Red and black carpet

Round 3, 2021
Essendon 6.4, 12.6, 16.10, 22.11 (143) 
St Kilda 3.3, 4.5, 6.9, 9.14 (68)
Marvel Stadium, Saturday, April 3rd at 4.35pm

Surely they have had a rev up. Surely they’re going to snap out of it. Nope. No. That feeling of waiting for the light to switch on; for the players to wipe the sleep out of their eyes kept lingering. But the red and black carpet just kept being rolled out. 

Almost like a carbon copy of the Melbourne game, the Bombers were on the board in a major way within a minute. That was just a taste. It felt like a full several minutes before a disposal was registered for the Saints. The centre clearances were like a drive-through service for nimble Essendon midfielders – except for when McKernan was giving away free kicks for them. It was a bruise-free as it gets. The midfield looked completely flat footed.

A couple of Billings majors in the first term – one of the few who seemed to come ready to play – and the quarter time margin of 19 points felt extremely generous. However, another six goals from the Dons (this time with only one in reply) confirmed Saints’ fans’ worst nightmares. Some of the faithful exited the arena at half time.

Even for the most long-standing, hardened St Kilda fan this performance came as a shock. Not so much the Essendon aspect – they’ve long been a schoolyard bully taking our chocolate milk – but in the passiveness and on the back of last week. 2020 (i.e. The Rise To Competency – patent pending) was meant to have been a graduation of sorts; forging an identity. These rudderless displays were meant to be left behind in the Richo era.

Similarly to the Demons game, there was a lack of composure once we were behind the 8-ball. Too many players trying to hit a home-run when getting on-base was the way to go. That speaks to a shaken psyche in this team right now. Leaders need to get the team to trust the process. Last year, there was very much a preparedness to slow the game down when needed. Kick down the line; earn territory; take our medicine and wait for opportunities. Right now, there’s a feeling of players at times trying too hard with the ball and it’s making for some awful decision making. 

After the initial onslaught, St Kilda did peg back a couple of goals before Dougal Howard coughed the ball up straight from a kick-in. Hooker intercepted and his snap was on target (one of his 5 goals for the night). It set in motion a pattern through the night of schoolboy errors and poor decision making which continually pushed us further into the mire.

Membrey takes the mark 12 metres out in the pocket (barely an angle to speak of) and decides to loop a handball to an onrushing Ross. Ross is chased down and is lucky to come away with a behind. Max King flies from 3 deep at the top of the square in the third term, and Skunk latches onto an open crumbing goal, only for a free-kick to be called and the Bombers go to the other end and nail a set shot goal. Wilkie off-balance, blindly going back with the flight as the third man into the contest in the fourth term, barely getting a fist to the ball only to see his man Harrison Jones peel off and scrape up the ensuing crumb out the back, for an easy goal from the goalmouth. These flash points which resulted in a six or 12-point swing, were prevalent throughout.

***

Last week, you could be forgiven for giving some leeway in attributing some of the performance to the players getting caught up in the hype of Spuds Game on top of it being the first home game in 18 months. This time there was no chance of that.

One thing that is confounding is that the last two weeks is quite a departure spiritually from the Giants game. Round 1 was comforting not so much in a form or strategic sense, but the win spoke volumes of a team that had reserves of inner belief, resilience and mental strength. Those traits were nowhere to be found yesterday.

For anyone that’s played competitive aussie rules at any level: the footy field becomes a vast, lonely place very quickly when the ass is falling out of your team. And you can feel that shift on the ground. The Saints are showing no ability right now to rise to those situations, to halt those momentum changes. You look to your best players, but most importantly you look to your soldiers around the ball to take a stand. There just was not an ounce of that. 

Jack Steele (Mr 100 Games) had 35 touches. He didn’t stop trying; his smooth, running goal in the third term was deserved. Seeing his stat line was both impressive but also so disappointing. No doubt, he was one of the Saints’ best. The harsh reality is though, that he was a core piece of the on ball units that set this trouncing in motion. When the whips were cracking, we didn’t fire a shot in there. Ratten and co will be hoping that he can be more effective in guiding those around him as things are transpiring within the game.

Jack Billings seemed like one of the few that came with his guernsey tucked in and his shoes tied up. He had two goals by quarter time. Membrey too, seemed to play with a vigour and conviction that made him stand out from his colleagues – he’s one of the few who can claim to be having a good year. But he too, was guilty of some somewhat selfish decision making. In the last term, taking a hail-mary snap whilst running at the boundary rather than trying to swing the ball inside by hand if need be. 

Jack Steele’s 35 possessions wasn’t actually the most remarkable number in the stats. The most poignant number was the Bomber’s uncontested possession win. They won that number by 107. That’s an annihilation; something to etch onto the change room whiteboards through the week. It underscores not only the lack of work rate, but Essendon’s ability to have the ball on a string and the game on their terms. The other stat in a team sense that should be a source of embarrassment is the tackle count: St Kilda had 32 (12 to half time). 

The 2020 Saints had a big influx of new players; there would’ve been some leeway given for some crossed-wires and teething problems. But this year’s edition is the one that, so far, plays like a group that is in-flux.

Rather than a selection axe being swung, there will no doubt be a re-shuffling of the deck. Given the state of our ruck and midfield, the viability of having Wood playing forward, as well as Membrey and King, seems questionable. Jack Higgins earnt his pay cheque (3 goals) but both Butler and Lonie will come under fire. Bytel and Dunstan are ready as midfield reinforcements. None of these possible inclusions screams game-changer. As much as there would be a temptation to deploy Rowan Marshall, that would be rash to put it lightly. Paul Hunter’s Week Off (Coming Soon to cinemas) may well have been pre-meditated in light of the form Nic Naitanui is showing. Expect him to be re-inserted. Zak Jones is somewhat lucky he did an ankle, as it’s an out for what was a terrible performance.

Tactically, there will no doubt have to be a re-calibration of attack versus defence. To hone in on that too much would be missing the point though. The fundamentals have been way off  for two weeks now. The thirst to be combative, to claw and fight, as a collective needs to be tapped into pronto.

Predictably, there’s a lot of noise about Brad Hill. He wasn’t a ball winner at either of Hawthorn or Fremantle, and he won’t be at St Kilda. That’s a fact of life. You can say the same about Billings. In the words of Ross Lyon (calm down), the midfield is made up of “getters” and “runners” in the modern AFL. It’s obvious what camp Hill falls into. The Club will be wanting a lot more out of him, no doubt – his performance versus the Dees was tough to watch. However, to expect his form to be the difference maker for the team’s fortunes would be misguided at best.

More importantly, that raises a bigger question about just how good this midfield actually is. Who is St Kilda’s second best midfielder? is actually a tough question, and not for the right reasons. If there is one tactical change I feel strongly about, it is that if Crouch is playing he should be playing on the ball. That’s where he has made his name; his MO is as a ball-winner and St Kilda is wafer-thin in that department. Overall, the ‘second best midfielder’ debate hammers home that, right now, if this team is to gain finals contention then it’s going to be a sum-of-its-parts effort.

If there’s a morsel worth holding onto from Saturday night, it was in Brett Ratten’s post game press conference. Amongst other things, he labelled us needing to get back to being a “solid team” explicitly differentiating from a good or great one. If this was a message to the players it was a deft and shrewd one; to the supporters, it was a subtle acknowledgement of the need to get the players collective heads screwed on properly. A non-performance like yesterday’s really hits home why there are so many words dedicated in the Saints media to how we review games, how our reviews have been getting stronger, and to how much Dan Hannebery is needed purely for his on-field leadership. This ship (on-field) seems devoid of strong characters to correct course mid-game right now. As his Elimination Final performance against the Dogs underscored, Hanners – despite his countless soft tissue issues in between – still has the air of a guy who has been there and done that. That edge, that swagger, rubs off on guys – particularly younger guys. His return, alongside Geary’s, are probably two that haven’t been talked up enough as yet. And maybe that’s saying something in itself.