St Kilda are now 2-4 after succumbing to the Western Bulldogs 64-124 at Marvel Stadium on Thursday night.
While the Saints were buoyant after knocking off reigning premiers Collingwood in Round 2, since then they’ve only beaten Richmond by seven points while going down to Essendon, GWS and now the Bulldogs.
St Kilda were down by 37 points at quarter time on Thursday and things only got worse from there, prompting SEN Breakfast duo Kane Cornes and David King to discuss where Ross Lyon’s side is at.
Cornes doesn’t know if there are many positives surrounding the side in 2024 compared to 2023 where we saw some exciting youngsters emerge.
As for King, he thinks that the club’s list is slowly getting better but questioned a lack of spark in the middle of the ground and the impact of one young gun who has obvious potential.
Cornes: “Last week I said the Saints just don't have much going for them.
“Do you agree with that? What are the positives to come out of the Saints this year? What can we find from the Saints if you're looking at, ‘Let’s really go positive on the Saints’? I'm struggling to find one.
“Last year you could point to Mitch Owens and Mattaes Phillipou and you think ‘Jeez this Phillipou could be anything’. But I'm really struggling to find any positives this year.”
King: “It's easy to reach for the injury list and say, ‘Max King's not there’, and then go through a few others.
“But I think they've been underwhelming in the middle of the ground. I'm a fan of Jack Steele the player and I think he's a great leader, the way he plays, his style of football I admire … But I don't think they've had the spark in the middle of the ground and there hasn't been enough change in there.
“Marcus Windhager hasn't given the spark that we hoped he would.
“They don't really get full tote odds out of Sinclair at the moment, he's become a bits and pieces player, not that damaging half-back, nor a damaging midfielder anymore.
“They haven't really mixed up their midfield. The midfield isn't hurting anyone.”
Cornes: “They got smashed in centre bounce last night … out of the middle of the ground they were smoked.”
King: “I still think they're a better list now than what they were 18 months ago. I think that they're correcting on the run.
“But you have to put Phillipou on the radar, what's he going to be in your mind's eye? What position is he going to be playing in five years’ time?”
Cornes: “Could he be Marcus Bontempelli?”
King: “Is he a midfielder? Is he a half-forward? Is he a nice-to-have player? Is he a destroyer? What is he?”
Cornes: “He's got to be a big-bodied mid who wins his possessions in the front half and impacts the scoreboard.”
King: “You can't be winning two contested possessions a game and do that.”
St Kilda will hope to rebound when they play Port Adelaide at the Adelaide Oval on Friday, April 26.
