Round 6, 2021
Port Adelaide 4.1, 8.3, 11.8, 14.9 (93)
St Kilda 1.4, 2.5, 3.7, 5.9 (39)
Adelaide Oval, Sunday, April 25th at 6.40pm
As the world keeps turning, perhaps unwittingly Melbourne has stumbled upon the biggest marker that we’re closer to normalcy: St Kilda Football Club again is easy pickings for the AFL.
Try as they might, the Fox Footy crew’s insistent wishes and prayers for the tide to turn in this counter came to naught. You know when Dermott Brereton is underlining any whiff of effort or focus from your team that you’re in dire straits.
And that’s what it has quickly come to for the Saints fans. Strong chases, and players vaguely shuffling across the ground to the right spot, are meant to be met with raucous praise. Seb Ross started the game off like a man with a rocket under him. He finished with 31 touches (6 clearances), yet if there was an impact-o-meter I’m not sure it would have registered anything.
The on ball crew did in fact come to play in this one. As a result the Saints had territorial dominance, getting first use of the footy and generally being a step faster to the ball (at least between the arcs). Jack Higgins’ remarkable, flukey, opening snap aside, there was precious little to actually show for it. Quarter time already carried a sense of gloom with it, as the Power scored 5 times from a measly 7 inside 50s. Once they pierced the Saints outer wall as such, their movement and cohesion was just all too convincing, incisive and fast. Fantasia was licking his chops
Since the dawn of time, taking opportunities, quieting the crowd, early when playing interstate is the key ingredient to making inroads on getting a W on the road. Higgins’ reverse-swing style snap was only met with indifference and surprise – by himself as much as anyone. The Saints did conjure a few other set shots on goal, but mostly confined to the deep pockets. The outlier being Jack Billings’ set shot dead in front, about 30 meters out. It sailed wide. And with it, perhaps the Saints chances.
More than anything, perhaps 2020’s Rise To Competency was most notable for the Saints’ swing in terms of efficiency in front of goal. That could not seem further away right now.
Unsurprisingly, the Power came out of the first change reinvigorated. Quickly, the likes of Wines, Boak et al took the hand brake off and reasserted themselves in the middle. Dixon, Georgeades, and most of all Motlop started looking even more ominous. Although the momentum had clearly swung, the margin was still “only” 28 points with a minute and change remaining before the main change. The Power’s fourth goal though seemed to feel like a preliminary nail in the coffin. The camera’s were right there to capture most of a stern exchange between Coffield and Howard, who had both on the goalline to see the set shot sail through. It felt aggressive yet not divisive. Two guys venting, and potentially also trying to gee each other up. To that point, the Saints’ effort definitely felt the most on-point it perhaps had felt for the year. How many bullets were left in the gun was very questionable though.
Third term and the Saints first forays only spelled doom. A chip out of the centre to Butler (unpressured) looped up above his head, which took luckily on the second bite. An unpressured drop punt from Jones straight up on Skunk’s head – spoiled away. And a long Coffield kick out the back of a one-on-one for Hill missed him by 10 meters and dribbled out of bounds at half-forward. These miscues, mostly under no pressure, further underlined how collectively out of form the side is right now. The most valiant of efforts around the ball were repeatedly being punctured flat by unforced errors and bone-headed decisions. Where the Power were incisive, the Saints were blunt and always hurried.
That first five minutes of the term effectively saw the door shut. This was not to be a West Coast Houdini job; the Power are just too deep, too classy and have too much to play for this year.
Again, there’s no doubting that there was a sizeable improvement on the effort front. But that’s mostly in comparison to the insipid performances we’d seen of the previous weeks. What became as telling as anything became the pattern as the game wore on beyond quarter time, of the Power looking up to a seemingly organised Saints zone and then kick-by-kick shifting the ball across the ground and back before inevitably seizing on a chink in the armour of the defence. The team’s ability to not only execute the right kick, but then follow it up with swift movement into the fifty is mightily impressive.
Make no mistake, it would be easy to make this all about the impotency of the Saints. 19 inside 50s in the first term for 1 goal – it’s damning. A heartening last term that resulted in only 2 goals, almost just as bad. That would take a little too much away from the Power. They have an impressive blend of experience, speed, youth, hardness and a core of players that have played quite a bit together.
The smartest thing that the Fox crew said through the game was that the Saints coaching staff would be looking to be able to take some things away from the game in a positive sense. This resonated with me even more because I felt this game was a near foregone conclusion coming into it. The following 3 weeks (versus the Hawks, Suns and Cats) would be the actual crucible for this team and what it can get out of 2021.
Two days on and the takeaways in a positive sense are as vague as the world is round. In gathering my votes for my Round 6 B&F count, it did jump out at me that the team’s best performers were some of its youngest. Hunter Clark (warts and all) continually put himself in harm’s way; he battled on, usually whilst being undersigned and was one of the few that continued to play with a sense of poise even with the world crumbling in around him. Whilst still struggling with the ball in hand, Dougal Howard limited Charlie Dixon to 2 goals in a really lopsided encounter. Steele continued to get in and under, despite often being outnumbered. Rohan Marshall provided a good target around the ground all night. Callum Wilkie played with an extra sense of physicality – his bump come armless tackle on Gray was probably my highlight of the night.
Seb Ross stood out early, yet he’s indicative of how blunt the tip of the Saints spear is. First quarter, and Seb received a handball around the 50 arc only to turn and be alarmed at being essentially in the clear. Shrouded in surprise he completely flubbed the kick and was lucky to sneak it in for a behind. This was just one of a few telling, individual moments that really nailed the general vibe of the team right now. (More worrying, is that a player of his experience still can seem so startled by such occasions).
Another was Jack Steele mindlessly going to run off, only to realise halfway through that he was running through the mark and to slip over Looney Tunes style. Port nailed the set shot. Later, in the third term, Brad Hill read the ground ball past centre half back and with a couple of Saints pouring out into space out the back he proceeded to slap the ball on his left foot hurriedly only for it slap straight into the hand of a floored Port player right at his shoelaces.
These little snapshots of panic, of indecision, of misexecution really punctuated the Saints night. They came more often than not from some of the team’s more seasoned players.
The Saints optimist would say “Well, if Billings kicks that goal then who knows how things would’ve played out”. As much as momentum is an incredible part of football, that line of thinking is just too much of a cop out for what is now just a really lackluster six weeks of football.
My expectations – especially relative to the average Saints fan – were pretty sedate for this year. Last year’s top 6 finish meant we’d be dealt with a ten times harder fixture, and even worse, some of the toughest games have already been lumped on us. We’ve played the reigning premier, the top of the ladder Dees, Port in Port and the Eagles – who we have a shocking record against. But beyond the fixture, the length of the quarters was always going to test us: firstly, would it render our ruck tandem as untenable? On top of that, what effect was it going to have on a midfield that was bereft of consistent help for Jack Steele even last year?
This year for me was always going to be about: can the side consolidate? Can King add some more street smarts to his uber athletic game? Can Hunter Clark spend more chunks of time in the midfield? Will Brad Crouch lighten the load on Steele? What impact will playing at Marvel have on the side’s expansive attacking game?
We started 2020 3-3, only one game better than we are now. Yet, the losses have just been so bad. Worse yet, the players seem like they know it. This feels like a 180 degree turn: After the Dons game, it was hard to not think that the players had gotten ahead of themselves. 3 weeks on, and they look like they’d love to collectively dig a hole to crawl into.