The looming retirement of club great Nick Riewoldt will give St Kilda extra motivation to make their first their AFL finals appearance since 2011, according to skipper Jarryn Geary.
Riewoldt, who Geary replaced in the role this year, announced this week that this season would be his last and the Saints remain hopeful they can give him an elusive premiership as a send-off.
Geary said the champion forward had set the benchmark players aspired to, both on and off the field.
“I guess it’s a bit more motivation, but the finals is probably all the motivation that we need at the moment,” Geary said.
“The next four weeks for us and for a lot of teams is going to be pretty important. We’ve got enough to focus on there.
“But definitely the motivation of trying to get another final for Rooey (Riewoldt) is definitely there.”
The Saints were stung by their last-minute capitulation against Port Adelaide last round, with Robbie Gray booting a goal in the final 10 seconds to snatch a two-point victory.
Geary said their review of the match had been painful.
“It’s probably one of the more gut-wrenching losses that we’ve had certainly for a long time,” he said.
“It was a tough way to lose a game of football, but it’s what you take from that and I’m sure myself and a lot of the boys will learn some lessons from that last two minutes.”
On the back of a three-game losing streak St Kilda have sunk to 11th, but Geary was adamant their season was far from finished.
But they need a win against eighth-placed West Coast on Saturday at Etihad Stadium which would come from an improved strike-rate in front of goal and more consistency.
“When we play our best footy we are capable of matching it with anyone,” Geary said.
“We went through a really good month, we won four and we’ve lost the last three, so hopefully we can get back to playing some of the footy that we played a month ago.
“The weekend was pretty positive aside from that last couple of last minutes, so we feel like we’re getting back to that kind of form.
“If we bring the same intensity and pressure around the contest, we give ourselves every chance this week.”
