Saints fit and putting team first
By ED BOURKE
St Kilda captain Jack Steele has credited his side’s improved fitness and team-first mentality with a stunning resurgence over the last fortnight.
The star midfielder said the improved fitness and professionalism of teammates had “taken a load off his shoulders” this season, with the Saints recovering from a disappointing round one loss to Collingwood to post three consecutive wins capped off by a 69- point demolition of Hawthorn on Sunday.
A tight ladder tussle has the Saints believing they could seize a strong position, but they were not looking past Saturday’s clash with Gold Coast at Marvel Stadium, Steele said. “It’s a great opportunity for us as a club to grab with both hands,” he said. “(The evenness of the competition) makes you think and concentrate a lot more preparing for a game – you’ve got to be pretty perfect.
Steele said the Saints’ explosive final quarter performances against Richmond and Hawthorn were due to a mix of improved belief and fitness. “We’ve worked hard on our fitness over the off-season, it's something we addressed last year where we weren’t good enough – we weren’t running out games,” he said. “It’s nice to be able to do that to a team when we haven’t been able to the last couple of years. “A lot of the conversations are about just playing your role, that’s what gets you consistency. “It’s a team-first mentality style of football … we have seen it in the past but not consistently enough.”
Steele said the Saints were focusing all energy on this week’s tricky assignment against Gold Coast.
St Kilda has won its last five meetings against the Suns, but by a collective margin of only 16 points.
The biggest margin since 2017 between the two sides was the Saints’ nine-point victory in Round 8 last year. “We’ve had some close run-ins with them over the last couple of years, they’re always a pretty hard side to get around,” Steele said. “We know they’re going to throw the kitchen sink at us, and they had a really great performance yesterday as well so we’ve got to be careful.”
Steele hailed Jade Gresham’s improved work ethic after his dynamic 20- disposal, four-goal performance against Hawthorn. “He’s become a professional, which is great to see because he’s such a talent,” he said. “He is someone teams probably don’t think about when they think about St Kilda, so he’s a bit of a sleeping giant for us. “It’s just that consistency we need to see from Gresh.”
The Saints skipper flagged a return for Brad Hill to half-back despite his four-goal haul against the Hawks, saying he was still best suited to a role behind the ball.
