St Kilda season review: How Saints can bridge the gap with midfield talent on the radar
In December, Ross Lyon scoffed at suggestions the Saints would miss finals. Fast forward nine months and St Kilda is still wallowing, and is in danger of doing so for another 12 months.
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St Kilda coach Ross Lyon expressed his surprise last December that most footy experts believed his side would miss finals in 2024.
The Saints had finished sixth on the ladder with 13 wins last season before falling to Greater Western Sydney by 24 points in an elimination final.
Lyon was confident he could again run a “dual narrative” of getting games into young players while still winning games.
However, St Kilda took a small step backwards — on the win-loss ledger, at least — as it managed only 11 wins in an up-and-down season.
Lyon will point to missed opportunities, given his side lost six games by 10 points or less — four of those by under a kick.
But on the flip side, the Saints also won four games by seven points or less — including a final-round thriller over Carlton.
That triumph over the Blues made for six wins in the final eight weeks for St Kilda, which also toppled fellow finalists Sydney and Geelong during those last two months of the season.
But it would be too little, too late after just three wins came from the side’s first 11 matches.
Like a lot of sides, injury played some role in the campaign.
Key forward Max King only featured in 12 matches for a return of 19 goals, while prized recruit Liam Henry also managed just 12 matches in his first season at Moorabbin.
Some of the injuries helped create opportunities, though, with 2023 draftees Darcy Wilson (23 games), Hugo Garcia (nine games), Angus Hastie (five games), Arie Schoenmaker (four games) and Lance Collard (three games) all enjoying senior exposure and showing promising signs for the future.
There is still much work to do for Lyon, but the Saints look to be heading in the right direction despite missing the finals cut this year.
CONTRACT CALLS
A lot hangs on Josh Battle’s next move.
St Kilda would love to keep the key defender, who played every game this season and was a pillar of strength in the back half.
However, Battle is an unrestricted free agent who has been strongly pursued by rival clubs including Hawthorn.
If Battle does decide to leave and the Hawks’ offer to lure him across is juicy enough, the Saints could receive pick 8 in the national draft as compensation.
That would hand St Kilda picks 7 and 8 to go and bolster their midfield stocks in a draft which has plenty of onball talent at the top of the order.
Draft prospects like Harvey Langford, Sid Draper, Sam Lalor and Murphy Reid could be available to the Saints at those picks.
However, if Battle’s offer to leave is not big enough, St Kilda could be down a key defender and may only receive a pick in the 20s as compensation.
On the other side of the trade table, the Saints are one potential suitor for Port Adelaide running defender Dan Houston if he decides to return home to Victoria.
But they would need to pay up for the contracted 27-year-old, so it might be a better move to load up on the draft instead.
COACHING CALLS
Lyon still has two seasons to run on a four-year contract he signed to return to Moorabbin at the end of 2022.
As much as long-suffering fans would like to see some more wins, there is widespread understanding that this rebuild-on-the-run is going to take some time.
St Kilda fielded 38 different players this season — the equal-fifth most in the competition — as Lyon experimented with his list.
While the coach was buoyed by the development of many of his first and second-year players this season – including the five 2023 draftees and 2022 No. 10 draft pick Mattaes Phillipou – more high-end talent still needs to be added to the club’s list.
2025 PREVIEW
Expect more of the same from St Kilda next season — perhaps with a little extra zip.
There will be more debuts and more games for emerging young players as the club looks to develop a list that it hopes will allow it to challenge for a premiership in the not-too-distant future.
Bolstering the midfield stocks will be a focus in this year’s national draft, but there are already a couple of nice puzzle pieces there.
Wilson played every game in his debut season this year as a hard-running midfielder-forward who can kick goals.
The 19-year-old has future 200-game star written all over him after logging 15 or more disposals in 12 matches this season, along with averaging 0.7 goals a game.
Phillipou is the other player in that area of the ground that the club will be hoping can take another leap forward next season.
A fellow first-round draft pick, Phillipou emerged from a mid-season stint in the VFL as another midfielder-forward who can find the footy and kick goals while also bringing a strong defensive mindset.
Down back, it could be a battle if Battle departs, but the Saints will pray they can get a full season out of King at the other end.
King has managed just 23 games across the past two seasons combined due to knee and shoulder injuries.
Last time he played a full season — in 2022 — he booted 52 goals.
St Kilda could do with King’s presence alongside emerging targets Anthony Caminiti and Cooper Sharman in the forward line, with that trio capable of lifting the club’s scoring profile.
The Saints were the fourth-lowest scoring team this year, averaging just 76 points a game.
However, there was an improvement in that area at the end of the season as they kicked 15 or more goals in four of their final six games.
WAY TOO EARLY PREDICTION: 9th (13-10)
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