St Kilda coach Brett Ratten urges his players to look for marquee recruit Brad Hill more

Bradley Hill is a player of high quality and the highest paid at St Kilda. So, how could he manage just seven disposals in a game? Premiership star Jonathon Brown says the fault lies with his teammates.

Simeon Thomas-Wilson

@Simeon_TW

5 min read

August 11, 2020 - 8:40AM

Cat Mitch Duncan wraps up Saint Jack Billings during Monday night’s game. Picture: Michael Klein

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St Kilda coach Brett Ratten says his players need to give marquee recruit Brad Hill more of the ball, after three-time premiership star Jonathon Brown said the Saints needed to realise the talent they have at their fingertips and make more use of him.

Hill, 27, finished the Saints blowout loss with just seven disposals but covered more high speed distance than any other player on the ground and also had a game high sprint efforts.

On Fox Footy Brown said that amount of touches wasn’t good enough for the former Fremantle player, but said it was up to Hill’s Saints teammates to find him more.

“He’s a guy that probably runs the most out of anyone on the ground, most weeks,” Brown said on Fox Footy.

“And I still don’t think his teammates have realised how much of a resource they’ve got out here.

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It was a quiet night at the office for Brad Hill. Picture: Getty Images

“I still just think it’s just taking time for them to realise he’s there – you’ve got this absolute running machine outside of you. They just need to have more awareness to get him into the game.”

Ratten agreed post-match when asked how to get more of an impact out of his star recruit.

“Maybe if we give it to him a little bit more when he is free,” he said.

“So when he is out in the open and has five, 10 or 20 metres on his opponent maybe give him the ball because there is times there when he should get the ball and we are scratching our heads saying why aren’t we giving it to him.

“I think he worked to some good parts of the ground and we didn’t give him the footy, so we played a part in that and maybe in the third quarter we went over the top and tried to find him too much, so there is a balance issue there.

“You look at his GPS over the last couple of week, he is running over high speed 400/500 metres more than any other player on the ground.

“He is working extremely hard and the connection piece we will keep pushing but I think we can give him the ball more, especially the obvious ones when he is completely out or out we need to give it to him.”

The Saints were taught a big-game lesson by Geelong, going down by 10-goals despite having more inside 50s than the Cats.

Tom Hawkins jumped to joint-top of the Coleman Medal with five goals as he dominated Jake Carlisle, with Gary Rohan an excellent foil for the Geelong big man kicking four of his own.

Patrick Dangerfield and Joel Selwood know about standing up in big games. Picture: Michael Klein

“I think a lot of our game fell away in the second half,” Ratten said.

“In the first half we were doing well in clearances, contested ball was good, inside 50s for and against were good but they just scored in the first half whenever they went in and we couldn’t.

“But in the second half after that, that stats and the numbers were similar but the quality they got compared to ours, we won some possession but it was just all in tight and we didn’t get any flow and they were able to get some flow and get going.

“That was the difference between the two sides.”

SCOTT FULL OF PRAISE FOR HAWKINS

Chris Scott says Geelong spearhead Tom Hawkins is in better shape than when he first started coaching the Cats star 10-years-ago as the key forward moved into equal first in the Coleman Medal race.

Hawkins kicked five in the Cats 10-goal drumming of the previously high-flying St Kilda to go to equal with West Coast spearhead Josh Kennedy on top of the Coleman Medal leaderboard with 18.

Scott said Hawkins would play for the Cats throughout the fixture cram, as the Geelong coach paid tribute to the physical condition of the 32-year-old.

“There was never any intention, it‘s never been part of the plan to chop Tom out,” Scott said.

“That’s one, the position he plays, but also the way he’s learned to look after himself.

“By his own admission, he was always a talented player, but it took him a bit of time to learn to be a professional.

It was a big night at the office for Tom Hawkins. Picture: Getty Images

“I don‘t mean he wasn’t a professional, but over the years as he’s developed some maturity, he’s taken on a leadership role in our group and learnt to prepare himself in a manner that gives him a chance to play well into his 30s.

“To me, he‘s in better shape than when I first started coaching him, which is just on 10 years now.”

Hawkins was joined by Geelong superstar Patrick Dangerfield in the forward line at the opening bounces of the first and second quarters, before the 2016 Brownlow Medallist went into the midfield and caused havoc along with the excellent Sam Menegola, Mitch Duncan and captain Joel Selwood.

With a blockbuster clash on Friday night against Port Adelaide, who he described as the best team in the AFL, Scott said Dangerfield would likely be in and around the ball in the tantalising match.

CREAM RISING

St Kilda had the youthful exuberance with one player 30 and over in the Saints side after Paddy Ryder’s late withdrawal, but Geelong had the cool heads.

When they went into forward 50 the Cats looked like they would score nearly every time, at half time to the concern of Brett Ratten Geelong had three goals from centre bounces.

In the first half they went at 77.8 per cent efficiency inside forward 50, and finished the match at 65 per cent.

Port Adelaide and Brisbane sent statements about their premiership aspirations over the weekend, the Cats just made one of their own.

SAM’S THE MAN

Sam Menegola continues to go about his business superbly for the Cats.

Patrick Dangerfield, Joel Selwood and Jack Steven - playing against his old side for the first time - are the big names in the Geelong midfield and Cam Guthrie is loved by coaches.

But Menegola is in some serious form for the Cats.

After 28 disposals and a goal against North Melbourne the previous round, Menegola finished up with 26 possessions, 11 marks and two goals.

He was part of a Geelong midfield that beat up the Saints in the third quarter, showing some power to go with the Cats’ first-half attacking poise.