St Kilda Coach Alan Richardson has lauded the influence of his leadership group following Saturday night’s thrilling three-point win over premiership favourites Geelong at Etihad Stadium.

The Saints’ longest serving Captain Nick Riewoldt returned from injury in fine form, directing the way in a manner we have become accustomed to over the last decade, particularly in an intense final quarter.

While experienced pair Leigh Montagna and Jarryn Geary and emerging young leaders Jack Newnes and Maverick Weller demonstrated why they are so highly rated for their leadership prowess.

“I wouldn’t put it down to individuals, I would certainly put it down to the fact that we are blessed with a strong leadership group that had a real influence tonight in the way they drove the attitude and the commitment of their teammates,” Richardson said in his post-match press conference.

“It’s a belief, it’s an understanding, it’s reinforcement from our leaders: Riewoldt, Montagna, Geary, Weller as a young leader, Newnes as a young leader.”

In his 50th appearance at AFL level, budding star Seb Ross produced one of the finest performances of his first half century.

The uncompromising midfielder went head-to-head with Patrick Dangerfield for much of the night and limited the Cats superstars’ game breaking influence, while collecting a game-high 33 possessions, to draw adulation from his coach post-game.

“It was a really good game there’s no doubt about that. Seb’s had some pretty good performances this year. He’s building his career, he’s building his game in a really positive way,” Richardson said.

“I don’t know where it sits in terms of ranking his performances, to be honest I don’t really care, I just want him to continue building his game and keep improving.”

After drawing within one result of eclipsing last year’s win-loss tally of six and a half wins, Richardson refuses to look too far down the road, preferring to focus on maintaining a consistency of effort across the last nine games of the season.

“We’re not going to lift our eyes and look that far ahead. We just want to play good, consistent footy,” Richardson said.

“We were pleased with our performance against the Blues two weeks ago after a really disappointing performance only three games ago against the Crows.

“Tonight for a big part of the game we were consistent; we played the way we wanted to play. That’s going to be our focus going forward to maintain that consistency and to make sure the players have real clarity on how it is we want to play and what their role is in the team.”

St Kilda has the opportunity to win three consecutive wins for the first time in Richardson’s tenure when the Saints travel to Queensland next weekend to face the Gold Coast Suns at Metricon Stadium.

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