AFL Round 18 Gold Coast v St Kilda: Suns defeat Saints 77-51 in first game after Stuart Dew sacking
St Kilda coach Ross Lyon has delivered a brutally honest assessment of where the Saints are at as they face the prospect of sliding out of the top eight.
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Ross Lyon is hopeful Jack Higgins will return next week but says his team lacks depth and has issues with a “lost offence” that will only be fixed across the pre-season.
And Lyon says heartland clubs like St Kilda would love some of the considerable list concessions handed to Gold Coast as it prepares to secure three Queensland academy stars in the top 10 of the national draft.
A brutally honest Lyon has conceded St Kilda is off the pace after its 7-3 start to the year with young forwards Anthony Caminiti and Mattaes Phillipou red-lining and the club last in inside-50 efficiency.
Lyon said his side had “slaughtered” the footy against Gold Coast, were a “stumbling, fumbling mess” early and had an offence that had become “lost and confused”.
Max King could be back within four weeks after shoulder surgery and while Tim Membrey’s rehab program on his degenerative knee injury has him listed at 4-5 weeks, Lyon hopes he could be back ahead of schedule.
St Kilda takes on the Roos and Hawthorn in successive weeks so has the kind of fixture that could shore up its finals hopes.
But Lyon made clear to St Kilda members nothing was guaranteed given the issues with depth and the attacking half.
“Really, how we played you are not going to beat many teams,” he said.
“We can turn it around quick, but we spoke about a year of exploration.
“I just feel when our top flight (stars) aren’t up and going there is not enough quality to step up and take the load off them, as harsh as that might seem. We are thrilled with the development of (Marcus) Windhager and (Mitch) Owens, and Phillipou and Caminiti have taken a big load this year and it’s overwhelming them a bit.
“We won’t be able to put an enormous amount of work in until pre-season when we get more time. We have lost our offence totally. It’s totally unacceptabl, kicking two goals to halftime, but after quarter-time we had more entries, so it is what it is. We know it’s not a quick fix.”
St Kilda has had few father-son selections in recent memory and while Windhager and Owens are NGA products he was less concerned with Stuart Dew’s sacking than the club’s draft allowances.
“It doesn’t interest me, really (Gold Coast’s coach sacking). I like what they are doing for the AFL. I had a swim in Broadbeach this morning and people were kicking the footy, so unless they were Mexicans from Melbourne ...
“The expansion has been great with participation rates. The expansion team gets every support. We are a boutique Melbourne club. Geez, we would love some of the concessions they have got, but we get it.”
Membrey had knee surgery that impacted his season and then was given a mini pre-season, but is ahead of schedule.
“(We) potentially get Higgins back. Maybe King in four weeks. Tim Membrey is coming pretty quick. He hasn’t existed all year and as a club we have been really supportive of his knee rehab, but I got feedback he really started to move, so as a leader of our club we would love to see him back in helping Caminiti and Owens.”
‘Stumbling, fumbling’ Saints keep Suns’ finals hopes alive
– Nick Smart and Callum Dick
St Kilda coach Ross Lyon blasted his stuttering side as a “fumbling, stumbling mess” and lashed its worrying lack of offence after a listless defeat to Gold Coast on Saturday.
The Saints have now lost four out of their past five and could be out of the top eight by the end of the round following the 26-point loss to the Suns at Carrara.
“I’m bitterly disappointed for our fans and members,” Lyon said post-game.
“We take full ownership; players are flat as tacks.
“There were no recriminations, (but) they beat us around the ball, we’re more predictable with our ball use, we’ve lost our offence totally.
“It’s unacceptable kicking two goals to halftime to be honest, but I think after quarter-time we had more entries so it is what it is.”
The Suns won the contested ball 153-130 and were all over the Saints from the opening bounce, with Lyon bemoaning his side’s skill level and lack of composure.
“I thought our intensity was OK early, but look I thought we were a fumbling, stumbling mess,” he said.
“We were a bit predictable and clearly over-handballed that invited pressure, but a lot of the handballs were there and they just went to the feet or missed.
“Under pressure we just invented some crappy handballs.
“For how dominant they were in the first quarter we still had some golden opportunities in our front half that just went out on the full or we had dropped marks.
“We just spoke about how our offence has gradually slipped from seventh to ninth to 12th, to 15th.
“And we’ve been the most inefficient team all year in the forward 50, so we can’t hide away from that.
“We need to improve or it’s going to be hard work, it’s like beating your head against a brick wall.”
Lyon would not entertain any talk of finals following the loss as he worried about pulling his side out of its form slump.
“We play like we did today and we won’t challenge North Melbourne next week,” he said.
“Early in the year we earned it (talk of playing finals), but at the minute I’m not even thinking about it because really how we played today we’re not going to beat many teams.”
‘Anything is possible’: Suns won’t give up on finals dream
The sky’s the limit says Gold Coast interim coach Steven King after the Suns put an insipid St Kilda to the sword and simultaneously kept their faint finals hopes alive.
It wasn’t pretty or pure, but the 26-point win at Heritage Bank Stadium was just what the doctor ordered after a week from hell that began with the shock sacking of Stuart Dew.
Tasked with lifting the club from its knees in the wake of consecutive defeats to Collingwood and Port Adelaide, King had three days to inject some passion and purpose back into the playing group.
“It’s a testament to their resilience and mental resolve to then get up for that fight,” he said.
“It’s OK to feel good about the game and look forward, but you still have to bring the heat and the boys did that really well.
“There was a lot of scrapping, fighting … a lot of mistakes but geez, we were at them. I thought, ‘they’ve bought-in today – it’s going to be a good day for the club’.”
The watershed win helps to ease some of the pressure on the Suns, who now sit just one win outside the top eight with six games to play.
Incredibly, they are just three wins shy of a club record haul. A further two would almost guarantee a maiden finals berth.
“There’s seven weeks, who knows what can happen,” said King on the subject of finals.
“Today was important to start that journey together. I think anything is possible, I certainly believe that with this playing group.
“There’s an enormous amount of talent here and I was just rapt to see them enjoy the game today and play for one another.
“Memories in this game aren’t always positive – there’s some stuff that punches you in the face sometimes, but that can make the group tighter as well.”
Gold Coast bucked a recent trend of slow starts to kick the opening three goals of the match and took a season-high 19-point lead into quarter-time.
St Kilda eased back into the match with the opening two goals of the second term, but the Suns were able to match that with two of their own before halftime and then kicked away after the major break.
One of the most pleasing aspects of the win was the breakout performance from two Suns who rarely capture the headlines.
Oft-maligned midfielder Rory Atkins had his best game for the club with two goals and 32 disposals, while fourth-year player Sam Flanders continued his stellar return from injury with a game-high 33 touches and eight inside 50s.
“To win games of footy at this level you need the players from underneath to push up and establish themselves … those boys, they really focused on what their strengths are today and they executed, which is great,” King said.
“I really want to look back on this game and reward the behaviours that I saw from our playing group and make sure that’s sustainable.
“Today was all about rewarding what the boys have put in place and we’ll sit down and look forward to the next challenge on Monday. We just want to take a deep breath, I reckon, after what’s happened (this week).”
GOLD COAST 3.2 (20), 5.6 (36), 9.7 (61), 11.11 (77)
ST KILDA 0.1 (1), 2.2 (14), 5.3 (33), 8.3 (51)
GOALS
GOLD COAST- Lukosius 4, Atkins 2, Anderson, Ainsworth, Humphrey, Casboult, Macpherson,
ST KILDA- Sharman 3, Phillipou, Wood, Gresham, Caminiti, Marshall
SMART’S BEST
GOLD COAST- Flanders, Anderson, Lukosius, Atkins, Powell, Miller, Witts
ST KILDA- Crouch, Wanganeen-Milera, Steele, Windhager, Jones, Sharman
INJURIES
VENUE- 13,015 at Heritage Banks Stadium (Carrara)
NICK SMART’S VOTES
3- Sam Flanders (GC)
2- Noah Anderson (GC)
1- Jack Lukosius (GC)
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Originally published as AFL Round 18 Gold Coast v St Kilda: Suns defeat Saints 77-51 in first game after Stuart Dew sacking
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