St Kilda coach Alan Richardson says his young forward line is ready to work together after Essendon win

ST KILDA coach Alan Richardson said his forward line of the future was ready to work together after it cut Essendon apart.

ST KILDA coach Alan Richardson said his forward line of the future was ready to work together fulltime after it cut Essendon apart in Sunday night’s dominant 46-point victory.

The Saints deployed No. 1 pick Paddy McCartin, leading goalkicker Josh Bruce, former Swan Tim Membrey and captain Nick Riewoldt together for the first time and the result was impressive — a 16.13 (109) to 9.9 (63) win.

Nick Riewoldt played predominantly in the midfield in his 100th win as captain while Membrey pushed up to the wings as the Saints won every quarter.

The Saints dominated all game but the scoreboard only followed in the second half as they produced their fourth 100-plus score this season.

“(Tim) Membrey, (Josh) Bruce and (Paddy) McCartin are going to be a really exciting group of players. They’re going to be very good in contest,” Richardson said.

Richardson was pleased the Saints responded after copping one “right between the eyes” in last week’s 103-point belting at the hands of West Coast.

The Saints moved to 3-6 and Richardson said the Saints had grown on last year despite the same standing after Round 9.

Tim Membrey celebrating one of his goals. Picture: Michael Klein

Richardson said re-signed midfielder Seb Ross (37 disposals) was the club’s most improved player while also hailing the development of on-baller Luke Dunstan and ruckman Tom Hickey.

Hickey lost the hitout count to Matthew Leueneberger but the Saints won double the clearances and led the inside-50 count 67-40.

“It was pleasing. When you have a performance like (last week) you have conversations, you then train in quite an aggressive manner to hopefully bounce back,” Richardson said.

“Our issue was contest and pressure and we thought that was positive.

“Am I allowed to park last week? I think we’ve improved. I think our best footy is really competitive against good teams,” Richardson said.

“That shows growth to me. I think we’ve been much better with the way we look to score.

“Our offence has improved, we’ve still got a fair bit of work to do in and around clearance.

“I know this team is going to be a really good footy team, and we’re impatient and we want that to be tomorrow. The reality is it’s going to take a while.

“This group of players is starting to grow and the more footy they play together that’ll expedite that process.”

Richardson said he was relieved the Saints finally got scoreboard reward in the second half and five-goal hero Josh Bruce typified the performance.

“He worked his backside off and at times looked a little bit awkward — either marking or kicking early — but ends up with a really positive second half (with) five goals,” he said.

“That’s just reward for someone who works as hard as he does.”

Originally published as St Kilda coach Alan Richardson says his young forward line is ready to work together after Essendon win