St Kilda Coach Alan Richardson has described Saturday’s 50-point loss to Sydney as a ‘reality check’ after the Saints were brought crashing back to earth with a thud at Etihad Stadium.
After winning the three games – for only the second time in Richardson’s stint at Linen House Centre – leading into the game, St Kilda was travelling well before the Swans made the Saints pay for their poor skill execution.
But despite the disappointing performance, Richardson still believes his side is marching in the right direction ahead of the mid-season bye.
“I certainly think we’re heading the right way. Yesterday was a reality check,” Richardson said on The Sunday Footy Show after St Kilda’s loss to Sydney on Saturday.
“There were parts of the game we didn’t get right, but there were parts of the game where Sydney was just too good for us.
“They were pretty strong yesterday, not only from personnel but their lead-up with the Kangaroos performance the week before.
“We think we’re heading the right way but we’ve still got a fair bit of room to move.”
St Kilda conceded 13.7 (85) from turnovers on Saturday – the most of any team in Round 9 and well above the round average of 55.6 points – on the back of 80 turnovers, including 45 in the middle of the ground.
As he stressed in his post-match press conference, Richardson was bitterly disappointed with St Kilda's ball use across the ground, but attributed Sydney’s defensive pressure for creating a portion of the turnovers.
“It was disappointing, our ball use has been a real strength (this year) – our ability to go from the back to the front to score, we haven’t always scored goals," he said.
"Full credit to the Swans, they were outstanding defensively and we probably tried to squeeze too many."
The task won't get any easier next weekend with the Saints facing the team that beat Sydney in last year's Grand Final, Western Bulldogs, at Etihad Stadium on Saturday, ahead of the bye.
