Another honourable defeat or another reminder that the Saints are stuck in no man’s land?
It’s the question a lot of St Kilda supporters are asking themselves this Saturday morning after their team suffered another loss, this time to the beat of 10 points against Port Adelaide on Friday night.
While Port Adelaide are a classier mob with higher hopes and expectations in 2024, St Kilda’s body of poor work since they beat Collingwood in Round 2 has been shocking.
If you ask a lot of St Kilda fans they’ll tell you – the writing is on the wall.
You can never question their effort, they try their hearts out, but it seems to be the same old story with these so-called ‘honourable losses’ and it leaves the Saints with a 2-5 record and a per centage of 89.3.
They’re the complete opposite to Brisbane; the Lions have stars littered throughout their lineup up but when push comes to shove, they've gone to water in recent weeks.
Ross Lyon would do anything to have the likes of Hugh McCluggage, Lachie Neale, Charlie Cameron and Cam Rayner running around next to Jack Sinclair, Callum Wilkie and Max King.
David King joined the chorus of frustration in the aftermath of St Kilda’s loss, saying those who consider Friday night to be a gallant performance and an honourable defeat, are lying to themselves.
“That was the greatest ten-point smashing I’ve ever seen,” King told SEN's Crunch Time.
“Port Adelaide brained them all night and they got goals at odd time the Saints to stay in it but no matter which angle you watch that game from, Port were always winning that game.
“It felt to me that they had total control for the first 30 minutes and it should’ve been a seven or eight-goal margin.
“The scoreboard lies, I don’t want to hear anyone talk to me about the collective volume of how much St Kilda has lost by this year, ‘oh they’ve lost four games by a total of 23 points’, I don’t want to hear that because that just lies to you, that result last night.”
Speaking to reporters following the loss, Lyon questioned local journalists who suggested the Saints didn't take it on and try to win late in the fourth quarter.
“We sent a message ‘take it (on)’. I thought we were daring. I thought with the entries we were playing up-tempo, we were taking it on. That’s just my opinion,” Lyon said.
“I thought we were challenging and they were under a little bit of pressure. There was a big play on the far side where it looked like we were out and we tapped forward. It was some marginal stuff.
“I would’ve thought we were coming and we worked pretty hard. We threw a lot through our midfield – we had Stoker go through there, we had Battle go through, Battle play on a wing, Sinclair go through there, we had Garcia, Steele and Seb had great nights we worked that, we put Marshall forward, we had Battle in the ruck, we had Owens in the ruck, we had Bonner go to a wing, we had open stoppages, we had closed stoppages … yeah I thought we did a bit.
“But at the end of the day, I thought the cleanliness of their mids was always challenging.”
That's the same old story with the Saints.
They had had a crack but deep down, they haven't been good enough.
The Saints will likely be without Jack Higgins who will be sighted for his dangerous tackle on Port Adelaide’s Aliir Aliir who played no further part in the game due to concussion.
Higgins leads St Kilda’s goal kickers with 13 majors.
They face North Melbourne next week at Marvel Stadium.