A CONFIDENT St Kilda outfit will be looking to take it up to reigning premier Hawthorn in Saturday’s Round 4 match between the two sides at Aurora Stadium.
The Saints notched their first win for 2016 on the weekend, defeating Collingwood by 29 points at the MCG.
It was a win described by Saints’ coach Alan Richardson as the best in his 48 games at the helm.
“We had an unrealistic big win against the Bombers last year when clearly the whole weight of the world had fallen on their footy club," Richardson said after the Saints’ win.
"I would hope it's one of those games where this is our new level, it's our new benchmark and we get the opportunity to test pretty quickly against the Hawks this week."
What made the win even more spectacular was the Saints did it for the most part without skipper Nick Riewoldt.
Injuries to Riewoldt (concussion), Paddy McCartin (concussion) and Dylan Roberton (knee) meant the Saints spent the bulk of the second half with just 19 fit players.
Running hot
Much like Hawks’ veteran Sam Mitchell, St Kilda’s Leigh Montagna is showing no signs of slowing down.
Montagna collected 40 disposals against the Pies, and is averaging more than 33 disposals per game in 2016.
Jack Steven, Jack Newnes, Seb Ross and former Hawk Shane Savage have also been finding plenty of the footy.
Injury watch
The injury cloud hangs over Riewoldt, McCartin and Roberton – and there’s no doubt that replacing the Saints’ skipper would be impossible if he wasn’t able to recover in time.
The Saints could look to forward-turned-defender Tom Lee and midfielders Blake Acres, Eli Templeton and Jade Gresham as potential inclusions from the VFL.
