St Kilda Season Review

[BB67th]

Hey everyone, another club review today, with St Kilda's season this team under the microscope.

St Kilda Season Review

Season in a Snapshot

Ladder Position: 9th â€" 12 wins, 10 losses (123.33%)
Most Disposals: Lenny Hayes (538)
Most Goals: Stephen Milne (47)
Played Every Game: Lenny Hayes, Leigh Montagna, Nick Dal Santo, Sean Dempster, Stephen Milne
Debutants: Seb Ross (1 game), Sam Dunell (5 games), Jack Newnes (7 games), Terry Milera (15 games), Admed Saad (16 games)

Stat Leaders:

Kicks: Leigh Montagna (324)
Handballs: Lenny Hayes (283)
Tackles: Lenny Hayes (130)
Hit Outs: Ben McEvoy (405)
Clearances: Lenny Hayes (119)
Marks: Sean Dempster (155)
Contested Possessions: Lenny Hayes (238)
Uncontested Possessions: Leigh Montagna (323)
Inside 50s: Leigh Montagna (94)
Rebound 50s: Sean Dempster (72)

Best & Fairest:

1. Lenny Hayes (124)
2. Leigh Montagna (121)
3. Sean Dempster (112)
4. Brendon Goddard (96)
5. Nick Riewoldt (81)
6. Jarryn Geary (80)
7. Nick Dal Santo (79)
8. Sam Fisher (69)
9. David Armitage (66)
10. Jack Steven (65)

NAB Rising Star Nominations:

Arryn Siposs â€" Nominated for his round 15 performance against the Essendon Bombers. He played a key role in St Kilda’s 71 point win over Essendon, as he picked up 17 disposals, including 5 inside 50s and 2 goals. He also had a very high disposal efficiency rate of 88%.

How did the Season go:

St Kilda ended last season in an interesting way, with coach Ross Lyon walking out on the club with a year still left to run on his contract with the club for the head role at Fremantle. Scott Watters came in as the new senior coach and definitely had an impact on the Saints. There was no more of the flooding defence from the Lyon days. Instead we saw some good free flowing football from the Saints who took more chances and moved the ball down the middle quick and with a good efficiency. The Saints failed to capitalise on what was a fairly easy draw at the start of the season, losing their round 1 match to Port Adelaide by less than a kick in one that they really should have won. They backed it up with back to back wins over the Suns and Bulldogs, before Ross Lyon had the last laugh with a 20 point win with the Dockers. They then went win-loss-win-loss to the bye, with good wins after Sydney and Carlton, but equally unimpressive losses to West Coast, Richmond and Adelaide. As a result they went into the bye 6-6 and were looking to improve that in the second half of the season. In a few games, like the Port and Crows games, the Saints had plenty of chances, but just couldn’t take them. They came back after the bye, and again their form was just too patchy. A loss to the Kangaroos was followed by good wins over the Bombers and Lions, before a bad loss to the Swans. They made sure they beat the bottom teams in Gold Coast and Melbourne, but couldn’t get the points against Collingwood and Geelong, meaning they just missed out on finals, and finished in 9th.
When the Saints were on this year, they were a very good team and close to impossible to beat. But the problem was that they just couldn’t sustain their good form for any amount of time, their best winning streak for the season was only 2. We saw the midfield back to almost its best with the return of Lenny Hayes after a knee reconstruction, and he picked up another best and fairest. Dal Santo, Montagna and the rest were good as always, but Goddard was disappointing to say the least compared to his form of years past. He played all on the outside, or a small role in defence and wasn’t the inspirational leader diving into every pack that we have come to expect from him. He has now taken advantage of the new Free Agency system and moved to Essendon. In defence, Sean Dempster had an amazing year as an intercept player and key defender, and his versatility won him All Australian selection. Combined with the young group of defenders, they made a strong defensive unit, though inexperienced at times. Down forward, Riewoldt, Koschitzke and Milne did their usual work, while they uncovered a pair of dangerous small forwards in Terry Milera and Ahmed Saad. They also have some good young tall prospects in Stanley and Siposs. The one player who has eclipsed anything any other Saints player has achieved this season though, is the one and only Jason Blake. Blake held the record for the most games played without a single vote in the Brownlow Medal with over 200 games without J.Blake being read out on the night of nights. But this year for his round 11 game against Gold Coast, where playing as the main ruck at not even 190cm tall, he picked up 21 touches, 28 hitouts, 8 tackles and a goal. It was enough to land him 2 votes and applause from the entire room when his name was read out on the night. A thoroughly deserving player of finally getting some votes in a career that gets nowhere near the respect that it deserves.

Excitement of the Season:

The Saints this season uncovered a gem of a small forward in livewire Ahmed Saad. A mature age recruit, Saad was overlooked in the draft a few years ago and played VFL with the Northern Bullants for a couple of years. Last year he kicked over 50, and won the VFL award for best AFL potential. (Previous winners of that award include Michael Barlow and James Podsiadly). St Kilda managed to pick him up through a trade deal with one of the expansion clubs, and he made his debut in round 6. He missed only one game for the season after that, and kicked 28 goals. He was dangerous as a small forward, and was Milne-like at times, popping up when you least expected him to kick crucial goals. His best return was 4 goals in the close win over the Lions in round 16, where he kicked crucial goals in the last quarter to give his side the win. And I think he is already the owner of the longest run up in the league. Think of Nick Riewoldt’s a couple of years back, but instead Saad walks the first 30 steps. It may take him a minute and a half to take a set shot, but he is pretty accurate and should be a good player for the Saints for years to come.

Disappointment of the Season:

It is quite fair to say that the Saints have not had many disappointments in their side for 2012, through a good bunch of youths coming into the club, while the old players are still holding up their end. One player who was expected to do better in 2012 though, was Dean Polo. Polo was delisted by Richmond after the 2010 season and the Saints shocked everyone when they picked him up in the national draft after that with pick 103. As a versatile utility that could fill a few holes around the ground, Polo played 15 games last year and definitely had his moments playing around the midfield and half back line. He provided some extra toughness around the contest and averaged over 3 tackles a game. Good things were expected this year with some more improvement from the 26 year old, but, after a string of unimpressive performances to start the season, he was dropped after the round 6 defeat to Hawthorn and only played one more game for the year. He wasn’t providing too much to the team, and in the end it became more beneficial in the long term to play some of the younger players in the side instead of Polo. At the end of the year he had really fallen out of favour with coach Scott Watters and he was delisted. It ends a career that looked to have so much potential, after he picked up 28 possessions and 3 goals on debut way back in round 6, 2006.

Where is the club heading next year:

St Kilda is in an interesting position next year. After falling down the ladder a bit this year, and just missing out on finals, it is hard to say where they will finish next season. I think it is likely that they will fall a bit further, as we see the club go through a bit of a rebuild, but it won’t be too big. The loss of Brendon Goddard to Free Agency will hurt the club, but they will get one or two first round draft picks as compensation for losing him, and they should be able to use these on some good young players. The rest of their senior players look to still be going strong, and the youth in the club looks very promising. They will be starting to look for long term replacements up forward, down back and in the middle, with stars Riewoldt, Koschitzke, Fisher and Hayes all key to the team, but facing retirement in the next 2 â€" 3 years. I think we will see the Saints have their good patches again, and if they are able to keep their good form up next year for more than a fortnight, they could again be a force to be reckoned with. Still, not many people are rating them a finals chance and it is most likely that they will face a bit of a slide down the ladder as other teams show more improvement next year. The club will definitely be aiming for a top 8 spot next year and I think anywhere from a 8th-10th finish with around 12 wins would be a pass for the Saints.

Final Say:

The Saints had their good patches this year, and their best was very good. At the same time, they just weren’t able to sustain their form over an extended period of time, and they were just too inconsistent. In the end this is what cost them a finals spot. The loss of Brendon Goddard next year will hurt them, but they are a big club and will be able to bounce back from that. I give St Kilda a C+ for 2012.

If you enjoyed my review, please head to my blog where you can give it a 5 star rating and check out all the rest of my season reviews. Head over to inside50.wordpress.com.  Thanks  :)

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