When an injury-riddled St Kilda went marching up to Giants Stadium and opened the season with an eight-point win over GWS, every ounce of pre-season optimism surrounding the Saints seemed justified.
But the fortnight since then has been calamitous – a listless three-goal loss to Melbourne at Marvel Stadium on a night hand-picked by the club to salute the late, great Danny Frawley and then a 75-point thrashing from lowly Essendon, described by one Saints powerbroker this week as “the worst performance I have seen from a Saints team in 50 years. And I am not being dramatic. It was disgraceful.”
Saints Nation is justifiably anxious. All the elements were in place for a strong showing this season, perhaps not the drought-breaking premiership, but certainly a top-four berth that would plant the seeds for next season or the one to follow.
But instead, St Kilda is staring at a 1-5 opening to the season, with West Coast on Saturday, followed by Richmond and Port Adelaide.
Not having big men Rowan Marshall and Paddy Ryder has clearly harmed the Saints till now, but in the last two weeks they’ve been well-beaten at the contest – skipper Jack Steele the one exception - and their key mids are not getting enough of the ball. High-priced recruit Bradley Hill is the poster boy for their failings this year and calls for his axing from the side have grown louder all week. Jade Gresham’s season-ending Achilles injury is a major blow for a side missing some x-factor.
Team selection will be fascinating this week. Will Brett Ratten make a statement? Or does he give his underperformers one last opportunity to right the ship?
On a weekend with question marks hovering over several clubs, the spotlight will truly be on St Kilda.
It’s also a big week for…
1. Lance Franklin
If you didn't know any better, you would think that on the very first day of his AFL career, Franklin walked through the doors of Glenferrie Oval in late 2004 and was cornered by an old-timer from Hawthorn (Dermott Brereton would be the chief suspect) and was told, “Son, save your best for Essendon.” Since then he has done just that and has averaged 4.4 goals a game against the Bombers, comfortably more than against any other club through his 301 games. His dominance of the Bombers brought great delight to Hawthorn fans and it hasn’t stopped since he joined the Swans, who unlike the Hawks, don't have any deep dislike of the red-and-black. Count this column among those who believed the Swans erred in resting Franklin for the Richmond game last week. Clearly, he wasn’t needed, but having him cherry ripe for a prime-time game against Essendon is still a good outcome. Who knows how many more opportunities he will have to torment the Bombers, which is what will make Thursday night such compulsive viewing.
2. Dustin Martin
It was only four games ago on the football calendar – last year’s Grand Final – that the superstar carried the team to victory on his considerably broad shoulders. He might have to do so again on Friday night against Port Adelaide. Martin played a rare quiet game, while the rest of his team had a stinker last weekend, but he’ll need a big one on Friday night in a game the Power appears to have set itself for all summer. It is such a big game and afterwards, one of the pre-season flag favourites will find themselves at 2-2 after a month of footy. It won’t be precarious by any stretch, but the Friday night’s loser will have some work to do.
3. Carlton
A super-impressive win by the Blues against Fremantle last week and they’ll be hard to beat from here if Patrick Cripps, Sam Walsh and Harry McKay remain that dominant. But the operative word is ‘if’. What we need to see from Carlton is that sort of effort on a consistent basis and it starts on Saturday night at Metricon Stadium against the hobbled, but always feisty Gold Coast. Take care of business there and maybe, just maybe, we’ll start to believe.
4. Melbourne
The Dees are off to a 3-0 start for the first time since 2005, but you have to go back to 1994, with Neil Balme as coach and the likes of Jim Stynes, Garry Lyon and Todd Viney at their best for a 4-0 start. The 2021 outfit has a real chance to match that on Sunday against a Geelong team that is miles off its best. The Cats aren’t running out games and were set back on their heels by the fast finishing Hawks, but the Demons bring that sort of approach for four quarters. Just quietly, Dees coach Simon Goodwin has done a fine job considering both his key forwards are yet to play this year.
5. 500,000 Victorian footballers
There have been a few local derbies already (space was at a premium when Sorrento and Rosebud met last weekend) but after missing an entire year because of the pandemic, local footy returns with a bang this weekend as 1200 clubs and 92 leagues across Victoria finally get back to playing to footy once more. As wonderful as it has been for Victorians to be able to go to the footy, being able to play it once more completes the picture. Be sure to get to a game if you can.