Terry Wallace considers St Kilda as still a year away from playing finals football, believing that the club lacks the midfield quality to challenge the best clubs in the competition and make the gigantic leap into the top eight.
St Kilda’s 12-win 2016 campaign, six more victories than they tallied in 2015, has impressed many AFL pundits, who believe that the club are on the cusp of a finals appearance this season as the club’s younger stars continue to develop.
However the former Western Bulldogs and Richmond coach isn’t as bullish as some of his contemporaries over the Saints, stating that while the club could easily play finals if they show even as little as half the improvement as last year, the tough jump into the top eight will pose problems for them.
“The one thing that we’ve seen over a long period of time is that it’s easy to go from down low on the ladder up a little bit, but it’s damn difficult to get inside that top eight,” Wallace said on SEN’s Hungry for Sport.
“The people that have those finals positions cherish them, so that next step is a difficult step in AFL football and it always has been.”
Wallace doesn’t believe St Kilda can make that step in 2017, listing them as “marginally” outside his 2017 top eight, and considers it more likely that 2018 is the year they return to September action.
He says that while there is a positive vibe emanating from the club after their productive trade period last year, he questions the depth of quality on-ball players the Saints currently have at their disposal.
“I keep looking at their midfield and wondering whether they have the depth of some of the real quality sides in the competition,” said Wallace.
“I don’t doubt their endeavour and their work ethic but they really need some blokes to step up.
“(Jack) Billings needs to be really able to go from half-forward into the midfield. (Jade) Gresham is only in his second season, I think he is going to be a really good player but how quickly can he develop?
“I do question whether they have got as many quality midfielders as some of the others…when you look at what the Western Bulldogs and GWS are going to front up with, if you’re going to be a contender I don’t know if (the Saints) have got as many real quality top-end (players).”
Wallace also stressed the importance of key defenders Nathan Brown and Jake Carlisle, calling their success vital to the Saints’ top eight chances.
“Can Nathan Brown stand up and do the job for them? That’s still questionable. Carlisle is huge, to me he is a make or break player for where they are going,” he said.
“If those two players they have brought in can hold up and become the players they want them to become, well yes they might be able to squeeze their way in to a top eight position but at the moment we don’t know, there is still a question mark on them.”
Wallace says that holding two first round draft picks for the 2017 National Draft gives St Kilda the ability to lure a big name recruit at the end of the season - someone who he believes can be the final piece of the puzzle for the club’s 2018 finals push.
“I think they are now a club that can really court after some top liners and go after them,” he said.
“They’ve got those two first round draft picks next year so whatever they do this year, I think they will be better next year. I think they will bring in some genuine top-end talent.”
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