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St Kilda coach Ross Lyon and skipper Nick Riewoldt agree the Saints have become too one-dimensional in attack amid their form slump a month out from the AFL finals.
Where Collingwood, Geelong and the Western Bulldogs have seemingly timed their run-ins to the finals perfectly, the Saints (third) are no certainties to earn the double chance following bad losses either side of the round-17 draw with Hawthorn.
Lyon on Monday reiterated his belief the Saints needed to improve urgently from last Friday night’s defeat to Essendon, when the coach likened his side to a bottom-four team.
St Kilda’s worries start in attack, where their scoring rate has dropped in the past four games even though Riewoldt returned in round 15 from his serious hamstring injury.
The Saints have averaged 76 points a game in their past four matches, whereas the mean was 88 in the preceding four.
The scoring slump means St Kilda’s attack is ranked 10th this season in points scored, whereas they were fourth last season.
The limited impact of forwards Justin Koschitzke, Stephen Milne, Adam Schneider and first-gamer Tom Lynch against the Bombers meant St Kilda’s midfielders too often went to Riewoldt.
“Last year we scored a lot more,” Lyon said.
“There were some well-documented reasons why that may have fallen away.
“But we were confident we’d improve in that and then with Nick coming back we thought it would (increase) again, but it’s actually gone the other way.
“We feel we’re going to Nick a fair bit, so we need to find a bit of balance with that, which is always an issue with big key forwards and balancing it up.
“We just want to get our competitive spirit and our run back and see where that takes us.”
Riewoldt said he felt he was returning to his best form, but said the Saints were again having difficulty clicking in attack.
“At times when I went out of the team and having been there for so long in that key forward role it took a bit of adjusting (for the team),” he told Fox Sports.
“Perhaps on the flipside it’s taken a little bit of adjusting now that I’ve come back.
“Maybe we have been a bit too focused on getting it to myself and Kosi, and Milney and Schneids and some of those guys might not be getting the same opportunities they had previously.”
Koschitzke’s struggles in attack prompted AFL great Leigh Matthews on Monday to call for the big man to be thrown into the ruck to give the side more zip.
But Riewoldt rejected any claims his colleague was under-performing.
“Any criticism that comes towards him is probably starting to get a little bit tiresome from … our perspective because we rate him very highly internally,” he said.
St Kilda’s concerns – which also include injuries to defenders Zac Dawson and Raph Clarke and the prospect of a revitalised Port Adelaide on Sunday – means they cannot taper their training a month out from the finals.
Lyon’s team effectively had the minor premiership stitched up this time a year ago, which allowed the Saints to taper their training in the month before the finals.
That is no longer an option given the Bulldogs (fourth) and Fremantle (fifth) are only half a game behind.
Dawson will miss one, possibly two games because of a broken hand, while Clarke’s season is over because of a hamstring tendon injury similar to the one Riewoldt suffered.
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