St Kilda Coach Alan Richardson hopes Darren Minchington will be fuelled with belief after the classy forward made an impressive return to the senior side against Geelong on Sunday.
Minchington, 23, made the most of every opportunity that came his way, finishing with three goals – the most on the ground – from 16 possessions and five marks.
After playing 13 games in 2016 – the most in one season across his first five years - Minchington replaced small forward Jack Lonie in the side after a strong start to the year at Sandringham.
“That’s what I’d expect now. I would hope now that he would get some confidence out of today’s performance and build on that,” Richardson told reporters at his post-match press conference on Sunday night.
“As we saw today, he’s really clean, he makes the most of his opportunities, we really need him to work through the midfield and he’s got his endurance capacity up to where he should be able to do that.
“Darren has been improving all the time. He’s now into his sixth year and consistency has been the issue for Darren.
“He has been a little bit unlucky with his body over the journey; he’s had a couple of games and then gone out of the team; more often than not because of his body than form. He needs a little bit of luck in that space.”
Richardson praised the performances by Nathan Brown and Jake Carlisle, particularly after the former Collingwood premiership full back restricted Cats’ powerhouse full forward Tom Hawkins for almost the entire game, before he kicked two goals from the goal square late when the game was over.
“Both Browny and Jake have been really positive for us, including the JLT, all the way through,” Richardson said.
“Kennedy kicked three late (against Brown) over in Perth, but that’s an area that hurt us last year – the oppositions bigs – so that’s been good.
“I think those two players that are learning to play with each other, let alone the rest of their teammates, have been pretty positive for us."
