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It was a season to forget for St Kilda in 2014, claiming the dubious honour of becoming the first established club to claim the wooden spoon in the latest expansion era.
The club cleaned house somewhat in the offseason, and it looks as if the long rebuild is still unfortunately in its very early stages.
Let’s have a look at the list changes.
Additions
Paddy McCartin, Hugh Goddard, Daniel McKenzie, Jack Lonie, Jack Sinclair, Brenton Payne (draft).
Losses
Rhys Stanley (Geelong Cats), Lenny Hayes, Beau Maister (retired), James Gwilt, Clinton Jones, Trent Dennis-Lane, Terry Milera, Sam Dunnell (delisted).
What happened last year?
St Kilda started the year in reasonable fashion, knocking off Melbourne, Greater Western Sydney and Essendon to sit in ninth after five rounds.
Lenny Hayes’ retirement spurred the Saints to a stunning win over Fremantle in Round 18, but every other game in 2014 resulted in a loss – by an average of no fewer than 59 points.
The Saints simply couldn’t get their hands on the ball in 2014, averaging 39 fewer disposals per game than their opponents, worst in the competition. And when they did manage to get the ball in hand, they used it poorly. They averaged 4.6 more clangers per game than their opponents, worst in the competition, as well as finishing second to last in the league for both inside-50 differential and marks inside-50 differential.
Promising midfielder Jack Steven had a down year compared to his breakout 2013 campaign, but the club unearthed some more talented midfielders in Jack Newnes and Luke Dunstan.
Too much was worryingly left to veterans like Hayes and Leigh Montagna, but the St Kilda fans still caught some promising glimpses of the future.
What’s changed?
The Saints ticked off a huge offseason box rather recently, penning Jack Steven to a five-year contract just one season before he was set to hit free agency. Losing Steven to another club would have been catastrophic for the Saints, but now the club have an enormous piece to build their team around locked in long-term.
Losing Rhys Stanley to the Cats can’t have been in St Kilda’s plans, but the void left up forward and in the ruck should be filled easily by number one draft pick Paddy McCartin and young ruckman Billy Longer respectively.
One could argue a veteran acquisition or two could have helped accelerate development, but in any case the Saints did the right thing by letting rusted-on veterans James Gwilt and Clinton Jones, among others, go.
As unfairly short as previous coach Scott Watters’ leash appeared to be, what undid him ultimately was his lack of awareness as to where the team was at. His misguided belief that the Saints were still finals capable during his tenure set the rebuilding process back significantly.
Alan Richardson may have endured an even worse season on the field than Watters ever did, but the youth-first approach he took on the field last year, which has followed through to this offseason, has put the Saints well and truly back on the right path.
What needs to happen in 2015?
St Kilda may now have brighter days ahead, but in terms of this season it’s hard to see where the wins will come from. They may start around even money in their Etihad dates with Melbourne, GWS and the Bulldogs, but the Saints appear to have too much to turn around to be thinking about an improved ladder position in 2015.
As basic as it sounds – more ball use, better ball use and harder work around the ground is ‘all’ St Kilda needs to do to become more competitive.
The verdict
Alan Richardson’s career may have started poorer than that of his short-lived predecessor, but the offseason showed he’s fully aware of where this club is really at. You can’t fix a leak in the roof until you admit the roof is leaking, and Richardson has demonstrated himself to be the honest assessor this club needs.
He’s put the team on the right track already, but for this season at least they’re still rebuilding.
Prediction: 18th.