (28-19) and contested ball (79-55). Although the Mackay product was thrilled with St Kilda’s response in the final stanza.

“Our quarters two and three weren’t great. We let them win too much clearance, I think we were -11 clearance in the second quarter alone so that doesn’t help. The backs started yelling at the mids to get it done,” Armitage said.

“We came in at half-time got a bit of a sting. We responded there a little bit in the first ten minutes of the third quarter but then in the last quarter we turned it around, smacked in and we won the ball.”

Tasked with the arduous role of quelling the dominance of the game’s biggest ball magnet in Neale, Armitage performed the duty with aplomb, clamping the out-of-contract Docker in the back end of the game, whilst also making a contribution the other way.

“I put the saddle on Lachie Neale there for a bit in the last half because I think he’d had eight clearances up to half-time and hopefully nullified him in the last half. I just put the saddle and got to work and just jumped on his back and fortunately I got a few,” Armitage said.