- Oct 5, 2004
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Sounds like you are blaming injuries on your season.We won when it mattered when finals were on the line at the end of both last season and the 2020 season. Won crucial games against good teams to make the 8 each time.
This year, while there was virtually no mention of it in the media, we were smashed by injuries in the first half of the year (missing 8 of our best 22 from R1 and a similar number each week until about R8 or 10, and our midfield in particular was decimated).
Yet we were still ultra-competitive most weeks (losing 5 games by 10 points or less), despite playing interstate/Geelong every 2nd week, and not having our first genuine home-ground-advantage game until we played Freo at Marvel in R10!
First 9 weeks without a genuine home ground advantage, while missing 7-8 of our best 22 pretty much that whole time, our midfield decimated, and playing 5 of our first 9 games interstate or in Geelong.
No surprise we started 3-7.
So all-in-all I think we did about as well as could be expected under the circumstances.
11 wins, and 6 losses by 10 points or less (including 1 point to GWS in Canberra, 5 points to Hawthorn in Tassie, 8 points to Geelong in Geelong and 10 points to Port in Adelaide).
In the last 7 years St Kilda has won no less than 10 games and no more than 11 games each season.
Even with a dead cat bounce last year, and 23 games this season, the side has regressed slightly.
I get the optimism from some saints supporters in the way they finished the season. But the reality was it was lights out with 6 weeks to go and players were playing for their future. They did will to finish with a flourish and end up with their stock standard 10-11 wins.