St Kilda pair questioned following Round 1 thrashing

Kane Cornes is not surprised that St Kilda were belted by Adelaide on the weekend, saying their negative talk all pre-season was always going to materialise on the field.

The Saints, who lost to the Crows by 63 points, have pushed the youth narrative over summer, believing they would need time to build consistency.

“When you spend all off-season subtly telling the world you’re going to be bad, chances are you’re going to be bad, and they were bad,” Cornes told SEN Breakfast.

“Adelaide kicked walk-in goal, after walk-in goal, after walk-in goal … they conceded 11 goals from 0-30 (metres), that’s an issue.”

The Crows kicked 21 goals and looked levels above the Saints, despite finishing in the bottom four last season.

David King was also disappointed with their performance, wondering if captain Jack Steele still has the leg speed to compete on-ball.

“They were bad. They’re going to suffer some losses while they go through this phase. There’s no shortcut. I don’t know what the other option is,” King said.

“In the end, they just need to punch games into these kids. They’ve got to get a couple of midfielders of note. Jack Steele yesterday, he was left in the wake of the opposition breakaway mids time and time again and I’m thinking – do they just have to try something different in the middle?

“Do they just have to put youth in there and find out if they can do it? I bang on about Nasaiah Wanganeen-Milera going in there, but maybe Jack Higgins has to go in regularly – someone with speed and dare.

“The guys they’ve got forward of centre, I know they’re light bodies, but they’re not getting it done.”

Cornes wonders whether off-season recruit Jack Macrae is the right person to lead the midfield unit given the direction the club is heading.

“I’ll tell you who shouldn’t be in the midfield – Jack Macrae,” Cornes said.

“People are going ‘oh gee he had 34 and 12 clearances, I couldn’t care less. I’m not sure one of them did any damage.

“He had seven score involvements from 34 touches, only two at half time, and 360 metres gained, 13 kicks, I think two were effective.

“You’re talking about the players you want in the midfield, it’s not going to be Jack Macrae.

“I know that he had 12 clearances, but he inflicted zero damage. His numbers will look good every week, but that’s not the strategy you want, is it?

“If you’re going to be young and tell us how young you are, to go and recruit him and put him in the midfield and be the guy, he’s like their number one midfield.”

St Kilda will face another tough task when they face Geelong at Marvel Stadium on Saturday night.