St Kilda coach Scott Watters says the AFL club’s on-field leaders must take charge against the Western Bulldogs on Sunday in a way they didn’t against Sydney last round.
St Kilda blew a 25-point lead to lose by 29 points to the top-placed Swans, despite controlling much of the game.
Watters said a lack of strong leadership late in the match hurt and improving that aspect had been a focus ahead of facing the Bulldogs at Etihad Stadium.
“We were probably disappointed in the latter stages of last week’s game that our on-field leadership didn’t take hold of the game as much as we could have,” Watters said on Saturday.
“The whole week has been about the leaders driving the program and really being heavily involved in setting our targets for this week’s game.”
Watters said the leaders had to stand up against the Bulldogs for the club to make progress.
“If they don’t, we don’t move forward, it’s as simple as that,” the Saints coach said.
“Six games to go, they have the opportunity to really define what they stand for as a group.”
Watters said he had not shielded his players from his disappointment over the loss to the Swans.
“Players need to hear when you’re pleased with their performance, but they also need to hear when you see opportunities to improve,” Watters said.
“Last week was a game that I felt we should have won, we didn’t, we have to move on now and harness that frustration and put it into our game tomorrow.”
The Bulldogs have made four changes from the side that lost to Carlton last round, recalling Jordan Roughead, Liam Jones, Clay Smith and Tory Dickson, with Watters saying the wealth of changes to their attack would add some unpredictability.
The Saints are unchanged, with star utility Brendon Goddard to play his 200th AFL game.
While Goddard is uncontracted beyond this season, he this week declared his desire to stay a Saint and Watters said that was no surprise to him.
“His heart beats St Kilda, there’s no doubt about that and I’ve never questioned that,” Watters said.
“Obviously there’s negotiations taking place and I’d love him to be here for a long time.”
