St Kilda Coach Alan Richardson is pleased with his side's effort over the JLT Community Series, but says there are still a few wrinkles to be ironed out ahead of their season opener against Melbourne.
The Saints were dominant early in their opening pre-season game against Port Adelaide before eventually winning by the narrowest of margins. They then beat Carlton by 15-goals in a dominant display at Ikon Park, before pushing Sydney all the way on Sunday night.
Speaking on Melbourne radio station RSN, Richardson said he was happy with St Kilda’s ability to transfer their pre-season practice into games, particularly when they were challenged by the Swans and fought back in the second half in Albury.
“There have been parts of it that are really pleasing. We spoke pre-game about what we were looking to achieve given it was our last game against a really competitive and physical opponent in Sydney,” Richardson told RSN on Tuesday morning.
“We wanted to make sure that we continued to play our way and that’s a reflection of all the work we’ve done in the pre-season.
“On the whole, it was pretty positive; there’s still some work to do in certain areas, particularly our ability to maximise our dominance in periods of the game. In terms of the boy’s effort and what we’re trying to do is pretty positive.”
With Round 1 only 11 days away, the question of who will be out there continues to intensify by the day, across the entire competition.
At Linen House Centre, Alan Richardson and the match committee have a handful of selection headaches with the duel between Tom Hickey and Billy Longer for the No. 1 ruck spot one of the most intriguing.
“They’ve been in good form; we’re pleased to have that dilemma,” Richardson said.
“Billy’s been really positive and played the two games or really one and half games because we swapped them at half-time in the Port Adelaide game.
“Hickey’s had one and a half games and they’ve both been really strong.
“Billy played in the VFL to make sure he kept his form and his intensity up and was quite positive. We’ll make that call this week.”
