Saints won’t lose focus: Richardson

Lenny Hayes tries to escape the Dyson Heppell tackle. Picture: Wayne Ludbey Source: Wayne Ludbey / News Corp Australia

ST KILDA coach Alan Richardson said his team would not get caught up in finals speculation, despite an impressive 16-point win over Essendon that has the Saints in the top eight.

"We won't change our focus, our focus is to make sure that we get our footy right,'' Richardson said. "And that looks like we're going to be a really good defensive team, a hard team to score against and that we're going to be really trustworthy in the contest.''

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Richardson said he was not interested in talking about ladder position or how many wins the team had for the season.

"Whatever happens in terms of win-loss then that will be, but it's all about the way we want to play,'' Richardson said.

"Twenty seven news players in three years, we've had to really go back to the drawing board in terms of methodology, attack on the man, attack on the footy, team defence, so we won't change from that focus.''

A crowd of 36,041 watched St Kilda concede five of the opening six goals before hitting back hard and running all over Essendon, which looked flat after its six-day break returning from Perth. The Bombers scored just four goals after quarter-time, two of them in the dying minutes of the match.

St Kilda players belt out the club song after beating Essendon. Source: Getty Images

"I can't really speak for Essendon and where they're at based on their trip,'' Richardson said. "There was certainly a bit of noise made about that during the week, but we'll only focus on what we did, and given how poor we were … here against Adelaide (last weekend after playing the Eagles in Perth), we're just really pleased with the way the guys responded.''

The Saints coach said the most pleasing aspect of the win was ''the way we defended''.

"To keep them to 45 entries and nine goals, when you consider they had five on the scoreboard at half time ...'' he said.

The Saints had a good mix of contributors, with veterans Lenny Hayes, Leigh Montagna and Nick Riewoldt (five goals) leading the way, but youngsters Jack Billings, Luke Dunstan and Jack Newnes adding real spark. Forward Tom Curren excelled in a defensive forward role on Dyson Heppell, restricting him to 17 disposals.

Adam Schneider had some important touches in the Saints win. Picture: Wayne Ludbey Source: News Corp Australia

St Kilda could regain key defender Sam Fisher, who has been missing through injury since Round 10 last season. The dual best-and-fairest made his return to football via the VFL earlier in the day and was among Sandringham's best players in the 35-point win over North Ballarat.

Both clubs now have a six-day break before Anzac Day engagements, with St Kilda flying to New Zealand on Tuesday for its twilight match against the Brisbane Lions in Wellington.

Rugged midfielder David Armitage remained in hospital on Saturday with an infected knee and is not expected to play against the Lions.

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