St Kilda surges to second on AFL ladder on back of slower, more calculated game style in 2019
St Kilda coach Alan Richardson knew something had to change. The club’s “broken” helter skelter game style of 2018 provided no bang for its buck. So he made a change. Here are the stats behind the Saints’ remarkable turnaround.
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Cool, calm and calculating.
That’s been the key to St Kilda’s stunning turnaround in 2019.
The Saints have abandoned their helter-skelter basketball-style game plan of last season in favour of a more measured approach — and it’s reaping huge rewards.
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It’s helped lift St Kilda to four wins in the opening five rounds and second place on the ladder.
While many were predicting doom and gloom at Moorabbin, dual premiership great David King says coach Alan Richardson has reinvented his side by abandoning the corridor, slowing the game down and being more calculated with the footy, allowing his players to increase their defensive pressure across the board.
“Everything’s more calculated, there’s more method to the madness,” King told the Herald Sun.
“Last year’s model was broken, let’s be honest, it was in motion all the time, back and forth.
“Not many teams can do that. Bottom line, they ended up with an attack that scored 73 points (14th), going flat out through the corridor with the most play-ons from marks in the competition. It was like going around corners at 150km/h an hour. Something had to give.
“This year, they’re only scoring a goal more per game (79 points) than last year — which is not a massive improvement — but, in terms of defence, they’ve improved by five goals.”
That “broken” model is a thing of the past, with the slower Saints — who conceded 84 points per 100 turnovers, second worst in the AFL last season — no longer busted open when they lose the footy, allowing just 55 points per 100 turnovers, third best.
“I look at it like the old strike rate for cricket. If you go at 100 runs per 100 balls you’re at 100 strike rate,” he said.
“If you look at St Kilda last year, if they lost a stoppage, they would cough up 98 points per 100 lost stoppages, which was second-worst in the competition — only Carlton were poorer. This year, it’s at 71 points, which is the second-best.
“This is why they made the change. It all feeds from what they do when they have the footy.
“They can actually defend their turnovers. As soon as you move the ball in a more measured way, while it might not look as great and be the absolute highlight reel, the guys behind the footy are able to set up, communicate and things can fall into place.”
Champion Data has measured that the Saints have upped their pressure factor by five to an average of 180 per game — a jump from 17th to eighth.
Star midfielder Seb Ross’s rampant tackling and effort has produced a +7.2 pressure point increase on last year (37.9 to 45.1).
The new style has helped the Saints eke out wins by one, five and 11 points in 2019 and the sole loss, to Fremantle, was by just five points and King said Richardson deserved credit.
“They’re the second-best defence in the competition, where last year they were 16th,” King said.
“They’ve improved massively and it’s on the back of tactics and then the buy-in to those tactics.
“It always comes back to the coach, but clearly there’s been a big shift and it’s basically won them games of footy.
“When you look at how tight their games have been, to not being able to be scored against is huge.”
Captain Jarryn Geary has been a key figure in the club’s rejuvenation, acting as the general of the team’s set up, but, with his injury and both Jake Carlisle and Dylan Roberton missing, King said the challenge was for another Saint to stand up against the Crows on Saturday.
“It’ll be an interesting watch without Geary this weekend — without him, without (Jake) Carlisle, without (Dylan) Roberton, can the slack be taken up by someone else?” King said.
“This is the reality of the numbers so far, but now they lose the bloke who puts the pieces in place.”
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