Expected Finish – 4th–6th
Actual Finish – 2nd (and minor premiers)
Home and Away Season: 20 Wins, 2 Losses
A truly remarkable St Kilda season has finally come to an end, unfortunately for them and their fans they just fell a bit short of the mark in the 2009 Grand Final.
• They played off in one of the better Grand Finals in recent times for a chance to win the 2009 premiership cup.
• They won the minor premiership- just the third in their history.
• They won the first 19 games of the year, easily eclipsing their previous best of 10 games which was set in 2004.
• Played in front of a record crowd at Etihad Stadium against Geelong in Round 14, that day 54,444 people watched St Kilda pip Geelong.
Backline
St Kilda’s defense (different from backline) was amazing this year, the Saints easily shut down most teams and ended the home and away season with a miserly 1,411 scored against them or 64 points a game. This was achieved through a disciplined game plan that revolved around zoning and frontal pressure, the latter being St Kilda’s particular strength.
The backline itself was actually quite offensive in that just about every player to line up down back in 2009 had a tendency to run of their opponent and try to set up play. Brendon Goddard, Sam Fisher and Jason Gram led the way in this regard with all averaging over 20 possessions a game the Saints were able to set up their attacks from the backline with great effect. Surprisingly Goddard was the only St Kilda defender recognized with All Australian selection and he only made it onto the bench.
Unfortunately there has been one disappointing member of the St Kilda backline in Raphael Clarke, those who know me will understand that I am actually a fan of ‘Raph’ but despite my assurances to friends and other supporters Clarke never really came good at the business end of the year as I had hoped- it will be interesting to see what happens with him going forward, as a St Kilda supporter I hope he is still at the club next year as he has the potential to be a fine player.
Midfield
Tough is the word for St Kilda’s midfield, as in you are in for a tough game if you line up opposite them. Whether it is the all round class and determination of Hayes, the silk of Dal Santo or the shut down ability of Clinton Jones- you know you are in for a tough day.
Lenny Hayes ran a well deserved third in the 2009 Brownlow Medal and with team mates like Dal Santo, Goddard, Ball, Montagna, Jones, Ray and the occasional pinch hitter is it any wonder teams get less kicks against St Kilda than they do against any other team? Conversely, those same players manage to get boot to ball more often per match than any other team as well.
Such dominance regularly led to St Kilda dominating the inside 50 count in any given clash as well and when you have St Kilda’s forward line that tends to lead to a pretty convincing result.
Forwards
St Kilda’s forward line has been good this year, despite being the third best statistically it was often the defensive work of the Saints forward line that made the difference between victory and defeat.
It was often argued this year that St Kilda relied too heavily on Riewoldt to do the damage and it is true that the St Kilda players do look to him too often. Riewoldt isn’t a bad person to rely on mind you and managed to slot 78 goals whilst still managing to accumulate 17 touches a game, it’s only natural to put your faith in someone that good.
Riewoldt was not without support mind you with some handy forwards around him in the form of Koschitzke (48 goals), Milne (46 goals), Schneider (34 goals) and McQualter (22 goals) with a support class like that and a resting midfielder/defensive forward it wasn’t like St Kilda weren’t finding other avenues to goal.
Whist Koschitzke has delivered a solid year of football for the St Kilda Football Club, all involved would be hoping to see him build to something better next year as when he is firing he provides the perfect foil for Riewoldt and St Kilda look neigh on unstoppable.
Rucks
Until recently a significant weakness for St Kilda has been their Ruck division, not so anymore. Michael Gardiner and Steven King are both delivering a good standard of football on a consistent basis and Gardiner in particular has shown that they are still capable of influencing the result of a game on occasion.
With Gardiner and King nearing the end it is worth having a look at the other options at the club. Koschitzke and Blake are both options and have battled gamely in the past but with both finding better form elsewhere it isn’t a move St Kilda would want to make. Fortunately McEvoy got some important game time in 2009 and looked comfortable in a support role, Rhys Stanley has looked better and better at VFL level and as we saw on Grand Final day (in the half time sprint) he is no slouch across the ground (he won). Throw in a couple developing players in Blake McGrath and Samuel McGarry and it doesn’t look like St Kilda needs to panic in this area.
What is needed?
St Kilda looked threatened by some of the quicker teams in Essendon and the Bulldogs throughout the year so they’ll be keeping an eye on any opportunity to inject some pace into their side.
The coaches will also have a damaging midsized forward on their wish list as such a player would provide an excellent foil for Riewoldt, Koschitzke and Milne. St Kilda was shown firsthand the benefits of such a player in the form of Chapman in this year’s grand final.
Looking Forward
Barring a Hawthorne-esque implosion it is hard to see St Kilda achieving anything less than a preliminary finals appearance next year. Ross Lyon and Nick Riewoldt are strong leaders with a good idea of what they want- this year will cut them deep and injuries permitting it wouldn’t surprise me to see an even more intense and ruthless St Kilda side next year.
Tags: Brendon Goddard, Clinton Jones, Jason Gram, Justin Koschitzke, Lenny Hayes, Nick Dal Santo, Nick Riewoldt, Raphael Clarke, Sam Fisher, Sam Gilbert, Zac Dawson
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