St Kilda coach Alan Richardson has steadied his team after a 0-2 start to the season
AT halftime against Collingwood, the Saints were showing signs 2017 could become a bust. But a couple of hours later the club had rediscovered its brand.
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NATHAN Buckley’s coaching career has long dripped with sweat from the football furnace.
After Round 2 the heat hit searing temperatures as the 0-2 Magpies prepared for a Friday night date with Sydney.
Buckley’s counterpart, Alan Richardson, has conversely enjoyed three seasons largely out of the bright coaching spotlight.
But at halftime on Sunday you started to wonder if these two were slowly starting to switch places.
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St Kilda, widely tipped as the AFL’s rapid riser of 2017, was showing cracks after an indifferent start to the season.
At the main break on Sunday the class of Jack Billings (0.3) was going to waste and ruckman Tom Hickey was learning why Brodie Grundy is suddenly one of the best at the craft.
No. 1 pick Paddy McCartin couldn’t get a game and kids Jade Gresham, Ben Long and Jack Lonie had all collected fewer than five disposals.
Again, the reliance on evergreen champions Leigh Montagna and Nick Riewoldt seemed unhealthy.
A loss to Collingwood would have left the Saints 1-3 despite facing just one finalist in the opening month.
The pressure was set to storm. So after a dour first half, the next two quarters were critical for Richardson. And it became clinical for his Saints.
From siren to siren St Kilda held control, its territory game slowly equating to a break on the scoreboard.
That break should have been ugly, goalkicking inaccuracy the main reason the Magpies remained a sniff late in the last quarter.
A pack mark from debutant Long to start the third term sparked some excitement and the courage of underrated captain Jarryn Geary delivered a goal shortly after.
Geary flew with courage knowing he was about to get sandwiched by two Magpies, allowing Jack Newnes to spot Riewoldt on the lead.
It was the kind of act the players will watch over and over when they review the tape.
The hard tackling of Luke Dunstan won a set-shot and Blake Acres slotted an opportunistic goal.
Seb Ross gained ascendancy in the midfield while Jake Carlisle and Nathan Brown led a defence which leaked just seven goals.
The Saints’ backline was so stingy that Darcy Moore — manned by Brown — received Bronx cheers from the Pies’ faithful when he finally took a mark in the last quarter.
There were ferocious tackles from Long and Newnes in the dying minutes and another gold-star game from Riewoldt, even sticking a slips-style catch in the final quarter.
The second half in isolation would have left Buckley reaching for the Panadol and Richardson with a big smile.
The Saints laid 30 more tackles — 85-55 — against a side which recorded 115 last week.
St Kilda has stabilized and after a 0-2 start, they are 2-2. More importantly, their brand is back.
Originally published as St Kilda coach Alan Richardson has steadied his team after a 0-2 start to the season
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