St Kilda coach Brett Ratten has defended star recruit Brad Hill, saying his hard running is not being rewarded enough by his teammates.
Hill had just seven disposals in Monday night’s 59-point loss to Geelong and is yet to hit top form since his high-profile move from Fremantle during last year’s trade period.
"Maybe if we give it to him a little bit more when he is free," Ratten told reporters post-game.
"When he is out in the open or has five, 10 or 20 metres on his opponent maybe give him the ball, because there is times there when he should get the ball and we are scratching our heads saying, 'Why aren't we giving it to him?'
"I think he worked to some good parts of the ground and we didn't give him the footy. We played a part in that tonight.
“He’s trying to find the connection with the group … but there’s times where he should get the footy, and he didn’t get it.
"You look at his GPS over the last few weeks, I don't know what the result was tonight, but he is running at high speed for 4-500 metres more than any other player on the ground.
"He is working extremely hard and the connection piece we will just keep pushing, but I think we can give him the ball a little bit more, especially the obvious ones when he is completely out.”
St Kilda's 10-goal loss cost them 11.1 percentage points and saw them drop to fifth on the ladder with the in-form Cats jumping into third spot.
The Saints will look to bounce back against Essendon at the Gabba on Sunday.