Saints have faith in ruckman

ST Kilda is confident ruckman Billy Longer can bounce back from a disappointing first-up effort last week, and coach Alan Richardson is upbeat that he can respond to the challenge of tackling North Melbourne’s Todd Goldstein in today’s Good Friday clash at Etihad Stadium.

Richardson also maintained the club would not take the Kangaroos lightly, despite the fact they played in soggy conditions last week and have to back up only six days after their trip to Cairns.

Longer struggled to have an impact against in-form Brisbane ruckman Stefan Martin last Saturday, but Richardson has backed his big man to turn his form around.

“Goldstein’s playing good footy again, there’s no doubt about that. He’s been able to find some of his form that made him an All-Australian ruck,” Richardson said.

“Billy probably lowered his colours last week to Stefan Martin, who’s also in good form, but we need Billy to bounce back strongly and we need to be really competitive in that part of the ground.”

Richardson wasn’t buying into suggestions the Kangaroos’ Good Friday preparation had been hampered by the conditions they faced last week in their loss to Gold Coast.

“The way that clubs and sports science coaches can work with players to physically and emotionally get them in a good space in a pretty short period of time these days is very consistent,” he said.

“The noise coming out of the [Kangaroos’] camp is [that] as much that it was a challenging game from a conditions perspective, they are really looking forward to getting back on their home deck at Etihad [Stadium].

“We know they will be up for the contest.”