On Thursday night, St Kilda had a fantastic opportunity to cement a spot in the top eight and secure a first finals berth since 2011.
The Saints took on a depleted West Coast side that was without a number of key midfielders and also lost star defender Jeremy McGovern early.
Brett Ratten’s Saints side led at quarter-time before being held goalless in the second and third quarters. They edged ahead in the final term with a wasteful 3.5 only to see the Eagles kick the final four goals of the match, resulting in a 15-point defeat.
St Kilda kicked poorly on the night to finish with 6.14 overall, but it was what happened when the game was at it’s most crucial point that left a lot to be desired.
Garry Lyon felt that they struggled to cope when the heat was really on which perhaps sums up where the Saints sit right now.
“That’s where the Saints are at,” Lyon said on SEN Breakfast.
“You’re inside the eight, that’s where you want to be, but they’re behind these top four and five sides.
“They’re learning, they’re still making their way. They’ve got to get there this year, they’ve got to play finals, once you’re in there anything can happen of course.
“But they were given a bit of a lesson in what needs to be done when the real heat came on last night.
“They came up just a touch short which would be disappointing for St Kilda fans but they’ve taken some steps forward and there’s still footy to be played.”
Tim Watson agreed, highlighting West Coast’s midfield dominance in the second quarter which arrested St Kilda’s momentum and somewhat took the game away from them.
“When you’re watching a game like that you’re looking at the players who are having the most influence on the game,” Watson added.
“Tim Kelly, particularly in that second quarter, he was just dominating. Seb Ross went to him. I don’t think it was a real hard tag but he just wasn’t getting the message about what he needed to do to restrict Kelly at any stage.
“That is the time when you’ve got to be able to say to somebody like a Jack Steele, ‘Ok, we need to shift you away from your assignment, we know you are one of our better midfielders in this area, but you’re also probably still our best run-with stopper that can really physically handle somebody that has got off the leash’.
“I think they lost the opportunity to do that in that second quarter when Kelly completely dominated around the contest.”
After the loss, the Saints occupy sixth position on the ladder with the likes of Collingwood (two points behind), GWS and the Western Bulldogs (both four points behind) within striking distance, all with a game in hand.
It makes the Round 18 clash with the Giants at the Gabba next Friday night a must-win affair if the Saints are to play finals in 2020.
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