St Kilda coach Ross Lyon laid down the challenge to his group to rise to the standard set by superstar onballer Nasiah Wanganeen-Milera after the Saints gave up a lead midway through the final quarter to lose to the Brisbane Lions by 33 points at Marvel Stadium on Saturday.
The Saints fell to 1-3 on the season with a bye and two games at Adelaide Oval to follow, but it was the final-term performances of premiership stars Will and Levi Ashcroft, Jaspa Fletcher, Jarrod Berry and Josh Dunkley that had Lyon thinking.
Wanganeen-Milera, who had 29 disposals, had a hand in back-to-back Saints goals that put them ahead by four points with about 14 minutes to go in game.
“I thought Nas looked good, but he’s got a lot of improvement [to come] and as he gets more support around him and we build out more quality, he will get better and better,” Lyon said.
But while Wanganeen-Milera was resting on the bench, the Lions kicked into gear, kicking three-straight goals to snatch control of the game while the Saints’ match-winner was waiting to re-enter the contest.
When asked how his charges can do more to thrive alongside Wanganeen-Milera, Lyon said they had to lift to his standard.
“I’m actually talking about the growth of other players to his level,” Lyon said.
“You’ve got to rise. Watch the gap. The Ashcrofts have risen to the level of Hugh McCluggage and Lachie Neale [at the Lions], haven’t they?
“We’ve got a few that need to rise with Nas.”
Both Cooper Sharman and Liam Ryan impressed in the Saints’ forward line, kicking three goals each, and Lyon believes Sharman, who went off injured in the final term, should be right after the bye.
Young forward Alix Tauru struggled to find the footy for much of the day but lifted late taking a flying mark which, unfortunately, also saw Lions defender Noah Answerth concussed and forced from the ground.
The Lions tagged Wanganeen-Milera in the first half, with Berry sticking with him, and it turned physical late in the second term when they exchanged jumper punches in the goal square.
At half-time, the Lions dropped the tag and had Josh Dunkley to go the Saints superstar during stoppages, but otherwise they defended him within their team system as Berry was one of their best playing on the wing, finishing with a game-high 31 touches.
“We played better as a result of that, to some degree,” Fagan said.
“You’ve got to give tagging him a fair bit of consideration, because he’s a damaging and fantastic player.
“But I thought when we just got in there and went after the ball ourselves in that second half, I felt like that really helped.
“I thought Berry did a good job in the first half, and then in the second half, he was very influential for us playing on the wing.”
Fagan gave one of his young superstars his own blunt instruction to rise in the final term, and it worked a treat with Will Ashcroft dominating the last stanza with 15 of his 29 disposals.
“Oh, it was hugely important. I mean, it was the game,” Fagan said.
“I thought Will Ashcroft was particularly damaging in that last quarter. I mean, he’d probably had a bit of a quiet game up until that point in time. And even his first couple of weeks have been a bit quiet by Will’s standards.
“I had to give him a little bit of a poke at three-quarter time – I said, ‘Mate, it’s about time you got going’.
“He said to me after the game, ‘Did I get going?’, and I said: ‘You did mate, thanks for that.’
“He was terrific. But so were all the other boys in there, they just worked hard all day and got us a lot of territory in the last quarter, and then our forwards sort of got to work.”
The Lions host Collingwood at the Gabba on Thursday night but will have to re-think their defensive set-up after losing Darcy Gardiner to a “significant” shoulder injury, and Answerth to a concussion after Tauru’s knee went through his head during Tauru’s flying mark.
With Harris Andrews suspended for the Pies match, Fagan joked he was looking for ideas for his defence, but he did like how Ty Gallop played in his first-ever game as a defender.
“Ty has played as a forward all his life,” Fagan said.
“I thought he did a terrific job, we might have found one there, and we will probably need it.”