West Coast great Glen Jakovich has tipped St Kilda to make it consecutive finals appearances in 2021.
The Saints were one of last season’s biggest surprise packets, breaking a nine-year finals drought before beating the Western Bulldogs in an elimination final thriller - their first finals win since 2010.
“I’ve got them playing finals football again. He (Brett Ratten) has got them building really, really well,” Jakovich told Sportsday WA.
“This list is building towards playing sustained finals and having a crack at a premiership in years to come, and that could be very, very soon.
“That’s what Saints fans would be hoping for.
“I’ve got them finishing above sixth, I’ve got them fifth or fourth. They’ve got to make Marvel Stadium a fortress.”
Jakovich says St Kilda must improve their consistency in performance after throwing away sizeable leads against North Melbourne and Fremantle and losing to a depleted West Coast outfit last year.
“Last year the gap between their best and their worst was sometimes too great for my liking,” he said.
“They lost to West Coast – they should have won that game, they didn’t know how to win when they were in a winning position, and lost to Fremantle after having a solid first quarter.
“They’ve got to tidy that up and that’s just a little bit of maturity.”
St Kilda take on the Eagles and Geelong in two pre-season hit outs before their Round 1 clash against GWS on March 21.