In the moments before the opening bounce in Tasmania, in a moment captured by Fox Footy, St Kilda Coach Alan Richardson spoke to the leadership group about the importance of returning to Melbourne with four premiership points.
Having not won away from home in their last 10 attempts, and against a Hawthorn side who had won their last 19 games at University of Tasmania Stadium, the Saints were on a mission in the apple isle.
As the rest of the playing group filed out after the pre-game meeting, Richardson held the leadership group back and outlined how import this game was in the context of St Kilda’s season.
“It was a message of it’s not going to happen unless you blokes get it done, unless you blokes inspire your teammates, unless you blokes instruct and basically get it done,” Richardson said on Fox Footy’s AFL 360 on Monday night.
“We hadn’t won on the road for a while; we had a reasonably strong performance in Perth (against West Coast in Round 2) and lost our way late in the game.
“Our season, 2-3, you don’t want to get too far behind being even at least to be able to launch at some stage.
“After eight rounds last year we were 2-6 and had been absolutely flogged by West Coast by 100-points and the Western Bulldogs by 50-points. So to get the win (on the weekend) was really pleasing.”
Monday Wash-Up: Round 6 v Hawthorn
A wave of St Kilda's younger leaders - Jack Steven (36 disposals), Seb Ross (33 disposals), Jack Newnes (32 disposals), Dylan Roberton (29 disposals), Mav Weller (28 disposals) and Josh Bruce (three goals) - all stepped up in Launceston.
St Kilda has led at three-quarter time in all but the opening game of this season, fading badly on two occasions, firstly against West Coast in Round 2 and more recently against Geelong in Round 5.
Richardson said he was disappointed with the fadeout against the Cats a fortnight ago and wants the Saints to be a stronger team for four quarters.
“Last week I was disappointed with the fact the Geelong footy club were able to go to another level after a real arm wrestle for three quarters and we weren’t,” Richardson said.
“We have high expectations, we want to be a really good footy team and we want to get there as quickly as we can.
“If you stop the game at three-quarter time we’re fourth on the ladder; we don’t want to be a three-quarter team; we want to be a strong team.”
