AFL 2021: Mark Robinson says St Kilda must address Brad Hill and Dan Hannebery issues

Brad Hill and Dan Hannebery have become costly problems for St Kilda, who Mark Robinson says will be “embarrassed” by its recruiting mess.

MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA – AUGUST 11: Dan Hannebery of the Saints handballs while being tackled by Bradley Hill of the Dockers during the round 21 AFL match between the St Kilda Saints and the Fremantle Dockers at Marvel Stadium on August 11, 2019 in Melbourne, Australia. (Photo by Quinn Rooney/Getty Images)

The two major problem children at St Kilda — where there are many, many problems — are Dan Hannebery and Brad Hill.

It’s not all about the money, but it can’t be ignored that together they earn in the vicinity of $1.6 million, which is 10 per cent of the club’s 2021 salary cap. It’s horribly out of whack compared to performance.

One player, Hannebery, cannot make it on the park, while the other, Hill, can’t find the ball on the park.

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Hannebery is back training after his recent calf complaints — an injury that has seen him play 13 of possible 50 games at the Saints — and fingers crossed he gets a run at it.

If the calf collapses again, you might as well write off this season.

And if that happens, the Saints should make a deal with Hannebery and cut him loose.

It hasn’t worked. His four-year deal, with a trigger for a fifth, has been a recruiting ‘mare and it can’t possibly continue to play out if Hannebery is in the stands.

Dan Hannebery has been injured for most of his time as a Saint.

A contract is a contract and injuries are injuries, but there’s also an element of fair’s fair.

Hannebery must sometimes feel embarrassed that he can’t earn his money and the Saints must feel embarrassed they committed so long and so much to him when there already were red flags before he signed.

Hannebery won’t play against his former team this weekend at the SCG. In fact, he hasn’t played a game this season.

Mark Robinson says Dan Hannebery would be “embarrassed” to have missed so many games.

Hill, meanwhile, hangs on to selection but remains the single biggest riddle in football.

He earns close to $900,000 a year.

What has happened to him?

He’s a three-time premiership player at Hawthorn and in 2017 was a best and fairest winner at the Dockers.

In that year, Hill averaged 24 disposals and 468m gained. This year he averages 17 disposals and 335m gained.

Last week, he was tagged out of the game by North Melbourne’s 24-gamer Bailey Scott.

Hill had six touches, the fewest amount in a game since his debut game against West Coast in 2012.

Brad Hill gets crunched in a tackle by Bailey Smith.

Hill’s slide from being a blitzkrieg runner and ball gatherer at Fremantle to being a pedestrian footballer looking for handouts at St Kilda is astonishing. And baffling.

Is it possible he can’t fit into St Kilda’s game style or its environment?

Is it his fault?

Or his teammates?

How is Brett Ratten coaching him compared to Ross Lyon?

Oddly, Ratten has publicly pondered several times why his players won’t give Hill the ball.

In August, 2020, he said: “Maybe if we give it to him a bit more, when he’s free and out in the open, got five, 10, 20 metres on his opponent. here’s times there where he should get the ball and we (coaches) scratch our heads saying ‘why won’t we give it to him?’’

And this last week after the North Melbourne game. “Even towards the end there, how doesn’t he receive a handball going inside 50 (when) he’s in the right spot?

“They’re some of the things I was talking about, not doing the predictable thing for your teammate. And then everyone says ‘Hilly only had six touches’ but he should have got it four times with handball receives but we didn’t give it to him.’’

Former foes Brad Hill and Dan Hannebery have become costly problems for St Kilda.

So, why aren’t players giving him the ball, as per Ratten’s instructions?

More to consider is why, last week at least, did Hill’s teammates not chop him out when he was getting terrorised by Scott?

Ratten complained after the game about unsportsmanlike tagging actions from Scott.

Footy’s about catching and killing your own, so maybe Ratten should’ve complained about Hill’s teammates. Where were the blocks, elbows and bumps to give Hill space? Scott should’ve come off the ground black and blue from St Kilda’s unsportsmanlike behaviour.

Am sure the likes of Hodge Mitchell, Lewis, Roughead and Burgoyne wouldn’t have allowed Hill to be terrorised so easily when at Hawthorn. Nor would Lyon have allowed it to happen at the Dockers.

Of course, the team can help the player, but the player must also help himself and help the team.

Ratten constantly supports Hill. Last week it was about Hill tried to make two-on-ones and his role in team defence.

It’s nice a coach does that, but you don’t pay someone $900K to fill defensive holes.

Hill would be stressed. He would ask himself: Why aren’t they giving me the ball? Have they lost trust in me? Most of all, am I doing everything I can as a footballer?

St Kilda needs more from Brad Hill. Picture: Michael Klein.

Dan Hannebery hasn’t played a game this year. Picture: Michael Klein

There’s working hard and then there’s really working hard.

Is he fit enough?

Is he content, at 27, with three flags and B & F and a fat bank balance?

Was it the wrong move to leave family and friends in Perth?

Is he a leader or a passenger?

Really, only Hill can answer those questions.

All the while, St Kilda’s season is in tatters. Vulnerabilities and insecurities have plagued performance and Hill, the big-money recruit, is a mirror to all that.

Hannebery is a different problem.

Mick Malthouse said on the ABC in 2018, before St Kilda signed Hannebery: “No (I don’t think he’s the type of player St Kilda should target). Not at all. His body’s gone. He’s an old 27-year-old. He would be one of the last players I’d pick.’’

Last week, Malthouse wrote in the Herald Sun: “Dan Hannebery, 30, has been a disaster. He arrived injured from Sydney and apart from last season’s eight games, he has remained injured.

“It’s beyond me why St Kilda’s medical and football admin staff would think that they could do better with Hannebery than the Swans’ medicos?’’

Malthouse was and is spot on.

In trade terms, Hannebery has been a bust and, at the price, Hill has been a half bust. And they were decisions the big-spending Saints could ill afford to get wrong.