Field Marshal: The stats which show St Kilda has become one of AFL’s most lethal attacking teams
St Kilda has transformed from one of the AFL’s most inaccurate teams in history into a lethal attacking force under Brett Ratten. These are the stats that show just how much the Saints have improved in front of goal.
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Brett Ratten and Luke Beveridge reached for the same words to describe St Kilda’s blitzing 39-point victory in Round 2.
“St Kilda just got too much bang for their buck with their transition and their inside 50s,” Beveridge lamented.
“We’ve done a fair bit on our ball use and we wanted to get more bang for buck,” Ratten said.
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“We put a bit of a price on it in the last three weeks.”
The Saints and Dogs split the inside 50s 40-40 that night, but Ratten’s team booted goals from 35 per cent of their entries, compared with Beveridge’s 17.5 per cent.
After Round 4 the Saints have emerged as the No. 1 exponent of the “money kick” — sending the ball inside 50m — and they are playing a swish brand that you would pay top dollar to watch.
If the AFL assessed clubs on their gameplan’s sex appeal then perhaps Port Adelaide, Brisbane Lions and St Kilda would be on the podium.
The Moorabbin makeover has been extraordinary.
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Goalkicking coach Ben Dixon departed last year with the Saints’ 2019 accuracy (42.6 per cent) the fourth-worst ever recorded by Champion Data.
But Ratten said the heart of that problem was taking low-percentage snaps and shots on the run — rather than set-shots — and he dedicated the mini pre-season to generating easier looks.
Saints analyst Darren O’Shaughnessy helped verify that last year’s wins column suffered simply because of where the Saints were blazing away from.
This year St Kilda has kicked a staggering 29.6 in its two victories.
“We kicked 15.3 (against Richmond) and hit the post twice — it could’ve been 17.1,” Ratten said.
BELOW: ST KILDA STAT ATTACK, BY THE NUMBERS
The accuracy chasm between wins and losses would alarm Ratten and while Jack Billings’ shoddy 39.4 per cent accuracy in 2019 has improved to 100 per cent (he has kicked 5.0), Jack Lonie remains stuck south of 40 per cent.
But this year’s slice-and-dice ball movement is working for a slippery midfield that suddenly rivals the 1980s West Indies’ attack for pace.
Supporting Jack Billings and Jade Gresham are speed machines Zak Jones, Bradley Hill and Dan Butler and they have helped generate the golden and fast-paced entries Ratten was looking for.
The need for speed was evident in 2018 when the Saints drafted mature-agers Nick Hind and Matt Parker. But last year’s additions combine polish with pace, and that has made the world of difference.
The Saints rank No. 2 in the AFL for playing on from a mark and they have an outside game that thrives indoors at Marvel Stadium.
How much would teenage spearhead Max King — who can mark the ball 3.2m above the ground — love looking up and seeing the ballistic movement?
At a boring time in football in which Victoria’s daily coronavirus cases outscore most AFL teams it only makes St Kilda’s pizzazz more enjoyable.
Many rivals lack the chutzpah to take the game on because they are frightened of turning the ball over.
But Saints youngster Nick Coffield said Ratten had handed out licences to thrill.
“Anyone can punt the ball down the line. They (coaches) encourage (taking risks) instead of playing into our shells, ” Coffield said
Fittingly, the Saints have “Dare” written on their jumpers and while they suffered a sobering loss to Collingwood in Round 3 there have been intoxicating wins either side.
Even Ratten was powerless at applying the brakes against Richmond.
“We tried to slow down the ball movement in the third (quarter), and we couldn’t do it from the coach’s box,” he said.
“The players kept going pretty quick.”
The Saints fielded the least experienced and second-youngest team in Round 4 and Ratten warned fans not to expect fast footy all the time.
The baby backline might start to tire in 2020, but the blink-and-you-miss-it brand is here to stay.