‘Unforgivable’: St Kilda’s Jack Higgins slammed for ‘disrespectful’ play

St Kilda has been slammed for its performance in Round 1, and several AFL greats say the club has to make a brutal statement.

Jack Higgins has been slammed for ignoring an open teammate in St Kilda's loss to Collingwood.

AFL greats have slammed St Kilda for its Round 1 performance and urged the coach to drop Jack Higgins for an “unforgivable” offence.

The Saints got their season off to a terrible start, slumping to a 17-point loss to Collingwood on Friday night.

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This season looms as make or break for St Kilda, but their conservative game style against the Magpies left commentators and fans extremely underwhelmed.

One passage of play in particular drew the ire of pundits. Higgins was running into the forward 50 but instead of dishing a handball to teammate Jade Gresham who was wide open next to him, he opted to launch a long kick to Dan Butler who had two defenders on him in the goalsquare.

“They can work harder than this,” North Melbourne great David King said on Fox Footy’s First Crack.

“Higgins has had a good night but what’s a good night? He had four shots at goal and kicked four points, but what he gives up the other way is really disrespectful to his teammates.

“This for me is a droppable offence. If he doesn’t see Gresham there then he’s limited as a player and you have to question whether he did.

“I think a player of his quality knows Gresham is there and he chose not to use him. I think that’s unforgivable, personally.

Jack Higgins has been slammed for ignoring an open teammate in St Kilda's loss to Collingwood.

“For a team outfit that struggled last year and has Gresham back in the side, the one thing you want to do is give the ball to Jade Gresham, he’s a star.

“I think Brett Ratten needs to make a statement. The standards you walk by are the standards you accept. Something’s got to change.”

St Kilda legend Nick Riewoldt was unimpressed with his former side and agreed coach Brett Ratten should drop Higgins for Round 2.

“If I’m Brett Ratten, I’m using that as an opportunity to set a standard from Round 1. I’d give him a spell this week,” he told On The Couch.

“It would be a message to the rest of the team that we’re not going to accept that level of selfishness.

“It was a really disappointing performance. I thought they were meek in the first half.

AFL 360 host Mark Robinson said Higgins isn’t the type of player who can get away with ignoring an open teammate.

“(If) Christian Petracca’s got the ball from 52 metres and he doesn’t handball, he’ll generally kick the goal,” he said.

St Kilda’s season couldn’t have started much worse. (Photo by Quinn Rooney/Getty Images)

“Jack Higgins get it and not handball, misses. Hey, hey! He’s there! Where’s the team football?”

Garry Lyon added: “The successful sides in recent times have been built on the mantra of selflessness.

“That either hasn’t been discussed (at St Kilda) or it has been discussed and everyone’s not buying in. Because that is given by the good sides every single time.”

St Kilda made the finals in 2020 but finished 10th last year and several AFL legends predict 2022 could be another wasted year for the Saints.

“They’re not a good side, they are one of the great enigmas in the competition,” Jason Dunstall told On The Couch.

“They tease and they tease and they tease and everyone says, ‘This is the year, they‘ve got all this talent, they’re going to play well’, and they just keep teasing.

“Until they start doing those sort of things automatically and not have players going into survival mode because they are feeling the heat, they are not going to be a good team.

“I think they got themselves to a position where they’ve looked at their list and said, ‘We’ve recruited a few players, we’re ready to play finals be a contender.’ But they’re not.”