St Kilda coach Alan Richardson was upbeat after his side ran over the top of a flagging Gold Coast Suns outfit, with the Saints moving to six wins and six losses to remain in touch of the top eight, albeit with a low percentage.
The Saints were forced to pull back a 31-point deficit after playing some horrible football in the first half, with their skill level well down.
Jack Billings takes down Gold Coast's Jack Martin.Credit:AAP
"I've never seen us make so many mistakes," Richardson said.
"The players acknowledged it post-game, they had a chat about our first half.
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"We've had issues with finish and converting. Our general ball use and our build-up's been much better than what we saw today.
"It was hard to watch. Our tackle count was up, our pressure was up, our execution wasn't. We just butchered the footy."
Richardson didn't blame the conditions, which were both windy and humid, but said his players adjusted better after half-time.
"It was pretty slippery out there. Sweat on a footy is much slipperier than water on a footy," he said.
"Because the effort was strong the message at half-time was about trying to come up with some methods to get better use, for guys to calm down a little bit when they had the ball, don't rush."
The Saints were helped by a best-afield effort by Jack Billings, who is continuing his rise into one of the competition's elite midfielders.
"Jack, by his own admission, in the first half I think he kicked it out on the full twice," Richardson said.
"But he stepped up, didn't he, in the second half. [Kicked] a couple of clutch goals when we were struggling to convert.
"He's improving all the time, Jack. We think it's quite scary, where he might end up. He's driven to get better."
He described his team as a "work in progress", particularly in its ability to make better use of their opportunities.
"We've still got a bit of work to do, which is a bit of an understatement, in front of the ball. We're a work in progress, but the guys will work hard at it."
For the Suns, it was the sixth game this year decided by under 10 points.
"We're three and three from those, so we'll keep working away,'' coach Stuart Dew said. We led for the majority of the day, but inRead More – Source
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