Saints sweating on a miracle

THIS season won’t sit comfortably with St Kilda.

Whether it was the Paddy Ryder tap, the inaccurate goalkicking or the midfield fadeouts, senior coach Alan Richardson has a lot to ponder during the summer to make sure 2018 is the year the Saints have a crack at a top-four spot.

And yesterday’s 49-point win against North Melbourne was significant for reasons other than just keeping their faint finals hopes alive.

They need a footy miracle, really, but St Kilda can snatch a finals berth next weekend if it can thrash Richmond by more than 100 points and clubs ahead of it, such as Melbourne, West Coast and Essendon, all get trounced.

Remember, St Kilda led by 82 points at halftime against the Tigers in Round 16. It might be enough to give Damien Hardwick nightmares.

Importantly, the St Kilda midfield roared back to life yesterday as Jack Steven, Seb Ross, Luke Dunstan, Koby Stevens and Jack Billings contributed to one of the most even-handed performances of the season in the middle.

Steven has had a modest month, but he had a day out with 40 touches.

Ross helped quieten Shaun Higgins in the second term and finished with 36 disposals himself. But both need to become consistently elite players next season.

Accusations have been made that St Kilda’s midfield is either pedestrian or not mature enough. But there was a clear mix of aggression and polish as the Roos were brushed aside at Etihad Stadium. Jade Gresham is another who can make the jump into the A-grade bracket, and some of his early bullet passes inside 50m, combined with a sweep- ing right-foot 50m goal in the first term, reeked of class.

But the reality is the Saints are anchored on only 11 wins — one short of their tally from last year.

They have to attack next week like it is a final and aim for back-to-back wins to help set a platform of sorts for the pre-season. And also to honour Nick Riewoldt.

A two-minute period in the third quarter summed up the retiring champion forward.

Eyeing a beautiful pass from Steven, Riewoldt positioned himself for an overhead mark, knowing heavy contact was coming from Robbie Tarrant.

But even a strong chop of the arms could not break Riewoldt’s grip on the ball. And he slotted the goal.

Moments later, he sprinted up on the wing and fed off a handpass to Blake Acres that set up a Jack Sinclair goal.

And then after the next centre bounce, he made a lungbusting effort to contest the ball on the opposite wing.

For North Melbourne, the big story was ruckman Todd Goldstein, who emerged from a slump for one of his best games of the year.

But it lost key defender Daniel Nielson to concussion early.