St Kilda has spent the week focusing on their ball use after Sydney made the Saints pay for their costly turnovers at Etihad Stadium last Saturday.
In his post-match press conference last weekend, Saints Coach Alan Richardson said his side ‘butchered the footy’ after the Saints conceded the most points (13.7) from turnovers in Round 9 – significantly above the round average of 55.6 points.
Speaking ahead of Saturday’s encounter with the Western Bulldogs, Richardson said the Saints had focused on not only their ball movement but how to handle the frenetic pressure the reigning premiers will apply.
“There’s no point just talking about it we’ve got to get out and do the work and that’s been a real focus,” Richardson said at a press conference in Sandringham on Friday.
“We had a good session on Tuesday where given it was only three days after the game there’s not a lot of pressure in that session but there was a lot of opportunity to move the ball and use the ball.
“Thursday was a bit more willing and there was much more pressure on. But there was a real focus on coping with pressure.
“They’re a brilliant pressure team so we’ll have to be good to execute under their pressure.”
St Kilda has recalled rebounding defender Shane Savage for his first senior appearance since Round 3, on the back of an impressive month at Sandringham.
Richardson said Savage will improve the Saints’ ball movement out of the back half and help play on some of the Bulldogs’ speedy midfielder-forwards like Luke Dahlhaus, Liam Picken and Clay Smith.
“He gives us some quality from the back. We weren’t great in terms of our use from the back half. We think Sav can help us there,” Richardson said.
“They’ve got some real speed in the front half too given the change to their team.”
