St Kilda Captain Jarryn Geary admits it was satisfying to return to the winners list against North Melbourne on Friday night, following three disappointing losses either side of the bye.
The Saints made the better start under the roof at Etihad Stadium, kicking five goals to one in the first quarter to set up the win, before opening up six-goal advantage by half-time.
North Melbourne rallied late in the last quarter, but by then, the Saints had already put the game to bed, and now move to 6-6 after 13 rounds.
Geary, 28, who was one of St Kilda’s most influential players with 21 disposals deep in defence, said the Saints rediscovered some of the aggressive ball movement that has gone missing in the last month.
“It has been a tough month, losing three and having a bye was pretty tough. It was really good to get back on the winner's list tonight on Friday night footy, so it was enjoyable to get out and have a victory,” Geary told saints.com.au after Friday night’s 17-point win.
“We feel like we’ve been on a pretty good trajectory overall, we’ve let ourselves down over the last three weeks, more or less because we’ve lost our dare a little bit, which is frustrating.
“It hasn’t been on the back of our effort; it’s been on the back of losing our dare and our courage to come off our man and intercept mark and all those types of things.
"We’ve lost a little bit of that over the last three weeks but I think tonight we got a bit of that back. It was really good to grind out a victory.”
Geary lauded the performance of veteran half-back Leigh Montagna, who has come under media scrutiny in the last week.
The dual All-Australian was the architect behind the ball, gathering 28 possessions, five rebound 50s and four inside 50s to provide St Kilda with plenty of drive across the night.
“I knew he was going to come out and perform really strongly tonight,” Geary said.
“He trained really well throughout the week; he’s been really bubbly like he has been for as many years as I’ve been there.
“He’s been a really strong performer so there was no question he was going to come out and perform really strongly tonight and he did. He was really one of our better players and led from the front early.”
