Brad Hill labelled game’s most overpaid player as bruise-free Saints struggle

St Kilda has demanded a lift in its defensive intensity as several of its big-name recruits come under fire for an underwhelming start to the season.

The Saints’ finals credentials will be on the line over the next three weeks as they take on premiership fancies West Coast, Richmond and Port Adelaide after a surprise 75-point loss to a young Essendon outfit on Saturday night.

Saints’ livewire Dan Butler has not laid a single tackle in the past two games and wingman Brad Hill has been labelled the most overpaid player in the competition by Port Adelaide great Kane Cornes.

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Hill, who is believed to be earning more than $800,000 a year at Moorabbin, had one contested possession from his 16 disposals against the Bombers. He finished outside the top-10 of the best and fairest last year.

“His performances have been well below what he should be producing for a player that is earning massive money,” Cornes said on Channel 9.

Brett Ratten’s men were highly-regarded for their tackle pressure last year but it dropped away significantly on Saturday night with the Saints racking up only 32 tackles for the game.

Fifteen St Kilda players had one tackle or less against the young Bombers.

Ratten said the team deserved the lashing it would cop this week after an “embarrassing” performance on Saturday night has left the cub 1-2 with a tough run to come.

“When you perform like that you open yourself up to criticism,” Ratten said.

“You can’t have pats on back when you go well and not expect to get a backhander when you go poorly.

“I said ‘be ready for it’, because it’s coming our way. It is early doors, but it does tell you a bit about your group where you go from here and how you respond.

“Maybe tonight we lost a little bit of faith and trust in each other when you do that you become a bit reactive and are second to the ball. This will be the challenge for us.”

But the Saints could be boosted by the return of star ruckman Rowan Marshall (foot) who got through a VFL game at the weekend and will press his case to pay against the Eagles at Marvel Stadium on Saturday.

The Saints, who picked Shaun McKernan to play in the ruck ahead of SANFL recruit Paul Hunter on Saturday night, meet the most dominant ruckman in the competition, Nic Naitanui in Round 4.

The Saints remain unsure when Paddy Ryder will comeback from a personal leave of absence. Ratten said fixing the Saints’ defensive application was the top priority this week.

“We need to do some work and we need to do it quickly,” he said.

“We just haven’t got our defensive system right at the moment.”

Star midfielder Jade Gresham is out for the rest of the season with an Achilles injury while Zak Jones is also in doubt with an ankle problem.

Ratten said the club faced a big call on Marshall.

“It will be a good conversation on where he is at, what at he can do, and can we play him and what are the risks because it is all right to bring them back, but we don’t want them to get re-injured and be out for long periods,” he said.

“If you have to wait one more week and play the rest of the year idea it is the ideal scenario.

“He might be right, we will wait and see.”

AFL: Listen in to the St Kilda Saints post match press conference.

EMBARRASSED’: DID WE ALL OVERRATE SAINTS TALENT?

Did everyone, including themselves, overrate St Kilda?

The list demographics at Moorabbin are a giveaway about the internal expectations, but the Saints wouldn’t be the first club guilty of thinking it was closer to a flag than it actually was.

Apart from Essendon, no one will appreciate their humiliating 75-point defeat to the baby Bombers on Saturday night more than North Melbourne, a 128-point loser on Good Friday.

The difference is the Kangaroos have stripped their list back and are embarking on a lengthy rebuild, whereas St Kilda added Brad Crouch to an already experienced squad, as well as Jack Higgins.

However, when push came to shove, the Saints lacked effort, intensity and composure against Essendon – and received a public lashing from coach Brett Ratten post-match.

Ever-reliable skipper and reigning club champion Jack Steele, in his 100th game, was a notable exception.

Ratten’s group laid only three tackles in the second quarter and finished with 32, the club’s lowest count in 15 years, excluding last year’s shortened games. If ever a tackle tally summed up a performance, it was this one.

“I’m the leader of this team and I’m the coach, so it comes back to me,” Ratten said.

“I think everybody was embarrassed and everybody should be. You feel for our supporters to dish up that today, so the players are embarrassed and we know we have a bit of work in front of us.”

The Saints were so bad that Ratten even warned them they can expect major external criticism this week.

“We’ve leaked some goals at times, but just the way we did it and by the end they were just kicking it in and scoring,” Ratten said.

“It was hard to watch and we need to get back to what’s made us a solid team – not a good team or a great team, or anything like that.

“If we’re going to do that each week, we’re going to have to kick 30 goals, which are not the games we want to be involved in.

The Saints were last year’s bolters, rocketing from 14th in 2019 to win a final over the Western Bulldogs before going down to eventual premier Richmond.

That followed an extraordinary trade heist, where they scored Bradley Hill, Dan Butler, Paddy Ryder, Dougal Howard and Zak Jones.

Hill was viewed as the biggest get – and certainly commanded the most dollars – as the quality line-breaking runner St Kilda’s drab line-up sorely lacked.

Instead, the ex-Docker and Hawk was the least impactful of all. It’s three rounds into Hill’s second season at the Saints and so far he’s been a bust.

And how about Butler, the terrier-like small forward who made Richmond look silly last year with an All-Australian-calibre season?

Butler’s breakout season as an AFL footballer was in 2017, then he failed to back it up the next two years in falling out of favour at Tigerland.

A concerning trend might be playing out, with Butler kicking only one goal and compiling a modest 25 touches through the first three rounds. He had one possession at halftime on Saturday.

The biggest problem is there isn’t the same widespread contribution in 2021.

Even with all the recruiting St Kilda’s done, it still lacks the elite players the best sides boast and needs as many players contributing as possible.

The Bombers match was supposed to deliver the Saints a timely ‘tap-in’ victory after an error-riddled, underwhelming performance a week ago against Melbourne.

Their injury-ravaged opposition fielded their least-experienced team since 2012, when James Hird was in charge.

Instead, it was confirmation St Kilda’s in a worrying place right now.

There is suddenly genuine pressure on them, with sides like Sydney and Melbourne – both non-finalists last season – unbeaten so far.

The Round 1 victory over Greater Western Sydney in a wet slog doesn’t look as good now, given the Giants lost abysmally to Fremantle a week later.

The horror show started in the centre, where St Kilda gave away too many free kicks and was otherwise beaten. The Bombers kicked seven goals from 16 centre clearances. Ouch.

Brett Ratten dropped ruckman Paul Hunter in preference of a makeshift combination of two ex-Bombers, Shaun McKernan and Jake Carlisle, with Rowan Marshall (foot) and Ryder (personal) still unavailable.

The Saints subsequently trailed 8-2 in the centre clearances at quarter-time and never got a foothold in the game.

In his first match of the year, Jake Stringer put paid to St Kilda with the first three goals of the second term after an influential opening as well.

There was a symbolic moment late in the first half, with Essendon 50 points up, when Nick Hind – a former Saint who was effectively unwanted – chased down Jack Billings from about 10m behind.

It mattered little that the umpire paid a high free kick against Hind, especially once Billings’ acute shot missed.

Hind’s intent summed up the Bombers as a whole, and highlighted everything St Kilda wasn’t.

DROUGHT-BREAKING NIGHT FOR THE DONS

Darcy Parish and Jordan Ridley enjoyed career nights.

Parish amassed personal bests of 34 possessions and 544m gained to help make up for the midfield absences of Dylan Shiel and Jye Caldwell.

It was a similar story for Ridley, who set new individual marks of 35 disposals and nine intercept possessions in a standout defensive display.

As a team, the Bombers also turned back the clock to thrash the Saints in several key categories.

DEVASTATING INJURY FOR RISING SAINT

Jade Gresham won’t play again this year after rupturing his right Achilles in the second quarter.

Ratten confirmed Gresham’s prognosis and it means he will finish a second straight season early after dealing with a stress fracture in his lower back in 2020.

“He’ll be out for nine months – he’s popped his Achilles, so it’s pretty tough for him,” Ratten said.

“He missed a lot of footy last year towards the backend with a stress fracture, which was very unusual for a player of his size, but he’s just starting to build and he cops an injury where he’ll be out for the rest of the year.”

Gresham was stalking Parish at a centre bounce, after Stringer kicked the second of his three straight goals early in the second term and blew the match wide open.

He pushed off the back of Parish and almost immediately grimaced in pain then slumped to the ground soon after, clutching his right leg.

Gresham was visibly emotional as he was carried from the field and was unable to put any pressure on his right foot.

He was on crutches and wearing a moon boot at halftime.

Ben Long, who was dropped after last week’s loss to Melbourne, replaced Gresham as the medical sub.

St Kilda is also unsure of the extent of speedster Zak Jones’ ankle injury, but Ratten will have plenty on his late after his side’s worst performance of the season.

THE PACKAGE DELIVERS ONCE MORE

An electric performance from the returning Stringer sparked the stunning demolition job.

Stringer, who was appearing for the first time in 2021 after recovering from his own Achilles issue, took a matter of seconds to impact the game, kicking truly from 45m out directly in front within the first minute of the game to set the Bombers alight.

A lightning quick Stringer handball soon after found Nik Cox, who snapped truly for Essendon’s second and the tone for the afternoon had been set.

AFL: Essendon had a HUGE win over St Kilda and Jake Stringer was easily the happiest man on the field.

All in all, it was an astonishing return from the 26-year-old, who finished with four goals, all coming in the first half.

The last of those came from a classy finish from 45m out near the boundary.

Turning to the Bombers faithful, Stringer raised both arms before giving a fist pump to the delirious red and black army who savoured every moment of his brilliance.

It was a complete performance from the Bombers.

Ridley was impenetrable down back, Hooker provided a target up forward with five goals, while Parish and Zach Merrett were prolific in the middle.

Ultimately the story of the day was Stringer in a sharp reminder that his very best is oh so good.

SCOREBOARD

ESSENDON 6.4 12.6 16.10 22.11 (143)

def

ST KILDA 3.3 4.5 6.9 9.14 (68)

GOALS

Bombers: Hooker 5, Stringer 4, McDonald-Tipungwuti 3, Jones 2, Snelling 2, Waterman 2, Cox, McGrath, Redman, Smith

Saints: Higgins 3, Billings 2, Crouch, Membrey, Steele, King

KANE PITMAN’S BEST

Bombers: Ridley, Stringer, Parish, Merrett, McDonald-Tipungwuti, Hooker, Snelling

SAINTS: Steele, Billings, Higgins

KANE PITMAN’S VOTES

3 — Jordan Ridley (ESS)

2 — Jake Stringer (ESS)

1 — Darcy Parish (ESS)

INJURIES

Saints: Gresham (Achilles)

Bombers: Redman (hamstring), Hooker (thigh)

UMPIRES: Leigh Fisher, Nick Brown, Hayden Gavine

VENUE: Marvel

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