Justin Koschitzke of St Kilda (R) consoles Nick Riewoldt (C) after the AFL Round 20 match between the Essendon Bombers and the St Kilda Saints at the Docklands Stadium. Slattery Images
Saturday’s AFL Grand Final loss is a bitter pill to swallow for the St Kilda Footy Club after such a tight contest, but as reflected by Saints skipper Nick Riewoldt in his post-match captain’s speech, it’ll be the source of great motivation to go one better in 2010.
Speaking on Sunday, beyond the immediate emotion of the defeat, Riewoldt said, ”Deep down we’ve got to learn from this. We’ve got to savour it, bottle it, and make sure we learn from the experience.
“Geelong were in exactly the same position 12 months ago, and they were good enough to come out and go one step better this year. We’re at that level. What we’ve been able to achieve this year, it proves we’re not going to go away quickly. We’re at the same level.
“We’ve got to learn from the experience and make sure we’re standing here next year in much more enjoyable circumstances.”
Indeed, that sentiment of redemption has had some volume in the last week with the Cats desperate to right their own wrongs of 2008. The Saints are now looking at next year in a similar way.
Leigh Montagna, who was one of the Saints better players on the weekend, said about 2010, “We’ll butter up again. We’ll keep improving, we’ll get fitter and stronger and better and come back and have another crack.”
There’s no doubt the Saints will be a determined group for the next 12 months and there will be no shortcuts taken under coach Ross Lyon’s guidance.
And you sense an improved St Kilda side with the likes of Lenny Hayes, Nick Dal Santo, Riewoldt and Montagna, amongst others, will be a pretty frightening prospect for opposition sides in 2010.
But as Riewoldt explained, St Kilda must learn from the experience. Sure, with a bit of luck Saturday’s result might have been different, but there’s certain things the Saints could’ve done better on the weekend and should learn from.
While St Kilda boast a brilliant defence which produced intense pressure on Saturday, going forward they were let down, as the inside 50 statistics will say.
Inaccuracy in front of goal (especially in the second quarter) was the obvious one, but late in the game when the match was there to be won, St Kilda reverted to pumping it long to Riewoldt and Justin Koschitzke. Lyon has since admitted this probably wasn’t his smartest move.
But what wasn’t smart was allowing Geelong to get numbers to these contests, to outnumber and nullify St Kilda’s key assets. Harry Taylor did a great job on Riewoldt, but he had help.
Riewoldt didn’t.
Too often St Kilda’s small forwards dragged their opponent to Riewoldt, allowing Geelong a 3-on-1 marking contest, thus erasing the advantage of their prized asset.
And when, and if, the ball hit the ground, the Saints’ small forwards simply couldn’t capitalize.
On a dry day it might have been different, but perhaps Lyon wasn’t wise to his error due to a lack of experience in the conditions having played indoors at Etihad Stadium for plenty of the season.
In some respects, there were warning signs of such a weakness in the Preliminary Final when the Bulldogs pushed a Riewoldt-centric St Kilda all the way, with the Saints skipper winning his side the game with 4 crucial goals. The Cats didn’t allow such heroics on Saturday.
Indeed, looking ahead St Kilda will hope to find a few more options up forward, with a better spread of goals needed. Perhaps Lyon will look to draft a small forward, like the Hawks managed with Cyril Rioli in their premiership year.
But in saying that, the Saints didn’t do a lot wrong on the weekend, let alone 2009. And they already have a quality playing group, plus all statements and comments out of the club since the loss have hit the right chords.
After all, they only lost 3 matches in 2009 and made significant improvements during the season suggesting they are a team on the ascent.
Lyon said at the Saints’ official post-Grand Final function, “There have been a number of individuals that have gone to that next level in their football (in 2009) and we’ll need a lot of players to improve again.
He added, “We feel we’ve got a game plan that stands up anywhere in any conditions at any time and we think we can make it better.”
Indeed, emerging from the Grand Final defeat with a steely resolve to get better, shows the Saints are here for the long haul.
Saturday’s loss will serve as great motivation and you sense this side will be back bigger and better in 2010.
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