If results fall in St Kilda’s favour this weekend, the Saints could sneak into the top eight in a dramatic finish to what has been the most even season in recent memory.
Hawthorn must beat the Western Bulldogs on Friday night, then Fremantle needs to shock Essendon in the earlier game on Sunday to keep St Kilda’s slim chances alive.
If those dominoes fall in their
“I think it will be tough (not to take notice of other results). The game before us at 1.10 is the important one I think,” Newnes told journalists on Tuesday morning.
“They usually show the scores up on the scoreboard, so the boys will know definitely so it could affect the game a little bit.
“It’s going to be pretty tough, but I think anything is possible. We’ll just see how we go this weekend and we’ll focus on the game against the
If the unlikely doesn’t occur, Newnes says the Saints will be left to rue a disappointing period following their stunning performance against Richmond in Round 16.
After wiping the Tigers off the park, the Saints fell to Essendon six days later, before dropping games on the road to Sydney and Port Adelaide, where they appeared all but home in the dying minutes before having victory snatched away at the death.
“I think we were in a pretty commanding position with 9-6 and then had that little position where there were three games where we didn’t get the job done,” he said.
“It was a little bit rough, but we’ve moved on from there. It’s probably a good learning curve.”
While St Kilda might fail to snap a six-year absence from the finals this year, Newnes believes the Saints have made ground in 2017, with a handful of young midfielders taking the next step this season.
“I think we have improved a fair bit in different areas of our game. We’re still a little bit inconsistent,” he said.
“Our younger boys have stepped up, guys like Blake Acres, Luke Dunstan, Jack Billings have all improved, along with a lot of other blokes. It’s really exciting going into next year.”
