St Kilda forward Stephen Milne says the Saints didn’t lack for effort in their 13-point AFL loss to Fremantle, although they desperately need more polish in front of goal.
The Saints have a 2-2 record following their 14.8 (92) to 11.13 (79) defeat against the Ross Lyon-coached Dockers on Friday night at Etihad Stadium, with both sides booting three goals in a tense final term.
Lyon returned to face the Saints for the first time since his sensational walkout on the club last September to join Fremantle.
After a big build-up in the media, Saints fans responded with plenty of boos and taunts among the crowd of 30,172 and the 176cm Milne threw himself into the fray, clashing several times with former Saint Zac Dawson who was playing in defence for Fremantle.
But Milne, who was held to only one goal by Adam McPhee, attempted to paint the grudge match as just another game.
“You guys pumped that up which is obvious, Ross changing clubs,” Milne dead-panned.
“There was no more hype than any other week.
“(Dawson) went to Freo and it was just like any other opponent.
“It (their on-field clash) was just say g’day and how have you been and that’s about it.
“It was pretty heated out there. Their pressure was pretty good.
“It was probably the most heated one this year. They’re playing some pretty good footy under Ross and so are we.
“We’re two-and-two and should be sitting here three-and-one.
“I was disappointed in my performance.
“It was a bit of a lack of polish.
“All the guys gave effort and if you keep doing that, you’re going to win more than you lose.
“It was a tough game and it was pretty hot out there.
“We’ve got to move on quickly and try to beat the Dees next week.”
The Saints play Melbourne at the MCG on April 28.
St Kilda won the inside-50s 56-44 and the clearances 43-30 despite Fremantle’s Aaron Sandilands dominating the hitouts with 44 taps.
“Whilst I was proud of the efforts of the players from an endeavour point of view … the one area that let us down was our finish,” Saints coach Scott Watters said.
He said the Saints had squandered four simple goal-scoring chances in the first 10 minutes of the final term.
“So a little bit of composure and we’d probably be sitting here with a different result,” he said.
Lenny Hayes and Brendon Goddard dominated in the midfield for the Saints and Justin Koschitzke booted three goals.