St Kilda Coach Alan Richardson has expressed his disappointment at Sunday’s final quarter fadeout against Geelong, after the Saints relinquished a three-quarter time lead before eventually losing by 38-points at Etihad Stadium.
After the Cats got the better start under the roof at Docklands, St Kilda wrestled the lead back by the main break, before opening a five-point lead at three-quarter time.
Then, Chris Scott’s side produced a fourth quarter onslaught, booting eight goals to one to remain undefeated after five rounds. While St Kilda falls to 2-3, after falling short in the final quarter for the second time in a month.
“I’m really disappointed with the last quarter,” Richardson said in his post-match press conference on Sunday night.
“Even though the third quarter from a scoreboard perspective was okay, we started to lose a bit of momentum. Having said that, (we played) some pretty positive footy for big parts of the game, but the last quarter was really disappointing.
“To get out worked, to be physically outplayed as significantly as we were through the midfield, was disappointing.
“It was really the first ten or 15 minutes of the quarter where the game was up for grabs; one team really took a hold of it from a midfield perspective; we didn’t go there. So that was really disappointing.”
Despite a strong contribution from Jack Steven on return and from emerging midfielder Seb Ross, St Kilda was handed a lesson around the ball, comprehensively losing contested ball (-24), tackles (-15) and inside 50s (-13).
Richardson praised the influence of Geelong captain Joel Selwood (43 disposals) and reigning Brownlow medallist Patrick Dangerfield (31 disposals and two goals), suggesting that his midfield weren’t able to stand up when they needed to on Sunday.
“One group of midfielders, really led by a couple of their great players, put their hand up to be outstanding in terms of their want to get the ball forward and drive their team and we weren’t able to match it,” Richardson said.
“From a games played perspective, we need to be getting to the stage where those guys that are in there stand up and have a bigger influence.
“We were up against some quality players but we’ve been up against that sort of quality before; the last couple of times we’ve played them and been able to stand up for longer.”
