Photo of Marlion Pickett shows Richmond’s mockery of St Kilda

Richmond has “absolutely smashed” a soft St Kilda team on the brink of crisis after making a joke out of the team’s midfield stars.

Marlion Pickett and Jake Carlisle.

The Tigers could have put Damien Hardwick in the ruck and it wouldn’t have mattered.

Richmond bullied St Kilda’s star-studded midfield to the point of embarrassment on Thursday night as the Tigers marched to a 20.14 (134) to 7.6 (48) win.

The Tigers were all over the Saints all over the ground, but it was at the stoppages where they truly outclassed the surprisingly sloppy Saints.

With Toby Nankervis spending time off the ground, St Kilda made a mockery of the Saints midfield by using Jack Riewoldt and even Marlion Pickett in the ruck in the third quarter — and still won the clearance.

Saints coach Brett Ratten was furious after a third quarter where the Tigers went on a run of eight straight centre clearance wins.

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Pickett, standing just 1.84m, put up a fight at least against St Kilda stand-in ruckmen Jake Carlisle and Paul Hunter — with Rowan Marshall a late withdrawal as a result of a foot injury.

Ratten let his team have it after the three-quarter time huddle.

“We just got absolutely smashed around the stoppages and clearances,” he told Channel 7.

“They had Pickett rucking and they just walked the ball out of there.

Dusty.

“It all started from the contest and that’s been us the last few weeks a bit. It’s like snakes and ladders, we go alright and then we fall away and we need to toughen up in there.”

It has put heat on St Kilda’s inside midfielders Jack Steele, Brad Crouch, Jack Ross and Jack Bytel.

The Tigers finished with 44 clearances to St Kilda’s 28, and won 18 centre clearances to the Saints’ eight.

It leaves St Kilda’s season again on the brink of disaster after they crashed to their third loss of the year with games against Port Adelaide and Hawthorn coming up.

The win pushes the tigers to 3-2, showing they are still the team to beat this season after their credentials were questioned following a Round 3 loss to Sydney.