Ralph: Saints’ distinct lack of A-grade midfielders behind their 2024 slide

The Saints are desperate for some class to come into their midfield mix, but Ross Lyon’s side is more likely to add mutton and boiled spuds instead of caviar, writes JON RALPH.

MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA – MAY 26: Ross Lyon, Senior Coach of the Saints looks on during the round 11 AFL match between Narrm (the Melbourne Demons) v Euro-Yroke (the St Kilda Saints) at Melbourne Cricket Ground, on May 26, 2024, in Melbourne, Australia. (Photo by Quinn Rooney/Getty Images)

Ross Lyon is about to bring some more mutton and boiled spuds back into the St Kilda midfield when it actually needs a sprinkle of caviar.

As Lyon surveyed the wreckage of the Saints’ loss to Melbourne, he again bemoaned his decimated midfield and cast his eyes to the VFL. Brad Crouch had just come back from a knee injury and Hunter Clark was playing his fourth VFL game in a row.

Former top-10 pick Clark racked up 31 possessions, nine clearances (five centre square) and six tackles and, like Crouch, he has to be in the mix to add to St Kilda’s meat-and-potatoes midfield against West Coast in Perth.

But the Saints’ midfield is desperately crying out for some explosiveness and dash, given it has this year been one-paced and boring.

As Lyon made a point of stating, no team in the last 15 years has played more players aged 21-and-under and yet made finals – as St Kilda did last year.

But where is that fight and spread and midfield polish?

After an exciting 2023, the Saints look destined to miss the finals. (Photo by Michael Willson/AFL Photos via Getty Images)

Lyon started the process against Melbourne by handing Liam Henry centre-square opportunities and putting Liam Stocker to Christian Petracca. But the Seb Ross-Marcus Windhager-Jack Steele trio has been the go-to weapon this year, with Steele (243) leading centre-square involvements from Windhager (157) and Ross (133), with Jack Sinclair fourth with 83.

In a season going nowhere it is time to release the handbrake. St Kilda’s midfield has actually been relatively poor across Lyon’s 18-month tenure – ranked 17th from points from stoppages this year, as they were in 2023.

Their clearance-differential has gone from 15th to 10th, their contested-possession differential has gone from 5th to 12th.

But with St Kilda’s defence the sixth-easiest to score against after being the second-hardest in 2023, the midfield is exposed.

As Lyon said: “We are trying to build out a midfield which we have always got concerns about every week.”

No. 10 draft pick Mattaes Phillipou was to be the touch of class, but has been demoted to the VFL twice and his output has dropped 47 per cent year-on-year, based on Champion Data ratings. Phillipou had six kicks from 17 touches and 45 ranking points in his latest VFL game.

Crouch has been missed, Zak Jones has bounced between AFL and VFL, winger Mason Wood has missed five games with injury, and Henry’s hamstring issue after two excellent games was horribly timed. So with that in mind, how does Lyon get something out of this season to springboard into 2025?

He has lauded elite runner Darcy Wilson’s contested play and yet the No. 18 draft pick has not attended a single centre bounce for the Saints in 2024. Nasiah Wanganeen-Milera screams of class off half back or a wing and yet he hasn’t sniffed the centre square once either.

Mitch Owens, excellent as a half-forward and pinch-hitting ruckman last year, has dropped 16 per cent in overall output and has only nine centre square involvements.

Time to change the mix-up? Former Blue Paddy Dow is as advertised – two games averaging four clearances and 18 possessions, but only 42 per cent kicking efficiency. As David King would say, where is his ability to punish?

Lyon’s midfield is a stark issue. Pic: Michael Klein

Jack Steele has been lion-hearted, averaging 26 disposals, 5.7 clearances, 7.6 tackles and 63 per cent kicking efficiency, but only his pressure is officially rated elite.

He is football’s 21st-rated pure midfielder, with Ross 52nd and Windhager 66th of 72 mids across the competition (not including wingmen, flankers or dual-position players).

At Sydney, Isaac Heeney is ranked first and Chad Warner ninth (Errol Gulden is a wing).

Gold Coast has Matt Rowell (third) and Noah Anderson (14th), the Bulldogs have Marcus Bontempelli (second) and Adam Treloar (13th), while the Blues have Patrick Cripps (fifth) and Sam Walsh (17th).

St Kilda knows what the problem is – it desperately lacks multiple A-graders in the midfield and the Saints can at least draft one with a bottom-six finish, as they try to find another through free agency.

Now Lyon has the back half of a season without finals to restump, rewire and reinvigorate the playing list so those rival free agents watching on believe it might be a group capable of something next season.

Originally published as Ralph: Saints’ distinct lack of A-grade midfielders behind their 2024 slide