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THE GODS of football looked down at the resignation on St Kilda faces ahead of Saturday's opening bounce and clearly didn't like what they were seeing.

The little paper that used to be the big paper wrote about the "perfect storm" that has hit the club as it goes about a complicated rebuild of its playing list.

This column was not immune to the wrath from those in the heavens, having spent much of the week preparing a "what is wrong with the Saints and how do they fix it?" column, ideal for a split-round weekend which, on paper, seemed awfully one-sided.

Instead we're hailing St Kilda for one of the most remarkable wins of this year, or indeed any recent year.

Upset of the season? Perhaps the only comparable result was Greater Western Sydney's upset of the Sydney Swans in the season opener, but the caveat there is that round one can be the flakiest of the year in terms of results.

A 24-goal turn-around

So where did this one come from? In the buzz of the St Kilda rooms following the 58-point rout of Fremantle on Saturday evening, you could see those very words being uttered by player, coaches and officials alike.

"It came from Lenny Hayes," joked Leigh Montagna of the soon-to-be-retired St Kilda legend. "He's turned our form around by 24 goals."

St Kilda lost to Carlton by 85 points a fortnight ago and by 59 points to North Melbourne last Saturday, managing just three goals in the process. The Saints hadn't won at all since round five against Essendon.

But Montagna reckoned there were signs during the North Melbourne game, even though the scoreboard would suggest the opposite, that things were turning for the Saints, such as keeping North to just 48 inside 50s.

It also coincided with a change of focus at training. According to Montagna, the focus has been narrower and the communication around the club a bit more direct and perhaps a touch more honest.

But back to the earlier question: did Montagna, a 227-game veteran from the Saints, see this one coming?

"No, I didn't. I don't think anyone could have predicted this, but it shows that when 22 blokes have a red-hot crack and the opposition aren't at their best, then anything can happen."

WATCH: Showreel - Riewoldt and Rhys inspire the Saints

The road ahead

So it's only one win, but how does it shape the dynamic of what's ahead for the Saints in the near future?

1. Rhys Stanley. A wag in the crowd suggested that Saturday's 19 disposals, 14 marks and three goals was Stanley's best performance in a St Kilda jumper since winning the Grand Final sprint in 2009. St Kilda will want that sort of effort to become the norm for Stanley but if he and Nick Riewoldt can combine this well for the rest of this season and in 2015, then the Saints will become immediately more competitive.

2. The draft. Consensus before Saturday was that the Saints were rolled-gold certainties to finish the season on the bottom of the ladder. But now are one of four teams with four wins each and the likely draft order remains a muddle. The Saints might yet finish last and be in control of their draft destiny, but play like they did on Saturday and they could finish as high as 15th. In one way, that becomes a complication for the Saints.

3. Shane Savage. Ten months ago, he was on the wrong side of a tossed coin away from playing in a premiership team. Earlier this year, he was battling away in the VFL, unable to get a game with the worst team in the competition. Believe it or not, the Saints thought he needed some re-programming after coming across from Hawthorn, but since the move to half-back three weeks ago, he has amassed 25, 22 and 30 possessions respectively and his pace and long kicking has become a real weapon. Not that the Saints have regretted the Ben McEvoy trade at any stage but they'd now be quite pleased with how it has played out.

Superstar Jake's Sunday special

Even before he was the head honcho of the AFL, fixturing fell under the domain of Gillon McLachlan when he was the second in charge of the AFL.

When pressed on his favourite time slot of the week, he would nominate Sunday twilight. Get the weekend activities over with, he would suggest, then sit back and watch the footy.

Those who followed that formula on Sunday saw one of the best games of the season, an edge-of-your-seat special that resulted in a seven-point win to Essendon over the Western Bulldogs.

It will be remembered as the match that officially anointed Jake Carlisle as a superstar of the competition. His eight goals pretty much got the Bombers over the line, although a few of his mates found something in the final quarter when the game was on the line.

WATCH: Jake's eight destroys the Dogs
It was a crucial win for the Bombers, drawing them level on points with the stumbling North Melbourne, with less than three percentage points now separating them in sixth and seventh.

In the context of the Western Bulldogs' season the result doesn't mean a whole lot. The Dogs won't play finals and won't come close to the bottom four, but the result will gnaw at them for the next fortnight.

They had the Bombers on toast, 19 points down well into the final quarter. But they let themselves down with a few fundamentals (what were three men flying for a defensive contested mark resulting in an Essendon goal?) in the final quarter that will have left Brendan McCartney seething afterwards.

The Dogs blew the opportunity to play finals spoiler, although with games still to come against Hawthorn, North and the Sydney Swans, the chance to throw a spanner into the September works is still there.

But they remain an eminently watchable side. Give them a few more Sunday twilight games and people will keep watching them.

QUESTION TIME

Did Jarrad Waite salvage his Carlton career on Friday night?
With 19 disposals, 11 marks and four goals for the Blues on Friday night, Waite did all that could be expected…of a player in his contract year. Big fans of US sports know all about the 'contract year phenomena' where players find form just as their deals are about to expire. Already this weekend, The Age has nominated Waite as an ideal trade target for Fremantle, while speaking on SEN on Sunday, commentator Robert Shaw said he would be the ideal foil for Tom Hawkins at Geelong. I think Waite salvaged his career on Friday night in that he showed that he has some decent footy left in him, but I'm not sure that club is Carlton, which would likely offer him a one-year, incentive-laden deal. What bears watching is whether this may be trumped by a club offering the unrestricted free agent a two-year arrangement.

The Cats won on the road. Now what?
Until Saturday night, the Cats were unbeaten in Victoria and just one win from five attempts on the road. They weren't overly impressive in beating the Giants and were saved again by the usual suspects – Joel Selwood, Steve Johnson and Harry Taylor. The Cats are now second on the ladder and while the aforementioned big names are playing well, they have to be in flag contention. Chris Scott prefers to take the "glass half-full" approach with the Cats, and we will too. If they keep winning and stay top two from here, the next time they see the inside of an airplane will be en route to their end-of-season trip.

WATCH: Match highlights - GWS v Geelong


Ashley Browne: With Fremantle, it really comes down to a top two finish. Finish top two with a home qualifying final and perhaps a home preliminary final and the Dockers are good things for the Grand Final and therefore a real chance at the flag. Saturday's result suggests they may struggle to win finals away from home if they finish outside the top two, although at the same time, they will be significantly strengthened when Aaron Sandilands, Hayden Ballantyne, Stephen Hill and perhaps Michael Walters return to the side. Forthcoming games against Geelong and Hawthorn will tell us plenty.



AB: They pushed Geelong, so it worked to a degree. The set-up against the Cats was Adam Tomlinson playing as a mobile on-baller, Jonathan Patton forward but also back for significant patches and Jeremy Cameron and Tom Boyd as the stay-at-home forwards. Patton and Tomlinson were among the best, while Boyd played a terrific last quarter. Promising signs.