St Kilda are facing a doomsday scenario when they take on Gold Coast at Metricon Stadium on Saturday.
The Suns are one spot above the 16th-placed Saints on the AFL ladder, but there’s no denying a loss by St Kilda to a team which was last week wiped off the park by GWS would be a disaster.
St Kilda’s long-suffering fans were dismayed by last week’s nine-goals-to-one first-term capitulation in a 71-point belting by Sydney
After recording their only win of the season in round one, coach Alan Richardson simply must find a way to coax another victory out of his underperforming side if he is to keep the wolves at bay.
“It is a (big game) … both teams have probably struggled in recent weeks and for big parts of the season,” Richardson said.
“Leading up to last week we felt like we were getting our footy back on track to some extent.
“We played first, second and third (on the ladder) three weeks in a row and had an embarrassing first quarter.
“We’re really keen to make amends this week.”
Richardson wielded the axe at selection, making four unforced changes as he looks to jolt his team to life.
Nick Coffield, Jack Lonie, Ed Phillips and Tom Hickey were all dropped, with Jake Carlisle, Jack Billings, Billy Longer and David Armitage called up.
Speaking about the fallout from last week’s embarrassing loss, club legend Nick Riewoldt raised doubts over how strongly the players would have been challenged by the coach.
“I’ve got a different view on what brutal looks like compared to the current group,” Riewoldt told Fox Footy.
“That was probably something that really frustrated me over my last few years at the club.”
Richardson, at pains not to get into a slanging match with the Saints great, politely begged to differ.
“I don’t want to get into details about other people’s opinions,” he said.
“We thought we handled last week and the performance in the first quarter in a way that will get the sort of response that we’re after.
“It would be fair to say the review this week was quite challenging.”