St Kilda v North Melbourne: Saints down Kangaroos but fail to make big statement
St Kilda banked four points against North Melbourne but did little to convince anyone it’s worthy of a finals spot, writes Marc McGowan.
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In the words of Shania Twain, that don’t impress me much, Saints.
They did only what they should have in beating bottom side North Melbourne at a deafeningly silent Marvel Stadium, in a contest that ranged in standard from horrific to average throughout the night.
Josh Battle’s decision in the third quarter to play on after a free kick inside 15m from goal, then miss a hurried snap, summed up what we saw from both teams.
Jack Higgins misfired from a similar spot on the run later in the same term.
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Ugly turnovers, grubber kicks, sprayed sitters in front of goal, players out of position and form – it was the hamburger with the lot.
Coach Brett Ratten scratched for positives, saying at least his men took home the four points, but admitted they fell short of expectations – and he told them as much afterwards.
St Kilda improved to a 5-6 record (with a porous percentage of 76.4), but at this point it would be a remarkable turn of events for it to qualify for finals.
This was a ho-hum response to last week’s humiliating 111-point thumping from the Western Bulldogs, an opponent they toughed out a win against in the finals last year.
Ratten was pretty pleased to halftime on Saturday night, but watched as the Kangaroos outscored his team by 11 points after that to slice the final margin to 20.
His theory on why that might have happened was alarming for a side that shouldn’t lack any motivation or hunger.
“I think maybe because of the week we had, and everybody towards the end thought the game might have been in our keeping,” Ratten said.
“So they tried to just maybe get a bit of free ball and do what they wanted to do instead of what we wanted to do.”
St Kilda’s midfield, including Jack Steele, Brad Crouch, Seb Ross, the recalled Luke Dunstan and Jack Sinclair took the honours over their North counterparts, which is something to build upon.
However, that combination isn’t scaring any of the competition’s pacesetters and requires an injection of dynamism.
A healthy Zak Jones will help, but that won’t solve everything.
The giant-sized Bradley Hill problem worsened, too, even if Ratten excused him again, to the point he suggested the man tasked with stopping him, Bailey Scott, had no interest in winning the Sherrin.
The ex-Docker and Hawk cobbled together two disposals across halfback to halftime – the worst tally to that stage of any game in his career – three to three-quarter time and finished with only six.
Scott doubled his possession tally to 14 in the final term after the Saints moved Hill, but he still had a seven-to-three edge at the last break.
The Saints could do a better job of feeding him, but at what point will Hill, who finished outside the top 10 in last year’s best and fairest, deliver anything close to what the Saints invested in him?
The sidelined best-22 staples include Hunter Clark, Jade Gresham, Dan Hannebery – his five-year contract is one of the worst deals this century – Jones, Rowan Marshall and Ben Paton.
Jake Carlisle is a borderline one, but there were times in recent seasons when he didn’t make the cut. This back injury of his could be career-threatening as well.
Other clubs have it worse on the injury front.
Ratten’s squad is bereft of genuine top-liners, stuffed mostly with B- and C-graders and weighed down by some bloated contracts given to underperforming players.
Chief operating officer Simon Lethlean was right on Monday that every other club would take young stars Max King and Clark off their hands in a heartbeat.
Even then, King’s confidence is at a low ebb.
He took his one and only mark against the Roos after the clock ticked beyond 27 minutes in the third quarter, and has kicked a combined 5.17 and gone goalless three times in his past seven matches.
But who else would rivals pine over out of St Kilda’s Next Generation?
The 2020 version of Nick Coffield had admirers but he spent the previous fortnight in the VFL, while Melbourne and Essendon previously expressed interest in Ben Long, who is out of form and favour.
Another might be Jack Bytel, but after all the huff and puff about incoming changes, the 12-gamer and Jack Lonie were this week’s scapegoats.
James Gallagher’s list management team received rave reviews for their five-pack of recruits in the 2019 Trade Period, when they scooped up Hill, Dougal Howard, Dan Butler, Jones and Paddy Ryder.
After all that praise, Gallagher and co. are probably bemused to be getting caned only 12 months later, but there is reason for concern.
Former Tiger Higgins has proven a good addition and Crouch is playing pretty well, although his skillset doesn’t transform the Saints’ on-ball brigade.
Club president Andrew Bassat’s at-times head-scratching revelations in his letter to members this week suggested St Kilda was always going to be in a better position next year than this one.
Whether you believe that or not, the Saints have a few months to prove why.
Is St Kilda a genuine finals chance?
The Saints might be level on wins with eighth-placed Essendon, but they trail the resurgent Bombers by more than 30 percentage points.
Not only will their series of crushing losses hurt them in the long run, but they also have a seriously unfriendly run home.
St Kilda still has to meet Sydney (twice), Richmond, Brisbane (Gabba), Port Adelaide, West Coast (Optus Stadium) and Geelong in the second half of the year.
It’s not going to happen, Saints fans – but you should know that by now.
X can’t mark his spot
Career back-up Tom Campbell played three AFL games in three seasons before this year and never more than nine in one year, but has become a regular for North Melbourne in 2021.
The 29-year-old big man is backing up Todd Goldstein in the ruck and giving the Roos a tall target in attack, given they are so lacking in that area since shipping off Ben Brown.
Brown is stranded in the VFL at his new team Melbourne and would be extremely handy for David Noble’s team about now.
Noble took exception to a question about why Campbell, at his age, track record and with the direction North is heading, is playing ahead of 22-year-old ruckman Tristan Xerri.
Campbell’s had a solid year, but the query is on how big of a factor he will be once the 18th-placed Kangaroos are contending for finals again.
Noble said Xerri, who amassed 36 disposals and 27 hit-outs at VFL level last week, needed “to do more” but was “putting some pressure on”.
“We’re not going to give games away. There’s a scenario where we’re playing two rucks, and I think Tom’s been pretty reasonable,” Noble said.
“I mean, even up until last week we looked at Tristan coming in, but he hasn’t unfortunately had enough time forward.
“The difficulty with this bit of shutdown at the moment is we’re not able to get him that ground time, but certainly he’s pressing really hard. There’s no query around that.
“We’re conscious of it – I understand what you’re saying – but I also think there needs to be a bit of credit given to Tom, as to how he’s actually been performing as well.”
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