St Kilda coach Brett Ratten has backed Bradley Hill to turn around his indifferent start to the AFL season after the Saints copped a massive loss to Richmond.
An electrifying player at his best, Hill was St Kilda’s boom recruit at the end of 2019 and had a patchy first year as a Saint, followed by an up-and-down start to 2020.
Hill had just ten disposals in St Kilda’s 86-point loss on Thursday night but Ratten backed the 27-year-old to rediscover his best form.
“No, we won’t drop Brad Hill,” Ratten said.
“It was a five-day turnaround, he didn’t perform to the level that he can, he played well last week.
“We need to back him in, and he needs to get going too. It’s like all of them.
“It’s the same as (Nick) Coffield, the same conversation I had with him this week. He needs to get going because we can’t keep giving games.
“But Hilly’s had some okay performances – the GWS game he didn’t get a heap of the ball but what he did with the ball was brilliant in really wet conditions and last week he played pretty well.
“So I think everybody’s just putting the spotlight on him, but there’s a few others as well.”
Ratten conceded Hill’s workrate had been down against Richmond but pointed out he was far from alone in that regard.
“Hilly’s a proud person and he’ll bounce back,” he said.
“At times he had to work harder – and that wasn’t just him. So you can’t just categorise him because there was a few others in that boat.”
Ratten said Thursday’s loss was “hard to swallow” and showed St Kilda weren’t as close to the benchmark as they’d thought – especially coming two games after a similar big defeat to Essendon.
“It’s a bit like snakes and ladders, isn’t it?” he said.
“We move forward three steps and then we go backward five.”
Ratten expected late withdrawals Rowan Marshall (foot) and Zak Jones (soreness) to return to face Port Adelaide, where the Saints will again expect a response.
“Footy’s a funny game and we’re definitely not where we want to be and we’ll cop the hits – and we should cop the hits for that performance again,” he said.
“It’s nearly the same sort of message from two weeks ago. We have to rebound here and there’s a lot of footy to be played.”
Boo
Guest
Is Ratten a good coach ? I think not but will stand corrected if a decent opposing argument is raised .To give Hill a get out of Jail card by talking about a five day turn around is dumb .Professional football players on big dough are supposed to be able to perform irregardless of fixturing .Ratten did say Hill isn't alone but that is U / 16 coaching not isolating an individual .Crouch and Hill have to perform no ifs or buts .My big question is how did the Saints stitch up the Eagles .
Charlie Keegan
Roar Guru
Crouch is an artefact. He may be eating up a fair chunk of salary but I wonder where the cap relief is gonna come from?
berrlins
Roar Pro
Ryder has been good, Hill has the potential to be a great player but he's been pretty terrible since leaving Freo, dunno why. blokes like Hannebury shouldn't have been touched, too injury prone. Crouch at least you didn't trade anything for him but he's chewing up a fair bit of salary to have ineffective disposals.
Charlie Keegan
Roar Guru
Ryder hasn’t been too bad but Frawley, McKernan and Hannaberry have been horrendous selections. Particularly for the amount of capital they’ve had to give up.
robertbrob13226
Roar Rookie
As I said before , list manager and football manager . Pity they don’t splash the cash for the real football people in strategic position, As for crouch , Ryder Frawley , Hannebery and over the hill we get everybody’s hand me downs , including the coach ,,Nothing’s changed never will
Puntroad
Roar Rookie
And don’t forget Hannebery? He’s on a good wicket for a bloke who rarely plays footy.
berrlins
Roar Pro
Have the saints been burnt by their own recruiting? Hill has been a bust despite giving up pick 10 for him, Crouch has obvious issues, he's not a gold standard midfielder and only adds to their already workman like midfield, both players are on a lot of money. They won the Higgins and Butler trades from Richmond and the Ryder acquistion was also solid but the amount of money and the top draft pick on Hill and Crouch counter balances that. Also what is with Billings? he is listed as a midfielder but his stats are miserable for someone his age and what was expected of him, he does sneak forward and kick some goals (averaging 1.2 a game) but that's not exactly where Saint Kilda need him.
Cat
Roar Guru
Overpay for a player then don’t have the stones to drop them when they don’t perform. Typical Aints.