Found what they were searching for
St Kilda found something they were looking for last weekend. They found their dare and aggressive ball movement out of the back half. It started with Leigh Montagna (707 metres gained and seven rebound 50s) early and it was contagious. Dylan Roberton (547 metres gained) and Sam Gilbert (five rebound 50s) caught it and ran with it. After three weeks of conservative, stagnate ball movement, the Saints returned to their brand last Friday night. By the end of the weekend, St Kilda was ranked No. 2 for converting rebound 50s into inside 50s at an elite 29.7 per cent and No. 1 for converting rebounds into scores at 13.5 per cent – more than double the league average. Alan Richardson will be seeking more of the same on Sunday to help the Saints drift north of the win-loss equator.
Party postponed for little master
After a week of celebrating the phenomenal career of the little master ahead of his 300th game, Gary Ablett has failed to get up from a calf injury and won’t face the Saints, postponing his milestone game by at least a week. Every newspaper has covered him in depth, he’s done a milestone dedicated press conference, TV and radio forums have dedicated hours to him this week, and for good reason, but he won’t reach the landmark at Etihad Stadium on Sunday. Rodney Eade’s men will now be without four of their starting midfielders from last week’s loss to Carlton, with Michael Barlow (broken leg), Aaron hall (hamstring) and Matt Rosa (suspended) all out.
Time for attack to capitalise and click
After three poor performances, St Kilda returned to form last weekend and kicked a winning score, despite being wasteful in front of goal. The Saints haven’t quite clicked forward of centre in the last couple of months. They haven’t kicked three figures since the win over Greater Western Sydney back in Round 7. And since then, the forward line hasn’t scored more than 89 points and has fallen to No. 13 for points for in 2017 at 86.2 per game. Nick Riewoldt returned from a knee injury last week and is likely to reacquaint himself with Suns general Steven May. Josh Bruce has provided a key focal point in attack taking eight marks inside the arc in the last fortnight. Jack Billings continued his strong run of form against North, but he was inaccurate in front of goal with 2.4, although two of his behinds were originally put in the book as goals. Can St Kilda’s forward line click on Sunday?
The art of list management and what it means on Sunday
While Gold Coast list manager Scott Clayton topped up the Suns’ list last October with Pearce Hanley, Michael Barlow, Jarrod Witts and Jarryd Lyons, Tony Elshaug has done something similar across the last couple of off-seasons. Jake Carlisle arrived at the end of 2015 and Nathan Brown at the end of last season, among other inclusions. That pair will combat tall Gold Coast forwards Tom Lynch and Peter Wright at Etihad Stadium. After booting 66 goals and earning a maiden All-Australian berth, Gold Coast co-captain Tom Lynch has entrenched himself amid the best key forwards in the game. He hasn’t quite reached the same heights this season, but has kicked 27 goals. Although he was held goalless by Carlton renaissance man Liam Jones last Saturday night. Brown played on him last year when he was at Collingwood and held him to four marks and two goals. Will he spend the bulk of Sunday on the gun Sun or will the Saints use Carlisle on Lynch?
