PRETTY much everyone in AFL circles still considers Geelong the benchmark of the competition, apart from the Cats themselves that is.
Geelong coach Mark Thompson has offered constant praise for fellow undefeated team St Kilda and, on Sunday, skipper Tom Harley said he and his teammates have been 'in awe' watching the Saints this season.
St Kilda has spent the whole year atop the ladder, but ahead of Sunday's showdown of the unbeaten clubs at Docklands, Nick Riewoldt again fuelled what is sure to be a week-long battle for underdog status.
“Clearly Geelong is the best team in the competition. They’ve been able to do it for such a long time. For us this week it is about improving and we know we’ve still got a lot of areas we can improve in,” Riewoldt said after the Saints disposed on Richmond at Docklands on Sunday.
“Regardless of the result this week it is about how we go about it.
"That has been the focus going in to every game this year. Regardless of the opposition, regardless of the scoreboard it is about us improving and how we go about it.
"That doesn’t change for us this week.”
The Saints have always given the perception that they are only focussing on their opponent in any given week, but Riewoldt says there has always been an underlying focus on the Cats – who have won 55 of their last 58 games.
“We refer to them a lot just because they are the benchmark of the competition," he said.
"They’ve been able to be so consistent over such a long period of time. That is something that we and the rest of the competition are all aspiring to.
“I think right across the board everyone in the competition would look at them as the benchmark and try to emulate what they’ve been able to achieve.”
For a brief period early in the first quarter in Sunday’s game against Richmond it seemed that the Saints might not carry an undefeated record in to the Geelong game.
The Tigers kept St Kilda goalless in the first term, but the Saints' skipper said there was not a major concern.
“We weren’t worried. It is important not to panic in those situations," Riewoldt said.
"They were winning the ball and our tackling went missing in the first quarter. It was evident in the stats.
"It was about us getting in first and winning the ball. Once we addressed a few things structurally as well we were able to attack the ball and play our style more consistently,” he said.
The Saints’ slow start resembled the round-11 clash against North Melbourne where they watched their opponent run away with a six goal first-quarter, only to peg them back and win by 46 points.
“It was very similar. I think it is a good feeling knowing that. One thing we are priding ourselves on is that, regardless of the situation, our effort doesn’t change,” he said.
“Whether we’re five up, five down or it’s all square we still keep playing the way we want to play. We were able to do that pretty well today.”
